Curious re BA compensation

[travelrare]

I don’t travel on business much so this is a question for those who have more interaction with compensation I travelled in March from Phoenix- LHR-Man. My London Heathrow flight landed early but we were held on the ground for 2 hours. At the time, the pilot told us it was initally because our stand was occupied and no sign of the plane departing He then told us that his requested new stand had been approved but they had no transfer in place to move us landslide. I was advised to run for my connection, it was tight but possible, I did, Run that is. Going though passport cotnol my boarding card was denied access. I was told it was because the system had calculated that I would not make the connection so it was no longer valid. I was issued a replacement boarding card for a later flight (I found out this was the last one that day) but no seat as they said already fully booked so probably not getting on it. I arrived just as my flight was calling for boarding, rushed to the desk to be denied boarding .They refused to explain saying my seat had been reallocated as I had not made it in time. I spoke to BA desk and they told me that when I passed through passport control, the decision had been taken then to cancel my seat when they reissued me with a new boarding card. I was a little fed up as I had run through the airport for nothing but hey stuff happens. In the end, I did get out on the last flight out. It was nail biting though. My luggage didnt make it and came three days later by which time I had left home for my next business trip.
So naively as I don’t travel a lot on International. I though BA would compensate me for arriving late (the incoming flight to Man was also late so I had a longer travel home time). I also thought they would compensate me for the luggage delay coming late. They have replied saying that they connection time was met and that the delay for the international flight was due to traffic controller issues. I was surprised. I challenged but they are adamant. Is this normal – I am curious as I thought wow, What if I had not made my flight home at all to Man, would I have had to self fund overnight in Heathrow as they are saying it was not their fault. It is bugging me that I don’t understand the system. My simple view was they held me on tarmac for 2 hours, I missed the connection, they put me on a later one and I got home late plus luggage less. Help explain to me please. Also on the luggage front, they told me that it was within 72 hours so the delivery didnt need compensation. Again I get that. But galling that they had all my business clothes and toiletries and I had to buy some fresh stuff because of their delay in returning. That is ok I get the 72 hour rule. It was my tough luck that I left home at 7am for a trip to London and the luggage came home at 11am. So main question, how come traffic controller is the reason for the delay on tarmac and they don’t need to pay me compensation for the overall delay. Is there something I should do to be more careful about fact gathering if this were to happen again (Canada in aug and Phoenix again in Sep. but my boss was on same flight and same delay and saying never BA again and she is the CEO so who knows what airline I will take)

[Lady London]

Date of travel please

Have you read the threads in the Flight Delays and Cancellations section here on HfP?

You will see on various threads there, compensation is one thing and can be wriggled out of by airline depending on travel conditions on a particular date or set of dates.

Duty of care is a separate type of claim to compensation, much much harder for airlines not to pay however generally it’s paid on a reimbursement basis ie you spend, you submit claim, they pay. Same for luggage but harder if arriving home as assumed you have other stuff there or can access your normal supplier of replacement stuff while your luggage is being brought to you.

So for duty of care it’s only reimbursement of your readonably incurred expenses and if you didn’t spend anything
… eg no hotel, no urgent away from home luggage replacement..there would be nothing to claim.

[travelrare]

Thank you, I am new to forum and didn’t know about the other thread