BA Frankfurt to Heathrow flight cancellation

[kurt-ldn]

Hi dear forum members, appreciate your help:
Just received an email today (Wed pm) that my Sat morning BA flight to LHR from FRA is cancelled – no further detail, re-booking something on same day not possible, called the number but they cannot take any calls due to high call volumes.
So where does this leave me?
1. Any chance to get on another (BA) flight by calling?
2. Am I due compensation under EU rules for a flight which was canclled less than 3 days in adavance?

edit: Booked with Avios, incl. return leg which is not impacted

Possibly due to strike action planned for Friday in Germany…

Thanks for your help
Kurt

[NorthernLass]

It might be helpful to read some of the threads on here about the vagaries of delays and cancellations – compo will depend on the actual reason for cancellation. However, BA has to get you to your destination the same day if there are other flights operating on any carrier so if you have made reasonable efforts to contact them and had no joy you can book an alternative option and claim the cost back from them. Again, this can be complicated down the line so you should probably read up on the ramifications!

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Not only are there various strikes FRA is coping toddy with a major issue due to cables being cut and then being covered in concrete due to construction works.

Both of those actions would be exclusionary for compensation.

I wouldn’t hold out much hope of their being alternative flights being available on other airlines due to the strikes.

[JDB]

@kurt-ldn as above, you won’t get compensation as these are third party strikes outside the airline’s control. Keep checking online to see if you can rebook via MMB which is usually the easiest, but if nothing shows, obviously it is worth calling to explore your options.

[NorthernLass]

I am actually off to BER tomorrow on my 2021 Christmas markets trip so will do a bit of digging on these strikes! No word from easyJet as yet …

*Indeed – being reported that all passenger flights to FRA are cancelled for Friday. It’s not every airport though, so if you have to travel then you could potentially fly to another German city and transfer from there.

[Michael C]

Köln/Bonn to Frankfurt easypeasy – an hour direct from the airport.

[kurt-ldn]

Thanks so far for your replies! I called BA, no flights they can offer apart from the next day (which is pretty pointless). Yes I guess whilst the strike is Friday, BA901 is probably the same aircraft as the last evening flight from LHR to FRA and hence not available due to strike.

[Lady London]

Don’t forget if you do have to stay till the following day then the cancelling airline should be asked to provide hotel and transport to and from, if they fail to provide this or are impossible to contact after, say, 3 serious attempts that you can document, then airline would be liable to reimburse these costs which you can claim off them under EU261.

Not needed if FRA airport is close to home, of course.

[Lady London]

PS I believe Thalys rail journey via Köln (?) would get you to LON in a surprisingly short time, this would be eligible from FRA as an alternate routing. Just make sure you’re seen to ask the airline to fulfil your need to travel same day or as near to booked times as possible, if rail turned out to fulfil this better than anything airline offered then you could still request reimbursement on a rail reroute.

[kurt-ldn]

Thanks agai

Lady London wrote:

PS I believe Thalys rail journey via Köln (?) would get you to LON in a surprisingly short time, this would be eligible from FRA as an alternate routing. Just make sure you’re seen to ask the airline to fulfil your need to travel same day or as near to booked times as possible, if rail turned out to fulfil this better than anything airline offered then you could still request reimbursemebt on a rail reroute.

Thanks and let me check. I was told they would not provide alternate flights on other carriers, unless the booking was cancelled at very short notice and I was stranded at airport or similar.
And it sounds like I may not be due any EU compensation, as the flight may be cancelled due to strike (the previous day?) – or would they be obliged to send an empty flight over for the early morning flight from FRA to LHR?

Thanks….

[Lady London]

They don’t have a choice, they have to provide duty of care even if another airline is needed or other transport to reroute you. Days ahead, notice given does not matter for this part they must provide, legally EU261

Compensation under EU261 you do not get. As LH can claim exemption for exceptional circumstances correctly here. (Many airlines try to say the circumstances were exceptional incorrectly, of course, but court decisions in Europe make clear most reasons are not exceptional)

Duty of care is a separate part of EU261 and you are always entitled to duty of care, no matter what reason caused the cancellation e.g. even if natural disaster or not the airline’s fault etc., duty of care obligation of the airline still applies. Also even if they cancelled the flight 364 days before, you get duty of care. (The 14 day minimum notice of cancellation is for compensation not duty of care. Duty of care has no time limits, and no “reason for cancellatiom” exceptions: it must be provided.

