Still trying to claim from BA

NinetiesChild

Hello fellow MoneySavers, I wonder if you can help here. My family and I (me, partner and 2 kids ages 3 years and 8 months at the time), were booked on a flight from Heathrow to Chicago on 1 Aug 24. We boarded the flight and were waiting on the runway but then were delayed in taking off due to the storm that passed over England that day (it caused lots of disruption, was on the news etc.). The storm didn’t last long however and so once it passed Heathrow, we were back in the queue for departure (at this point still on the runway). However, after about 4 hours of waiting, the pilot came on the plane’s speaker to let us know that we couldn’t wait in the queue any longer because the flight crew had run out of working hours and so couldn’t travel to Chicago. There were no replacement crew on standby and so as a result the flight had to be cancelled. I have contacted BA to request compensation for me and my family but they have said the cancellation was due to adverse weather and so we aren’t eligible. I did reply to this outcome, reiterating that the flight wasn’t cancelled because of the weather - once the storm passed, we were put into a queue on the runway and were waiting to depart - but instead because the flight crew ran out of working hours. BA have still refused my claim so I wonder if anyone here can offer any advice? Many thanks. 

Exodi

Unfortunately I think there is no mileage in your claim. 

There is no disagreement that adverse weather conditions caused the delay. Whether BA had sufficient armies of pilots on standby is a relatively irrelevant point to argue and comes across more as trying it on.

You could raise a complaint on Resolver/CAA/ADR, but I think it would honestly be a waste of everyone's time.

Presumably you managed to get where you needed in the end so I wonder the motivation to bring this back up 10.5 months on?

Westin

The weather was the initial cause of the delay.  I don't think EU/UK 261 compensation is payable although you should have been offered 'care' once off the aircraft whilst waiting for an alternative flight.

BA will of had standby crews at LHR but I suspect with any major event that these spare crews are used up quickly.  

saajan_12

Whether its reasonable or not, I understand its the original cause of the delay that's counted, not whether they could have done anything to ameliorate it. 
From the recent proposed changes in the EU flight delay compensation regs, its changing for the worse not the better in terms of the length of delay that's in scope.