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Despite finally getting through to BA for flights cancelled last year that flew last week they have ignored the conversation we had and just refunded the points used to book the flights, I have an open unanswered complaint since January 14th when we could not get through for months we raised.
our booking was made up of 1 x Lloyd’s upgrade and 2 people on a 241, neither of which we have been given the voucher back for, avios refuse to give it and just refunded without my permission, and BA we asked what our options were and then received a refund of just the points a day later
We were originally flying to Singapore so there isnt much point in getting the vouchers anyway, there has not been available seats for 3 people over school holidays like we originally had in the last 6 months.
I have requested from both BA and Avios either the full amount of points to rebook what I originally had without the need of a voucher of either type(+taxes), or an equivalent seat on similar dates over the Easter holidays next year, both said I need to look at the avios availability or take a refund, they cannot just open seats for me.
I would like to construct an argument to CEDR today and believe the above request is fair but need to consider both bookings to be one and share a common resolution as the circumstance applies to us as a family, the site states only one booking reference per case, is that gospel or does anyone have any advice on how to approach this?
Perhaps you need more clear communications from BA demonstrating their unreasonableness and non compliance with UK 261, something nice to include in your CEDR case submission.
I just cannot get any communication out of them, hundreds of hours on hold this year for nothing and a 4 month old unanswered complaint, perhaps I should try writing to them first?
Yes, BA seem to refund you in the hope it absolves them of any other duties. They did this to me.
You need to write immediately saying:
– Say your choice under Article 8(1) of EC261/2004 was and remains rerouting ‘at your convenience’, NOT refund
– Express your surprise at the imposed refund, and how given your choice under Article 8(1) is rerouting, this refund is clearly an error. Any offer of accepting points was merely you being flexible on the rerouting option, and was not an invitation of a refund. You are rejecting any attempt at refund (it sounds at best it is only a partial refund). Ask for their bank details to return the errant refund to them. (This will demonstrate to CEDR you clearly did NOT request a refund as your choice – thanks @LL).
– Continue the CEDR claim as before
– Mention in CEDR claim that article 15 prohibits any imposition of terms to derogate the airlines duty under EC261
– Also mention BA have been acting unreasonably: refusing to respond to complaint, attempt at unilateral refund etc. All attempting to frustrate BA’s duty.Do not accept points. Their duty is a flight, not points.
Buy the replacement flights you want under the same transport conditions (remember this doesn’t have to be on BA if there are cheaper options available). Claim the full cost from CEDR.- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
There’s a slight possibility that you may have shot yourself in the foot here, unfortunately. The Lloyds voucher isn’t refunded in the event of a cancellation (I’ve just lost one but knew that I would, it’s always been in the Ts and Cs and the avios BC voucher pretty much replaces it anyway). And because you’ve requested some sort of refund, BA will probably argue that you’ve given up your re-routing rights. I think there was a thread on here recently where someone was in a similar position and lost at CEDR.
With the 241, whether you can get it back may depend on the original expiry date.
I await @LadyLondon and @JDB’s views on this!
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
You can have more than one claimant on a single CEDR case, I have done this for delay compensation for me and my OH a few years ago.
@NorthernLass, you can get them to do something with the Lloyds voucher in the event of BA cancellation if you push hard enough. I had one which I had tried to use on two bookings over a two year period, both of which were cancelled by BA. After getting nowhere escalating within AGL, I contacted Sean Doyle’s office via his email address to see if they could get some traction on it. Eventually one of AGL’s business support managers came back and offered to honour an upgraded redemption booking, subject to a cap on the Avios saving being that of the original booking (which was a high cap given it was a flight to Singapore) and booked within a 3 month window. Once I’d decided where I wanted to use it, they processed the booking manually.
My argument was that I was entitled to a full refund under EC261, and the voucher formed part of the payment. For what it is worth they also refused to rebook outside the original booking window (which was almost expired since I booked the cancelled redemption as soon as seats were released), though I didn’t particularly challenge that since delaying our original plans a 2nd time no longer worked for us.
