Last minute cancellation by British Airways

DoboChopSueyBar

Hello,

Me and my other half were due to fly from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow this morning on BA (departing AUH 1025am) but i received an email from BA just after midnight today that the flight was cancelled because of "flight serviceability" & to call them to rebook on a different flight or get a refund (outbound).

But when i called them at 2am, they were unable to book me on any direct partner airline Etihad Flights as they were full. Yet strangely the 1040am direct AUH-LHR was showing availability on etihad.com. When I pointed this out to BA agent, she advised me to book the flights myself and claim back the flights costs myself through ba.com/claims. So I did this and arrived into LHR this pm without any issues. I was NOT offered any alternative flight(s) by BA nor did any show up on 'manage my booking" on ba.com (i booked direct with BA). I paid roughly £1700 for 2 tickets with Etihad

My question is, are BA likely to settle this claim in my favour or will they try to fob me off by simply refunding me the oubound flights cost (it was a return ticket)? 

eskbanker

DoboChopSueyBar said:

My question is, are BA likely to settle this claim in my favour or will they try to fob me off by simply refunding me the oubound flights cost (it was a return ticket)? 

They might try to fob you off but don't fall for it, they're obliged to pay for the new replacement flights so don't accept a refund if that's less.

jimi_man

They should be fine with this, especially as the agent advised you to do it. Assuming there were were no other routes home (I'm surprised they didn't suggest a taxi to DXB and then back from there on BA but maybe they were full too) then I don't think you'll have any problems.

I'm guessing you'll want the expenses (Etihad flights) as well as the EU261? Just make sure that you do the separate claims for each and don't lump it together as they'll refuse one of the other. Keep the wording short - maximum of one or two lines of what happened - and wait. 

DoboChopSueyBar

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Wasn't aware that i could be eligible for an EU261 claim as well, when claiming for this what amount do I need mention? 

eskbanker

DoboChopSueyBar said:

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Wasn't aware that i could be eligible for an EU261 claim as well, when claiming for this what amount do I need mention? 

You'd claim under the UK variant of the regulations, at £520pp for a flight of over 3500km (if you need to specify a figure in the claim).

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/5
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/7

jimi_man

DoboChopSueyBar said:

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Wasn't aware that i could be eligible for an EU261 claim as well, when claiming for this what amount do I need mention? 

In the ones I've done they don't ask for the amount. 

DoboChopSueyBar

Does anyone have any idea roughly how long it takes for BA to process claims?

I submitted both claims online on 1st Aug and when tracking the claim, still getting the standard 'We’ve received your case and it’s currently in the queue. We’ll look at it as soon as we can' message.Their phone support are next to useless as they don't have a scoobie wrt processing timeframes

Cheers

mdann52

Sometimes it's days, sometimes it's months. It seems to depend on how much you write, the more you write the longer it takes.

After 8 weeks, you can go to CEDR, BA's ADR provider, but they have delays as well.

DoboChopSueyBar

Update: For the second time, BA have closed my case for EU261 compensation:



No further details provided, no email received (yes checked my spam folders). When this happened first time 2-3 weeks ago (again no explanation provided), the BA agent over phone advised me to re-open case online and ask for explanation. So i did that and yet BA have done the same thing again. 

The claim for replacement flights is still waiting to be processed - i submitted 2 separate claims as advised earlier by jimi_man. 

So it appears BA are refusing the EU261 claim altogether or want to lump EU261 claim together with replacement flights? I'm a bit hesitant on updating the other claim online as adding any new info will automatically put claim on back of queue. I guess best thing to do for now is wait for other claim to be processed and then take it from there?

Thanks.

Edit: BA chat agent has advised me they've closed 2nd claim (EU261) and merged 2 claims into 1. Let's hope i get something wrt EU261...

JPears

Merging claims can cause problems.

Perhaps in the meantime, suss out with ADR BA is signed up to.

And start researching small claims process ( I had to resort to this a few years ago)

DoboChopSueyBar

BA finally sent the funds into my UAE bank account this morning - they paid me both the full cost of replacement flights and also EU261 compo (made 2 separate payments). Panic over! (I genuinely thought they would try to shaft me one way or another wrt claims). Don't think I'll be using them again when flying from the UAE, given the frequency of direct flights on Etihad or Emirates to LHR (I don't mind flying out of DXB if I have to)