BA compensation
Discussion
I visited South Africa in August of this year. In the Friday night around 8pm, 8 hours before we left the lodge for our flight home I received a text message to say our flight was cancelled and they’d be in touch regarding different options. That evening I contact BA to see what the plan was and they didn’t have one at the time and nothing was available with them for at least 3 days or via any affiliates of theres.
I made the decision to travel to the airport in my already paid for transfer. The next morning around 4-30am and try and find a way home as we have children, pets and work commitments. Whilst at the airport I rang my travel agent and they were helpful. They refunded me £1200 and said to chase British airways for compensation as well as we are entitled to it.
The only flight available was business class with emirates via Dubai. These really were the only flights available and I never expected full costs to be recovered. On my claims sheet I didn’t try to claim for the extra food and drink whilst at the airport we had also paid to reserve seats on the plane and added WiFi I think. They obviously didn’t have to put us in a hotel for 3 days as we sorted our own way home.
Reason for this post is on the online chat it says my case is closed and I will have a email somewhere (I can’t see one and I checked regularly.)
Am I entitled to anything more or should I give up?
I made the decision to travel to the airport in my already paid for transfer. The next morning around 4-30am and try and find a way home as we have children, pets and work commitments. Whilst at the airport I rang my travel agent and they were helpful. They refunded me £1200 and said to chase British airways for compensation as well as we are entitled to it.
The only flight available was business class with emirates via Dubai. These really were the only flights available and I never expected full costs to be recovered. On my claims sheet I didn’t try to claim for the extra food and drink whilst at the airport we had also paid to reserve seats on the plane and added WiFi I think. They obviously didn’t have to put us in a hotel for 3 days as we sorted our own way home.
Reason for this post is on the online chat it says my case is closed and I will have a email somewhere (I can’t see one and I checked regularly.)
Am I entitled to anything more or should I give up?
GT03ROB said:
Couple things I’m not clear on.
Did you receive any compensation from BA, this reads like you’ve received nothing,
Were you originally in Club or economy?
Sorry if worded unclearly Did you receive any compensation from BA, this reads like you’ve received nothing,
Were you originally in Club or economy?
Originally economy but paid extra to reserve seats. We booked a package holiday.
BA cancelled the flights. We contacted travel agent and they compensated £1200 straight away but also whilst on the phone they told us to pursue BA for additional compensation. For the hassle/ inconvenience/ leaving us stranded.
Not sure if it’s worth chasing more or not.
Cliov6dan said:
Sorry if worded unclearly
Originally economy but paid extra to reserve seats. We booked a package holiday.
BA cancelled the flights. We contacted travel agent and they compensated £1200 straight away but also whilst on the phone they told us to pursue BA for additional compensation. For the hassle/ inconvenience/ leaving us stranded.
Not sure if it’s worth chasing more or not.
I’m assuming you did not book with BA holidays. The problem with agent bookings is that BA will refer you to the agent who handled your booking as it is their responsibility to handle it. I suspect that the email they claim to have sent you will reference that. Generally airlines want nothing to do with you if booked through an agent or as part of a package.Originally economy but paid extra to reserve seats. We booked a package holiday.
BA cancelled the flights. We contacted travel agent and they compensated £1200 straight away but also whilst on the phone they told us to pursue BA for additional compensation. For the hassle/ inconvenience/ leaving us stranded.
Not sure if it’s worth chasing more or not.
As a minimum you should be entitled to a refund of the flight costs for the flight that were cancelled. Not sure how that correlates with 1200 you have been given.
I'm afraid to say that I think you'll be on a hiding to nothing.
You made the decision (for all good reasons) to step outside of the care of BA and make your own way home. They were obligated to get you home one way or another and would have done so at no cost to you but by sorting it out yourself, you absolved BA of any responsibility thereafter. You obviously incurred additional cost but their argument would be that you didn't need to and the money from the Travel Agent covers the aggravation.
