British Airways denied boarding - refusal to rebook and refusal to compensate

eskbanker

sheramber said:

That is what OP wants but BA are saying the compensation is not per flight but per journey. So only one amount due.

They have  ignored flight refund. 

Yes, I'm trying to help OP convince BA otherwise....

The principle of multiple compensation payments being due for a journey was established in A and Others v Finnair Oyj Case C-832/18 (albeit a cancellation then a delay to the rebooked flight in that particular example) so if that's BA's argument then it doesn't hold water, although OP's frustration appears to stem from BA's failure to clearly articulate a cogent case and they simply keep deploying non-sequiturs!

Madthinker

marcia_ said:

 I couldn't read that, far too long. Why were you denied boarding? Because you checked in late? 

Unfortunately, it's a long one.  I think I managed to summarise the key detail in the OP.

For the first flight (1st Jan), I was denied boarding because some of the airport staff believed I presented myself for check-in late (i.e. arrived late to queue).  That said, (a) it's not true, (b) the check in lady also told me there was no seat for me due to a plane change, (c) a BA twitter rep confirmed that it was due to a flight change, (d) other airport staff later accepted that I'd been in the queue early enough, following the text message evidence and (e) BA have accepted fault by their issuance of statutory compensation and confirming overbooking as the reason.

For the second flight (4th Jan), I was denied boarding because the booking that had been confirmed for 4th Jan over the phone had been moved to 6th without my knowledge (and contrary to BA's check-in page, which still said 4th Jan).

Madthinker

Emmia said:

I haven't read all of it, but my interpretation is that the OP was due to fly on 1 January, but was denied boarding. BA have refunded the flight cost.

The OP bought a second flight, but was again denied boarding. This flight was transferred to another date and the OP flew home. BA is not refunding the cost of this flight, as ultimately the OP was flown home.

The OP seems to want the second flight also refunded, but this is a higher level of "compensation" than BA are willing to offer.

OP why (on both occasions) were you denied boarding?

Is it that you were late (BA deemed you late) both times? Something else?

I think your questions have been answered by later answers.

But just to clarify - BA have neither offered compensation for the original flight (c£550 cost), nor the rebooked flight which eventually took place on 6th Jan (£911 cost).

Madthinker

HampshireH said:

Emmia said:

I haven't read all of it, but my interpretation is that the OP was due to fly on 1 January, but was denied boarding. BA have refunded the flight cost.

The OP bought a second flight, but was again denied boarding. This flight was transferred to another date and the OP flew home. BA is not refunding the cost of this flight, as ultimately the OP was flown home.

The OP seems to want the second flight also refunded, but this is a higher level of "compensation" than BA are willing to offer.

OP why (on both occasions) were you denied boarding?

Is it that you were late (BA deemed you late) both times? Something else?

OP was denied boarding on flight 1 because BA overbooked the flight and decided they would bump OP off it. OP was in the check in queue on time. No online option was available 

OP was denied boarding on flight 2 because despite having confirmation they had been booked on the flight the check in desk told them they had infact only been put on a waiting list and were bumped off again. OP arrived early to check in. No online option was available 

OP then booked a 3rd flight for 2 days later meaning they didn't fly until 6th Jan due to BA failing to either communicate clearly both on the phone and written communication or deciding to bump the OP without notification 

Spot on, thanks.

Madthinker

silvercar said:

You may want to visit [redacted]

Many threads on there for denied boarding on BA flights and what to do.

In short it seems to me that you are entitled to denied boarding compensation for your flight on 1st Jan. on 4th of Jan you were given information that led you to believe you had a confirmed seat for the 4th, but this wasn’t actually ticketed. By the time it got to being processed there were no seats available and so you weren’t given a ticket. This lead to a ticket being booked for the 6th. 

I can’t work out of the £520 is a refund of your first ticket or a compensation for being denied boarding on the 1st. Either way your total compensation should be denied boarding plus any out of pocket expenses - generally accommodation and meals. You should only have had to pay for one flight, so should get a refund of the flight on 4th if that has been charged, plus the flight on the 6th refunded IF the £520 is denied boarding compensation. If the £520 is a refund of that flight on the 1st, then you would expect to pay for the flight on the 6th. Not sure if you are also entitled to something for a delay in arrival of over 4 hours.

Thanks - I will check out the link

The £520 BA provided was in respect of the first flight (1st Jan) - it took a great deal of back and forth with BA in order to get them to answer that question. £520 is the statutory amount, and doesn't tally with the original flight cost (c£550), so must be compensation rather than refund.

