Hah @ BA – this will make Lady London laugh. Or cry…

[Froggee]

So a mere eight weeks after I wrote to BA requesting my EC261 compensation for Family Froggee’s cancelled flight from Edinburgh to Jersey and reimbursement for my re-routing expenses they got back to me. I am embarrassed to admit it but I did not claim for the food expenses. Sorry Lady London. I know this will frustrate you but this is at least consistent with my professional life where I only claimed on food consumed in the hotel I was staying at (and therefore appeared on the hotel bill) unless it was a hefty team or client lunch etc. I always figured I needed to eat wherever I was. Anyway I digress.

Obviously BA have refused to pay out for the flights I was forced to rebook us on from Glasgow to Jersey. I find the way they have worded this very strange though – they “can’t” reimburse them. Erm, I think you can. Meanwhile the one bit of my claim I was very sure they would not reimburse was the £140 taxi from our home in Edinburgh through to Glasgow Airport the next day as in BA’s words from their website “If you choose to travel from a different departure point or to a different destination than your original booking, we won’t cover any expenses for travel between the two points, including car rental and parking.”

Yet BA are refunding me the £140 (as well as the £30 for the taxi back home from Edinburgh Airport). Totally random.

Whereas for the alternative flights I got this:

“We’re sorry your recent flight with us from Edinburgh on 25 June was cancelled. We understand the impact this had on you and your family, especially as you were travelling with children. Given the lack of alternative options, you had to buy a new ticket with other airline. I’m concerned to read that you had to incur additional expenses. We know this isn’t what you expect when you travel with us, and we understand why you needed to complain. We’d also like to thank you for your patience while we got back to you about this.

[waffled edited out]

While I appreciate your reasons for asking, I’m afraid we can’t reimburse your alternative travel expenses. You may be able to claim through your travel insurance.”

—– —– —– —–

Yes, yes, I get it BA. At this point I think I might just have to hit up HSBC for the claim as I cannot be bothered with MCOL. I could be bothered CEDRing it but I don’t want to leave the travel insurance angle much longer as we are almost at three months now and at some point I’d imagine an insurer would tell me to get stuffed. And I should go for the insurance angle anyway as I think HSBC pay out £100 per pax for delayed departure as well.

But here’s the bit that really, really bugs me. In my letter I was very specific referring to “Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as adopted into UK law via The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019” and claiming £880 being four lots of £220 which is the amount written into UK legislation. Yet BA have come back with £867.25 being €1,000 divided by the exchange rate du jour. I am genuinely livid at this. Is it BA’s choice to choose which amount to compensate or should they be using British pounds for British people? That’s £12.75 they have nickel-and-dimed me out of.

I mean, like Grrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway. Dear Lady London will you forgive me if I just ask HSBC for my £1,256.86? And if I do, what would be reasonable to ask for as I assume I need to go back to BA and point out they have neither refunded the Avios nor the cash element from the booking (31,500 Avios and £137.58 cash, utilising an Amex 241 voucher) so assuming I get that back I have to place a value on the Avios to deduct from the additional cost of flights for my actual out of pocket expense. Here, 1.6 pence would not be beneficial as this would imply I was willing to pay £504 + £137.58 = £641.58 for the original flights and if BA refund this then I would be seeking £615.28 only from an insurer. If I say Avios have no value then I only paid £137.58 for the original flight and would therefore be seeking £1,119.28 from insurance. Neither amount feels right.

It’s all so complex for a mere amphibian.

I’m almost close to giving up

Sad face.

[Lady London]

Well of course you”re close to giving up dear Amphibian.

It’s really very simple.

Get your insurance claim for everything in to HSBC asap.

Explain you have only recovered £140 for taxi to replacement flight from Glasgow and £30 for taxi home from Edinburgh, from BA. Therefore here is your claim for everything HSBC covers including the full cash cost of the replacement flights you had to purchase.