Duty of care includes any additional accommodation, travel to and from any additional accommodation, all meals at reasonable local prices, rerouting costs for replacement tickets even if the replacement ticket would now cost much more the passenger pays nothing for this. If airline does not provide rerouting aftee passenger asks, then other airlines and/or alternative non-air means of transportatiom can be provided by the airline or more practically, reimbursed.

Just absolutely make sure you keep good records that you asked them to provide the transport replacement and/or accommodation that you needed, you must give them the opportunity or make serious attempts to contact them to ask. Then you claim after (but read on HfP what is involved).

This is all covered very deeply and extensively in other examples already existing here on HfP in the Flight Cancellations and changes category as mentioned by @NorthernLass.

[kurt-ldn]

Lady London wrote:

They don’t have a choice, they have to provide duty of care even if another airline is needed or other transport to reroute you. Days ahead, notice given does not matter for this part they must provide, legally EU261

Compensation under EU261 you do not get. As LH can claim exemption for exceptional circumstances correctly here. (Many airlines try to say the circumstances were exceptional incorrectly, of course, but court decisions in Europe make clear most reasons are not exceptional)

Duty of care is a separate part of EU261 and you are always entitled to duty of care, no matter what reason caused the cancellation e.g. even if natural disaster or not the airline’s fault etc., duty of care obligation of the airline still applies. Also even if they cancelled the flight 364 days before, you get duty of care. (The 14 day minimum notice of cancellation is for compensation not duty of care. Duty of care has no time limits, and no “reason for cancellatiom” exceptions: it must be provided.

Duty of care includes any additional accommodation, travel to and from any additional accommodation, all meals at reasonable local prices, rerouting costs for replacement tickets even if the replacement ticket would now cost much more the passenger pays nothing for this. If airline does not provide rerouting aftee passenger asks, then other airlines and/or alternative non-air means of transportatiom can be provided by the airline or more practically, reimbursed.

Just absolutely make sure you keep good records that you asked them to provide the transport replacement and/or accommodation that you needed, you must give them the opportunity or make serious attempts to contact them to ask. Then you claim after (but read on HfP what is involved).

This is all covered very deeply and extensively in other examples already existing here on HfP in the Flight Cancellations and changes category as mentioned by @NorthernLass.

Thank you very much. About to call them now again and hopefully get them to accept a rerouting by train with Deutsche Bahn and Eurostar via Brussels…. at a cost of ca. 400 euros x 2 PAX. Not sure they will accept, but I will try that. The only other option seems to be a flight from Dusseldorf at 7am Saturday – but getting there is a hassle.
Will let you know how it goes.
Thanks
Kurt

[kurt-ldn]

kurt-ldn wrote:

Thank you very much. About to call them now again and hopefully get them to accept a rerouting by train with Deutsche Bahn and Eurostar via Brussels…. at a cost of ca. 400 euros x 2 PAX. Not sure they will accept, but I will try that. The only other option seems to be a flight from Dusseldorf at 7am Saturday – but getting there is a hassle.
Will let you know how it goes.
Thanks
Kurt

So I called them and they cannot offer any alternative. I told them I would be able to take a train, was advised to put in a claim under ba.com/claims and that it “should be ok”…. took the time of call, the lady I spoke to etc. – so do I now CANCEL my outbound leg online or do nothing? Have read through various threads but am a bit confused. Thanks again everyone….

[NorthernLass]

I’m slightly confused now about which leg of this route has been affected by the strikes, but you only need to make arrangements for that one. Don’t cancel or otherwise amend your booking yourself – this will let BA off the hook for paying for your alternative transport.

[JDB]

BA was never likely to ‘agree’ a rerouting by train which would usually be on a reclaim basis. Whatever you do, don’t cancel for a refund as you will then have no right to have the train tickets refunded. BA may pay, but may take a while to do so and potentially be difficult on the basis you rejected reasonable alternatives, so worth checking if you have any insurance as a fallback if BA doesn’t pay.

[kurt-ldn]

NorthernLass wrote:

I’m slightly confused now about which leg of this route has been affected by the strikes, but you only need to make arrangements for that one. Don’t cancel or otherwise amend your booking yourself – this will let BA off the hook for paying for your alternative transport.

Thanks – the original flights were FRA – LHR on Sat and then LCY – FRA a few days later.
The FRA-LHR flight was cancelled.

