Is British Airways trying to make you think you’ve given up your EU261 compensation rights?

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• Joe says:

  30 Jun30 June 06:34

  Simply Disgusting!

• TripRep says:

  30 Jun30 June 06:42

  That’s the same form I signed after crossing out another 2 or 3 lines in a section referring to it being offered under EU261/2004.

  On seeing me cross out that the BA rep took it back of me and refused to give me the payment.

  I did however accept a cheque as goodwill (I made it clear that was not as part of EU261)

  But over 4 months since my downgrade, no EU261 settlement, even CEDR are not responding to recent messages and emails.

  It’ll soon be time to inform the CAA of non-compliance and then follow up with a letter before legal action to BA.

  • the realharry1 says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:01

    My route to get the F&B compo (which had been refused by BA Customer Services) was:
    notice before action email to Cruz with my demands and evidence of BA’s offer when I bought my ticket —> Cruz’s office instructed CS to deal with it —> CS paid me what I requested a couple of days later.

    I guess CEDR could have been worth a try but in my case I just assumed a slower turnaround – I know it doesn’t preclude you from legal action but thought that an unsatisfactory result (from CEDR) might have influenced the decision-maker at that second stage.

    • the realharry1 says:

      30 Jun30 June 20:40

      Incidentally, it was the HfP DEWS system (often down here in the footlings lol) that alerted me to the F&B changes in August last year – which is why I got my screenshot ‘ducks’ in a row. Screenshots showing BA’s complimentary F&B offer was boasted about by BA as a competitive advantage vs the LCCs & included in the fare.

  • mark2 says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:13

    If this had happened to me I would have claimed from American Express as well as BA.
    You used your BA American Express Companion Voucher (Amex in bold) to buy the ticket so surely it’s worth a try, particularly considering their normally superior Customer Services experience?

• JamesB says:

  30 Jun30 June 06:43

  BA is so much bad news nowadays that I dread flying with them. I wonder if they are trying to be clever in another way too. By signing that letter you are agreeing that the card is the “method of payment…” . Does this mean that if they failed to deter you from seeking your full entitlement to EC compensation by misleading you about the card then when they subsequently pay it to you in full then they can insist you already agreed to receive your EC compensation in the form of a BA gift card as opposed to cash? That would be even more sneaky, especially given the limitted validity of the gift card.

  • Olly says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:23

    James,
    That is exactly how I read the situation and sneaky isn’t a strong enough description. I think the business model BA have implemented over the past year or two is very detrimental to the company. I will only fly BA as a last resort now. I would be scared of not actually getting to where I wanted to go due to staff strikes, computer glitches or something else. The captain at the helm is steering towards an iceberg.

• Anna says:

  30 Jun30 June 07:01

  Anyway, OT now, apologies! I have spent the 7k needed to trigger the Lloyds upgrade voucher. Am I right in thinking this should be issued on completing the spend and not just at the end of the card year? I’ve sent Lloyds an online form asking them to ensure that the voucher is applied to my avios.com account, because there is still a problem posting avios, however I’ve not even had an email acknowledgement yet. I want to use the voucher to make a booking in September for August 2018 so haven’t got a lot of time for them to mess around sorting it out.

  • Genghis says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:16

    On completing spend

  • JamesB says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:17

    Anna, check your online avios account as it may be there already. IMEE it’s usually there sometime before either Lloyds or avios notify you about it.

    • Anna says:

      30 Jun30 June 08:10

      It’s not there. I am assuming they will be having the same IT issue posting the voucher as they are with the avios. The avios problem was going to take 26 weeks to resolve, I’m not waiting that long for the voucher!

      • Liz says:

        30 Jun30 June 09:32

        Remember if your pts are not being added automatically the voucher won’t either. You need to get your complaints manager to add it manually – you need to wait 4 weeks after you spend the £7k.

        • Liz says:

          30 Jun30 June 09:34

          You don’t need to wait 26 weeks for the pts – tell them you need the pts and voucher for an upcoming redemption – they can do it all manually but you have to ask for it.

      • Nick says:

        30 Jun30 June 14:06

        Same boat as me, logged a claim !

  • Allan says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:22

    I certainly got mine well before the end of the card year; account year starts July and the voucher came in December. Its was added soon after I paid the statement crossed the 7k spend if I remember correctly.

  • Geoff says:

    30 Jun30 June 08:09

    Lots of people had problems getting avios from these cards. Get on to customer services as soon as possible and tell them. They will ask if you want to elevate it as a complaint otherwise they say it can take ‘up to 26 weeks’ to sort it out. If you specify that it is urgent it will get sorted much more quickly. We eventually got the monthly avios, and the 7k voucher as soon as we had made the spend. It appeared in the avios account too, and seems to be in the BA account as well. We also got £200 from Lloyds for the trouble – so they are aware of the problem. (A letter congratulating us on the voucher arrived some months later). We have also successfully used Avios live chat for another Lloyds sign up bonus issue.

