Flight delay and cancellation compensation, BA ONLY

17475777980268

Comments

  • Hi all,

    My first post and hopefully in the right forum thread for the following questions.

    Couple of months back, I flew out from Leeds, via LHR to New York JFK. On the journey out, my checked in baggage was not checked into the connecting flight, which meant I was without spare set of clothes for a couple of days. Although they eventually arrived, later than they had originally told me, It nearly prevented me from attending a vital family function that I had originally flown out to see. I can deal with BA eventually getting me my luggage, but the service upto and including getting my luggage was dreadful, none existent at times when making inquiries and trying to get updates.

    With this aside and thinking that was a small blip in the BA service I expected my return flight to go without any problems......

    So the flight back from New York JFK to LHR was fine, until we landed at LHR at about 6:30 in the morning. There was another BA flight that had not departed from the stand my flight was due at, for some technical issues, this delayed me and resulted in missing the connecting flight back to Leeds. So rather than arriving at 8:30, I eventually arrived for about 14:50 in the afternoon. Just in time to rush and collect all my baggage (thankfully it all arriving correctly this time) to get back to the car and avoiding further airport car parking fees...

    From what I have understood on the EU law about flight delays, BA are obliged to pay compensation for the delay caused. However given all of the above what really can I claim for. I'm unclear if I can claim compensation for entire return journey, so JFK to LHR to LBA or is it just from LHR to LBA?? As I was on a BA flight from JFK, via LHR to LBA which is a EU airline coming into a EU airport, so does this mean that this leg of the journey counts to the compensation??

    I would be grateful of any advice with regards to this.

    Thanks


    p.s I understand the inconvenience for the baggage being lost a separate matter but still will be taking this up with them.
  • Just to share with you all for my successful claim for delayed compensation from BA after 5 email/letters exchange. The first four email replies from BA that each time they said I am not entitled to compensation as the delay was due to extraordinary ciscumstances. Here is my last email to BA and the result came before the end of 10 working days.

    "Thank you for your email in responding to my letter of 1/5/2014.
    I don’t believe that an aircraft damaged by lightning on a previous flight is considered an extraordinary circumstance as you would have been reported by the previous crew that the lightning event had occurred and that you would have time to inspect and effect any repair prior to the next flight. The fact is that BA are lack of processes in place in keeping flight schedules in the event of such as this and had failed to do so which caused the delayed flight.
    I would like to point out that the lightning strike took place on a previous flight which had nothing to do with BA025. If the lightning strike were to happen during the flight preparation or taxing to the runway then I would agree that it is due to extraordinary circumstances. I have done some research and understood that this lightning strike happened on a previous flight is not constituted an extraordinary circumstance. BA should have processes in place to manage this type of events and should have allowed sufficient time between incoming flight and the next flight (rather than over scheduling flights) in order to repair aircraft such as this.
    You have not proved to me that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided. BA could have avoided the delay if inspection and repair were taken earlier or allowed more time between a previous flight and the next flight.
    In conclusion, I would ask BA to honour the compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this delayed flight within the next 10 days. If I do not receive a satisfactory response, I will have no option other than pursue my claim through a small claim court and let a judge to decide if this delay is caused by an extraordinary circumstance."

    BA have paid the €300 in compensation.
  • Vauban
    Vauban Posts: 4,736
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    You were delayed less than 4 hours, presumably?
  • scotty2c
    scotty2c Posts: 9
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    scott2c can you say what was the cause of the delay you suffered?
    Sorry for the delay, in replying, I don't check these boards.

    It was a long time ago so I don't really remember. It was probably a technical fault on the incoming plane. It was also not long after them strikes a few years ago so possibly a knock on effect.

    I was well looked after by BA and given loads of food and drink vouchers at the time and was put onto the next connecting flight into Newcastle.

