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Hi We were due to fly to St Lucia- 8 of us 2 business and 6 economy all booked via avios and cash. All cancelled due to the Hurricane. We then hurredly rebooked to fly to Marrakech the next day again all on airmiles. BA refunded all the airmiles and companion voucher for the St Lucia flight. The companion voucher expires in August 2024 and there is no way we can now uae it. I have asked BA to extend but no response so far. Has anyone else had any luck with extending.
Our flight back from Marrakech was also cancelled. No other flights the same day so I booked us all to come back a day early. I applied to BA for compensation and they offered £175 which is 50% of the statutory EU dictated amount. I have queried this saying it should be 100% but their response is that the new flight arrived within 3 hours of the cancelled flight – It didn’t it was 16 hours earlier and we lost a days holiday.
This is there latest response “We would like to inform that your disrupted flight was BA2811 which was supposed to depart on 9 July 2024. Further, the flight on which you were actually flown was BA2813 which departed on the previous day which is 8 July 2024. So, there was no delay at arrival however, you departed 1 hour prior to your actual departure time and that is the reason that you are eligible for 50% compensation in this case”I think the implication is that if we had booked flights a day after the cancellation we would get 100% but by booking a day earlier we get 50%. Doesn’t seem righ to me but my attempt to escalate the issue is getting nowwhere- any thoughts?
You are due the full compensation for the Marrakech flight, though you will probably have to go to CEDR to get it. The legal ruling which means full compensation is due was the Azurair case. I’d suggest replying to BA, pointing out that you are due full compensation as per the Azurair case, and asking that they either pay or confirm that is their final answer. If they give you a deadlock sta8you can then raise a CEDR case, which you should win if you set it out clearly and concisely.
I think you are unlikely to get anywhere with extending the companion voucher unfortunately.
@AlanPlater as @Matt says, BA isn’t entitled to reduce the compensation by 50% if your rerouted flight was brought forward by more than one hour. They are trying to be a bit cute by relying on Article 7.2 with considering the case of Azurair cited above. The judgment in that case is quite tortuous to read, but the ECJ’s formal press release is a bit more helpful.
In addition, where a flight has been brought forward by a significant amount of time,
giving rise to a right to compensation (which implies, inter alia, late communication that the
flight has been brought forward), the operating air carrier is still required to pay the total
amount (which is, depending on the distance, € 250, 400 or 600). It does not have the
possibility to reduce any compensation to be paid by 50% on the ground that it has offered the
passenger re-routing, allowing him or her to arrive without delay at his or her final destination.BA fairly consistently applies the 50% haircut in these instances. They may subsequently try to argue that nothing is due as the choice of travelling a day early was voluntary.
Hi We were due to fly to St Lucia- 8 of us 2 business and 6 economy all booked via avios and cash. All cancelled due to the Hurricane. We then hurredly rebooked to fly to Marrakech the next day again all on airmiles. BA refunded all the airmiles and companion voucher for the St Lucia flight. The companion voucher expires in August 2024 and there is no way we can now uae it. I have asked BA to extend but no response so far. Has anyone else had any luck with extending.
?No they will not extend though I am surprised you didn’t simply delay travel. BA would have been responsible for getting you to St Lucia in comparable travel conditions at a time convenient to you.
The full details are here
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/contentsNo compensation due as extraordinary circumstances but the airline remains liable to get you there even if they have to pay for seats on other airlines. A few days delay would have ensured you did not lose the 241 and avios seats did not need to be available
I’m sorry to agree @Paul’s right. You would have been in a much better situation if you’d forced BA to reroute you promptly to St Lucia and kept your destination as St Lucia instead.
But that’s easy for me to say as you might have had a villa that you could have lost days of, while you argued with BA to try to get them to provide you another flight on themselves or any other airline promptly, as per your rights. And then arriving late in St Lucia, you could have a hard time securing the accommodation you needed fot extra nights even if your rights should allow you to reroute the return as well.
And in accordance with BA’s previously reported behaviour it’s quite likely they banked on the fact that not many passengers would be in a position to buy 2 last minute seats to St Lucia on another airline(s) and pursue them for the cost BA would then owe due to having refused a reasonably prompt reroute – let alone funding the cost of 8 seats before months of struggle to get refunded.
But Marrakech is not St Lucia so there’s, to me, also a loss there.
As @JDB says BA are playing silly bvggvrs as over 1 hour early, let alone 1 day early, they owe you the full compensation of up to £520 per seat, even infsnts or 241 or sale or avios-paid seats, for each of your 8 seats, and they know it. When you write to them for their final confirmation that they are going to continue tnis denial I think I’d also include a line Do they really want to waste CEDR or court time by persisting in this incorrect denial or could they please reconsider and save everyone time.
On the Companion Voucher I think it’s time someone took this to CEDR,at least, as a separate issue for CEDR on the basis of fairness. Yours is a very suitable case as, entirely due to the failure of BA to provide the flight it was used for, practically on the eve of your 241 voucher’s expiry BA cancelled the flight and in all the circumstances, reasonably there was not enough time available for you to find a replacement use for the voucher (even if your circumstances would have allowed you to organise and take another holiday so soon) before its by then extremely short expiry dste.
It cannot be fair, and IMV it cannot be part of any contract/terms/conditions, for the use of a 241 to be made impossible due predominantly to the actions of BA themselves, if BA is then refusing to extend the validity by at least 6 months given how difficult it can be to find seats such as the original seats booked. It’s time to get at least a CEDR decision saying this is not fair and then progress to a legal case of some sort where a judgment could actually make this illegal.
I sincerely hope you get all the money due to you from British Airways for your 8 seats.
Oops just seen that the cancellation for which there was no exceptional circumstance was Marrakech and not St Lucia (which did have an exceptional circumstance as the reason) so the compensation amount due to you for each of the 8 seats is £350 per seat not £520.
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