BA refusal after 5+ hour delay

Nilechamp

Our flight was delayed by 5 hours 15 minutes. The co-pilot informed us the first 2 hours of the delay was due to them looking for another aircraft after one of their service vehicles crashed into the cargo door. They found another plane, flew to St Kitts to collect us then found a battery fault which meant a further 3 hour 15 minute delay. As a result we landed in Gatwick over 5 hours late.
BA have rejected my claim stating -
"During our final safety checks, we noticed a fault with the main battery. As the main battery had been maintained in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances and could not have been avoided."
No mention of the service vehicle crashing into the cargo door which certainly is 'extraordinary circumstances' and negligence. No mention of an aircraft being used that was not scheduled for this trip. The fact that after 3 hours they did manage to get the battery working makes me suspect the battery hadn't been maintained. A new battery could not have been found. St Kitts is a tiny island with just two 777 landings a week.
Do I simply have to accept that BA state the battery was maintained so it isn't their fault?

111KAB

Nilechamp wrote: »

Do I simply have to accept that BA state the battery was maintained so it isn't their fault?

No but you have posted on wrong thread - there is a dedicated BA one for you to use.

Nilechamp

I did try searching the forum but no luck. How do I find the thread and which Forum topic is it in?

Vauban

Nilechamp wrote: »

I did try searching the forum but no luck. How do I find the thread and which Forum topic is it in?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4384701