As probity is of the utmost importance in your profession @Froggee (quite apart from the personal integrity which I know you have), I would point out in a covering letter or in any Remarks or Additional Information section of the claim, that you have asked BA to pay for alternative flights you had to purchase in order to reach pur prebooked holiday accommodation, after BA cancelled your flights on the day of departure, However BA has refused and has also not offered a refund and ypu therefore submit your claim as you have been unable to resolve this yourself.

Refer to attached copies of correspondence with BA and the confirmation (with cash and avios amounts paid showing) of the purchase of the original flights.

Should they require any further information or assistance you are at their disposal etc.

Life’s too short! You’ve got the insurance cover, use it.

If the cancellation was eligible for compo and if you were pursuing it any further, or pursuing anyhing else any further, then for probity I’d mention. But you’re not. I am pretty sure your policy will have a clause that your rights to pursue a claim with any other party are turned over to the insurance co.if you claim. So once you submit the claim it’s up to them to pursue any recovery of what they pay to you, or not.

So claim, and sleep easy.

[Lady London]

PS This does not affect your strategy above but just to note:-

1. Yes BA should pay you the amount of £880 as in the British legislation you quoted as there is UK legislation with a GBP amount, and your flights had nothing to do with Europe. If they had a good reason to pay you in Euros then they should have paid Euros to you.

Weird as BA once tried somehimg similar on me which even our corporate travel agrnt couldn’t explain – a flexible flight costing £2000 booked and cancelled within 2 hours,waa refunded £40 less having somehow been passed through Swiss francs even though it was paid in GBP and anyway bank rate on CHF had hsrdly moved. We phoned and told them just tp reverse the transaction and the correct amount then was refunded.

2. My attitude to food is the same as ypurs. If I am not forced to overpay by the location or the occasion then I tend to absorb the cost if it’s what I’d be spendimg amyway. Even if there could be a claim from a client etc.

3. Ae you say BA is liable to reroute ypu. The fact that that the only reasonable rerouting option available meant leaving from an adjacent Central Scotland airport, just means BA is liable for your costs to and from that airport as well as the flight from the other airport that would get you to ypur destination as soon as possible after ypur cancelled flight. This is am involintary reroute following their cancellation, not a change of airport at your own request,so BA’s clause doesn’t apply.

So they are liable for your mixed land transport and flight reroute.

You don’t want a refund as whichever way you look at it, it doesn’t cover ypur actual costs which were higher. And it’s your choice not the airline’s, to choose tobhave oir reroite costs covered or take a refund. If ypu take a refund that ends BA’s entire liability for rerouting (whatever ticket costs etc. are, to do that) and for those who woild need it, takong a refund means the airline loses liability to pay your accommodation and meals and transport to and from accommodation till you can be flown.

So you simply don’t address the question of valuation of what you paid as ypur claim to airline or insurance, is fot rerouting costs not refund as ypu chose to be retouted not refunded and i5 was your choice. Personally if they can be bothered, I think the insurance co will succeed in obtaining the reroute flight costs from GLA once you have turned over the claim to them. (They, too, would be nuts to take a refund.)

Let us know how it turns out, I would expect ypu to get paid in full.

[JDB]

@Froggee I’m sorry I can’t get more exercised re the £12.75 by which BA has apparently short changed you. Nothing with BA ‘Customer Relations’ is simple save its staff, unless they are just institutionally programmed to operate within the range of obtuse to perverse. Unfortunately, that approach probably shakes off 80% + of claims, including yours that will now pass to insurers. The sum for which you sought @LL’s permission to claim from HSBC seems eminently reasonable, sensible and pragmatic – I’m answering for her as she didn’t in her 775 words.

P.S. I would have responded earlier but, given your wholly justified reputation for eloquence, I am still recovering from the absence of an adverb at P2L2. However, the bigger shock is @LL’s Damascene but welcome conversion supporting your admirable position re claiming for food you would have bought anyway. While it contradicts her last 40+ posts, your honourable and evangelical words have clearly convinced her so we look forward to that being reflected in future posts.