    • Anna says:

      30 Jun30 June 08:13

      Thanks, yes I’ve already complained about the avios not posting and collected my £200! I imagine they won’t be aware of the voucher now not posting until I tell them. I’ll call them if I don’t get an email reply by next week, but it always seems to take ages to get through to them.

      • Alex W says:

        30 Jun30 June 08:17

        Have you tried emailing CustomerServicesRosyth at LloydsBanking.com

      • Alan says:

        30 Jun30 June 20:32

        Wish my Avios didn’t post so reliably with that card, would like the £200 😛

        • Liz says:

          30 Jun30 June 21:35

          Also been told I will get all the points again after 26 wks which at the moment is up about 30k ! It’s been a nice wee earner!

        • Alan says:

          30 Jun30 June 22:05

          Haha nicely done.

          BTW just received my Avios after closing BAPP a couple of weeks ago – given the cost of the card didn’t want to keep it running although they had confirmed by secure message I’d receive them OK, was a bit sceptical after you experience, Liz! (was under 2k so wasn’t a major risk)

        • Liz says:

          1 Jul1 July 07:51

          You were lucky – I was told I would get them too – then told once the link between the two was broken they couldn’t reconnect it. Ended up sending them to hubbys account in the end – all going to the same pot in th end!

        • Alan says:

          1 Jul1 July 09:04

          Indeed – I wasn’t overly worried once they’d confirmed in secure messaging I’d receive them, worst case I could have asked them to issue equivalent number of MR points of my Plat!

• Alex W says:

  30 Jun30 June 07:20

  Under that wording, would “similar transport conditions” cover a change of aircraft, e.g. from 787 to A330, so they have to put you back on the aircraft type you originally booked?

  • the realharry1 says:

    30 Jun30 June 08:05

    it just means same/ similar fare class – so getting downgraded from business to economy means further compo

    tough t!tty if you get moved from a great new plane to an older rubbish one, or lose your window seat/ exit seat etc, though if you had paid for seat allocation you should get this refunded

    • Alex W says:

      30 Jun30 June 08:14

      Interesting. On that basis, does the EU have certain definitions for what constitutes business class, then? If so, hard to see how Club Europe would meet them! Not that CE would apply to me though, I never fly it as it’s pointless. Have done a couple of tier point runs but that’s it.

• Martin says:

  30 Jun30 June 07:22

  We also had one of these paid in USD just shy of $1000 for a downgrade from CW to WT, had to call and ask for Avios and tax refunds which was a pittance and then claimed under EU261 which got me nowhere, in the end I dropped the claim under legal advice (i.e. I was told I could be spending good money chasing not a lot in the grand scale).

  • HiDeHi says:

    30 Jun30 June 08:39

    That does not sound like great legal advice. To claim for EU 261, you just lodge a small claims court claim which costs £30. I did this and BA paid out pretty quick(after initially refusing). You have 6 years to claim, unless you signed something waiving your rights, then you are perfectly entitled to claim. I think downgrades are harder to claim for than cancellations though. I would probably fight this if I was legally in the right, which it sounds like you are.

    • Rob says:

      30 Jun30 June 09:50

      As per above, even if you sign something waiving your rights it is not valid.

• Eli Gold says:

  30 Jun30 June 07:39

  a Little off topic here:
  easy jet once moved me off a flight to Luton and put me on Gatwick flight instaed commiting in email to compensate me 600 EUR. in reality they only gave me 300EUR saying that since I arrived at my destination no later than 3 hours from the original arrival time.

  they also committed to pay my taxi or car hire, whatever is cheaper but then refused.

  What are my rights?

  • the realharry1 says:

    30 Jun30 June 07:55

    the compensation was correct

    you have an extremely good chance of getting the taxi fare paid if you kept the receipt but you would need to start taking legal action – the threat of this would normally be enough to get it but you have to be prepared to go down the notice before action route

    • Frankie says:

      30 Jun30 June 08:47

      What is Cruz’s email address?

      • the realharry1 says:

        30 Jun30 June 09:51

        alex.cruz@ba.com

      • Anon says:

        30 Jun30 June 12:41

        If it helps in terms of timings to expect, I emailed Alex Cruz last Friday evening, got an email from customer services in the early hours of Tuesday morning saying they’re looking into my comments and look forward to speaking with me soon. I’m now waiting for their more substantive reply.

• Simon says:

  30 Jun30 June 07:40

  Good article.

  There is something totally unethical about the whole thing.

  I am sure that BA know very well that certain actions are designed to minimise compensation payments.

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