Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

Ich_2

A number of airlines BA being one use the same call sign and flight number for the same flight each day, which could cause problems with outside agencies.

john_waynes_biscuit_tin

Centipede100 wrote: »

Excellent! That appears to suggest that BA have assumed responsibility for BMI claims. Still to see any successful claims against BA for BMIbaby however.

Just received e-mail from BA that they will pay compensation for my delayed BMIbaby from Malaga in May 12!!

secretary_lynne

On 25th January 2013 my husband, Trevor and I set off from Heathrow on our trip of a lifetime, a Readers’ Offers cruise around the Galapagos, costing us just under £9000. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and I set out below the problems that befell us.

Just as the plane to Madrid moved from its stand at Heathrow, my husband said he felt unwell and I called for assistance from the flight attendants. My husband lost consciousness for a few minutes, an ambulance was called and three paramedics boarded the plane and then decided he needed to go to hospital. So off we went to Hillingdon Hospital in the ambulance thinking our holiday was over but more importantly worrying about Trevor’s health.

After a couple of hours in A&E and several tests, including ECGs, blood and a neurological test, the doctor could find nothing wrong and pronounced Trevor fit to fly. So we called a taxi and made our way back to Terminal 5 and British Airways Customer Services, where a very nice man spent a long time rebooking our flights. The first flight was to Madrid that very afternoon and the second flight to Quito on Saturday at about 12.25 pm. It would mean we would lose the first day of our holiday, a city tour of Quito, but we were happy to be going at all!

While the flights were being booked we queried where our luggage was and would it reach the Madrid flight. The Customer Service man assured us it would but for our own peace of mind telephoned the Baggage Department who verified that the luggage would be on the same flight as us. As we were going to be in Madrid overnight we were warned that we would have to reclaim our luggage in Madrid (as it was booked through to Quito) and were told to go to the Iberian Customer Service desk in the Baggage Hall (Terminal 4S). When we arrived at Madrid, we checked the baggage carousel and then went to the said desk and asked for our luggage. The agent said it would take about 20 minutes to arrive at the desk but then she checked on her computer and said it was still in London. She reassured us it would be with us in time for the flight to Quito as there were six flights from London to Heathrow in that time. She gave us two bags of toiletries and directed us to the hotel buses where she said we would be taken to a hotel with a room for the night.

After a night in the Ibis Hotel in Madrid, we arrived back at Madrid airport at 9.25 in good time for our onward journey and we went straight to Customer Service in Terminal 4 to enquire about our luggage. The agent spent some time on the telephone and on her computer and then said she did not know where our luggage was at all. We then went to the British Airways desk in the hope of finding someone with a better command of English but got the same answer. This lady gave us two telephone numbers of British Airways in London for us to ring to enquire about our luggage. Both numbers were unobtainable and out of date!

We then rang Readers’ Offers to ask if we journeyed to Quito and the luggage did not reach us by the time we left Quito on Sunday morning to join the cruise ship, what chance was there of our luggage reaching us. The answer was negative. There was a further flight to Baltra, in the Galapagos, from Quito but there was a strict weight limit of 18 kg per person and two unattended bags would never be allowed on the flight.

We still had to ascertain if our luggage had left Heathrow and was airborne. So we telephoned our son in the UK who telephoned British Airways but they would not speak to him and said we would have to telephone ourselves. He texted the telephone number to us and we rang Baggage Handling who told us our bags were still at Heathrow.

By now we only had about 30 minutes to go before our flight was called. We still had not gone through Security and Customs etc. My prescription medication was in my lost luggage and there was no time left to buy the essential clothing we needed for a 10-day cruise. The thought of going on a cruise with only the clothes we stood up in horrified us. We knew we would get to Quito after the shops were shut and the next day was a Sunday and the shops do not open on Sundays. The cruise ship was a small vessel with only a shop selling souvenirs etc but not underwear, nightwear, shoes etc. So we felt we had no choice but to return to London. We picked up the luggage from the Baggage Hall and returned home.

We hold British Airways and their agents responsible for putting us into this position by their lack of care at both Heathrow and Madrid and have complained to them stating the Montreal Convention, Article 19. They have replied that it was our decision to abort the journey, so they say they are not liable and sent us, in the first instance, £100 of e-vouchers, after more emails and phone calls this has gone up to £200. We asked about a refund on the unused Quito flights and they said our travel agent would have to apply on our behalf as they had paid physically for the flights. The Readers Offers Customer Service Manager has told us that we are only entitled to the taxes on the flights and she is in the process of trying to get a refund of that for us.

I have emailed Keith Williams CEO of British Airways and have had an acknowledgement from his team but no answer yet. I have also emailed the Civil Aviation Authority for their advice but as yet no answer.

Our travel insurance does not include curtailment of trip due to baggage delay, only flight delay.
We feel we are entitled to some compensation for the catalogue of mistakes that BA made on that day, which resulted in us cancelling our holiday

maznhunni

Just thought I'd let you know I applied to BA for compensation for a 5 hour delayed flight to Vegas in 2010. All I had was the flight number, I had lost all other paperwork, including booking reference number.

