British Airways offering you EU compensation as Avios – at a poor rate

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• Anon says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:28

  Just wondering if EU citizens (inc associated) will continue to be covered by this rule after Brexit (whichever decade that’ll be in)

  Any HFP’ers enticed by this proposal?
  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-citizenship-keep-freedom-of-movement-guy-verhofstadt-chief-negotiator-opt-in-passports-a7465271.html

  • Alan says:

    11 Dec11 December 08:33

    Def interested in the associate membership concept, but can’t see how it would cover UK flights if it is no longer part of the EU (unless we remain part of EEA and that is covered?)

  • Terry Silver says:

    11 Dec11 December 10:21

    Putting to one side the infinitesimally small chance that “associate EU citizenship” will be offered, that does not mean that EU laws will continue to apply in the UK.

    The UK may of course legislate in this area itself, which could mean more difficult (or easier) compensation rules.

    • Bob says:

      11 Dec11 December 14:36

      They’ve specifically said that EU law will continue to apply until/unless they have time to go through and change things over the decades to come. That’s what their ‘great repeal’ bill is all about – copy and paste of everything as it is.

  • John says:

    11 Dec11 December 11:39

    Whether or not this “associate citizenship” becomes a reality has absolutely nothing to do with regulation EC261/2004. By your logic, US citizens would not be able to claim EC261 compensation for a delayed flight from Brussels to Berlin.

    EC261 applies to EU *airlines* for all flights, and also applies to *all* airlines for flights departing the EU.

    When BA stops being an EU airline, this regulation will no longer apply to BA flights departing the UK, but it will still apply to all BA flights from the EU to the UK (and elsewhere, if on a connecting ticket).

    Individuals signing up to the proposed “associate citizenship” will not cause BA to become an EU airline again.

    That said, the proposal is a good idea especially for people who voted LEAVE – they get to retain all the personal benefits while getting rid of all the (perceived) political downsides of the EU. It is basically an indefinite EU visa, and you would be silly not to sign up whatever your views on the EU, unless the obligations were particularly onerous.

    • the real harry says:

      11 Dec11 December 15:33

      ‘When BA stops being an EU airline, this regulation will no longer apply to BA flights departing the UK’

      Au contraire, most laws, rules & regulations will remain exactly the same after Brexit. Gradually over time some will get changed – probably not EC261, though (IMV) – as it is generally seen as good for the consumer & sharpens up the performance from airlines.

  • BillyBoy says:

    11 Dec11 December 18:33

    Just for clarity, EC261 was transposed into UK law via a Statutory Instrument (The Civil Aviation (Denied Boarding, Compensation and Assistance) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/975)).

    Whatever happens about Brexit, this remains the law of the land until the Government decide otherwise.

    Points about applicability to BA are not so clear-cut either: depends on whether BA is considered a “Community carrier” or not…

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:29

  Somewhat OT but does anyone have any recent experience of being caught up in the Lufthansa strike?

  My wife was recently delayed by 24hrs due to a cancellation. Their FAQ on EU Regs appear to exclude strikes. My assumption is that this pertains to strikes to which they have no control (e.g. airtraffic control) not their own employees which they could easily resolve if they had appetite to. Furthermore, they are known occurances so provision could be made to accomodate passengers travel requirements.

  I haven’t yet submitted the claim and I am curious to what awaits me.

  • PT says:

    11 Dec11 December 12:28

    I tried claiming during the 2014 Lufthansa employee strikes. Lufthansa refused the claim on the grounds that it was “beyond their control”.

    But don’t let that put you off trying as their policy may have changed….. “pigs” and “flying” spring to mind for some reason though.

    • the real harry says:

      11 Dec11 December 15:35

      you should not have accepted ‘no’ for an answer

• Lewis Watson says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:30

  Within a week that must only happen if your brother has a armies blog. I put in a claim on the 4th of November still nothing

  • Rob says:

    11 Dec11 December 14:59

    As I get b*gger all from BA (in any respect – it was only 6 months ago they agreed to send me press releases FFS) I doubt that my brother is getting any favours!