So on the website, under my booking, do I NOT cancel or do anything? Do I just book a train and then catch the regular flight (LCY-FRA) a few days later?
Thanks again.
Options are CAMCEL and Find a different flight – with no alternative that is reasonable.

[kurt-ldn]

JDB wrote:

BA was never likely to ‘agree’ a rerouting by train which would usually be on a reclaim basis. Whatever you do, don’t cancel for a refund as you will then have no right to have the train tickets refunded. BA may pay, but may take a while to do so and potentially be difficult on the basis you rejected reasonable alternatives, so worth checking if you have any insurance as a fallback if BA doesn’t pay.

Ok, so I just keep the booking “sitting there” and do not cancel, but of course hopefully the return leg remains then. If there is any other action I should take, please let me know – apart from booking the train tickets and hoping they refund.

[JDB]

While the APR are governed by ‘reasonableness’ the actual requirement is to reroute you, under comparable transport conditions, to your final destination at the earliest opportunity which is slightly different. You should probably contact BA to make sure they protect / don’t cancel your return but be very careful that in doing that they don’t cancel/refund the outbound.

[NorthernLass]

Don’t do anything with your BA bookings, just make sure you check your return flight regularly (or contact BA about it if possible) to make sure they don’t cancel that as well, but you should be fine to check in for that as usual.
As @JDB says, you may need to be able to show that the train route was your only viable alternative to get a refund from BA. It’s not an automatic right, but another poster successfully claimed over £700 for a taxi fare from BA recently so it does depends on you showing what your circumstances require.

[Lady London]

As has been mentioned by us a few times, if you inform the airline (or make several serious attempts which you have records of, to reach them to inform them) that you still need to travel as close to the original timing as possible and ask them to provide this under your EU261 rights then you have given them the opportunity to provide your right to a rerouting aa you’ve informed them you need.

As we’ve said, airlines tell lies and refuse or are passive and fail to provide very frequently, but the passenger must be able to prove they gave the airline the opportunity.

Practically airlines are responsible for putting you on other airlines flights that meet your rerouting request if they don’t have flights of their own available. However practically, although there is frequently no technical barrier to them issuing or arranging such a ticket, for many reasons (often untrue or not mentioned by them) the airline refuses to provide this saying they “can’t”.

If other means of transport are needed such as taxis and trains in order to reroute you then practically as said by all of us a few times, this will be on a reimbursement basis. We’ve referred you to other threads covering the process, which is broadly the same with other airlines too and there is at least a thread or two specific to Lufthansa as well.

Had you looked at those threads you would have seen that the disadvantages of the airline failing to provide and you having to purchase and then claim reimbursement from them include:-

– you are out of pocket, and it will take time which is likely to be months realistically, to get the airline to repay

– it may take persistence and the ability to research relevant information, and following advice here, as airlines mostly are slow and tell lies to try to exhaust passenger’s strength to follow their claim.

Your claim appears like you would get paid however you may have to appeal to a German regulator or mediation service if Lufthansa excessively delays or incorrectly refuses. Meanwhile you have had to spend the money and may be suffering because you are out of pocket.
It’s not an accident that the reflex of most airlines to deny even obviously valid claims under EU261, is to refuse. This sort of thing and the processes to follow is all in the threads on here we’ve referred you to.

The first step to protect yourself is to keep good records, provable, of the opportunities you tried to give the airline to reroute you as they are legally obliged to do under EU261. We know they will mostly fail or refuse but you must be able to prove you tried.

[Lady London]

Hum… realised I mentioned LH when this is BA – however this doesn’t change anything here

[kurt-ldn]

Lady London wrote:

Hum… realised I mentioned LH when this is BA – however this doesn’t change anything here

Thanks and to update: I now re-booked the flights via the BA website to the following weekend – though I guess I can still claim compensation for the cancellation then.

Thanks again everyone for your help and insights.

[JDB]

kurt-ldn wrote:

Lady London wrote:

Hum… realised I mentioned LH when this is BA – however this doesn’t change anything here

Thanks and to update: I now re-booked the flights via the BA website to the following weekend – though I guess I can still claim compensation for the cancellation then.

Thanks again everyone for your help and insights.

Good to hear you have been able to rebook now. However, you won’t receive any compensation for the cancellation as it was due to ‘extraordinary circumstances’ – ie a third party strike.

[Lady London]

Nope no compo.
BA is so covered on this particular occasion.