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

[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.