BA not answering

[shilly]

Booked to fly tomorrow Manchester via London to BUcharest and they have just cancelled Manchester London flight with no alternative. In MMB it just says contact us but when I call it says we can’t take your call at the moment. If I can’t get through do I just not show up? I am looking at going with wizz air via Luton.

[polly]

Same here, cancelled our Bordeaux lgw one for Friday, this afternoon. No BA flights til late mon night.. no way getting through. Have booked easy jet back to lgw 5 hours after our BA original time. Will just email the receipt. No extra charges to run up, thankfully. Will claim the eu fee when back home.

[Lady London]

keep very, very good records of your various serious attempts to reach BA to try to get them to reroute you/ provide duty of care if required, before you go ahead with your own arrangements.

[polly]

Hi LL
There was no offer to re route us. My daughter was trying with no joy. Yes, records there. But we get eu compo anyway. new flights just over 100, so will claim on insurance if ness…just annoying, but we couldn’t wait til Monday nights flight as on granny duty Tuesday morning crack of dawn! Tnx for advice.. they paid up recently after Prague cancellation, didn’t even fight it.. weird when you read here so many battles being fought.

Am actually thinking on reading the EJ posts elsewhere, that our EJ flight might even be cancelled now. That would be just so annoying. It’s the last one to lgw on Friday night, so let’s see what fun and games follow us the next day or so..

[shilly]

Thanks will do but do I cancel the flights online or just not show up?

[SamG]

shilly wrote:

Thanks will do but do I cancel the flights online or just not show up?

Just don’t show up if you want them to pay for your replacement flights instead. Do not take a refund in this circumstance . If your refund would cover your new flight then that’d be less hassle for you but if you’d have to get to London then you’d need to claim that travel cost too so in that case you shouldn’t cancel.

Other options are to attempt to get through to BA (try the USA line via Skype if you are still awake) and either get the ticket amended to start at LHR and take the train down (Send BA the bill) or get them to reroute you via Amsterdam on KLM. Schiphol is a mess but coming from the UK to Romania you wouldn’t pass any security or immigration so should be OK.

Your flight has been cancelled with code ARPN – I don’t know what ARP stands for but the N suggests that they think it is extraordinary circumstances and not eligible for compensation. However put your claim in anyway and report back what their excuse was this time and what happens with your compo

[SamG]

polly wrote:

Hi LL
There was no offer to re route us. My daughter was trying with no joy. Yes, records there. But we get eu compo anyway. new flights just over 100, so will claim on insurance if ness…just annoying, but we couldn’t wait til Monday nights flight as on granny duty Tuesday morning crack of dawn! Tnx for advice.. they paid up recently after Prague cancellation, didn’t even fight it.. weird when you read here so many battles being fought.

Am actually thinking on reading the EJ posts elsewhere, that our EJ flight might even be cancelled now. That would be just so annoying. It’s the last one to lgw on Friday night, so let’s see what fun and games follow us the next day or so..

Polly seems your flight was cancelled due to Industrial Action – code INDN – so not sure you’ll get compo – the N at the ends suggests BA thinks not. Keep an eye on your Easyjet one too in case it’s caught up in any disruption!

[slidey]

Where do you find the cancellation codes?

[shilly]

Thanks @SamG very helpful. Flights booked on soon to expire 241 and cost £150 plus avios for both new ones with wiizz air cost £300 for both so not sure the if it’s better to cancel????

[SamG]

mmm bit of a tough one! if the 2-4-1 is worthless to you then depends how many Avios and how valuable they are to you (I’ve got piles of the things, would rather get my cash back)

[SamG]

Just heard on BBC that Heathrow have had to request cancellations tomorrow as they are so short staffed

[Lady London]

polly wrote:

Hi LL
There was no offer to re route us. My daughter was trying with no joy. Yes, records there. But we get eu compo anyway. new flights just over 100, so will claim on insurance if ness…just annoying, but we couldn’t wait til Monday nights flight as on granny duty Tuesday morning crack of dawn! Tnx for advice.. they paid up recently after Prague cancellation, didn’t even fight it.. weird when you read here so many battles being fought.

