BA - difficulty reclaiming flight disruption expenses

legowyn · 1 December 2017 at 10:05PM

I was wondering whether anyone on the forum had any experience or advice on issues obtaining reimbursement from BA for costs incurred as a result of flight disruption?

I was scheduled to fly with BA from Brussels to Glasgow via Heathrow, leaving Brussels at 19.20 local time, arriving at Heathrow at 19.35, then leaving Heathrow at 21.00 and getting to Glasgow at 22.25. The flight from Brussels was delayed – no explanation has been given for why – both in leaving Brussels and then in the air. So I didn’t land at Heathrow until 20.40. This meant I missed my connecting flight. The following flight, which was the last for the day, was full. I was given the option of staying at Heathrow overnight and getting the first flight the following day, or being flown to Edinburgh. I needed to get home, and preferred a delay of a few hours to an overnight stay, so opted for the Edinburgh flight. Several other passengers were in the same position and most had been automatically booked to the Edinburgh flight. At the time I asked the BA staff (who really didn’t seem to care) what the arrangements would be for getting me to Glasgow. They simply said I would have to arrange that myself and reclaim the cost from BA.

The Edinburgh flight was fine, but by the time I had collected my bag and had a quick walk round the airport to see if I could find anyone from BA to talk to (no success), it was nearly midnight. My car was at Glasgow airport so I had to get back there and at that time of night, already 1.5 hours late and facing around the same again before I got home, I had little option but to get a taxi. This ended up costing me £147. I eventually got to Glasgow airport 2 hours and 47 minutes after I was supposed to.

First thing in the morning I submitted a claim via BA’s website for the cost incurred. I received no response for a month, despite chasing several times. When I did get a response they said they “absolutely agree we’ve let you down”. They explained they investigate the reason for delayed flights (without explaining what happened to mine) and stated that if I speak to a member of staff they will “do our best to rearrange your travel plans to suit you”. Obviously this isn’t true as the people at Heathrow didn’t care, and there was no-one at Edinburgh to speak to. Finally, they said “Although I appreciate your reasons for asking, I’m afraid we can’t offer you refund”. There was no explanation as to why this was the conclusion. When I inevitably followed up, I was told that, having looked again, they were arranging to make a “contribution” of £50 towards the cost which is apparently in line with what they can offer so they are “fair” to all their customers. That was a couple of weeks ago now and the £50 has still not been sent.

Still inevitably unhappy with this outcome, I wrote a letter addressed to the Head of Customer Relations, which I copied to the CEO Alex Cruz. It was a long and detailed letter in which I asked for various explanations, and also asked for them to send me copies of the correspondence on this matter in case I need to take it further – since BA uses an online form and I worked on the basis that my claim should be basically straightforward, I didn’t copy any of my submissions. The response I got – not from the head of customer relations – simply said they were right. They haven’t provided me with copies of the correspondence, even though I have asked them to do this a few times.

I don’t see how it can be fair or reasonable for an airline to take my money to transport me to a particular destination but then send me somewhere else and expect me to foot the additional costs of getting to where I was supposed to be. Given all the circumstances, I do not feel that the costs I incurred were even slightly unreasonable – I really had no choice. Had I stayed down at Heathrow, the costs incurred would likely have been a lot higher. Has anyone had a similar experience with BA, and did you manage to get it resolved and get them to repay the costs you incurred? Needless to say, there is no way I’ll ever be flying with BA again!

DCFC79 · 1 December 2017 at 10:13PM

Doesn't sound fair no but I'm not an expert. Have you tried contacting them via twitter ?

BoGoF · 1 December 2017 at 10:39PM

There is a dedicated section on this forum for flight delays - suggest you request this be moved.

stuartJo1989 · 1 December 2017 at 11:03PM

I'm no expert on flights and compensation, but a few things have gained my interest:

- Were your flights booked as one package or did you have separate tickets for each leg of the journey? I ask this because if a package then surely they would need to accommodate you. If separately then surely it is YOUR responsibility to be on time for each part of the journey?

- I don't actually think you are eligible for compensation for small delays (1 hour etc)? I mean I got stuck in Gdansk for about 4 hours last year and I explored the option, but wasn't eligible for any sort of compensation related to the delay (BUT the Ryanair flights to Ireland and some other minor airports were cancelled and they got put up in a hotel for a night). Like I said, I'm no expert but I don't know...

But I *get* that you don't necessarily want compensation, but more just your fees paid for (which is fair). Its a strange one because they seemingly offered to put you up for the night + get you on the next available flight (which is a fair, if not inconvenient, compromise + allows the company to "mitigate their losses"). It might boil down to the fact that this is all that they are legally required to do. Maybe not though.

I'll be honest but it might be worth having a chat with a solicitor/CAB and seeing what they say too (+ other posters). On the face of it you've got a strong case (keep any receipts for taxi etc) but not sure on the legal aspects.

Oh and PS, did you ACCEPT the £50?! They won't send it out unless you accept it, and I'd be careful at doing so because you might be inadvertently accept it as a final settlement for your complaint (which would make it much harder to make any further complaints).

photome · 2 December 2017 at 7:59AM

If you Post in the airline comp bord you will get the answer

I think you are entitled to a refund of your taxi cost as long as s you have a receipt
AFAIK there is no other compensation payable

legowyn · 2 December 2017 at 1:02PM

Thanks for the responses. Glad it is not just me who finds this unreasonable/unfair. stuartJo1989, the flights were part of a package - I was with BA right the way through essentially on a single ticket, so it's definitely not something that I did that led me to missing the connecting flight. Even though there was clearly no chance I was making it, I still sprinted through the airport just on the offchance! I didn't accept the £50 - I would never have agreed to accept that. On your Gdansk flight, a delay of 4 hours should have resulted in compensation - thought the rule was 3 hours or more. Might be worth exploring again. Twitter/facebook etc are my next port of call to see if I can get anywhere.

photome · 2 December 2017 at 3:42PM

Do you have the taxi receipt

I would still ask for this post to moved to the correct forum where there are many knowledgeable people

Labsuper · 2 December 2017 at 4:40PM

Perhaps taking the bus (they run overnight) from Edinburgh airport to Glasgow city centre and then a cab to Glasgow airport would have been seen more favourably by BA cost wise? The £50 offered would cover it.