    My ticket to join Nicole Scherzinger on the New Orleans jolly has noticeably not turned up. I sense Business Traveller has one as they got worryingly enthusiastic about the rip-off eBay auctions last week 🙂

• Arun T says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:31

  For what it’s worth – had a claim sorted in 7 days and got paid the full 600 EUR. I did say I would consider a substancial Avios equivalent but they didn’t even offer. This all happened this week so perhaps it’s not a blanket policy with BA.

• Rich. says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:52

  Individual choice.
  Yes I may be able to buy them cheaper, but 36k avios gets me 9 off peak domestic RFS from LCY to Scotland. As these are usually over £120 that works out at around £1,200 value to me…..

  • N says:

    11 Dec11 December 11:37

    Take the money, buy the avios and you’ll have change left over!

    • Genghis says:

      11 Dec11 December 11:39

      Snap! 🙂

  • Genghis says:

    11 Dec11 December 11:39

    Take the cash, buy the avios for your flights, pocket the difference…

• TigerTanaka says:

  11 Dec11 December 09:08

  2 weeks ago due to my inbound flight to Heathrow being delayed, i missed my connection to LBA and eventually arrived 5 hours late. Put in a claim as would have made the connection if conformance would have let me through with 32 minutes to departure.

  Got a response 6 days later offering €250 or an “enhanced offer” of 16,000 avios. I took the money but my feedback was that the avios was a very poor offer and 25,000 would be my idea of an enhanced deal.

  • Callum says:

    11 Dec11 December 10:24

    I was once offered £80 or 1000 Avios in compensation by Lloyds. Perhaps there’s some kind of behind the scenes rule about how you can value Avios in these scenarios? It doesn’t seem to make sense for these companies to be offering such dreadful valuations (unless people regularly fall for it?).

  • Lady London says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:22

    With respect @TigerTanaka, if you gave that feedback to BA but proceeded to take their offer anyway, what do you think BA will learn from this?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      11 Dec11 December 16:50

      He took the cash so it shows BA he’s not interested in their poor Avios offers?

      • TigerTanaka says:

        11 Dec11 December 18:34

        100% correct

        My 18,700 avios for a £41 car hire puts the BA offer into perspective.

        • the real harry says:

          11 Dec11 December 19:06

          you haven’t got them yet 🙂

• Bob says:

  11 Dec11 December 10:41

  Last December we were delayed 7 hours at MCO waiting for a replacement VAA aircraft – Virgin were excellent at dealing with the compensation using their online form. They confirmed what we would get within days and had the money in our accounts within a week or so.

• Vic1 says:

  11 Dec11 December 11:39

  Any advice on the following (that I’ve been sitting on for 6 months as I’m confused who should be paying compensation)? Booked on Orbitz and travelled in May 2016 LGW-BCN MAD-LHR in Business (I). O/B on BA was fine. Return was “Iberia 7462 operated by OPERATED BY BRITISH AIRWAYS — BA463”. Delayed for 4 hours. Orbitz recently sent me an email saying “You may be eligible for up to $172.25 per person for the delay under EU passenger law. Orbitz and our partners at AirHelp can help you get that compensation.” 1. Am I too late in making a claim? 2. Do I claim against BA or IB? 3. Should I use Orbitz/Airhelp? 4. Isn’t $172.25 light?

  • John says:

    11 Dec11 December 11:48

    1. If you live in the UK you have 6 years to make the claim.

    2. The operating airline is responsible so in your case it is BA. In some cases airlines can subcontract the processing, for example if your KLM transatlantic flight was delayed and you live in the US, Delta will pay the compensation, but this doesn’t apply to you.

    3. It depends on how much work you want to put in and whether you mind paying their fee.

    4. That looks like the amount you will receive after Orbitz takes their fee.

    • Vic1 says:

      11 Dec11 December 13:52

      John, many thanks for your guidance…the fog has cleared!

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