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Hi, Reaching out for collective knowledge of group. I understand UK261 can be used but BA website seems to be broken.
I was denied boarding incorrectly at the Edinburgh Airport by BA staff. I had written to BA holidays after an hour of no action on ground, BA holidays got in touch and they rescheduled family on the flight after speaking about flights available.
Incentive for my booking to be ok for transit in LHR – Booked holiday on BA for tier points and avios.
Result – denied boarding and delayed holiday start. Alternate flight was Lufthansa (LH)
Effect – No double tier and poor holidays startWhat is the best process to claim for denied boarding?I am unable to raise a complaint since there is no section for denied boarding. Can those who have claimed please help with this?
Thanks, SunilHi Sunil,
First question you will have from people is why were you denied boarding?
From this everything else would fall into place with answering your questions.
Denied boarding – due to incorrect process followed by BA check in desk saying I need a visa whereas I did not need a visa. BA check in agent did apologise after 90 minutes about the confusion but by then I had just got in touch with BA holidays and offered to rebook since it was BA staff/system issue.
Thanks Sunil, what should be a simple case in that instance. Double tier points for missed flights when claimed for unflown sectors. You can also claim your preferred Star Alliance loyalty program for the replacement LH flights.
How to claim from BA, I’ll leave to those who know better having done so.
Can’t help with IDB sure someone else can but the tier points can be claimed by a process called Original Routing Credit (ORC) you can google term and should get all the info you need on Flyertalk.
You should’ve been able to claim fhe Lufthansa ones too.
That’s for the original standard TP it’s BA Holidays that would sort out the extra double element.
Thanks for the ORC guide. Will read and follow up. Hopefully someone who has been denied boarding has a look at this thread and helps with a response. Thanks
I had to claim ORC this summer – you need to call BAEC (not BA holidays) and explain the situation. It took about a week to get the TPs and the double TPs posted automatically (the automatic double TPs doesn’t always happen, and you may need to chase BA for these as well).
The CAA website explains your rights and there’s a straightforward form to claim compensation on ba.com – keep it simple with just the facts and what you are claiming.
Thanks. BA do not have an option for denied boarding. It has for denied boarding. Hence I will have to claim by filling in details. Will submit the claims and ORC details and feedback to the forum on progress.
Remember on your Denied Boarding claim to claim for your full routing distance through to your final destination including any connecting flights. Not just the flight you were denied boarding on.
So if you wère flying from EDI and connecting onto a longhaul flight from Heathrow within 24 hrs towards your final destinatiom then as compensation amount is in bands according to the length of tne route then if it’s a longhaul final destination you claim tbe full £520 per passenger denied boarding. Even if a 2nd person was trsvelling on a 241 they claim the same. And not just the £220 or whatever for the EDI as far as London flight. The whole routng was what you were denied not just the first flight.
You can look up the mileage of flight routings on gcmap.com. Put in each flight one by one and add up the total mileage to your final destination and that will give you the £ rate to claim under EC / UK261.
Astounds me how clueless some check-in staff are.
Even at Heathrow T3 my partner and I were kept waiting a good 20 minutes by BA check-in staff as they had to check my partner, who holds a Taiwanese passport, would be permitted to travel…
I wouldn’t expect them to know all the different rules, but you would think they would have something to refer to for such an integral part of the travel industry!
I wouldn’t expect them to know all the different rules, but you would think they would have something to refer to for such an integral part of the travel industry!
They do! The standard is Timatic which I’m pretty sure is used by check in staff for BA.
We did however once have an issue even with that as Timatic shows the requirements as of right now. We were flying from Hong Kong to Rome via LHR back in 2017 (on a cheap CW cash fare at the time between Italy and Chengdu) and my wife was then travelling on a Ukrainian passport, we would arrive in Rome on the first day that visa free travel for Ukrainians in schengen came into effect but were taking off in Hong Kong the day before. Timatic therefore said she needed a visa as the rules didn’t change until the next day and it only showed the current rules. In the end we got onboard after they called a colleague in Amsterdam who confirmed what we were saying about the rules changing overnight but we came close to being denied boarding.
Many thanks for suggestions.
1. Raised denied Boarding under -> Delays, cancellations, and diversions section
2. Called BAEC and asked for ORC for the tickets.I wonder what the response turnaround is for such scenarios with evidence and tickets submitted.