One would like to think that some form of sweetener would be in order and no harm in trying but I wouldn't hold your breath.
You made the decision (for all good reasons) to step outside of the care of BA and make your own way home. They were obligated to get you home one way or another and would have done so at no cost to you but by sorting it out yourself, you absolved BA of any responsibility thereafter. You obviously incurred additional cost but their argument would be that you didn't need to and the money from the Travel Agent covers the aggravation.
One would like to think that some form of sweetener would be in order and no harm in trying but I wouldn't hold your breath.
GT03ROB said:
As a minimum you should be entitled to a refund of the flight costs for the flight that were cancelled.
The issue the OP has though is that he booked another flight himself. The airline is obligated to organise another flight if the one you booked is cancelled so there would have still been another flight for him to take, albeit 72 hours later.ecsrobin said:
What did the travel agent compensate you for vs what you want from BA?
I don’t have a figure in mind and they refunded £1200 as I said above. The extra we’d paid to reserve seats etc might be something and something for the aggravation. Edited by Cliov6dan on Thursday 30th November 18:56
Cliov6dan said:
ecsrobin said:
What did the travel agent compensate you for vs what you want from BA?
I don’t have a figure in mind and they refunded £1200 as I said above. The extra we’d paid to reserve seats etc might be something and something for the aggravation. Edited by Cliov6dan on Thursday 30th November 18:56
My flight was cancelled in Vancouver 6hrs prior to departure. BA text and emailed to inform me and then stated that I could arrange reasonable accommodation to be reimbursed, transfers and I believe it was £25pp per meal. I was also informed that I was entitled to £600pp compensation. All of this took about 3 months to come through.
My travel agent at no point gave me any refund?
Edited by ecsrobin on Thursday 30th November 20:09
ecsrobin said:
I’m still confused about all of this.
My flight was cancelled in Vancouver 6hrs prior to departure. BA text and emailed to inform me and then stated that I could arrange reasonable accommodation to be reimbursed, transfers and I believe it was £25pp per meal. I was also informed that I was entitled to £600pp compensation. All of this took about 3 months to come through.
My travel agent at no point gave me any refund?
Given that the OP had the means to stump up for business class seats at the last minute for his family suggests he may well be a good and regular client to the travel agency. They would be under no legal obligation to provide any form of refund unless they were somehow at fault, but as a gesture, it's a good to one to keep a good customer. The only exception (I think) to this would be if the flight was chartered by the Travel Agency.My flight was cancelled in Vancouver 6hrs prior to departure. BA text and emailed to inform me and then stated that I could arrange reasonable accommodation to be reimbursed, transfers and I believe it was £25pp per meal. I was also informed that I was entitled to £600pp compensation. All of this took about 3 months to come through.
My travel agent at no point gave me any refund?
Edited by ecsrobin on Thursday 30th November 20:09
StevieBee said:
Given that the OP had the means to stump up for business class seats at the last minute for his family suggests he may well be a good and regular client to the travel agency. They would be under no legal obligation to provide any form of refund unless they were somehow at fault, but as a gesture, it's a good to one to keep a good customer. The only exception (I think) to this would be if the flight was chartered by the Travel Agency.
I’m by no means a good or regular customer of them and don’t plan to, I would recommend emirates business tho and was lucky enough to get a flight on the a380 and 777 on the way home. I did have the means available but would have preferred to be able to get home in economy on the same day as the flights cost as much as another long haul holiday. Your comment regarding any kind of refund, what about the seat selection and suitcases we paid extra for direct to ba? which also weren’t included on the replacement flight.
Cliov6dan said:
Your comment regarding any kind of refund, what about the seat selection and suitcases we paid extra for direct to ba? which also weren’t included on the replacement flight.
