How I claimed my €250 EU261 compensation from British Airways

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• Craig says:

  17 Feb17 February 07:47

  Managed to get compensation from the “Orange” airline. Initially it was declined, but after a carefully worded e-mail (help from N Ireland consumer) council, in which the airline is responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft, so not deemed as “extraordinary” circumstances. A couple of days later money in account (airline probably red faced).

  A couple of points to note:
  1. Always listen and quote announcements from staff, particularly the pilots.
  2. Try to make contact with other passengers via social media etc and inform them of a successful claim, as airlines appear to “forget” to contact all passengers!

• Phil G says:

  17 Feb17 February 07:48

  We were delayed 4 hours flying back from Bangkok in December. As soon as a delay was announced I moaned a bit on twitter. After converting from public tweets to private DMs, BA telephoned me on Monday evening asking for my bank details and the cash was in my account on the Wednesday.

• Ken Snowdon says:

  17 Feb17 February 07:49

  BA’s customer service is appalling. After a delay collecting me from Milan, I missed the connection to Newcastle that night. I had to be at work the next day but BA refused to help beyond the hotel. Next day’s Newcastle flight was too late for me so I took the LBA option and got a taxi to NCL to get my car and then on to work. Despite an email saying they would help with the taxi fare, since then they have steadfastly refuse to honour that promise. Earlier, trying for EU compensation they told bare faced lies twice about the reason for the delay (bad weather in Milan – lie; then bad weather at Heathrow – lie; finally bad upper atmosphere weather – who can disprove that?) I will never forget when I asked about BA’s customer service, BA’s man said ‘oh we stopped doing that when it started costing us money’. A lot of things make sense if you remember those words.

• Ro says:

  17 Feb17 February 08:02

  Ive been trying to chase up compensation for a cancelled iberia flight from SCL. Iberia replied to first email saying sorry and completely ignored anything about compensation!

  Now ive replied to that and escalated twice…. just being completely ignored!!! Anyone have a similar experience with them and know what to do?

• Grimz says:

  17 Feb17 February 08:10

  Do you get compensation if you are delayed due to a hurricane? I claimed back my expenses last year due to a delay from Glasgow to Orlando but could I have claimed the 600 euros?

  • Mr Bridge says:

    17 Feb17 February 08:20

    depends if Extraordinary circumstances existed.

    You can make a claim up to 6 years ( via small claims and CEDR)

  • C77 says:

    17 Feb17 February 11:03

    Weather related delays are excluded as being extraordinary. Hurricanes, tornados, snow, thunderstorms. All extraordinary as they prevent aircraft from flying, taking off and landing as they are scheduled to. No compensation due on this case.

• Judy says:

  17 Feb17 February 08:15

  Does this also apply to domestic flights? Only World Traveller/Euro Traveller was referred to in the drop box for cabin flown, not domestic.

  In any case, I put in a claim but not confident as it was for a LGW-GLA flight which was cancelled and I was rebooked to a LHR-GLA flight within a 3 hour window. We’ll see.

  Thanks for the article Rob. BA will be glad to see the back of this when/if the UK leaves the EU….

  • Billy Buzzjet says:

    17 Feb17 February 08:43

    I made a claim for a cancelled NCL – LHR flight. I was rebooked on to a flight the next day and stayed in the Hilton for the night. Called BA Gold Card line the next day and they processed my claim over the phone as ‘there was no reason for the cancellation’ according to the call handler. No quibbles. Received the money in a couple of days. I was gob smacked !

• Graeme says:

  17 Feb17 February 08:19

  Similar experience – travelled with the family GLA-LHR-JFK last October. Booked up the back of the bus for a really good price. 747 went tech at LHR, and replacement drafted in – delay was about 3.5 hrs – in which case on flights of that distance you’re entitled to 50% of the amount if over 3 hrs but less than 4. Once I navigated the BA site the claim was quickly acknowledged, accepted, and cheque arrived for GBP equivalent of €1,200 within a few weeks. Made a small dent in my wife and teenage daughter’s shopping bill…

  BA cabin crew did tell most passengers, but only after being prompted following my public service announcement to all those around me on board!

