BA IT Outage - BA Lied About My Length Of Delay, Compensation Refused

schnide

Hi Money Saving Experts,

I was one of the many thousands of passengers caught up in the global IT outage last month.

My flight left San Francisco on time, but we were left on the tarmac at Heathrow when we landed for four hours.

I know this because I watched enough episodes of a TV show that lasted an hour each, but also because I have text messages to friends and loved ones when we were finally assigned a skybridge and eventually left the plane.

Being a long-time member of MSE, I of course submitted a claim through Resolver, from this website.

And then this morning, I've received an email from BA saying that:

"Thanks for your email about your claim for compensation. I apologise for the delay in our response.

I’ve checked the details of your flight and can confirm your flight BAXXXX on 26 May was delayed for 148 minutes.

Since your flight wasn’t delayed in arriving by three hours or more, your claim for compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004 has been refused.

Thanks again for contacting us. Please feel free to contact us if we can help you any further and I hope we can welcome you on board again soon."

This is an absolute lie and we were on the tarmac for longer, certainly long enough to claim the compensation I am rightfully owed. I was very patient and understanding of the entire thing up until this moment (after all, it was inconvenient, but no-one died). However this is nothing short of insulting.

Put simply: What can I do?

With thanks as always,

schnide :huh:

jpsartre

Which flight were you on? You've inexplicably deleted the number.

Caz3121

schnide wrote: »

My flight left San Francisco on time, but we were left on the tarmac at Heathrow when we landed for four hours.

I know this because I watched enough episodes of a TV show that lasted an hour each, but also because I have text messages to friends and loved ones when we were finally assigned a skybridge and eventually left the plane.

you need to compare the scheduled time of arrival with the doors opening time. Flights can often make up time during the flight....I have been on flights that departed over an hour late and still arrived early
What was your flight number? and what time do you have record of getting off plane?
(EUClaim shows both SFO-LHR flights departing 26th May are not due compensation as delay was under 3 hours based on scheduled arrival v's gate arrival time)

schnide

jpsartre wrote: »

Which flight were you on? You've inexplicably deleted the number.

Not inexplicably - I was perhaps being overly cautious with data protection. My apologies if it caused you any difficulties - the flight number was BA0286.

schnide

Caz3121 wrote: »

you need to compare the scheduled time of arrival with the doors opening time. Flights can often make up time during the flight....I have been on flights that departed over an hour late and still arrived early
What was your flight number? and what time do you have record of getting off plane?
(EUClaim shows both SFO-LHR flights departing 26th May are not due compensation as delay was under 3 hours based on scheduled arrival v's gate arrival time)

Thanks for this. The flight number was BA0286 and there was a small amount of time made up on the flight, but nothing that outdid the length of time we were on the tarmac for.

In terms of a record of getting off the plane, do you mean something official? I have text messages that were sent when I was still on the runway, as well as when I left, which are well beyond the official claim I was quoted by BA and also what you've pulled up from EUClaim.

I also know that the in-flight entertainment system had four episodes of Westworld on it. I watched all four, the vast majority of which was while on the runway and a small part of a comedy I completely forget the name of.

(That's in addition to the text messages which themselves prove we were on the runway for way longer than the 148 minutes claimed here and were not allowed to leave the plane).

We landed at 1255. I didn't get home until 2100. I live 1 hour 15 minutes total journey from Heathrow.

I waited no more than two hours for my luggage amid the chaotic scenes at baggage reclaim, although it was probably less. Even allowing for an hour through passport control, and it wasn't that long, that would still leave well over three hours minimum unaccounted for and that is being very generous with all the other timings.

Quite simply: We were on the tarmac for much longer than 148 minutes. What can I do to challenge what I've been told?

jackieblack

schnide wrote: »

Quite simply: We were on the tarmac for much longer than 148 minutes. What can I do to challenge what I've been told?

It doesn't matter how long you were 'on the tarmac'. (And you can't really judge anything by episodes of a TV show which often only last for around 40 minutes when all the ad breaks are removed)

As Caz3121 said already, you need to compare the scheduled time of arrival with the doors opening time.

jpsartre

schnide wrote: »

Not inexplicably - I was perhaps being overly cautious with data protection. My apologies if it caused you any difficulties - the flight number was BA0286.

According to Flightaware, that flight landed and arrived at the gate on schedule (?)

schnide

jackieblack wrote: »

It doesn't matter how long you were 'on the tarmac'. (And you can't really judge anything by episodes of a TV show which often only last for around 40 minutes when all the ad breaks are removed)

As Caz3121 said already, you need to compare the scheduled time of arrival with the doors opening time.

Each episode is around 50 minutes long, without ad breaks.

Are you saying that the doors were opened and I remained on the plane for an hour afterwards? Or perhaps that it took an hour for us to land and taxi.

schnide

jpsartre wrote: »

According to Flightaware, that flight landed and arrived at the gate on schedule (?)

I suspect you're not looking at the correct date. This is the flight that left SFO on Friday 26th May and arrived on Saturday 27th May.

schnide

Since I've shown the flight number now, here's the info that BA gave me in their reply:

I’ve checked the details of your flight and can confirm your flight BA0286 on 26 May was delayed for 148 minutes. I’ve included the details below for your reference.

Flight BA0286 from San Francisco to London Heathrow.
Scheduled departure date and time: 27 May 2017 02:30 GMT
Actual departure date and time: 27 May 2017 02:29 GMT
Scheduled arrival date and time: 27 May 2017 12:55 GMT
Actual arrival date and time: 27 May 2017 15:23 GMT
Total delay: 148 minutes

..and yet EUClaim.co.uk says that the scheduled arrival time was 13:55. So firstly, the information stated by BA is wrong anyway in terms of arrival time.

And secondly, we absolutely did not sit with the "doors open" yet unable to leave the plane for an hour or more. We were held on that plane for much closer to four hours than the 148 minutes claimed by BA.

So again: What can I do? The data they are using is wrong, whether deliberate or otherwise. I am owed compensation under EU law for a delay they are saying is far shorter than it was.

jackieblack

schnide wrote: »

Are you saying that the doors were opened and I remained on the plane for an hour afterwards? Or perhaps that it took an hour for us to land and taxi.

No, but it's possible that you landed earlier than scheduled (not uncommon when returning from the USA) and so, although you sat on the tarmac for more than 3 hours. the time the doors opened was less than 3 hours later than the scheduled arrival time.


If, in fact, as you stated above

schnide wrote: »

We landed at 12.55

and the scheduled arrival time for BA0286 is 13.55, (according to multiple websites), the 'late clock' wouldn't even start until you'd been sat the tarmac for an hour.