British Airways Delay Compensation Refused

Lynne141

Hi,  My flight to Tenerife was delayed due to issue with aircraft.  Due to take off at 7.15am and delayed whilst a new plane and crew were organised to 2.30pm due to a technical fault that had not been repaired the day before.  In the meantime I rebooked via BA to the 1pm flight and have now been told that I am not due any compensation as I did not take the original flight.  I asked them to look a this again I was still 5 1/2 hours late reaching my destination due their delay but again has been refused as I did not fly the affected flight.  They pointed me to their website for guidance but this just said that I was entitled to compensation if I was 3 hours late or more.  It did not say that I had to fly the original delayed flight.  Should I continue to fight this? I feel they are fobbing me off.  

Voyager2002

Yes, they are fobbing you off and you should continue to fight this.

eskbanker

Lynne141 said:

Hi,  My flight to Tenerife was delayed due to issue with aircraft.  Due to take off at 7.15am and delayed whilst a new plane and crew were organised to 2.30pm due to a technical fault that had not been repaired the day before.  In the meantime I rebooked via BA to the 1pm flight and have now been told that I am not due any compensation as I did not take the original flight.  I asked them to look a this again I was still 5 1/2 hours late reaching my destination due their delay but again has been refused as I did not fly the affected flight.  They pointed me to their website for guidance but this just said that I was entitled to compensation if I was 3 hours late or more.  It did not say that I had to fly the original delayed flight.  Should I continue to fight this? I feel they are fobbing me off.  

I'm not convinced that you are due any compensation if you chose to rebook onto an alternative flight and the original one went ahead - I think rebooking effectively restarts the clock if the original flight isn't cancelled, although concede that it's not spelt out 100% clearly either way.

mdann52

Did you tell the airline you were rebooking, or give them the option to rebook you prior to travel?

Lynne141

Update: After my third attempt they have  agreed I am due the compensation and awarded £350 per person and also gave us 20,000 Avios.  So obviously I am very happy with that.  

Lynne141

eskbanker said:

Lynne141 said:

Hi,  My flight to Tenerife was delayed due to issue with aircraft.  Due to take off at 7.15am and delayed whilst a new plane and crew were organised to 2.30pm due to a technical fault that had not been repaired the day before.  In the meantime I rebooked via BA to the 1pm flight and have now been told that I am not due any compensation as I did not take the original flight.  I asked them to look a this again I was still 5 1/2 hours late reaching my destination due their delay but again has been refused as I did not fly the affected flight.  They pointed me to their website for guidance but this just said that I was entitled to compensation if I was 3 hours late or more.  It did not say that I had to fly the original delayed flight.  Should I continue to fight this? I feel they are fobbing me off.  

I'm not convinced that you are due any compensation if you chose to rebook onto an alternative flight and the original one went ahead - I think rebooking effectively restarts the clock if the original flight isn't cancelled, although concede that it's not spelt out 100% clearly either way.

eskbanker said:

Lynne141 said:

Hi,  My flight to Tenerife was delayed due to issue with aircraft.  Due to take off at 7.15am and delayed whilst a new plane and crew were organised to 2.30pm due to a technical fault that had not been repaired the day before.  In the meantime I rebooked via BA to the 1pm flight and have now been told that I am not due any compensation as I did not take the original flight.  I asked them to look a this again I was still 5 1/2 hours late reaching my destination due their delay but again has been refused as I did not fly the affected flight.  They pointed me to their website for guidance but this just said that I was entitled to compensation if I was 3 hours late or more.  It did not say that I had to fly the original delayed flight.  Should I continue to fight this? I feel they are fobbing me off.  

I'm not convinced that you are due any compensation if you chose to rebook onto an alternative flight and the original one went ahead - I think rebooking effectively restarts the clock if the original flight isn't cancelled, although concede that it's not spelt out 100% clearly either way.

They have awarded the compensation now plus 20,000 Avios.  Interestingly I re-booked with BA themselves so they could not really argue the point too much.  

Lynne141

mdann52 said:

Did you tell the airline you were rebooking, or give them the option to rebook you prior to travel?

I re-booked with BA themselves and they were aware of the issues when I did this but they have now conceded.  

Lynne141

Voyager2002 said:

Yes, they are fobbing you off and you should continue to fight this.

I have and they gave in  

eskbanker

Lynne141 said:

eskbanker said:

Lynne141 said:

Hi,  My flight to Tenerife was delayed due to issue with aircraft.  Due to take off at 7.15am and delayed whilst a new plane and crew were organised to 2.30pm due to a technical fault that had not been repaired the day before.  In the meantime I rebooked via BA to the 1pm flight and have now been told that I am not due any compensation as I did not take the original flight.  I asked them to look a this again I was still 5 1/2 hours late reaching my destination due their delay but again has been refused as I did not fly the affected flight.  They pointed me to their website for guidance but this just said that I was entitled to compensation if I was 3 hours late or more.  It did not say that I had to fly the original delayed flight.  Should I continue to fight this? I feel they are fobbing me off.  

I'm not convinced that you are due any compensation if you chose to rebook onto an alternative flight and the original one went ahead - I think rebooking effectively restarts the clock if the original flight isn't cancelled, although concede that it's not spelt out 100% clearly either way.

They have awarded the compensation now plus 20,000 Avios.  Interestingly I re-booked with BA themselves so they could not really argue the point too much.  

Fair enough, sounds like a result - out of curiosity, what were the timescales, i.e. did you rebook once it was already self-evident that the delay to your arrival would be at least three hours?

Lynne141

eskbanker said:

Lynne141 said:

eskbanker said:

Lynne141 said:

Hi,  My flight to Tenerife was delayed due to issue with aircraft.  Due to take off at 7.15am and delayed whilst a new plane and crew were organised to 2.30pm due to a technical fault that had not been repaired the day before.  In the meantime I rebooked via BA to the 1pm flight and have now been told that I am not due any compensation as I did not take the original flight.  I asked them to look a this again I was still 5 1/2 hours late reaching my destination due their delay but again has been refused as I did not fly the affected flight.  They pointed me to their website for guidance but this just said that I was entitled to compensation if I was 3 hours late or more.  It did not say that I had to fly the original delayed flight.  Should I continue to fight this? I feel they are fobbing me off.  

I'm not convinced that you are due any compensation if you chose to rebook onto an alternative flight and the original one went ahead - I think rebooking effectively restarts the clock if the original flight isn't cancelled, although concede that it's not spelt out 100% clearly either way.

They have awarded the compensation now plus 20,000 Avios.  Interestingly I re-booked with BA themselves so they could not really argue the point too much.  

Fair enough, sounds like a result - out of curiosity, what were the timescales, i.e. did you rebook once it was already self-evident that the delay to your arrival would be at least three hours?

Yes,  we were boarding the original aircraft already 2 hours late when the crew went out of hours and we were told that a new aircraft and crew were being arranged and it was expected to leave at 2.30pm.  I then saw a BA flight leaving at 1pm and phoned to see if we could get on it which they did.  This left on time but we still arrived 5 1/2 hours later than the earlier aircraft.