    Pro-tip: Make sure you sign up to any loyalty scheme for airlines so you get priority in situations like these.
  • TrevorSmith
    TrevorSmith Posts: 26 Forumite
    its interesting to hear everyone's experiences. I am a member of BA's exec club, but after I challenged their "Exceptional Circumstances" interpretation of a >5 hour delay caused by a technical fault, I have not had any responses from BA Customer Services either to e-mails sent through their website, or more recently to a NBA letter or to a MCOL claim - its all just gone silent
  • Vauban wrote: »
    You were delayed less than 4 hours, presumably?

    Yes,it was just over three hours.
  • David_e
    David_e Posts: 1,498
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I have not had any responses from BA Customer Services either to e-mails sent through their website, or more recently to a NBA letter or to a MCOL claim - its all just gone silent

    Well they can ignore most things but there is a time limit for them to respond to a MCOL claim. That said, a number of posters report airlines being allowed to miss deadlines with impunity.
  • bumrah
    bumrah Posts: 3 Newbie
    Hi Caz3121,
    Thanks for your questions. I was not actually at Heathrow when the flight was cancelled, the flight was scheduled for 5pm on the Monday and we were email at 11pm on Sunday night. I spoke with BA on the phone at 5am, and they said that any rebooking would have to be done through the travel agent.....

    No the message didn't come from BA that they were not able to re-book me, this came via the travel agent, all a bit suspicious. The replacement flights were BA flights to Beijing and then Air China internally, BA said that they were unable to re-book this flight for free because it was with a different carrier to the original booking.

    It sounds like there might be some issues on the travel agents side as well, just to make it even more complicated for me! But thanks for confirming the compensation side of things.

    This is the email response from BA to the travel agent's request for compensation:

    Upon further investigation, I can confirm our records show 'the travel agent' changed the flights on 16 June at 05.20, following the cancellation of our flight to Chengdu. The new flights were BA0039 to Beijing and CA1223 to Xianyang, and were originally BA0089 to Chengdu and HU7856 to Xianyang.

    Mr King then called us at 05.45 to enquire about checking in for his new flights online, and we advised the ticket needed to be reissued.

    Sarah from 'the travel agent' called us at 08.14 and we advised it was possible to reissue the ticket for the same flights on 17 June, the same class was available and we would offer an involuntary reissue of the ticket. Unfortunately we were unable to offer a connecting flight to Xianyang on Air China, as the ticket would have to be reissued using the same carriers.

    I can see a new booking was made at 08.23 for both customers 7Y3HHL, after we advised another carrier could not be used for the internal flight to Xianyang.

    As I mentioned previously, we will offer to rebook our customers following disruption to their journey free of charge, onto the next available flight, in the same cabin of travel and booking class. A full refund will be given if the alternative flights are not suitable or no alternative flights are available. A refund of the original tickets was processed on 19 June.

    While I do appreciate Mr King's reasons for asking, I'm afraid that for the reasons given above we are unable to offer any compensation on this occasion. I regret disappointing him further.

    All sounds very dodgy to me!
    thanks
    Rory
  • Pippaki wrote: »
    Hello All, I flew from LHR to Toronto and was delayed by over 6 hours. I sent an email of to BA asking for compensation and got the following back:

    Your claim for compensation has been refused because flight BA0099 on 01 May 2014 was delayed due to an unexpected flight safety shortcoming, which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.
    During the final safety checks, we discovered a problem with one of the engines of the aircraft.

    Are there any sorts of templates citing the judgements regarding EC? Or am I battling a lost cause?

    Thanks Pippaki
    Have you received a satisfactory result from BA? You are entitled to compensation in view. Please check out my letter posted yesterday for guidance and write to BA again.
  • David_e
    David_e Posts: 1,498
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    TrueValue wrote: »
    Have you received a satisfactory result from BA? You are entitled to compensation in view. Please check out my letter posted yesterday for guidance and write to BA again.

    Last Activity: 22-05-2014 5:33 PM
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards