Cancelled Flight

Don100

Hi..our flight got cancelled just hours before our flight from Inverness to our connecting in Heathrow. We were meant to fly on Thursday 30th March 2022 to Heathrow and then onward to Orlando to catch a cruise in Miami on the 2nd of April. The wife noticed an email around 4am as she woke up telling us our flight was cancelled from Inverness. We looked at BA site and it said they weren't open till 8am 3 hrs before the flight. We went too Inverness Airport and got help to contact BA. We were told by BA that couldn't get any other flights either today or tomorrow (Friday). We needed to catch a cruise on Saturday from Miami. We weren't offered any alternative flights. So we had to organise new flights, obviously Inverness is limited in flights and any

Don100

We tried other flights out but nothing. We eventually had to get flights out of Glasgow (3 hr train journey away) and over nights stay in a hotel. Also had to get more covid test which cost £200 for 3 adults and one child. The flights were with Icelandair and cost just over £4000 for the 4 of us one way!!! To Orlando. We had to take the flights as were in a huge panic to catch the cruise!!!! Instead of getting an extra day in Orlando we had arrived after midnight on Saturday and had an early rush to catch the boat. I have put a claim into British Airways for the cost incurred. Do you think they will honor it??? Its a lot of extra money we had to put out and the wife managed to put the flights on her credit card. It also left us short for our holiday of a life time as we had a week booked in Orlando after the cruise. We are worried they won't pay up.

JPears

Under EU 261/2004 BA are obliged to put you on alternative flights, at their expense, ideally the same day.

Clearly BA chose not to be available to arrange this for you and you had to take the matter into your own hands.

They should cover all of your additional flight costs, and in my opinion should pay you 261/2004 compensation for the inconvenience. (flight times dependent)

This is on the assumption that you had booked a thru ticket with BA from Inverness to Orlando?

Also post up your original cancelled flight times and your re-arrange flight times. This could help.

Alan_Bowen

I don't think there will be any link between the BA flight and the Icelandair flights at all in which case your claim from BA is limited to getting to and from Heathrow. BA are clearly in a mess at the moment and Inverness is one of the domestic routes that appear to be suffering from a lot of cancellations

JPears

Alan_Bowen said:

I don't think there will be any link between the BA flight and the Icelandair flights at all in which case your claim from BA is limited to getting to and from Heathrow. BA are clearly in a mess at the moment and Inverness is one of the domestic routes that appear to be suffering from a lot of cancellations

Alan, on the assumption (yet to be confirmed by OP) that the journey Inverness to Orlando via Heathrow was booked as a through ticket on BA , I would have thought BA were liable for the cost of the replacement full flights with IcelandAir?

Alan_Bowen

If it was all on one ticket, yes there would be a liability but Icelandair are not partners with BA, who would want you to fly with them or AA to the States and either the customer has put this together themselves or more likely booked with some overseas agency that they didn't realise was overseas and BA will have no knowledge of where they are going after Heathrow, nor be in the slightest bit concerned!

Westin

I interpret from OP’s posts that they originally likely booked INV/LHR/MCO (plus return) and the INV/LHR sector was cancelled.

BA unable to offer alternative method to get to LHR to catch onward LHR/MCO.  I suspect (and hope) one thru ticket.

OP then made alternative arrangements to get to Florida themselves and booked Icelandair GLA/REK/MCO.  They state this was one way on FI.

OP asking and seeking compensation.  I think that likely given BA’s current stuff-ups on operations. At least EU/UK261. Perhaps a bit of push and pull on the £4k replacement flight tickets.

I hope the OP told BA of their intentions and that OP and family still wish and intend to use the MCO/LHR/INV sectors.  If not, a call to BA may be required to avoid disappointment at MCO check in post cruise.