Sent the letter off anyway in November 2012, didn't receive anything until January 2013, but out of the blue I received a cheque for £493.

HenBroon

balletgirls wrote: »

Following a delay to a flight from Edinburgh to London BA have rejected my claim on the grounds of a security incident.

The 'incident' was the pilot throwing an 'unaccounted for' mobile phone from the cockpit window onto the tarmac below as we were waiting to join the runway for take off. The Police took the pilot of the flight to interview him and the co pilot whilst the passengers were left on board the aircraft, in another part of the airport, although it would have been easy enough for us to return to the terminal and be allowed to disembark for the four hours we were delayed.

I believe this is the airline's responsibility in the same way a technical problem is not a reason to deny compensation. In this case it was the conduct of their employee and nothing to do with passengers or other external factors. But would be interested in your opinion please.

Balletgirls, how do you know that the incident was as described above - did BA explain that in their letter, or do you know from some other source? If the pilot really did throw the phone out of the cockpit window, perhaps they are suggesting that he had reasonable grounds to suspect it was an explosive device and had no option but to throw it out to protect the aircraft and passengers? That seems a little far-fetched though. Can you copy their whole letter here?

liviboy

HenBroon wrote: »

Balletgirls, how do you know that the incident was as described above - did BA explain that in their letter, or do you know from some other source? If the pilot really did throw the phone out of the cockpit window, perhaps they are suggesting that he had reasonable grounds to suspect it was an explosive device and had no option but to throw it out to protect the aircraft and passengers? That seems a little far-fetched though. Can you copy their whole letter here?

The actual incident, for those interested (including Balletgirls).

The aircraft was taxiing to the runway when a pax found the mobile phone and alerted the cabin crew. CC informed captain and captain got on the radio to Airfield Ops. Ops gave them 2 options: return to stand and hand the phone in or proceed to take-off. The decision was the captains to make. Captain requested that Ops drive out to the plane and collect the phone off him. Again he was given the two choices above.

As a result, he didn't want to be delayed any longer than he had to be by returning to stand so he opened up the window, threw the phone out and said "well you better come and collect the FOD now on the taxiway". (with a few expletives thrown inf or good measure).

Consequently he was ordered to return to stand.

There was never any concern of the device being explosive or anything like that!

Source: I worked for BAA Edinburgh at the time.

EDIT: By the way, the incident did make the press at the time: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008241/BA-pilot-threw-mobile-phone-cockpit-just-moments-off.html

ddebski_us

mertywerty wrote: »

Hi - thanks to MSE for bringing this to our attention!

Back on that fateful day of the London Heathrow Terminal 5 opening - I was travelling to Japan and we were stuck on the plane on the runway for about 4 hours. At least we did finally take off though! I think we were one of the last planes to leave (minus all our luggage which went missing for over a week! .. though that's another story entirely..).

Flightstats show that my flight was 234 minutes late on arrival - so hopefully I have real grounds for proper delay compensation, and that the issues with Terminal 5 is in the scope of this ruling. (I think I did complain to BA but not sure what happened, I might have got about £10 BA voucher for next flight with them or something very similar).

I will update on my progress when I make a claim (quite a lot of reading up is needed as only just saw this in the newsletter, and there seems to be lots of information). I haven't seen anyone mention claiming for delays to flights from Terminal 5 on opening day yet - so I'm posting here to share my experience.

I was delayed by more than 3 hours that day too and so am considering a claim.

I don't have my booking reference number though; have date and flight number and boarding card but not booking reference number. The BA online form requires it; anyone any experience of claiming via post without this?

Thanks

xDx

tweety_pie

I put a claim in to BA beginning of November for a four and a half hour flight delay to New York back in 2009. Sent them an email via their website.

Standard reply acknowledging receipt of claim. Heard nothing further so end of December followed this up with a letter, again using template from this website including copies of e-tickets and delay details off the flight stats website. Sent this by registered post which was signed for on 24th December.
:T
16th January received email from BA saying they were paying compensation of €600 euros each total of €1200 which converted at that time to £1140. Sent bank details by return email and a couple of days later said amount was paid into my bank account.
So thank you very much for the help and advice I was able to access from this website and would just like to say don't give up its worth the effort.

loikok

ddebski_us wrote: »

I was delayed by more than 3 hours that day too and so am considering a claim.

I don't have my booking reference number though; have date and flight number and boarding card but not booking reference number. The BA online form requires it; anyone any experience of claiming via post without this?

Thanks

xDx

I emailed BA customer services last week for my booking reference as I had no paperwork,they replied today with booking reference so if you email them with your details they will provide it.

mertywerty

I too don't have all the details, but I've sent off a letter request with my passport and flight details details - I'm pretty sure they can look up internally to find out the proper details. Now will just have to wait for a reply....!

A friend's mum said she only sent her passport details and flight details and they were able to find her details and progress the compensation claim.