Booked flights via BA

jenemily

I booked flights from London - Antigua - Beef Island all through BA. The connecting flights Antigua-Beef island were on an Intercarribbean airline flight. 

On the return journey, the Intercarribbean flight from Torsola-Antigua was delayed by 4 hours which caused us to miss our connecting BA flight as they were not able to wait for us. 

We were stuck in Antigua for 24 hours until the next flight back to London. We booked a hotel, taxis and meals. 

I filed a compensation claim with BA on 27th February 2024 and after a huge delay they have finally responded today to say that because the flight was operated by Intercarribbean, that they will not pay any expenses or compensation. 

Do I have any rights to compensation from BA, as they are the operator that I booked the entire journey with? Intercarribbean are notoriously bad at customer service and now there is a huge delay in filing a claim from them, I do not feel optimistic that they will do anything. 

We also have holiday insurance but I'm not sure it would be covered as the policy states that the airline should pay the compensation in these circumstances. 

eskbanker

The UK261 flight delay/cancellation regulations are clear that it's the operating carrier that's responsible for any compensation or reimbursement, rather than the one issuing the ticket.

However, if your issue arose as a result of a delay that's outside the scope of UK261, your insurer should pick up the tab, as there isn't any recovery available from the airline (unless there's anything within their conditions of carriage or the legislation governing their operations?).