Return BA flight cancelled so we are stuck

eskbanker

bailey_uk said:

I am just a bit confused because a lot of replies on here suggested that I am entitled to the money back for the replacement flights?

You should be, but it sounds like you're going to have to fight for it!  Have they perhaps refunded the original flight costs rather than those for the replacement flight?  Do you have screenshot or other evidence that BA could only have got you home 4 days too late?  Did you contact them at the time?

bailey_uk

eskbanker said:

bailey_uk said:

I am just a bit confused because a lot of replies on here suggested that I am entitled to the money back for the replacement flights?

You should be, but it sounds like you're going to have to fight for it!  Have they perhaps refunded the original flight costs rather than those for the replacement flight?  Do you have screenshot or other evidence that BA could only have got you home 4 days too late?  Did you contact them at the time?

It's quite hard to properly prove that that was the only date without taking lots of screenshots at the time but yes I did take this one 

3 days later and 11h flight! 

eskbanker

Did you contact them at the time (to exercise your right to a reroute aka rebooking) or just look at their site and conclude that you'd need to book elsewhere?

Did their cancellation notification email clearly identify your options, i.e. refund or rebooking?

Did you at any point request a refund of the original flight costs or intimate in any way that this would be acceptable (instead of a refund of the (presumably higher) cost of the alternative flights)?

bailey_uk

eskbanker said:

Did you contact them at the time (to exercise your right to a reroute aka rebooking) or just look at their site and conclude that you'd need to book elsewhere?

Did their cancellation notification email clearly identify your options, i.e. refund or rebooking?

Did you at any point request a refund of the original flight costs or intimate in any way that this would be acceptable (instead of a refund of the (presumably higher) cost of the alternative flights)?

We didn't contact them no, just concluded ourselves that what they were offering was no good to us, with 3 kids.

The email said: 

After clicking Manage my booking that's when we saw it wasn't until Tuesday.

i was very careful not to accept at refund at all no.

bailey_uk

Here is their latest reply

bailey_uk

I have drafted a response but not sent yet

The fact is the earliest reroute option on Manage My Booking with the BA website was Tuesday (over 3 days later, And a 11 Hour journey) I have a screenshot proving this. 

It wasn't acceptable.

The cost of accommodation for 5 of us for 3 nights waiting for this suggested BA flight would of probably exceeded the swiss air flight money

I feel now that the only option would be for me to refer this case to the CEDR.

comeandgo

The correct English is would have not would of.

Voyager2002

bailey_uk said:

Here is their latest reply

bailey_uk said:

I have drafted a response but not sent yet

The fact is the earliest reroute option on Manage My Booking with the BA website was Tuesday (over 3 days later, And a 11 Hour journey) I have a screenshot proving this. 

It wasn't acceptable.

The cost of accommodation for 5 of us for 3 nights waiting for this suggested BA flight would of probably exceeded the swiss air flight money

I feel now that the only option would be for me to refer this case to the CEDR.

When writing your response, you might care to use the information about the legal position that Eskbanker provided in a recent post on a similar issue. This is what he said:
QUOTE
The requirement is actually worded as "re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity [or 'at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats']".

The regulations were originally EU legislation, and have now been incorporated into UK law, but it's unclear to me whether the EU's interpretative guidance is still likely to be applicable, in which there is further analysis of how the regulations should be interpreted - see section 4.2 at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/GA/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52016XC0615(01)

In these circumstances you should definitely expect the airline to book you onto another flight (at no extra cost to you) rather than it being an insurance job or a retrospective claim from the airline....
ENDQUOTE

eskbanker

Yes, unsurprisingly I agree with the above, i.e. you need to make it clear that they're not complying with their obligations, and exactly how that is - the wording of the regulations is mirrored in the 'right to rerouting' section at https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/legal/flight-cancellation-compensation so there's no real need to be citing legal references.  As above, the key point is to stress the requirement to get you to your destination at the earliest opportunity. 

CEDR will indeed be the escalation option, so you should make it clear that you're looking for them to settle your claim in full and that if they fail to do this then you require them to provide a final response to take to CEDR.

However, it's still unclear to me exactly what the size of the financial gaps are between what you're legally entitled to, what you've claimed and what they've offered, so you need to be clear about that when corresponding with them.  In particular, if you're still none the wiser about how they've calculated their current offer then you need to get to the bottom of that, in that if some of their current offer is a refund of the original flights then you're only entitled to the difference between those and the replacement flights, i.e. not full refunds for both, as covered in earlier posts.