In the end I only used it to upgrade a flight to Athens, but it was the principle.
This story isn’t very clear, in terms of timing of cancelled flights etc, as you say “flights cancelled last year that flew last week” suggesting you may have cancelled.
Also, what you seem to have asked BA for is a refund with extra Avios in lieu of the vouchers rather than telling BA you wish to excercise your UK261 rerouting rights (assuming it was BA who cancelled). Although I know it is difficult to contact BA, putting in a complaint and leaving it for three months without response doesn’t help as the passage of time makes it harder to unpick what is already quite complicated with two types of voucher. You don’t say what/when re-routing you are seeking; all this specific detail matters as the reasonableness of what you are asking for will be very important, i.e. the facts and context of each case will determine your prospects at CEDR or MCOL.
It’s also worth noting that in the case of the upgrade voucher you booked through AGL (Avios Group Ltd) as a booking agent, albeit one who is a subsidiary of IAG. What is not clear to me is whether it is the agent or operating carrier who is on the hook in this case for the reimbursement / rerouting rights but the airlines will generally push towards the agent in this case.
At least that is one complication which goes away with the Barclaycard upgrade vouchers.
But first and foremost, as JDB says, did you cancel or BA? If you cancelled UK/EC261 does not apply and it is very clear that the Avios upgrade voucher is forfeit. The Amex 2for1 should be returned with the original expiry date.
Got hold of BA today, phone lines were actually really good
So it turns out, my partner in the 5 minute phone call asking what our options were for the flight they cancelled before being cut off, told the operator that she would have been too pregnant to fly back anyway, after we got cut off they took that as enough evidence we wanted the flight cancelled by our choosing and they went ahead and processed it as a customer cancellation and refunded only the miles, tax is still pending.
Not sure whether its worth going to CEDR to argue had we have been able to get through to BA in January when we raised the complaint we would have just moved the flights a week earlier after the cancellation (which is the request in the complaint) or whether to just accept we messed up
This story isn’t very clear, in terms of timing of cancelled flights etc, as you say “flights cancelled last year that flew last week” suggesting you may have cancelled.
Also, what you seem to have asked BA for is a refund with extra Avios in lieu of the vouchers rather than telling BA you wish to excercise your UK261 rerouting rights (assuming it was BA who cancelled). Although I know it is difficult to contact BA, putting in a complaint and leaving it for three months without response doesn’t help as the passage of time makes it harder to unpick what is already quite complicated with two types of voucher. You don’t say what/when re-routing you are seeking; all this specific detail matters as the reasonableness of what you are asking for will be very important, i.e. the facts and context of each case will determine your prospects at CEDR or MCOL.[/quote]
Original flights booked July 19 for travel March 2020 (BA cancelled), Rebooked oct 2020 (BA cancelled) rebooted April 2021 (BA cancelled) rebooted october 2021 (BA cancelled)
october 2021 Flights booked for 15th APril 22 – 2nd May 22 (landing 5am 3rd)
Both flights were cancelled in December 21
Automatically booked on similar flights a day later, which the return flight would have meant my partner was a day too pregnant to fly (and to be honest we didnt want to fly that close to the wire anyway)
Attempted to get through on the phone until the 27th January – raised a complaint stating we couldnt get through and wanted to move the dates
tried on the phone most days until April 6th finally got through – spoke to a man for 5 minutes who took security questions and asked a few details, he was looking up whether the voucher would still be valid when the phone got cut off. In this conversation my partner informed the agent she would be too pregnant to fly from the 2nd of may
attempted to get through on the phone again multiple times a day until today
started a twitter DM with customer services on the 24 March but got stuck in a loop of different CSA’s just asking for the booking reference every other dayI know there are things we could have done better and yes we could have figured out skype and all that but just never imagined it would get to this state
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
@davet unfortunately I don’t think that’s a case you could win at CEDR. While it has been very difficult to contact BA, it was far from impossible. Getting compensation for the consequential losses of failing to make contact to establish your rights are an even longer stretch.
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