The charge for the flight of 4th the never went through.  It was the charge for the final flight of 6th that cost me an additional £911.

So, I think you are saying that I should be refunded the cost of the flight of 6th Jan (£911), but you don't believe any further compensation is due?

Madthinker

sheramber said:

The OP is claiming  compensationif the ‘ second flight’
 

But 
The lady said there was nothing she could do, but the payment intended to have been made when booking the flight for 4th had not gone through.  A new payment would need to be made - now increased to £911.36 in order to secure a flight on 6th Jan

It is not clear if he is referring to second flight for 4 Jan  - which charge did not go through- or the 6Jan - the third mentioned flight which he took.

Summary

booked flight 1 Jan and paid £550

was denied boarding . Various different reasons given but appears to have been overbooked.

phone booking told definitely booked on flight 4 Jan. Could  not board as has been booked onto waiting list and no seats available. Payment for this flight did not go through

O P claiming compensation for denied boarding but was only on waiting list.

Booked on flight for 6 Jan at cost of £911.36 and flew home on that flight.  Claiming refund of this cost

BA  offered compensation of £520 

Sorry, yes, by second flight, I meant 4th Jan.  By 3rd flight, I mean 6th Jan - I was not offered any earlier flight, and to secure it, I had to pay the £911 there and then.

Madthinker

eskbanker said:

Assuming OP is able to demonstrate that they were present early enough to comply with minimum checkin times, etc, then denial of boarding triggers both fixed-rate compensation (£520pp for this) under article 7 and rebooking or refund under article 8:

[redacted]

Therefore, when refusing boarding of the first flight, BA's obligation wasn't simply to pay £520 compensation, but also to rebook OP onto another flight at their (BA's) expense, so if OP paid to do that then this higher ticket cost should be recoverable from BA.

Unless I'm misreading the lengthy posts (and, like others, it's entirely plausible that I missed details within all that), OP is indeed due two separate sets of £520 compensation and any money spent on tickets over and above the original purchase.

Thanks for the link.

I don't think I can demonstrate that I was early enough to comply with minimum check in times (I had not even considered the need to record any evidence).  The texts to my wife "I am in a long queue" were the first record of any potential issue.  The timestamps do show that I was early enough to be there when they were supposedly still calling people through.

Isn't this a moot point though - if BA have confirmed overbooking and provided compensation (for the flight of 1st), then would it not automatically follow that they also are required to rebook (and therefore required to compensate for the refusal to rebook).

Caz3121

Madthinker said:

So, I think you are saying that I should be refunded the cost of the flight of 6th Jan (£911), but you don't believe any further compensation is due?

I would agree with that 
I am surprised that a rebooking (at no cost to yourself) was not dealt with at the airport at the time which would usually be the case. Was this refused as they considered you late?
Note that the cutoff is when you get to the front of the queue at the desk not when you arrive at the airport or are in the queue. If you got to the desk after cutoff then they are under no obligation to rebook you. 
however the fact that they have now paid you compensation for being denied boarding...for which you need to have been at the desk before closure should help your case for the refund of the replacement flight although I suspect it will not be without a bit of a battle.

Madthinker

eskbanker said:

sheramber said:

That is what OP wants but BA are saying the compensation is not per flight but per journey. So only one amount due.

They have  ignored flight refund. 

Yes, I'm trying to help OP convince BA otherwise....

The principle of multiple compensation payments being due for a journey was established in A and Others v Finnair Oyj Case C-832/18 (albeit a cancellation then a delay to the rebooked flight in that particular example) so if that's BA's argument then it doesn't hold water, although OP's frustration appears to stem from BA's failure to clearly articulate a cogent case and they simply keep deploying non-sequiturs!

Great - thanks, I'll look at that case later, but on the face of it, it's exactly what I need.

Madthinker

Caz3121 said:

Madthinker said:

So, I think you are saying that I should be refunded the cost of the flight of 6th Jan (£911), but you don't believe any further compensation is due?

I would agree with that 
I am surprised that a rebooking (at no cost to yourself) was not dealt with at the airport at the time which would usually be the case. Was this refused as they considered you late?
Note that the cutoff is when you get to the front of the queue at the desk not when you arrive at the airport or are in the queue. If you got to the desk after cutoff then they are under no obligation to rebook you. 
however the fact that they have now paid you compensation for being denied boarding...for which you need to have been at the desk before closure should help your case for the refund of the replacement flight although I suspect it will not be without a bit of a battle.

Does that not incentivise airlines, when they know they have an overbooking issue, to prevent people checking in online, and dealing extremely slowly with the queue?  Which seems to be exactly what happened in my case.