[Froggee]

Thank you so much for your thoughts @LadyLondon. I will now pursue an insurance claim with alacrity.

@JDB – wots an adverb?

I’m sorely tempted to issue BA legal a letter before action for £12.75 just for kicks but I would not wish to muddy the insurance claim. However I would be fascinated to know if when the Euro conversion results in a figure greater than the sterling amount written into UK law would BA then pay the £220 per pax? I’d almost admire them for that actually.

[Froggee]

I know you’ve all been on tenterhooks, so a mere six months on, here is what happened.

Aviva (who provide HSBC’s policies) would not process my claim unless I had received a refund from BA for the unused outbound ticket.

Early October
I grudgingly requested a partial refund of the ticket from BA.

21 November
BA emailed me back saying how sorry they were about the cancelled flight and said they would transfer £867.75 to my bank account for EC261 compensation. I was like, “huh? But you did that bit already.”

Early December
Thankfully BA did not transfer this money as it would have further confused things. I sent a further request summarised as “REFUND ME THE OUTBOUND PORTION OF MY TICKET YOU BAR STEWARDS”. I was a bit grumpy.

9 February
BA finally emailed me back saying they were refunding me £137.58 for the unused ticket. I was like, “huh? But the return ticket cost 31,500 Avios plus £137.58. I’d like half of that back. Why are you refunding me all of the fees but none of the Avios?”

21 February
Given that Aviva have no interest in Avios, just cash, I forwarded them details of BA’s refund thereby allowing Aviva to process the claim.

6 March
Aviva reply confirming payment of the claim as follows:

> Logan air rebooked flight £1256.86
> Less British airways refund £137.58
> Less excess £100.00
= £1019.28

12 hour travel delay benefit £50.00 x 12 hours x 4 = £200.00
Total settlement £1219.28

I was initially confused by this as the excess is £50 but I’m guessing because Mrs Froggee also has HSBC Premier insurance they deducted £50 on her behalf. Fair enough. And I’d asked for £400 for >24 hour delay but on examining the policy further, it turns out that the delay is calculated based upon departure flight time. Our replacement flights left slightly less than 24 hours after the original flight and it apparently does not matter that the end result was a 25 hour delay. Oh well. Such is life.

6 March
Froggee was still highly annoyed at BA robbing him of his Avios. So I wrote an email to Sean Doyle highlighting the glacial speed his Customer Service team moved at and the frustrations this has caused me. I asked for my 15,750 Avios back. And I may have told him that he personally made Freddo cry at Edinburgh Airport when our Jersey flight was cancelled.

Today, 9 March
Well paint me red and call me a parrot. I had a missed call from BA’s Birmingham number today. At the same time I received an email from the “Premium Escalations Team” with the key bit being “I’ve added 57,500 Avios to your account today. This is a refund of the 15,750 plus a further 10,000 Avios per passenger as an apology for the length of time it’s taken to reach a resolution.”

I was like, “huh? But 10,000×4 + 15,750 = 55,750 Avios. You’ve overpaid me by 1,750 Avios”. There is a wonderful irony that even in making a kind gesture British Airways mess it up. The OCD in me really wants to write back pointing out this fact but I understand this would not be constructive so will stop now and take the win.

The end.

[Lady London]

Thank heavens for insurance, Froggee.
Thanks very much for letting us know how much extra effort it took as well.

Very glad BA coughed up in the end. It’s a shame that writing to Sean Doyle “You made Freddo cry at the airport when our flight was cancelled” was necessary though.

Thank you again.

[JDB]

Lady London wrote:

Thank heavens for insurance, Froggee.
Thanks very much for letting us know how much extra effort it took as well.

Very glad BA coughed up in the end. It’s a shame that writing to Sean Doyle “You made Freddo cry at the airport when our flight was cancelled” was necessary though.

Thank you again.

A great result; well done for persevering and sticking with HSBC Premier. I don’t think you would have been successful via Amex Platinum insurance.