• Mr Bridge says:

  17 Feb17 February 08:19

  I have just been awarded €1200 after going to CEDR.
  My flight from Barbados was delayed 14 hours, following storm Mathew.

  BA told me 3 times that they were not liable to pay me, due to exceptional circumstances.

  However A bit of research showed that as the storm has passed some 18 hours earlier, the plane was on the tarmac on time, it was lack of crew that was to blame.

  Flight stats proved useful, as it helped me identify the ‘tail numbers ‘ of the TWO planes concerned, which initially BA had tried to claim was the same plane.

  The following cases were also useful:
  In Frederique Jager vs. Easy Jet airways it has been ruled that has ruled that weather conditions
  affecting a previous flight does not fall under the airline’s defence of extraordinary circumstances.
  In Finnair Oyj v Timy Lassooy
  The extraordinary circumstances defence cannot be used for the justification of subsequent flight
  rescheduling by the carrier in response to the initial disruption occasioned by the original
  extraordinary circumstances.

  The CEDR adjudicator agreed with me and ordered BA to pay, in case anyone else suffered the same delay, it was 29/09/16 Flight BA2154

  • flyoff says:

    17 Feb17 February 09:01

    Thank you for the information – very useful as I knew that a previous flight delay wasn’t an airline defence but didnt know the cases to refer to. I was considering small claims or CEDR – I will try the CEDR route after your case.

  • gumshoe says:

    17 Feb17 February 09:20

    I recently fought Virgin Atlantic for a delay to a LAS-LGW flight caused by a lightning strike during the incoming flight.

    They pleaded extraordinary circumstances but relented in the end and paid up.

    So if your flight’s delayed or cancelled due to an “extraordinary circumstance” affecting the aircraft on a previous flight, persist.

    • Tom says:

      17 Feb17 February 09:25

      I find it interesting that you don’t consider a lightning strike to be extraordinary.
      I’m wondering how an airline could pre-empt and prepare for a lightning strike. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

      • Louise says:

        17 Feb17 February 09:46

        I thought planes were built to withstand lightning strikes!?

      • gumshoe says:

        17 Feb17 February 10:14

        Snow in Dubai in July might be considered extraordinary. Lightning strikes are not and are an inherent risk of operating an airline, as a judge at Reading Crown Court ruled in a case against Monarch last year.

        https://www.businesstraveller.com/news/2016/01/14/compensation-if-your-flight-is-struck-by-lightning/

        • Genghis says:

          17 Feb17 February 10:54

          Wondered what the Crown Court is doing in such a case. Looks like BT made an editorial error.

        • Tom says:

          17 Feb17 February 19:13

          I see. So do you expect airlines to keep a spare aircraft at every overseas airport in case a lightning strike occurs on a flight into a destination they are not based at? To me, this seems unreasonable. People who claim against circumstances like this artificially inflate air fares for the rest of us as the airlines protect themselves against rising costs. You almost certainly claimed in compensation more than the profit on your ticket, for a reason that is not foreseeable to any airline. Other than delaying the flight whilst safety checks are completed, what is the alternative? Fly without completing the safety checks perhaps…

        • the real harry1 says:

          17 Feb17 February 19:29

          [Tom] but if – as seems very likely – many airlines are avoiding paying any compo at all to (say) half the passengers who – if they knew about it & pressed their claim – would be entitled to it, then it’s no big deal if the courts have come down slightly on the side of the passenger, to the slightly unreasonable disbenefit of the airlines.

          Because the airlines are still ending up better off with their cheating, evasion, refusal to engage or answer, letting little old scared ladies get fobbed off etc etc

          I’ve no sympathy for the airlines – they should get their act together in mgt terms = performance terms

  • David P says:

    17 Feb17 February 15:46

    Was your BA2154 the flight which was delayed to 07:00 the next morning? I was on that one and the thought of claiming EU261 hadn’t even occurred to me because I assumed the delay was due to the tropical storm. If that isn’t actually true and the delay was BA’s fault, then I’d be interested in going down the CEDR route as well.

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