Am actually thinking on reading the EJ posts elsewhere, that our EJ flight might even be cancelled now. That would be just so annoying. It’s the last one to lgw on Friday night, so let’s see what fun and games follow us the next day or so..

EJ is more likely to cancel flights during the day than the ones at either end of the day. Cancelling an evening one hits them on hotel costs, So they’ll avoid cancelling if they can. Doesn’t mean they won’t fly that last flight of the day around 2 hours late though. Which unfortunately into Gatwick is not a problem for EJ as Gatwick has no curfew… So you land at horrible o’clock. Practically early morning at Gatwick by the time you get your luggage.. then virtually no transport options.

Did it every week for months on end with EJ into Gatwick and I swear our flight was really always scheduled to depart almost 2 hours later late evening than sold. If they had put the regular departure time and effectively landing every week at Gatwick at 1am, no one would have booked it. Into another airport with a curfew like Heathrow, EJ wouldn’t have been able to get away with regularly running the last flight of the day nearly 2 hours later than they sold it for.

So fingers crossed for your flight Polly

[polly]

Tnx LL, my OH has a golf start at 07.30, so he may be going from LGW straight to the course… had a very easy chat with BA Germany! This morning. Very happy for us to book and pay for our EJ flights. She was so nice, no arguments etc. and of course offered the refund.. apparently BA had only about 8 pax booked, so of course they cancelled it!
Let’s see if we can get into the lounge, otherwise BA are paying for that also. Apparently no PP or Loungekey access at BOD, only at Toulouse. We will live!

[Lady London]

Remember whether compensation turns out to apply or not, if flights are cancelled or moved enough to make it necessary, the operating airline still owes duty of care so hotel and transport to and from hotel if neered (or transport to and from home if you are near enough to return home), plus meals occurring during any extra waiting time or during increased journey time end to end.

[meta]

Industrial action is not considered extraordinary circumstance. There is a January ruling on this from UK courts that JDB quoted yesterday in the main chat and at least three rulings by ECJ in the past. The only time it would be considered extraordinary is if it was announced on the very day of the flight.

[polly]

LL, Yep, got that Tnx… thus lounge costs will cover that waiting time, as the flight is 5 hrs later than the BA was due to leave…
And l remember you talking about those last EJ flights years back.. That was such hassle for you esp trying to get back into central Lon late at night.

[SamG]

meta wrote:

Industrial action is not considered extraordinary circumstance. There is a January ruling on this from UK courts that JDB quoted yesterday in the main chat and at least three rulings by ECJ in the past. The only time it would be considered extraordinary is if it was announced on the very day of the flight.

That is what I thought too. Not sure if they code then N so they say it was extraordinary circumstances upfront and hope most people don’t fight it

[SamG]

Lady London wrote:

Did it every week for months on end with EJ into Gatwick and I swear our flight was really always scheduled to depart almost 2 hours later late evening than sold. If they had put the regular departure time and effectively landing every week at Gatwick at 1am, no one would have booked it. Into another airport with a curfew like Heathrow, EJ wouldn’t have been able to get away with regularly running the last flight of the day nearly 2 hours later than they sold it for.

Yes, they must know historically that their schedules are impossible to run yet they still schedule it year after year. Frustrating for everyone. They aren’t the only ones – I used to take an AirAsia flight from Singapore quite frequently and the way the aircraft was scheduled every day it was impossible for the flight to run less than 1hr late. I was travelling HBO so used to turn up at the new time but must have been annoying for everyone else!

[polly]

Well, they Easy Jet have delayed tonight’s flight departure from 22.10 to 23.16. So LL, they’re still at it.
SamG, BA Germany v helpful today agreeing to refund our EJ and lounge entry. As l said we were entitled to BA lounge with our original BA flight. Will apply for compo anyway and see how we go..
Tomorrow’s flt on time so far. Interesting times….

[Rob]

It’s all very messy. My wife was stuck in Frankfurt last night after BA cancelled her return flight at the last minute. Not amused, albeit BA will cover the hotel and she could work remotely.