Reply To: Avios flight cancellation – rebooking help!

[Lady London]

lev441 wrote:

Update…

Amex have rejected my section 75 claim when purchasing the new flights..

They have ruled that
– BA have not breached their conditions of carriage /regulation 261 as they have agreed to reroute me or refund me but just not on the days that I want to travel (I gave a 5 day window where I was happy to travel for the outbound)

**Not true. Article 8.1 and specifically 8.1(b) and 8.1(c) of UK EU261 gives passenger the choice of rerouting options and the statute governing this purchase specifically states passenger has the right to choose a date convenient to himself, to be reouted. In point of fact I did give BA the option of rerouting me on any of 5 days on the outbound, and not just one date as the legislation would hsve entitled me to do.,[I suggest you google the text of EU261 Article 8.1 and paste it into your response to Amex as it's vety clear]**

**You can also point out btw 261 is a statute and as such overrides BA’s conditions of carriage**

– Amex said ‘ If you have any evidence to the contrary, that British Airways is obligated to rebook you on another carrier., we will be happy to take this information into consideration’
– I have not demonstrated to attempt to mitigate my losses (are they basically saying I need to travel on a non direct flight/choose the cheapest option?) this is surely not comparable transport conditions…

**re mitigating losses if you waited 4 days till the next flight BA offered then under Article 9 of 261 the expenses would have been condiderably larger. Cabin class is generally viewed as simolar conditions. But a transit stop more arguable – however s transit stop would have taken longer and probbly incurred more expense (hotel, meals). Also point out the El Al flight was indeed the next available flight snd Article 8.1 gave you the right [quote again].**
– Amex claimed that under Section 75, as your credit card provider, we can only be held jointly and severally liable for a proven breach of contract and/or misrepresentation by the Supplier of goods and cannot be held responsible for any alleged lapses in customer service. **this is not a customer service issue it is the failure of the merchant to provide what was purchased, being a flight having inh

statutory rights which the merchant has fsiled to provide**

**I suggest you politely end by suggesting that they may eish to refer any questions they may still have to their legal department in an effort to rosolve this quickly**

Back to square one..

Hi Lev

Have interspersed suggested responses above to Amex’s queries. Also :

– was it defo paid on Amex credit card issued in the UK (required for s75 to apply) and not on chargecard

– I would reply to Amex in the tone of fully satisfying their recent queries and again requesting them to accept your claim for replacement tickets under s75. This communication stays nice 🙂

Wait for 2-4 weeks for their reponse. Meanwhile request BA to provide cost of tix. Get to the point where you have asked BA seriously 3 times without resolution, or 8 weeks have passed of your first contact with BA attempting to resolve, or BA refuses to deal with it any more or says “Final answer”.

When that point is reached send your Letter Before Action addressed to Amex and BA jointly, a copy to each of their respective addresses (Brighton and Waterside) by signed-for post giving them 21 days to provide the cost of replacement tix. Then MCOL them both jointly after 28 days no more.

You can decide if you go after both or just BA – card is jointly liable but I’m guessing some here might worry about Amex victimising you when you win. FWiW I think BA will have to pay you anyway and if I had decided not to join Amex to the action I’m not sure if it would be good or bad to let Amex know the bullet they dodged or just let sleeping dogs lie.

Did they give more than 2 weeks notice of cancellation? If less then might as well claim for compo quoting Article 7 as well.

Let us know the outcome.