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I had a flight delay with BA in Jan , I raised a complaint on the online web form 2 months today and am yet to get a reply (I’ve only had an acknowledgment) flight was delayed going out and landing due to crew sickness at LHR
What are my next steps to try and get the money as believe I’m due £260 would take Avis lump sum instead
It’ll probably help if you give more detail – how long was delay etc? But 2 months is quite a long time to wait – you need to get a final position from BA before taking any legal action so consider emailing and asking for this within, e.g. 2 weeks, then if no joy write to their legal dept. There are several threads on here with detailed guidance to the whole process.
Hello northernlass , the flight was to Florida and 3hr 8 mins late landing (pilot was sick so they had to source another) understand the delay is boarderline , gate staff , cabin crew and also flight deck all gave the same reason for the delay
So you probably need to follow the steps above – as mentioned there are step by steps guides to all this on other threads – have a look on the delays/cancellations section.
Hello northernlass , the flight was to Florida and 3hr 8 mins late landing (pilot was sick so they had to source another) understand the delay is boarderline , gate staff , cabin crew and also flight deck all gave the same reason for the delay
While it’s not easy to do so, you want to try and press them on the reason for the delay when it’s rather borderline as they may find some ‘exceptional circumstance’ to cover 8+ minutes.
You don’t need a final position from BA if you send letter before action.
I’d send a letter before action to the Legal Dep at Waterside by snail mail giving them 8 days to respond. You have waited long enough. That should help them focus.
BA will fight this one. Can you be bothered?
I would take avios lump sum instead , I did submit name of 2 crew members who advised reason of delay… the delay did ruin our plans that eve and surely they should give what your entitled too….
You don’t need a final position from BA if you send letter before action.
I’d send a letter before action to the Legal Dep at Waterside by snail mail giving them 8 days to respond. You have waited long enough. That should help them focus.
How did you come up with 8 days?
IIRC MCOL recommends 14 working days so I’d go with that as a deadline.
I would take avios lump sum instead , I did submit name of 2 crew members who advised reason of delay… the delay did ruin our plans that eve and surely they should give what your entitled too….
BA have to offer it as an option. But whilst I remember an experiment from BA offering points instead of cash it didn’t last long and I’ve not seen people mention it in a long while.
It’s perfectly legal for an airline to offer points or vouchers instead of cash but it’s up to the passenger which they accept. It’s no good accepting a voucher for more money if you don’t then use it within its expiry time and so lose it.
Is compensation even payable? On such a long route I thought delay had to be at least 4-5 hours for help and compo.
Within Europe shorthaul, 3 hours would be enough late for a claim but for some reason on longhaul, which Florida would be, I’m pretty sure 3 hours delay doesn’t get you anything statutory, you could check the Contract of Carriage to see if there’s anything in there instead?
Is compensation even payable? On such a long route I thought delay had to be at least 4-5 hours for help and compo.
Within Europe shorthaul, 3 hours would be enough late for a claim but for some reason on longhaul, which Florida would be, I’m pretty sure 3 hours delay doesn’t get you anything statutory, you could check the Contract of Carriage to see if there’s anything in there instead?
Three hours gets you half the delay compensation, ie £260, over four hours for the full £520. You need five hours to be allowed a rerouting.
Thanks for all your advice I’ve written a letter to the legal department fingers crossed the outcome is positive , I did note I would be willing to accept avios versus cash
Thanks for all your advice I’ve written a letter to the legal department fingers crossed the outcome is positive , I did note I would be willing to accept avios versus cash
Prepare your self for a ‘no’.
Avios just confuses things. If the flight was late as a result of crew sickness then compo is due. BA may argue that accounted for x minutes of delay, but (say) ATC accounted for (say) 20 minutes which means total delay in their control below 3 hours.
To be fair this has been covered a load of times and yet another thread doesn’t add much. I’d ask for their final position, wait 14 days and open CEDR.
I had a remarkably similar case myself, a little over 3 hours delay from Miami. BA made two ludicrous responses, at which point I went straight to CEDR, BA meanwhile responded with yes we delayed it but weather took it over 3 hours. At some point later CEDR contacted me and said BA had offered £260 would I accept, since that was the compo due and what I’d asked for I accepted it. Paid within a week or so I think from memory, but CEDR did say the time in which it should be paid.