They do! The standard is Timatic which I’m pretty sure is used by check in staff for BA.
We did however once have an issue even with that as Timatic shows the requirements as of right now.
Sounds like a bug in Timatic, or incorrect usage by the agent, as it should show the entry requirements on the day of entry.
Think of the opposite situation, if a country was going to start imposing a visa requirement tomorrow and you had an overnight flight, the airline wouldn’t be able to get away with allowing you to board just because you were visa-free at the time of boarding
How long does it take for BA to respond to such complaints on a) denied boarding & b) – Original routing credit of points /Avios.
I was hoping 7-10 days but I wanted to understand if I should keep my hopes high or low on this.Keen to get some cash in the bank before Christmas expenses CC bills kick in
There are people waiting for weeks and months for responses from at the moment, unfortunately. I got a very quick EU261 payment in August but it seems a bit hit and miss just now.
You should get a response from BA in due course telling you whether they are accepting or denying your claim. If they’re accepting it, they’ll tell you the money will be in your bank account (if you provided these details with your complaint) within a certain number of working days, which I can’t recall now.
Hopefully they’ll just accept that you’re in the right and pay up!
@sun7 – I’m afraid that your 7-10 days is a bit optimistic even though Article 4 says you should be compensated “immediately”. If you haven’t heard anything after three weeks, I would in the first instance contact BAH. While that may not be the strictly correct channel, they were/are acting as your agent in this transaction and have previously been helpful in resolving such issues. It’s easier to contact and deal with BAH than Customer Relations. Obviously keep an eye on ‘track my case’ in case BA has closed your case, seemingly a current trend.
Many thanks for your responses.
Hi, I have been denied boarding with the template response I need visa. Can you please advise what my next steps are in this scenario on incorrect dismisal of claims? ‘We know the documentation needed for each country can be complicated, but as you’ll appreciate, we must follow all the relevant legislation when allowing customers on board. It’s the customer’s responsibility to make sure they have all the documents they need.’
Any advice on next steps would help as this feels like rubbing salt on the wounds.
@sun7 – I would go back to the person providing the erroneous response, saying thanking you for considering my claim, but your response is based on an entirely false premise. I did have the correct/required travel documents [state what they were] to enter [xxx] and this was acknowledged by the agent who made the original error, although they did not do so for 90 minutes, resulting in me being denied boarding because of the delay in reaching the correct answer. This flight was booked via BA Holidays who were fortunately able to rebook me later that day and I was able to travel on the same documents as originally presented. The relevant pages from the Timatic system confirming my eligibility to travel on the provided documents are also attach.
I trust you will now correct this fundamental error and confirm payment of £xxx per person, total £xxxx within the next fourteen days, failing which you will escalate the matter to CEDR or issue a claim in the County Court which would appear to make no sense in view of the clear and objective evidence supporting your case.
Many thanks for the most objective response for this. I have now responded to BA with personalising the content for my situation.
Thanks
BA have strangely come back asking for documents and have provided the BA holidays operations email that I sent and proof of travel. For some reason this feels like a delay tactic as this is all evident in the travel reference look up. Documenting here since someone like me might come look at this thread in future and might be of some use.
Original Routing Credit. – BAH – Double Avios not credited hence emailed Customer.Relations@holidays.britishairways.com
and baholidays@holidays.ba.com as per suggestions from the BA master thread.
Claim for denied boarding – still pending.
@sun7 – at this point, assuming you escalated the complaint in early December, so almost eleven weeks ago and much longer after the actual incident, I would be inclined to take the matter to CEDR or MCOL for resolution. I fear your claim has probably gone into the too complicated queue from which many claims never emerge.
I think that a well worded complaint to CEDR and copied to BA’s legal team might elicit a resolution quite promptly. While it’s something to use very carefully and only if you and/or any family member felt it to be the case, you might consider raising the issue of racial profiling which might have compromised the agent’s simple assessment of the documents provided vs Timatic when such documents were ultimately shown to permit travel.
@jdb I used most of your suggested content. I woke up this morning to an update that the complaint was accepted and uk 261 claim processed.
Racial profiling did happen and off handed remarks were made but I have no proof in terms of video/audio hence did not bring that into the claim.
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