BAEC complaint resolution advice

[rjsc]

Long time reader, first time poster. Hoping someone might have experience/recommendations how to escalate am exec club complaint.

I have been trying to be awarded the correct TP for a Finnair flight since June 22. Initially no TPs avios awarded, raised missing avios complaint and when they were finally awarded were awarded incorrectly. This seems to stem from Finnair phasing in Premium Economy class during the period I flew and BAEC award tables not being update at the time.

Since June I have consistently been calling BAEC and ultimately always getting the same response that they will send an email to the “back office” as they are not able to make any changes themselves and that this will be looked at within 14 working days. Inevitably the time passes with no response and I eventually summon the energy to call again only to go through the same loop. I am ‘not allowed’ to be copied into any of the correspondence as this is internal messaging and thus have no visibility or audit trail for any of these actions.

Does anyone know of a way to escape this interminable loop of appalling customer service?

At this point I’m about ready to try anything…

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

There are several threads on this topic already on rhe BA forum so have a look at those as they contain various ideas for chasing this up.

[Gerry]

Hello

After some advice, we flew on 25th January, LHR to Rio, scheduled departure was 11:15am, on arrival at gate was advised of technical issue with aircraft and sent back to lounge,eventually departed at 15:24 arrived at Rio at 00:13 local time, additional reason giving for delay while onboard was awaiting ground staff to push back.

I applied for EC261 compensation and BA have rejected stating not eligible for compensation due to it falling under Operational reasons, article 5.3.

Any thoughts on next steps?

[JDB]

As BA has cited ‘extraordinary circumstances’ you should write back asking them what specific ‘extraordinary circumstances’ applied to your flight, how they caused the delay and what measures were taken to avoid or reduce the delay. Give them 14 days to reply. They may well not answer at all, but if they do, it is most likely they will respond with some non sequitur. Thereafter you will have to decide if you want to pursue your claim at MCOL or CEDR with the latter probably being the safer route as MCOL involves paying a court fee and BA could potentially come up with an absolute defence.

[Gerry]

Thanks will keep you updated on outcome

[rubismith]

Hello

On January 25, we took a flight from London Heathrow to Rio. The scheduled departure time was 11:15am, but when we arrived at the gate, we were informed that there was a technical problem with the aircraft and sent back to the lounge. We eventually took off at 15:24 and arrived in Rio at 00:13 local time. Another reason for the delay was that we were waiting for ground staff to push back while on board.

My application for EC261 compensation was denied by BA, who stated that it did not qualify for compensation since it fell under item 5.3, Operational Reasons.

Any ideas for a course of action?

[Gerry]

Sounds like we were on same flight, I am getting same response from customer service, as per previous advice I am going to try one last time before ombusdam route. What response have you had?