Bolongna to LHR Avios (and 2-4-1) Club Europe Flight cancelled – advice please

[rollobollo]

Hi,

First post so please be gentle 🙂 Sorry for the length.

My wife and I took a long weekend break to Bologna flew out 4/3 return flight Tuesday 8/3 12:40. Absolutely loved Bologna, not so keen on the email from BA received 7/3 15:15 saying return flight cancelled. No reason given & only one BA flight per day so we had been ‘booked’ on the Wednesday flight (albeit in Economy) all I had to do was “accept the flight on the manage my booking on the app”. Yeah right.

This was completely unacceptable for work and personal reasons absolutely had to be home on the 8/3. So I called the number stated in the email having researched transport and flight alternatives, there were no direct flights available but there was availability from Milan Linate with BA and a direct train 80 minutes ride from Bologna on the excellent Trenitalia high speed train service. I’m aware I could have insisted on BA booking me on an alternative carrier but the only option would have been KLM with a change and long wait in AMS which would not have worked. Was on hold for about 60 minutes, agent did not know why flight cancelled, went through security and validated it was a reward flight, at which point she said she could not help me and I had to call the Exec club! I insisted she help me (I asked her what I was supposed to do if I was waiting for another hour plus and the Exec club closed for the night) just ignored me and said she was putting me through. Absolutely shocking customer service, no advice about what to do about hotels etc or any advise on BA’s responsibility to us. I got suspicious after 20 further minutes now supposedly holding for BA Exec club as there were no placating ‘your calls important etc’ so dialed Exec club simultaneously on my wife’s phone. Was right to be suspicious as my wife’s phone got answered first after 50 minutes holding. This is detail I know but all stokes my anger at the way BA treated us.

This time agent was efficient and got rebooked on the LIN flight I chose. He admitted that the first agents response was not right and the number given in the email was specifically for people who had to make last minute arrangements due to BA failure she should have owned the situation.

If you’ve read this far here’s the ask. Just seeking peoples guidance on what and how to claim. Initially I would have been content with reimbursement of the extra cost of having to get to Milan, but given the initial abandonment and three hours of stress that ruined our last night in Bologna I feel BA need to compensate me. I’m planning on claiming expenses – the actual extra travel costs of getting to Milan (rail fare x 2 approx’ €100 and taxi to LIN €25) & two 90 minute phone calls so very modest but as the BA ‘rules’ say you can’t claim if you ‘choose’ to change departure Airport I’m expecting a fight. There was no choice of course.

Also claiming compensation under EU261, again BA website say not entitled as I changed departure point but the brief research I’ve done suggest this is not a factor but the fact that in the end I arrived only 70 mins late may be?

Are there other things I should claim for?
Does the change of departure point really make a difference? For either claim?
What are my chances with BA (from the horror stories on here I’m assuming slim)
What should be the next steps be if they refuse any reimbursement?

Id describe myself as a regular flyer with BA not a frequent one but I’ve been lucky that (apart from the Covid mayhem) I’ve never been in a flight cancelled situation potentially stopping me getting home on the day planned.

Any advice or opinion very welcome before I submit my claim.

Many thanks.

[Lady London]

Please read the threads in the section on this forum entitled Flight Changes and Cancellations. A quick read of the Daily Chat thread of past 3 days will also give you enough. This is being covered in those places constantly and the answers are pretty much covering most of these situations repeatedly.

[Lady London]

Ps you haven’t confirmed exact timings and whether your replacement flight left at a much different time than your original flight nor if you were booked in Club and came back in Club but if same class you should ask compensation 250 euros per seat (even if 241) plus meals for any extra time you were in transit ground or air till you landed, plus all your expenses to reach Linate, plus 2 phone calls or internet

[NorthernLass]

@rollobollo (great handle!) – if you read through some of the threads on here, as LL advises, you’ll also see that while BA does indeed treat its customers with utter contempt, there is a very high rate of success for those of us who’ve pursued the airline through the appropriate channels to receive what we were entitled to. Sadly, having to navigate these processes is an occupational hazard of flying BA!

[Lady London]

PS change to LIN was involuntary you were forced to do this no they cannot refuse. Look at the Salzburg thread where I mentioned, for one on this.

If you had to come back in Economy as agent said no Club then you also claim involuntary downgrade reimbursement, that’s about 30% of what you paid in avios plus 30% of (cash paid less airport taxes). So not so useful for RFS but calculate it up anyway and claim. Each avios is worth 1.6p if you don’t want any avios back if your attitude is now bvgg4r BA, so that’s what you claim per seat. For shorthaul it’s lower % and Club to Y lower percentage search where I advised or google eu261 downgrade it’s 30% or so here.

[rollobollo]

Hi

Thanks for the quick response.

All flights were CLub

Original BOL flight (Club) scheduled to leave BOL 8/3/22 12:40 scheduled landing 8/3/22 @14:15
Replacement flight (Club) LIN left 8/3/22 14:24 landed 8/3/22 @15:16

I have had a look around the flight changes and cancellations (this section) but did not see anything on where its deemed the passenger ‘chose’ to change departure point with a less that 1 day cancellation which is I guess my main question as BA explicitly rules out comp & the veracity of this statement from them. Apologies if I’ve overlooked something.