Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

offshore1

David_e wrote: »

Do you mean you recovered 'additional' costs that you wouldn't have been able to claim if you had gone to court?

Yep. The 24 hr delay cost me an extra £200 to get home from LGW on Christmas Eve - no trains, wind and a drop of rain you may remember. Having first been given the thumbs down on "consequential losses" BA paid this without accepting liability but only after the MCOL court process started. This was not part of the claim but I brought it up having been told by the BA hols duty officer in the course of the delay that additional out of pocket expenses would be met. I feel BA acted fairly in the end but the Indian branch are a complete shower of cut and paste artists whose remit is to refuse everything. Beyond the first contact it is a waste of time to deal with them.

Nilechamp

My original post in this string is #489. This case is now with the small claims court and defended by BA. In summary:

My flight was delayed by 5 hours 13 min. BA have admitted at least two hours of the delay was due to their baggage truck causing damage to the cargo door. The rest of the delay came from discovering a battery fault in the replacement aircraft and having to change power supply over to the auxiliary supply. Finally they appear to have different departure and landing times to that which actually happened and are confirmed by the FlightAware website. BA are solely defending their case on the battery fault being "extraordinary circumstances". My case sites Wallentin.

I now have to decide whether to go for mediation or continue to pursue it through the courts. Having read through the Huzar appeal I am not completely comforted. BA are claiming they carried out the required maintenance of the battery but do I have the right to demand copies of signed maintenance schedules and how regularly are these checks required? BA site the fault as affecting the safety of the aircraft but surely any piece of operational equipment falls into this category.

Is Ba's tactic of agreeing that the baggage truck did reverse into the cargo door and cause delay but then ignoring the compound effect to the overall delay acceptable? It is one delay caused by two incidents but is the relevant? Obviously their departure and landing times disagreeing with FlightAware's times is not acceptable but which times are the court likely to accept?

Are there any legal minds out there that can advise on the above points or throw something into the ring that I have missed?

Thanks
Nilechamp

David_e

Nilechamp wrote: »

I am not completely comforted. BA are claiming they carried out the required maintenance of the battery but do I have the right to demand copies of signed maintenance schedules and how regularly are these checks required? BA site the fault as affecting the safety of the aircraft but surely any piece of operational equipment falls into this category.

Is Ba's tactic of agreeing that the baggage truck did reverse into the cargo door and cause delay but then ignoring the compound effect to the overall delay acceptable? It is one delay caused by two incidents but is the relevant? Obviously their departure and landing times disagreeing with FlightAware's times is not acceptable but which times are the court likely to accept?

I don't see either issue as being EC. I am sure BA did carry out the required maintenance of the battery; I'm equally sure that's irrelevant. If keeping to maintenance schedules was a defence, most people who have been paid out wouldn't have been!

These are my thoughts:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...postcount=4238

I believe you can ask for internal documents when you get to court but I don't think that they add anything (bearing in mind the above).

I'm not sure what mediation involves. On the face of it, you look to have a good case so I'd be rather wary of being pushed/tempted to accept less than your (apparent) entitlement. I work on the basis that it shows willing to the courts if you offer mediation. I am sure you are not under any obligation if you don't get what you want at that stage.

As the wheels of justice grind slowly, I wonder if any progress will be made before the outcome of the Huzar appeal.

waveyjane

Hi All,

Just to say that BA have accepted my claim for a delayed flight, and I'm getting EUR600 in cash (bank transfer) + £35 cheque to reimburse me for a taxi to the airport.

BA initially gave me a discount voucher for £250 but I refused it, citing the relevant clause in the legislation that says you don't have to accept this. They then said they couldn't re-imburse me any more than £320 in cash "in common with other airlines". I said I was entitled to EUR600, and that I'd therefore take my case to the CAA (as per the instructions on this at MSE).

After the CAA got in touch with them (presumably to point out that they were breaking the law), BA then got back to me apologising for the mistake, cancelling the voucher, and asking for my bank details so they could give me the full amount.

So, it took a bit of effort, but not that much.

Jane

Gwest227

Hi, I'm currently sat in Chicago airport after my flight to Heathrow was cancelled a few hours ago. I booked my ticket with BA and flew from Heathrow on a BA plane but the return flight is on an American Airline plane. The flight was due to set off at 0850 and we sat on the plane for 2 hours before being told at 1000 that the flight was cancelled due to a technical fault with the PA system.

We have been rebooked onto a BA flight at 1810 today.

Will we be entitled to compensation from BA?

Thank you

groove_timer

Hi All,

First off, so glad I found this thread:)

Basically Flight from LHR to LAX was cancelled due to technical fault with the rudder. We were put up in a hotel and eventually left 23hrs later, thus missing our children performing in Honolulu Dancing competition.
Filled out the online customer service form on-line and got a very similar response as stewartmnd got saying that due to unexpected flight safety shortcoming During our final safety checks, we noticed a fault with the rudder, which led to an aircraft change. As the rudder system had been maintained in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances and could not have been avoided., BA are not liable.

So should I continue to pursue this but wait until the Huzar appeal has come out before continuing my fight with the sheisters?

Thanks All

111KAB

groove_timer wrote: »

So should I continue to pursue this but wait until the Huzar appeal has come out before continuing my fight with the sheisters?

Thanks All

May as well wait for Huzar IMO then go for them and give them both barrels - you had a technical problem which does not mean a safety shortcoming.

groove_timer

Thanks 111KAB. I guess this will give me some time to understand the clauses that BA are using to get out of compensating people, whilst we await the Huzar outcome.
Thanks

Neusan

Here is a version of what we experienced in February. Our flight (Heathrow to Los Angeles) arrived 4 ½ hours late. We had been waiting on the plane in London for a while. The captain kept telling us that there was a technical problem being solved. After 3 hours he told us that we had to change the aircraft because the mechanical fault had been more serious than expected.

We contacted British Airways one week after the flight (online). BA responded they didn´t accept our complaints because these "circumstances were outside the airline's control". I contacted them again to get to know more about these extraordinary circumstances. They explained the case: “During our final safety checks, we noticed cargo fire bottles had faulty diverter valves and initially it was planned to replace them with parts from another aircraft or to empty the cargo hold and to operate with no bags on board. However the fire bottles 'blew' which meant that the aircraft could not operate at all. In order to get the flight away before the crew went out of hours, an aircraft that was planned to operate a slightly later flight and that had already been catered was used. All efforts were made to dispatch the flight with minimum delay. This caused a flight safety shortcoming that had to be assessed by our engineering team. This constitutes as an extraordinary circumstance and prevented the aircraft from operating as scheduled.” Is this an extraordinary circumstance (I don´t know anything about these technical details)?

David_e

Neusan wrote: »

Is this an extraordinary circumstance (I don´t know anything about these technical details)?

None of us knew much until we started reading around. The FAQs is where you should start.

On the specific point, these are my thoughts:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...postcount=4238