BA refused my claim citing COVID-19 as reason.

mikewill34

I was due to fly home from Israel on 1st April 2022.

When I arrived at the airport the check in board said my flight was cancelled. First I had heard of this despite BA having my phone number (for SMS notifications) and my email address.

They bussed us off to a hotel for the night, when we got to the hotel we could not check in immediately.
We were NOT informed about what was happening. We were all left in limbo.
On the 2nd we all gathered in the lobby wondering what the heck was happening.
Eventually a bus turned up to take us to the airport.

We were kept in the dark through 99% of this process.

Below is the body of the email I received today.
Can they do this to me?
Can I dispute this elsewhere?

I thought that all restrictions were dropped at this time. I did not have to do any PCR or LF tests to get back in the UK.

Email from BA below ------

"Thanks for contacting us about your claim for EU compensation. We’re very sorry it was necessary to delay your flight to London Heathrow.

Your claim's been refused because flight BA164 was delayed as a direct result of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19.

At the time your flight was scheduled to operate, many of our crew had tested positive for COVID-19 or were having to isolate in line with restrictions imposed by the UK Government. This caused a general shortage of crew.

We took all reasonable measures to avoid cancelling the flight by arranging for standby crew to operate your flight.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an external factor, which is beyond the control of the airline and is an “extraordinary circumstance”. It is not inherent in the normal activity of the airline and could not have been anticipated.

Since the delay to the flight was caused by restrictions imposed as a result of a global pandemic, in accordance with the provisions of EC Regulation 261/2004, I'm afraid this means you are not entitled to receive EU compensation on this occasion."

Westin

I think they are pushing the boundaries of excuses on this one and that EU261/UK261 flight compensation should be paid in your case.

Do a double check with Botts Online, enter your flight details and see if they think a valid case.  Do not however use them for the claim - just use their checking tool.

You can probably find sufficient news online to show that BA have been experiencing cabin crew shortages. Some perhaps to covid sickness but mainly I believe that they are just woefully under staffed.  They use covid as an excuse to lay off thousands of crews who had been on long term ‘legacy style’ contracts of employments and offer then to rehire on much lower paid ones.  Many old staff refused and BA have been struggling since to recruit and train others. Base pay on one of their new recruitment fleets is £15,966 - and they wonder why they can’t find people.

You will also find media reports that BA have leased in aircraft and crews from other airlines to cover BA flights (Iberia Express, Finnair, Titan). Also that they are opening a crew base in Madrid to recruit cabin crew. These will then be flown to UK and be based here for 4/5 dates to operate services.

With some supporting documents I would personally resubmit your claim for delay compensation to give them one further chance to paid.  Failing that ask for a deadlock letter and take the matter to their resolution service.