BA Triple whammy!

samtheman1k

Hi All, I'm hoping someone can clarify the claims process for a flight from hell with BA last month.

We had flights to Houston booked since last year, Club Class using Avios. 

2 days before take off, BA cancelled the flight, and rerouted via Dallas.  The scheduled take off was 2 hours earlier, which I believe means I can claim compensation for this. 

Upon boarding, a passenger board the plane, so they had to check all the luggage, meaning it took off 2 hours late, and we missed the connection in Dallas.  BA put us up in a hotel, and got us an economy flight from Dallas-Houston the following day.  This means we arrived around 20 hours late (after a 5 hour wait for a hotel in Dallas, but that's another story!).  But we were also downgraded from Club to economy on the connecting flight (business was available, but fully booked). 

My question is, would a passenger not boarding the plane be classed as a security risk, and thus not claimable?  They ultimately found the luggage on the floor, so it wasn't even in the plane

From what I understand, we can claim:
Cancelled flight
Delayed flight
Downgrade.

I believe these are all accumulative too.  

Should I put in a claim for all 3, or claim individually?

Thanks!

eskbanker

samtheman1k said:

My question is, would a passenger not boarding the plane be classed as a security risk, and thus not claimable?  They ultimately found the luggage on the floor, so it wasn't even in the plane

I imagine it would - it's very much standard practice to ensure that all checked-in baggage is accompanied on the flight by its owner, so when someone fails to board, removal of such bags is routine, for obvious security reasons.  However, if the baggage hadn't actually been loaded then they should have known that, so that reason shouldn't really apply, i.e. the situation was within their control.

samtheman1k said:

From what I understand, we can claim:
Cancelled flight
Delayed flight
Downgrade.

I believe these are all accumulative too.  

Should I put in a claim for all 3, or claim individually?

The cancellation compensation should be due, but as above the delay one may be more questionable, not sure what any precedent says about such scenarios though.  Downgrade claim should also be settled, but I believe would be based on the value of that specific leg rather than the overall journey, and you presumably don't have a cost for that if it wasn't originally booked as a connecting flight?

samtheman1k

Hi, just to let you know where I am with this and some more advice.  It looks like BA are agreeing to the first 2 conditions, but they have said that as the 2nd flight as part of the reroute was with AA, not BA, that I need to go to AA for a refund on the downgrade.  It was booked by BA as economy, not an in-plane downgrade if you know what I mean.  

I'm not clear on this. I only booked one flight through BA, from LHR to Houston.  They decided to reroute me via Dallas, and put me on an AA flight from Dallas to Houston (and downgraded me), so shouldn't BA thus be liable for the downgrade refund, not BA, as I've never booked anything with AA myself? The flight is in my BA account etc., I don't even have an AA account and the ticket number is a BA ticket number, not AA?

eskbanker

Strictly speaking, all liabilities under the UK 261 regulations rest with the operating carrier rather than the ticket issuer, but if it was only ever an economy booking with AA then I'd go back to BA and highlight that AA can't realistically be held liable here if the downgrade was at BA's instigation up front, rather than something imposed by AA on the day.