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  • ed8890 9 posts

    Evening all

    Our daughter and partner were due to fly back from JFK last night on the BA0174 to LHR at 18:50 US Time.
    They were booked in Premium Economy

    They boarded successfully.

    The wings were de-iced and the aircraft joined the queue for takeoff.
    By the time their turn came the wings needed de-icing again, and Captain announced that the wait was too long and the flight was cancelled.
    They had to deplane and wait for bags, and were told to go the BA desks.

    All BA staff had left the airport as it was after midnight, so all desks etc were unmanned.

    She rebooked herself and partner on the next BA flight which was the BA174 to leave at 18:45 local time, but could only get economy and paid £1400 for them both.

    In the interim she received an email saying that BA had rebooked her on the AA flight which was at 19:00 local time.

    She called the number provided and BA said the original cost of the tickets would be refunded.

    Wanted to get some input around the refund and any compensation and what the approach needs to be?

    1. The original costs of the tickets (LHR to MCO – economy and then JFK to LHR – PE) was £1300. What refund should I expect vs the £1400 cost of the replacement tickets for one leg?
    2. What is the situation re compensation for the flight delay?

    Any advice gratefully received

    Thanks Ed

    yonasl 1,100 posts

    I would expect the £1,400 refunded but will also then inform BA I flew Economy and would want downgrade compensation (75% of the price paid for one leg, at least should include the difference in taxes).

    Another thing is what BA will understand they have to pay.

    Garethgerry 173 posts

    What did they fly on.

    If it was on the BA metal she paid for should get the £1400 back and hotel costs. Expect same If took up offer from BA

    Won’t get downgrade compensation as they voluntarily downgraded themselves .

    If BA had downgraded them they would of got compensation.

    Weren’t there any option shown in MMB, rather than buying new flights

    NorthernLass 10,518 posts

    They’ve muddied the waters by re-booking themselves, but a lot of people in this position for the first time don’t know to check MMB and/or emails.

    No compensation if the weather caused the cancellation. I agree that downgrade reimbursement might be refused because daughter chose to book economy replacement flights. Did they fly back the same night, it’s not clear from what I’ve read here? If they needed to stay an extra night, BA will cover hotel and meal costs.

    I’m not sure here whether BA will agree to pay the cost of the new flight or the equivalent of what the cancelled return sector would have been. You cannot rely on what you’ve been told on the phone, unfortunately.

    JDB 6,255 posts

    @ed8890 – quite a few separate issues issues, most have which have been covered above

    1. As your daughter was delayed 24 hours, now travelling on today’s BA174, BA is liable to cover reasonable hotel, food and transportation costs from/to the airport – she needs to keep all the receipts. BA will usually pay this sort of claim quite quickly.

    2. In terms of refunding the original tickets, we don’t know the breakdown of the £1300 between the outbound to MCO and the return from NYC. It may be more than as she travelled in economy outbound but there’s no big difference on the return. If it were two thirds, that would leave a shortfall of some £540. As this cost is all within BA, they make take pity and cover the extra cost of the self-routing which I’m afraid was a rather ill advised course of action and BA would strictly be entitled simply to refund the original JFK-LHR tickets. You could call and see if the AA option is still available to you and ask them to cancel the new £1400 tickets for no fee as your daughter only booked them in the absence of advice from BA.

    3. BA will probably try to avoid paying any cancellation compensation on the grounds of weather but it isn’t exactly clear that the weather was the ultimate or principal reason, more the absence of a second de-icing service, something not strictly outside BA’s control but it is arguable.

    4. Downgrade compensation is tricky as this unintentionally became a voluntary downgrade. Not sure which class they had booked them into with AA.

    Olly 312 posts

    If my recent experience is anything to go by then getting BA to reimburse the cost of the replacement flight in this scenario could be a challenge.

    As JDB suggests, if the replacement booking is still within the 24 hrs cancellation window, cancelling that and accepting the rebooking option in MMB might be their best option (assuming they haven’t declined this and accepted the refund for cancellation).

    If they have already accepted the refund then they will struggle to get anything else beyond the incidentals that JDB mentions above in 1. If they haven’t accepted the refund but cancelling their own rebooking isn’t possible, then submitting a claim for reimbursement and the pursuing CEDR is likely the next option.

    They won’t get any compensation if weather is the reason cited

    BA Flyer IHG Stayer 3,103 posts

    As JDB suggests, if the replacement booking is still within the 24 hrs cancellation window, cancelling that and accepting the rebooking option in MMB might be their best option (assuming they haven’t declined this and accepted the refund for cancellation).

    That’s not correct from my reading of what the OP wrote that the replacemebt flight was booked within 24 hours of departure so the cancellation provision does not apply.

    That said I don’t think in this instance that BA will put up too much resistance to a refund claim. If had been clearer to passengers what would happen re rebooking it’s likely they wouldn’t have bought the new flight.

    ed8890 9 posts

    Thanks all for the input. I agree it is unfortunate that she went ahead and booked but was desperate to get home for various reasons.

    For clarity the flights were as follows (i mixed up timings in my original post!)
    Original : 19/1/25 18:50 JFK departure – cancelled at 01:00 20/1/25
    Flight booked by daughter: 20/1/25 08:05 JFK departure
    BA offered auto rebooked flight with AA: 20/1/25 19:00 JFK departure

    my understanding is that the next available flight should have been rebooked by BA automatically?

    will follow up with BA and see what happens!

    JDB 6,255 posts

    @ed8890 – there isn’t strictly an obligation for BA to rebook you on the next available flight automatically and anyway it sounds as though that flight that your daughter rebooked herself on was full in PE. The AA flight might have been the next available in PE. Basically the system will try to rebook people but in this sort of case there are probably a couple of hundred+ people to re accommodate, so there are unlikely to be sufficient seats to rebook everyone on the next flight. Some of the automated rebooking choices will work for people and others won’t.

    Ihar 485 posts

    If they took the AA flight in Economy won’t they be entitled to downgrade compensation??

    Otherwise agree nothing else apart from expenses.

    JDB 6,255 posts

    If they took the AA flight in Economy won’t they be entitled to downgrade compensation??

    Otherwise agree nothing else apart from expenses.

    I don’t think we have been told which class they were rebooked into for that next day AA evening fligh,t but they in fact travelled on the BA morning flight, in economy, as booked by them so technically no involuntary downgrade. Had they been rebooked into economy on the AA flight then yes, they would have been entitled to downgrade compensation.

    Ihar 485 posts

    Now I read it again, the OP’s flight times don’t make sense (different in posts). But I think the OP is right in terms of UK261 – “at the earliest opportunity”. Booking your own flights is a bit of a no-no unless you’ve already given the airline a chance to resolve.

    Used to fly out of Moscow regularly. Lots of people checking watches for how long since the plane was de-iced.

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