BA downgrade compensation still outstanding after 18 months

[Paramount23]

Does anyone have any advice please on what to do with my situation:

I was downgraded on a cash booking from First to Club World in May 2022. Claim submitted in June 2022.

BA responded in November 2022 stating they had already refunded me (they hadn’t) what they had decided was the correct amount. They stated they do not include their own carrier imposed surcharges when working out the 75% compensation amount. I challenged this with BA, but without joy.

Went to the CEDR in late 2022, and they upheld my claim. However, they stated that because BA had informed them that they had sent me all I was entitled to (I still hadn’t received a single penny), they stated BA needed to do nothing more. CEDR made no attempts to get proof from BA about the methodology of their calculation, or verifiable evidence that they’d sent me any compensation at all. Found the whole CEDR process really frustrating, and I couldn’t believe they would just take everything BA stated as fact without the slightest amount of pushback or requests to verify what they were stating after I had said BA was incorrect and my bank could prove that.

In early 2023, MCOL claim was submitted with evidence, including confirmation from my bank that I hadn’t received anything from BA. BA requested a 14-day extension to gather their evidence to rebut my claim, but on day 14 of the extension, BA simply sent a cut and paste of their original response to my claim from back in June 2022. They literally ignored everything that has been put to them over the last 10 months, and made no reference at all to what I or my bank had supplied. I got the impression the BA staff were totally overwhelmed and were just doing the least possible in order to dismiss as many claims as they could in the hope that most people would just go away.

I requested that MCOL submit my claim for the next phase in their process. However, after 6 months, numerous E-Mails and phone calls, I can’t get anyone from the courts to tell me what’s happening. I totally understand if they are busy, but even a simple message confirming my claim is in a queue and could take xxx years to be dealt with, at least I would have something. I have even submitted a formal complaint to the court service about them not responding to any requests for information, but they haven’t even responded. Their complaints process states they will respond within 10 working days, but mine was submitted over 30 working days ago. I am advised to contact my MP with regard to the court service not responding, which I have now done. Of course, I am not expecting him to get involved with BA or their actions.

I was advised to send BA a final letter by recorded delivery advising them I would be requesting the court arrange for mediation or a court hearing to settle my claim without further reference to them. I sent such a letter (and E-Mail) last month, but have heard nothing from BA.

My downgraded flights were now over 18 months ago, and I still haven’t got anything from BA. As can be imagined, 75% of a cash fare in First to SFO and back is a considerable amount of money. For what it’s worth, I am BAEC Gold.

ANY HELP OR IDEAS PLEASE, AS I HAVE FOLLOWED ALL THE GUIDANCE I COULD FIND – COMPLAINTS ARE NOT MY FORTE THOUGH !. THANK YOU

[Lady London]

Q1. Wondering did BA provide evidence to CEDR, of actually having sent the correct amount you are due. It seems odd CEDR would just take their word for it when you produced bank evidence that payment was not received.

Q2. And was the amount BA said they had sent, the full amount of your claim anyway? It sounds not.

If I was sure my claim had been clearly made and for the correct amount I am due, I think my next step would be a google search on headforpoints.com to find a few of JDB’s recent posts where he gave some nice wording to add to your claim and for you to also inform BA that due to the delay i would also now be asking at MCOL for statutory intetest to be paid on my claim as and when your claim is paid.

How far is the court from you? Staff can be very helpful if visited at a quiet time.

[JDB]

@Paramount23 – it’s difficult to understand how this has ended up at MCOL and the description of what happened at CEDR is highly unusual. Unfortunately, it looks as though you have let BA trample all over you and the case wasn’t clearly enough set out for CEDR so they were bamboozled by BA; not unheard of.

The letter you were advised to send to BA seems rather pointless as both mediation and any hearing will be arranged by the court, not between the parties. At this stage, there’s little purpose in writing to BA unless you are saying something new or proposing a settlement. It’s not clear whether your MCOL claim is actually under UK261 or seeking payment of the sum they had previously promised. If you can get the facts absolutely straight and clearly set out, it may be worth trying to settle, but you may have to forgo interest to get that agreed. Hopefully you have claimed for that starting seven days from the downgraded flight or your initial claim.

In respect of the court, if you sent your Directions Questionnaire, did you get an email receipt? If you did, all should be OK. If your case is still with the CCBC, are running at least a month behind for answering emails.