Advice on British Airways delay please

scrappydoo22

Hi everyone. First post here and just wanted to know if i was eligible for flight delay compensation as i keep getting conflicting information and i am not sure who else to ask!!

So in September we took a flight from Glasgow airport, connecting at London Heathrow with final destination Hong Kong. Our flight was booked with British airways directly. Unfortunately our Glasgow flight was delayed about 99mins which led to us missing our London to Hong Kong flight. British Airways automatically arranged for us to go on the Cathay Pacific flight which flew later that night. This was also delayed leading us to reach our final destination over 3 hours from our original arrival time. 

When we returned i contacted British airways who said my claim was unsuccessful and that the 99mins delay was due to operational reasons (slot delay and cabin crew rotation) and i was to contact Cathay Pacific regarding their delay. 

So my issue is that i booked with British Airway and that the time i reached my destination was over 3 hours late. Their original delay meant i missed my flight and they arranged the Cathay Pacific flight which was then also slightly delayed. Does anyone know if i have a claim and who i should be contacting? Thank you. 

eskbanker

Tricky one this, assuming that it was only the delay to the second flight that tipped you over the three hours - each airline will have caused less than three hours delay, although I think there is an argument that BA should be on the hook if you bought a through ticket with them and were due to be on their flights throughout.

The underlying reasons for the delays will also come into play, in terms of whether some or all can legitimately be categorised as extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control - "operational reasons" is meaningless in terms of allocating liability!  I'm not sure exactly what 'cabin crew rotation' is meant to mean but sounds within the airline's control, whereas 'slot delay' is likely to be something imposed by air traffic control and therefore outside the airline's control - do you know any more about how the 99 minutes is spread over each of the two separate delays, and anything about the reason for the Cathay Pacific one?

scrappydoo22

thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately i dont remember the reason for Cathay Pacific flight being delayed but it was not delayed long at all. i dont feel that Cathay is at fault here and we booked with British Airways so they should be the ones who answer to us but we feel that they are trying to fob us off.. To me cabin crew rotation sounds like their issue and thats likely then caused the slot delay as they had missed their time slot.. hmmm dont know where to go with this and dont know who to ask either... 

eskbanker

Yes, it's not obvious to me that either airline is fully liable or even that a claim is valid - when there is any claim, it's against the operating air carrier rather than the one with whom you booked, so if you're separately delayed by two different carriers then that muddies the water, but as above I can see the argument that the fact that BA shunted you onto Cathay Pacific as a result of their delay ought to leave any liability with them (BA).

If BA have rejected your claim and done so with a final response then you can escalate to their nominated ADR provider, CEDR, or you might want to try posting over on the FlyerTalk forum, where there's some good experience of BA, CEDR and the delay regulations, as well as insider knowledge of actual delay reasons (albeit maybe not for several months ago):

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2106171-2023-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-ec261-uk261.html

Caz3121

scrappydoo22 said:

When we returned i contacted British airways who said my claim was unsuccessful and that the 99mins delay was due to operational reasons (slot delay and cabin crew rotation) and i was to contact Cathay Pacific regarding their delay. 

airlines will often split out the delay times. eg If your final arrival time after the Cathay flight was 3 hours and 30 minutes late for example and they say that the 'slot delay' (Air Traffic restrictions?) was 31 mins + then the accountable delay would be under 3 hours so no compensation

Clownnewb

Hey there! Welcome to the forum! 😊 That sounds like a real hassle. I'd suggest reaching out to a flight compensation service—they usually know the ins and outs better than the airlines. Good luck! ✈️