Interestingly I wouldn’t have pursued it if they’d not made me wait an additional 2+ hours for bags to arrive, that was the tipping point, prior to that I was shit happens, but the crazy baggage wait was too much.BA have finally replied to my initial web form complaint , it was very brief apologising , they offered 15k avios each and already have deposited them in the account
I have already sent an letter to legal department recoded delivery ( yet to be delivered )
Is 15k a good compromise, no mention of money just straight away offered that , was hoping for more to be honest if sacking off cash
If you know for sure that you’re due £260 then 15K Avios is rubbish.
Avios and all mention of them is silly as I see it. The regs say you’re due £260 why would you take BA pseudo currency instead.
If you know for sure that you’re due £260 then 15K Avios is rubbish.
Avios and all mention of them is silly as I see it. The regs say you’re due £260 why would you take BA pseudo currency instead.
You are right in principle, but with only eight minutes in hand, BA may magic up ‘exceptional circumstances’ to take it under three hours such that 15k Avios is an attractive alternative to £0 and saves a lot of aggro that may or may not yield £260. It’s a well pitched offer!
Well the response was poor only a few line no mention of what you are / are not entitled to ….no mention of the delay / time etc Maybe I’ll wait to see if I get a reply from the legal team
You don’t need a final position from BA if you send letter before action.
I’d send a letter before action to the Legal Dep at Waterside by snail mail giving them 8 days to respond. You have waited long enough. That should help them focus.
How did you come up with 8 days?
IIRC MCOL recommends 14 working days so I’d go with that as a deadline.
It’s exactly that. Just a recommendation, nothing in law prescribes this. It’s just practice.
If you have submitted initial request then as per practice at 21 days you can start legal process with sending LBA. The OP has waited 2 months, so now naturally you can reduce the time you have give them to respond. I never give big companies more time as it gets lost otherwise…
Well the response was poor only a few line no mention of what you are / are not entitled to ….no mention of the delay / time etc Maybe I’ll wait to see if I get a reply from the legal team
You are right to wait until the legal team responds, but it may possibly protect your position if you write to the Customer Relations team and legal team to say you note they have credited your BAEC accounts with 15k each as a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience you have suffered which is appreciated, but that your UK261 compensation remains outstanding. The problem here is that you have opened the door to receiving Avios in lieu of cash and £260 is almost exactly the cost of purchasing 15k Avios so if the legal team doesn’t respond or says we have already paid you in Avios, what’s your next step? Do you go to MCOL for the shortfall of 2 x £110 (valuing the Avios at 1p) or for £260 x 2 with a court fee of either £35 or £70 (before any hearing fee) with the risk that BA’s defence is that it’s an abuse of process as you have already been paid or that the delay was under three hours.
Hi jdb thanks for information , I’ll wait to see if BA legal team reply , if they offer something further great if not then not worth the hassle to push any further and I’ll leave it
Honestly I’d counter offer 30k each settle for 25k and be done with it
Honestly I’d counter offer 30k each settle for 25k and be done with it
We’ll see what the legal team do, but I’m not sure how you would propose that he enter into a negotiation with BA as you suggest? One would be talking into a void. If he is offered any more Avios at all, that would be an exceptional result. In essence, thus far the OP said he would accept Avios (I think without specifying a sum) and they have paid him with £260 worth of Avios, blocking off escalation to CEDR/MCOL.
Er no. They haven’t blocked him off going to CEDR or MCOL. As per Article 7(3), payment in travel vouchers and/or other service has to be with a signed agreement of the passenger.
Now given that there is no explicit signed agreement, OP can still reject the offer of 15k Avios and go to MCOL or CEDR for cash. At this stage there is still time to negotiate as going to MCOL would incur extra costs for BA so you can push for more. However, BA may want to take away 15k Avios in that case. OP could also still as for cash as technically 15k Avios is £255 and not £260. I’d say it’s worth negotiating, but probably with the legal department.
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