Flight cancellation - complicated

ceritos

Bought tickets through Avianca.com for Edinburgh to Bogotá. BA flight to London then Avianca to Colombia. No issues on outward flight at the start of July.

Got an email from BA on the 5th of July saying that the BA flight from LHR to EDI had been cancelled but they had booked us on the next available flight. They then listed LHR to BOG flight (which we'd already been on) and the 'new' flight - the difference being 10min later arrival time. They then listed the upcoming BOG to LHR with a 'new' flight leaving 5 mins earlier than planned. Finally they listed the LHR to EDI flight with no 'new' flight. The email finished saying if we booked with a travel agent we'd have to contact them.

Fast forward to check in at Bogotá airport 13 days ago and the Avianca staff told us (after being asked) that our bags would not go straight through to Edinburgh. I queried this as this had never happened before and that was the whole reason of getting the flights on one ticket. She left and came back 10 mins later to tell us the BA flight had been cancelled to we'd have to pick up our bags from Terminal 2.and sort it out with BA. At this stage just thought of a bit of hassle and getting home a few hours late.

Got to Heathrow, picked up our bags and went to the BA desk at T5 to be told it was Avianca's fault as we booked the tickets with them. BA seemed to ignore their emails which I showed them. No apology, food or drinks. Had to quickly book a Travelodge and a train (no reservations so standing only) to Edinburgh along with 3 taxis to get home the next day. There were no flights to Scotland from either Heathrow or Gatwick for 3 days.

Subsequently heard a couple had a BA flight delayed (9 hours or so delay) from LHR to Edinburgh the day before. They kicked up a fuss and got a taxi to Stirling (£1400).

Does anyone know who is culpable here?

Thanks.

 

Alan_Bowen

It is the operating carrier, BA in this case, that cancelled the flight. There is evidence of a huge problem at LHR in that the staff do not seem to understand how to ticket.  BA has an agreement for the route to EDI that they, BA, can issue tickets on LNER to replace the flights, if they refused, then claim your compensation and expenses from them. 

bagand96

Just to check, when you say the email on the 5th of July had "no new" flight for LHR-EDI, did it show the old flight details, or did it show no flight at all?

CKhalvashi

This will be BA's problem to deal with as the carrier operating that sector.

There were no BA flights to Scotland, or no flights at all to Scotland for 3 days? At a worst case I'd have thought you'd have been booked onto Loganair (who codeshare with BA) to get to Scotland should there be no BA services available.

As above, there is an LNER agreement in place with BA and tickets should have been issued once all other options had been exhausted.

ceritos

bagand96 said:

Just to check, when you say the email on the 5th of July had "no new" flight for LHR-EDI, did it show the old flight details, or did it show no flight at all?

 It had only one entry - the original planned flight with cancelled above it.

ceritos

CKhalvashi said:

This will be BA's problem to deal with as the carrier operating that sector.

There were no BA flights to Scotland, or no flights at all to Scotland for 3 days? At a worst case I'd have thought you'd have been booked onto Loganair (who codeshare with BA) to get to Scotland should there be no BA services available.

As above, there is an LNER agreement in place with BA and tickets should have been issued once all other options had been exhausted.

 No spare seats on any flights to Scotland on any airline I presume - the BA employee did the checking.

ceritos

The BA letter

bagand96

It appears they never rebooked you on to any replacemt LON-EDI service when the schedule change occurred.

Did you get in contact with them or Avianca at any time between receiving the email on 5th of July and flying on 29th July?

You did get 14 days notice so no compensation due. However BA are responsible for your replacement travel expenses. 

ceritos

True,they never rescheduled us (though the email says they had done).

The text below is not shown above in the image but is at the end of the email

"If you've arranged your trip with a travel agency, please talk to them directly."


As we booked with an airline (not a travel agency) and due to the fact that BA told us (at the start of the email) they'd rebooked us we contacted no one and simply imagined getting into Edinburgh a few hours later than expected (on a later flight from Heathrow).

If the email had said something like

"Your flight has been cancelled. If you booked with BA directly then we will book you on the next available flight and let you know when this will be within the next few days. If you booked through a third party then you will need to contact them to rebook".

I"d have contacted Avianca there and then.

The muddled liist of past / future / old / new flights is also something they need to look at.

bagand96

So it seems that after 5th July you didn't have a LON-EDI flight.  It would have been interesting to see what the Manage My Booking looked like on both Avianca and BA websites.  It's also strange you didn't receive a notification from Avianca, assuming it was an Avianca reservation/PNR.

Personally I'd have acted upon the email given it didn't show a replacement flight.  Although tracking down BA customer service in the UK during their office hours is a challenge enough, let alone whilst travelling.  Perhaps getting in touch with Avianca would have been easier/more productive.  But had you contacted them on or around 5th July you may have been able to get re-booked on something by BA.

It's all academic though as it doesn't change the fact that BA are liable for your replacement travel costs.  You can put in a claim here Expenses and compensation | Information | British Airways   You could also try a claim for compensation just to see if it works (I still think it won't be payable as 14 days notice given)

tightauldgit

It seems weird to me that you booked with avianca and yet BA are informing you of changes to your itinerary. The email they sent to you seems to be clear that they cancelled your flight and didn't rebook you on anything so I would definitely have contacted them ASAP after getting that. 

It's a weird one to say the least. It does look like someone at BA messed up. I think all you can do is put in your claim and see what happens.