BA First class downgrade due to weather (which resulted in a missed connection)

[pureshtuyot]

Dear Forumites,

I have posted info of my trip here https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/70k-avios-for-bapp-dropped-back-to-35k-today/

Due to icy fog at Heathrow we missed our connection to Washington on the A380 in first class and were offered Club to Baltimore. When being rebooked, the kind BA agent ensured us that we’d be refunded for the downgrade from First to Business.
After a number of requests, they refuse to acknowledge the downgrade and deny eligibility for any compensation for delays etc. due to the weather-caused delays. The only thing they agreed to pay for was my taxi from Baltimore to Washington.

Do I have a claim for downgrade compensation if the missed connection was due to bad weather?
Also, we sat on the arriving connection for 50 minutes! until being allocated a gate, which is what actually caused us to miss the connection. can BA blame the lack of an available gate on the weather? (to be fair, Heathrow was total chaos that morning)

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

You need to ask for reimbursement for a downgrade and not compensation. The UK/ EU 261 regulations is quite specific in its wording,

The cause of the downgrade is neither here nor there.

The reimbursement will be 75% of the fare paid (exclusive of proper taxes and fees) for the downgraded sector.

Write a clear email to BA asking for that and quote the relevant article of the regulation (sorry I don’t have it to hand but google is your friend)

From what you wrote weather seems to be the cause of all this and that’s an exclusion for any compensation station for delays.