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Hi, I am trying to rebook club flights cancelled by BA using a companion voucher x 2 to Miami, which was booked on 24th July 2021 for September 6th 2021.
I would like to book Orlando return for the 2022 summer holiday preferably 17th August to 3rd September, but I could live with 23rd/ 24th July to 9th August.
On calling, after a lengthy discussion (as always) with her supervisor I was offered a change to Orlando and I do not need avios availability.
However, I am advised I must return within a year of the issue date (which obviously will not be school holidays). I thought BA policy was departure within a year of ticket issue date.
Should I HUACA, or is my realistically only option CEDR or MCOL?
Many thanks@BBoltonsam – You would only be legally entitled to re-routing to MIA with dates of your choosing, not MCO, so I think that if BA is offering the latter you are going to struggle to get beyond whatever their current policy is.
If you can’t get them to agree to your preferred dates for MCO the best option is going to be to stick with MIA and driving to Orlando if you want to spend your holiday there.Merry Xmas Northern Lass,
I understand most of BA’s policy, but my main priority is taking in the school holidays, so if it’s Miami return so be it.
But do I have return by the one year date of ticket issue or do I have depart by one year of the ticket issue date ie the 24th July 2022?Cheers
Merry Xmas! No, if you are exercising your UK261 re-routing rights you can choose dates of your convenience to MIA.
So I am still getting the runaround, with BA only allowing me to rebook a new trip that has to return by the one year ticket issue date. I could accept departing before the one year ticket issue date but BA will not budge.
In order to send MCOL to head office do I need to:
1) obtain DSAR or can I just quote and let BA head office look into it?
2) Do I have to book refundable tickets for my proposed itinerary now (although this will tie up a huge amount of cash)?
3) Will BA cave in pretty quickly or are they likely to still draw the matter out?
4) Does anyone have a template letter to send? I’d imagine there must be a multitude of settled, successful claims.Many thanks for any help.
You need to send BA legal at waterside a letter before action giving them 14 days to sort it out otherwise you’ll be taking them to MCOL.
Keep the letter brief and factual. Stick to dates and flight numbers and your are asserting your Eu/Uk261 rights
You can ask for MCO but since your original booking was MIA you should be prepared to fly to MIA.
Hi all,
CEDR have forwarded me their judgement in regarding booking and validity date:
“I direct the company to offer the customer the choice of three options; re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger’s convenience, subject to availability of seats and on a flight on a published timetable, a refund of the cash and Avios used to purchase the tickets, or a voucher for future travel in the amount paid in cash for the tickets and a refund of the Avios used to buy the tickets.”
In their actual analysis CEDR say: “With regard to Article 8 of the APR Regulations, I accept that under Article 8 passengers are
entitled to “re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later
date at the passenger’s convenience, subject to availability of seats”. However, on balance, I
accept the company’s argument that it would not be reasonable to find that Article 8 provides a
right for customers whose flights have been cancelled to rebook at any date in the future without
a time limit, and, instead, in line with the principle of reasonableness that underlies the
interpretation of the statutory provisions, and considering the purpose of the APR Regulations, I
find that Article 8 entitles the customer to rebook within a reasonable timeframe. However, in
light of the company’s offer to allow the customers to rebook outside of the 12 month ticket
validity, there is no need for me to consider specifically what constitutes a reasonable timeframe
in this case. However, for guidance, I do not accept that the twelve month period from booking
would always be a reasonable timescale under Article 8, but I would not find it reasonable for a
customer to request rebooking on a date so far in advance that the flight timetable had not been
published.”I take it as long as flights are currently available in BA’s system I am allowed to rebook as long as there is commercial availability, irrespective of avios availability?
@BoltonSam, I would say so but I also think this is too narrow an interpretation for a lot of people.
This is in line with a few other rulings reported on here recently. I suppose it’s positive that they aren’t accepting BA’s 12-month reticketing policy but it totally ignores how little flexibility a lot of people have when it comes to scheduling trips. Also, if you booked 11 months out, and BA cancelled very soon afterwards, presumably CEDR would you to be able to re-book the trip for a only a month after the original travel date (i.e. as per the published flight timetable)? This is hardly at the passenger’s convenience!
I can’t remember know if this has been successfully challenged in court but the CEDR decision definitely does not take into account the passenger’s convenience (actually ability to travel, not just convenience).- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
@Boltonsam it’s great you have won, but a shame the drafting of the decision is so poor. From your original post in December, it appears you want to travel this year Aug/Sep and indeed there should be no issue – BA needs to rebook you on your preferred dates if there are paid seats available on the flight. I’m not sure what you actually asked CEDR for in respect of MIA or MCO.
The best thing seems to be to ask BA, in light of the decision, to book what you want and if they won’t for any reason, then you need to get clarification from CEDR/complain BA is not complying. It seems unfortunately quite late in the day to be sorting out accommodation etc. for late summer if you haven’t already in the expectation of a result, but I think the decision is fairly clear you couldn’t book for summer 2023.
@BoltonSam, when did you submit your case to CEDR? It seems very late in the day for you to arrange a trip for this summer now, as @JDB says.
Thanks Northern Lass and JDB. CEDR process started 6/3/22, despite really trying to resolve directly for a few preceding months, with BA as different offices were promising to resolve as per my wishes (never came to fruition). I also could not get a deadlock letter or a response/ acknowledgment to an LBA (only acknowledged months later thru CEDR).
My advice would be to give BA a cursory chance to resolve such an issue, send an LBA but take the matter to MCOL or CEDR (which is really easy) asap, as BA but have no intention to unilaterally play fair.Yes I did provisionally book annual leave, a few refundable hotels and planned a provisional itinerary, but obviously I would have loved 9 months+ to definitively plan and book. At this stage Summer 2023 would have been preferable.
With the currency devaluation and increased US general costs I had a plan B for an AI waterpark hotel Europe but I’ll make Florida work. CEDR was only for Miami but I shall ask about Orlando but it’s all rather longwinded.In your example of BA cancelling shortly after booking, 11 months out, I don’t read it the same way as you do.
If its cancelled, then the ticket is valid 12 months from date of issue, and it seems CEDR are saying you can rebook beyond validity, and as far as the seats are for sale. In other words, go forward 11 months from issuance and rebook then, which would well into the year after, meaning a rebooking date almost two years from the date of issuance based on filed timetables in IATA.
That’s something like 354 days with BA, plotted from the last day of ticket validity, as it would be for sale.
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