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Hi
We had a flight from London to Glasgow cancelled on 29th June. After a long wait they have refunded my expenses and said we are not due eu compensation because it was cancelled because of industrial action.Other details:
It was part of an avios booking to USA that we managed to make by going to London ourselves
It was a few days after industrial action was announced for later in JulyBA have paid for expenses to get to London (managed to catch last train to London our next leg was next morning.
Q 1/ is anyone aware of industrial action on that day. Pretty sure none and is it just someone on a bonus to reject as many claims as possible?
Q2 anyone else experienced this made up excuse ?
Q3 I know my second leg should technically have been cancelled ( but wasn’t) should I not get partial refund of avios and surcharges for that first leg on top of expenses and compensation?There is a way to search for a flight cancellation reason but I think it’s only possible for a couple of days after the specific departure date.
There are instances when airlines are liable for compo and also when they aren’t, so it would depend who exactly was taking industrial action. I don’t recall any reports of industrial action by UK airport or airline staff over the summer though.
If you’re set on pursuing this, I would write to BA asking them to give full details of what the industrial action was. If they fail to reply or don’t provide a satisfactory response, get them to concede that this is their final decision then take them to CEDR.Hi I think you mean your flight from GLA to LHR was cancelled (you wrote London to Glasgow)
Was the flight on 29 June or early July or was that the date you received the cancellationnotice? BA check-in and ground staff were due to strike in early July but I thought that was at LHR only so wouldn’t explain why they cancelled a flight from GLA unless BA are claiming they didn’t have enough staff at LHR to handle the arriving aircraft.
That said I think you don’t have to prove the reason for cancellation, that is up to BA to defend their reasoning for refusing to pay compensation.
If your flight was cancelled within 14 days of the departure I think you are entitled to compensation. Also BA should have rerouted you. The fact you got reimbursed your train fares shows that they accept some responsibility.
I would write again to BA requesting compensation and if they refuse again I would ask for confirmation that is their final answer and then do claim via MCOL.
Where’s @JDB when you need him? I was under the impression that industrial action by a carrier’s staff did not constitute exceptional circumstances:
https://goughsq.co.uk/ryanair-v-caa-ca-judgment-on-extraordinary-circumstances/
I’ve nothing to add on points 1 and 2, but on 3) you won’t get a refund *and* your expenses; you paid for your flight, and that obliges them to get you to your end-destination at no further cost to you. You can’t have two bites at the cherry by expecting a (partial) refund, and them reimbursing you your expenses.
@davidboyle99 – BA wasn’t on strike on 29 June and not sure that any other relevant companies were, but in any event as @Froggee says, a strike by BA staff wouldn’t constitute extraordinary circumstances. I think they were having a bit of a meltdown that day which led to Heathrow ordained cancellations the following day. It seems that once BA has put a no compensation marker on a particular flight they put out any old excuse and sometimes different ones to passengers on the same flight.
It isn’t entirely clear from your post, but it appears that you had a flight from GLA via LHR to the US on one ticket so you need to look at the whole journey, not each individual flight. Although the first flight was cancelled, you decided to make your own arrangements for which you have been reimbursed, but you still caught your flight to the US the following day and thus suffered no overall delay, so I am not sure that you are entitled to compensation per Article 5 (1)(c)(iii)
I would challenge them on the industrial action, I have had them reverse the first position in the past and ask them to clarify.
I don’t think strikes on the Croydon tramlink constitute industrial action that resulted in a flight cancellation. The other thing that happened that day was German air traffic control issues – this could have had some knock on effects to the network which is why they had to cancel your flight?
Hi thanks for replies.
Yes I meant gla to Lhr sorry. Yes all on one ticket to USA.
I have already gone back to them to clarify what industrial action they are referring to.
Hi
As per last note thanks for the replies…. Since it looks like my flight is not eligible for compensation even if excuse not good from BA I plan to leave it on the latest reply.ANyone interested this was the latest reply :
I’ve had another look at your claim for compensation and I’ve taken time to make sure our response is accurate and up-to-date. Based on this, our decision hasn’t changed and the response you’ve received about the eligibility of your compensation claim are correct.As your flight was cancelled due to airport restrictions, Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) is responsible for security process. Due to staff shortage of Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) at security processes the flight was cancelled, it means you’re not eligible for compensation.
You may have seen in the news that airports across the world have imposed restrictions on the number of flights that airlines can operate. Heathrow Airport Ltd (HAL) has set a passenger limit per day until September. As a result, they have told us to adjust our flying schedule to reduce the number of customers using the airport this summer.
Article 5.3 of the EU Regulation 261/2004 and The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licencing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 states a carrier is not obliged to pay compensation if it can prove the delay or cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances, that couldn’t have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. In Recital 14 and 15 of EU Regulation 261/2004, extraordinary circumstances include weather, strike and the impact of an air traffic management decision which gives rise to a long delay. This means you’re not entitled to compensation under the EU Regulation for your cancelled flight.
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