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Landed in Dublin earlier for my onward journey tomorrow DUB-LHR, LHR-PHL.
First text message when switching phone on in Dublin was from BA advising the PHL has been cancelled.I’ve called them and it seems I’ve already been rebooked onto DUB-PHL with AA. The positive is I don’t need to get up at stupid o’clock, and I actually get in into PHL earlier. The downside here is I’m downgraded from first to business, and I was actually looking forward to the first lounge at Heathrow.
I assume I’ll get the differences in tax and Avios back, but am I entitled to anything else here? Compensation for the downgrade, and compensation for the short notice cancellation?
For clarification, the flight was cancelled within 24 hours of departure.
Two separate issues.
Compensation for the cancellation where what also matters is the change in the arrival and departure times of your original flights and the new one.
You need to ask for reimbursement (not compensation) for the downgrade. Plenty of posts in BA and flight disruption fora on both issues but you’ll be able to claim for 75% of the avios back on the downgraded sector.
Yes you *must* read on HfP the frequent other cases of this.
do external google search for “downgrade”, put “site headforpoints.com:” at the front of the search.
In addition to 75% of the avios you also get 75% of all cash paid. BA calls all the cash “tax” but they trouser most of it for themselves – only about £200-220 or so of cash you paid is actual true tax or airport charges. You don’t get any of true tax back, but you get 75% of the rest of all cash you paid for that flight segment ie DUB-PHL you were downgraded on, as well as the 75% avios.
If you used a 241 then whatever is reimbursed to you for the first seat downgraded, must also be paid as regards the 2nd seat, if that was downgraded.
Do not accept any refund of the difference in cost between the two classes as that is rather less than the 75% reimbursement for downgrade you are due
My inbound wasn’t without incident either, my seat in first wouldn’t recline and there was no where else to move to, not even Club.
I lodged a claim with BA when I returned home and had a response today.50,000 Avios
£700 e-voucher
£520 compensationthis sounds like a great outcome in my opinion, but interested to hear a few opinions as my expectations may be too low.
The last item (£520) will be compensation for the cancelled flight, I assume, which is in line with the statutory amount.
The first two items then, are presumably reimbursement for the downgrade? Does that seem like about 75% of what you paid?The 50k avios is for the broken seat – it’s the standard amount BA gives.
Evoucher could also be in relation to that.
If it was for the downgrade on the outbound then they should pay that in cash not voucher (unless they offered that as an alternative and it’s higher than the actual amount and you accepted that instead of the cash)
@MickS did you actually claim for the downgrade on the out bound? It doesn’t get paid automatically.The 50k avios is for the broken seat – it’s the standard amount BA gives.
Not sure 50k is the standard. In October I was only given 10k for a broken seat and they wouldn’t budge upwards.
a few snippets from the response.
“and know this experience did not meet our usual standards. I’ve added 50,000 Avios to your Executive Club account, and hope this goes some way towards making up for what happened.” – doesn’t specifically mention the seat but I’m thinking this is probably it.
“As you weren’t able to travel in the First cabin you’d booked, we’ll work out whether you’re due any refund, and will be in touch with you soon about this. We’ll pay the refund back to the account or card you used to buy your ticket. If you’d like to speak to us about the refund, please call 0344 493 0787 with your booking reference handy.” – I’m not exactly sure this if this has been covered in the following two items.
You are entitled to compensation for the cabin downgrade. There are full details about how to use this here.
Value: £700.00
Expires: 15 May 2024I’ve checked the details of your journey and I’m pleased to advise you’re entitled to compensation for the cancellation of your flight BA0067 on 11 April. The distance of your disrupted journey was over 3,500km and this has been calculated in accordance with UK law. This means you’re entitled to £520.00 in compensation.
The 50k avios is for the broken seat – it’s the standard amount BA gives.
Evoucher could also be in relation to that.
If it was for the downgrade on the outbound then they should pay that in cash not voucher (unless they offered that as an alternative and it’s higher than the actual amount and you accepted that instead of the cash)
@MickS did you actually claim for the downgrade on the out bound? It doesn’t get paid automatically.Yes, I went on the customer relations area on the website and filed a claim for the downgrade. There was also an option to add further issues to the same flight/ticket, so i then mentioned the seat issue on the return.
@MickS that’s quite an overall result, particularly in respect of the £520 as, since they rerouted you to arrive earlier, you weren’t entitled to it.
I was under the impression the cabin downgrade reimbursement should be cash, not an evoucher?
called BA to enquire about the 75% avios / tax query.
Agent advised me the PHL is a now a route where Avios required in First is lower than Club. (I’ve checked and this seems to be the case, less avios, a lot more tax). He told me any refund in Avios would be based on the “new” pricing, and not what i redeemed about the time of booking.
didnt have the stamina to argue with him on the phone, it was 6.45pm and it has been a long day. Will call again 🙁
That is a complete steaming pile of nonsense.
The reimbursement is based on what you actually paid at the time of booking not some other price based on some other date.
Obviously something wrong with their system for calculating reimbursements.
If you know what you originally paid in avios for the downgraded legs then that’s a good start to calculating the minimum reimbursement. Cash will be a little more complicated though.
called BA to enquire about the 75% avios / tax query.
Agent advised me the PHL is a now a route where Avios required in First is lower than Club. (I’ve checked and this seems to be the case, less avios, a lot more tax). He told me any refund in Avios would be based on the “new” pricing, and not what i redeemed about the time of booking.
didnt have the stamina to argue with him on the phone, it was 6.45pm and it has been a long day. Will call again 🙁
They don’t have to refund you the difference in avios of the current prices. They have to refund 75% of what you paid at the time (for the cancelled leg).
So if LHR-DUB is 100,000 Avios and £500 (and of those £500 tax is half). Then they need to refund 75,000 avios and the 75% of £250.
Unless you prefer the evoucher they are giving you. That is their own offer but not your right.
called BA to enquire about the 75% avios / tax query.
Agent advised me the PHL is a now a route where Avios required in First is lower than Club. (I’ve checked and this seems to be the case, less avios, a lot more tax). He told me any refund in Avios would be based on the “new” pricing, and not what i redeemed about the time of booking.
didnt have the stamina to argue with him on the phone, it was 6.45pm and it has been a long day. Will call again 🙁
The Avios required is lower in some cases, but the cash required is considerably higher.
Only genuine taxes and airport fees can be excluded from the 75% downgrade reimbursement you’re entitled to; the carrier surcharge (which makes up the vast majority of the TFC on an F redemption) must be included in the 75%.
You’re also entitled to receive the reimbursement in ‘cash’, not a voucher. Of course if £700 is more than the 75% you’d be entitled to, and you’re fairly sure of using the voucher before it expires, you might choose to let sleeping dogs lie.
That may depend on your valuation of an Avios – remember that at CEDR/Court, the (recently increased) purchase price of between 1.77p and 2.45p per Avios (depending on the amount of Avios at stake) would apply.
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