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Flying Krakow to London Dec 27th , received BA saying our departure time has changed. From 1pm to 1050am. It’s not a drastic change but , 2hr10min, but we booked the 1pm flight as it lined up with a family driving us the 2.5hrs to Kraków airport. Now the flight has changed we have to take a pricey 2.5hr taxi. We booked with Avios.
Can we claim for the taxi? There are later BA flights taking cash bookings, but not Avios bookings. The family member can give us a lift for the later flights.
Much obliged.
Flying Krakow to London Dec 27th , received BA saying our departure time has changed. From 1pm to 1050am. It’s not a drastic change but , 2hr10min, but we booked the 1pm flight as it lined up with a family driving us the 2.5hrs to Kraków airport. Now the flight has changed we have to take a pricey 2.5hr taxi. We booked with Avios.
Can we claim for the taxi? There are later BA flights taking cash bookings, but not Avios bookings. The family member can give us a lift for the later flights.
Much obliged.
BA won’t pay for the taxi, but a schedule change of more than 120 mins should allow you to be rebooked +/-2days without needing Avios availability.
Looks like a really nice lunch somewhere near the airport, and then a lift from the family member.
Remember, more than 14 days out, BA can just cancel and refund your fare. Yes, they can be nice and re-route etc. But they are legally allowed to be “bad” and leave you in the lurch!
@Colin the bad news is that 14 days or more out the airline can get out of paying compo.
The good news is that if they cancel, and if airline is subject to 261, you, not the airline, get to choose if you take a refund or take a reroute instead. Airline doesn’t choose (though they sometimes try to lie about that), by law it’s your choice. At no extra cost to you and with any needed extra accommodation and/or meal expenses reimbursed.
If you choose rerouting, and the airline that cancelled you can’t rebook (reroute) you on a flight of their own then legally you are entitled to have them arrange or pay your reroute on another airline(s). However you must ensure you are proven to have requested this from the canceling airline first and you will likely have to be organised and tenacious to recover the cost if it needed to be another airline.
Indeed, BA can’t legally leave anyone in the lurch by compelling them to take a refund. They can be very uncooperative at times but the law is clear, as @LL notes, that if they cancel a flight they are on the hook for re-routing costs.
The crucial thing is that you refuse a refund if offered, as this would absolve BA of any further responsibility in the matter.
Flying Krakow to London Dec 27th , received BA saying our departure time has changed. From 1pm to 1050am. It’s not a drastic change but , 2hr10min, but we booked the 1pm flight as it lined up with a family driving us the 2.5hrs to Kraków airport. Now the flight has changed we have to take a pricey 2.5hr taxi. We booked with Avios.
Can we claim for the taxi? There are later BA flights taking cash bookings, but not Avios bookings. The family member can give us a lift for the later flights.
Much obliged.
In situations like this the availabilty of reward flights does not come into it as it’s BA that has made a change to the schedule not you requesting a change.
If you prefer a later return flight then contact exec club and ask to be moved on to one of those later flights (that’s if you can’t do it in MMB)
Yes to say the same as BAFIS all you need to do is check if they’re still selling seats in your cabin class on a flight you’d find acceptable to be rerouted onto. eg by trying a dummy booking online and take it to the payment page (not actually paying) if you want to make doubly sure.
The airline is not allowed to refuse to reroute you in any available seat in same cabin, any seat is yours if available ie it’s being sold. Some airlines and agents forget this or ‘forget’ this, it’s actually written in EU261 / UK 261 that does not have to be an award seat. this is where eu uk 261 apply, of course
Also I forgot to mention above that rerouting, plus expenses if you have to stay extra night(s) due to a cancellation, plus meals plus transport to and from any extra nights’ accommodation needed, if you are being put on another flight (rerouted) but there’s a delay, are claimable from the airline that cancelled you no matter how far ahead the cancellation wss announced. Obvs always give the airline the opportunity before arranging your own if they can be contacted.
There won’t be a later flight the same day, KRK is only a few times a week, I think 5. OP needs to fly back a different day.
Two days flexibility, how incredibly generous ;).
My memory us a bit fuzzy or I may have missed something but doesn’t the schedule change now have to be 4h+ to be meaningful or was that for something else?
There won’t be a later flight the same day, KRK is only a few times a week, I think 5. OP needs to fly back a different day.
Two days flexibility, how incredibly generous ;).
The OP advised in his original post that there were later flights! Given that there is no statutory obligation to offer anything and BA is offering seats on flights without Avios availability for two days either side yes, it is a generous concession.
My memory us a bit fuzzy or I may have missed something but doesn’t the schedule change now have to be 4h+ to be meaningful or was that for something else?
BA’s policy is that a schedule change of more than 120 minutes allows certain flexibilities.
Thank you all..
I mistakenly thought there were later BA flights on the same day. Will call and see if they can change the date otherwise an early morning taxi it is.
And useful advice for future use.
There won’t be a later flight the same day, KRK is only a few times a week, I think 5. OP needs to fly back a different day.
Two days flexibility, how incredibly generous ;).
The OP advised in his original post that there were later flights! Given that there is no statutory obligation to offer anything and BA is offering seats on flights without Avios availability for two days either side yes, it is a generous concession.
Did you forget the CJEU ruling in December 2021 that deemed a flight is “cancelled” if the departure is brought forward by more than one hour and that it is an offer of re-routing, by way of Article 8(1).
If the flight has status “cancelled” then the OP is entitled to re-routing, refund and duty of care. As its more than 2 weeks to departure, there is no compensation.
In the judgement it’s specifically mentioned the OP’s situation.
In such a case, the flight must be regarded as having been brought forward by a significant amount of time since it may result in serious inconvenience for passengers, in the same way as a delay. Where a flight has been brought forward in this way, passengers are unable to use their time as they wish and to organise their trip or holiday in line with their expectations. Accordingly, passengers may, inter alia, be forced to adapt significantly to the new departure time in order to be able to take their flight, or may even be unable, despite having taken the necessary precautions, to board the aircraft.
By CJEU case law it’s therefore established >60min earlier departure is canx, more than 3hr departure postponement, is canx.
Paragraph 97 & 99 of the judgement makes clear, as there is an offer of re-routing the pax.
97 It should be noted that, where a flight has been brought forward, as occurred in the situations at issue in Cases C‑188/20 and C‑146/20, that may constitute re-routing ‘under comparable transport conditions’ within the meaning of Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation No 261/2004, since the flight schedules alone have been modified.
99 It should be added that the operating air carrier must offer the passenger whose flight has been cancelled a choice between the various options laid down in Article 8(1)(a), (b) and (c) of that regulation (see, to that effect, judgment of 29 July 2019, Rusu, C‑354/18, EU:C:2019:637, paragraph 58).
Hence, 2 days is not generous and OP could also seek re-routing on OAL.
@hugol0ver as noted previously when you have cited this case, that’s a post Brexit CJEU decision, so not one that has to be followed by UK courts. The OP could attempt to enforce in Poland, but probably not very realistic.
Hence, BA’s policy, far from being “generous” is completely at odds with the law. But, they don’t care about that.
To make aware for anyone finding the thread later on. If BA moves your flight more than one hour earlier, and you’re flying from the EU you’re entitled to rebooking per Article 8 because the flight is considered cancelled.
It might be that a more powerful NEB such as if travelling from Germany, Hungary (the origin of many “TP” runs) is willing and able to assist.
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