Morally you are due but contractually, I think you're on shaky ground for the reason I mentioned previously - that being that you denied BA's remedy to the problem and sorted yourself out so you were no longer their problem.It's happened to me a couple of times. On two occasions I found a solution better than that being organised by the airline but was told I'd forego any compensation should I take those options.
I don't fully understand why they take this approach. If you have a passenger with the gumption and means to sort something out, that's one less they have to worry about which I would have thought is worth contributing something towards.
StevieBee said:
Morally you are due but contractually, I think you're on shaky ground for the reason I mentioned previously - that being that you denied BA's remedy to the problem and sorted yourself out so you were no longer their problem.
It's happened to me a couple of times. On two occasions I found a solution better than that being organised by the airline but was told I'd forego any compensation should I take those options.
I don't fully understand why they take this approach. If you have a passenger with the gumption and means to sort something out, that's one less they have to worry about which I would have thought is worth contributing something towards.
I agree that they go about things in a weird way. When we landed we tried to contact them regarding not needing the offered flights but no one was interested. It's happened to me a couple of times. On two occasions I found a solution better than that being organised by the airline but was told I'd forego any compensation should I take those options.
I don't fully understand why they take this approach. If you have a passenger with the gumption and means to sort something out, that's one less they have to worry about which I would have thought is worth contributing something towards.
Cliov6dan said:
StevieBee said:
Morally you are due but contractually, I think you're on shaky ground for the reason I mentioned previously - that being that you denied BA's remedy to the problem and sorted yourself out so you were no longer their problem.
It's happened to me a couple of times. On two occasions I found a solution better than that being organised by the airline but was told I'd forego any compensation should I take those options.
I don't fully understand why they take this approach. If you have a passenger with the gumption and means to sort something out, that's one less they have to worry about which I would have thought is worth contributing something towards.
I agree that they go about things in a weird way. When we landed we tried to contact them regarding not needing the offered flights but no one was interested. It's happened to me a couple of times. On two occasions I found a solution better than that being organised by the airline but was told I'd forego any compensation should I take those options.
I don't fully understand why they take this approach. If you have a passenger with the gumption and means to sort something out, that's one less they have to worry about which I would have thought is worth contributing something towards.
Generally with BA if you can find a person to actually engage with you will get better results as with any major organisation. There phone lines won't be much use, especially as you've gone through an agent. I'm also a little confused what the agent has actually given you a refund for so quickly. Maybe try contacting BA on Twitter.
One thing I've seen in the past is that when things do go pear shaped, its what you do in the heat of the moment that determines how successful you ultimately are. Your best chance of a fix is with the outstation not corporate BA. The outstation managers have different approaches based on the countries they are in, but have the power to be very helpful. I had a flight cancelled on Christmas Eve morning one year while I was sat on the plane in Kuwait. Having been offloaded & dumped back in the terminal, with no guidance or help being given other than being told to go landside, I managed to find the BA outstation office. After a chat with him over whether the flight was actually going to be cancelled he had me rebooked to travel with 2hrs with Turkish. He told me that generally they take an approach in Kuwait of just telling people to go back landside, from where he said most people just go home & resolve things at leisure.
On this occasion I claimed compensation online with BA via EU261. They'd confirmed it would be paid on Boxing Day & was with me a couple of days later.
Edited by GT03ROB on Saturday 2nd December 08:07
Edited by GT03ROB on Saturday 2nd December 08:07
So when we had an international flight delay, We received £520 per person iirc, hotel accommodation and food, as the flight was delayed 24 hours and you are entitled to that. How ever as you did your own thing I think you may have a battle. As an aside we looked at alternate flights and as for claiming this through holiday insurance and or through the carrier TUI came up against nothing concrete so sat it out.
The other thing to note is in certain circumstances where it is out of their control, fault of the plane isn’t one of them they don’t have to offer anything. £1200 seems about right to me.
The other thing to note is in certain circumstances where it is out of their control, fault of the plane isn’t one of them they don’t have to offer anything. £1200 seems about right to me.
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