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Hi everyone.
Had a flight (BA 0318) ,booked for tomorrow (2 April), departing 14.35, LHR to SVQ. BA have just cancelled it! No idea why they cancelled.
Spoken to them on phone and they are so unhelpful. They will just refund me the avios, taxes and charges. The next flight offered is Tuesday. I need to fly tomorrow.
Accommodation is booked and now too late to cancel. Train to another city booked too.
What are my rights to compensation/claiming back the costs of flights with another airline? As you can imagine they’re really expensive now.
This is so annoying as alternative flights are from STN or LGW. The return flight arrives back at LHR so travel to/from the airports will be inconvenient without the car.
Not travelling is not an option.
TIA
Call back (try via Skype to Mexico or Spain) and tell them you are exercising your right to a reroute at the earliest opportunity under EU261, you want this documented in the booking and the return “protected”
then buy an alternative. Gatwick may be easiest as you could park at LHR and take the national express across
Then send the flight cost and coach cost to BA on your return. DO NOT take a refund from them, you can’t have both
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
If BA is unwilling to rebook you for a flight that departs tomorrow on an another airline, you can do it yourself and claim afterwards. You are also due compensation of 400 euros per person. Can they not put you on an indirect flight with Iberia?
This sounds like a pain but if your goal is to get to Seville no matter what tomorrow there are plenty of options and hopefully BA can help you by refunding the costs of flying to other Spanish cities and then taking alternative transportation.
There are plenty of LHR-MAD flights so this could be your first option followed by a flight or train to Seville.
It will be something like:
1) Fly to Madrid (BA should be able to arrange this)
2) Cab to Atocha train station (capped at €30 INCLUDING all extras like luggage)
3) Train to Seville (hourly for around £60-80)As said above, you should be able to ask refund of the extra cost and also additional compensation for the delay/cancelation of the original flight.
Thank you.
They only offered flights for Tuesday (which is not an option for us, we need to fly tomorrow) or a refund. I’ve not accepted the refund yet.So if I book alternative flights myself with another airline I can claim the costs back from BA? But only if I don’t accept the refund? Plus €400 each in compensation?
Thank you @yonasl
We would ideally want direct flights.@Tilly don’t ask for a refund at any point ever. Make sure you note down times of calls and what was said in the call. I’d also give them another chance so call them again and ask to be re-routed. You have to show that you tried to reason with them. It will look better if you have to go to court later on.
You can always claim compensation of 400 euros, that’s in addition to your re-route/rebook/refund right. And yes, the cost of the alternative flight too. It might work as a refund of a difference.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
This sounds like a pain but if your goal is to get to Seville no matter what tomorrow there are plenty of options and hopefully BA can help you by refunding the costs of flying to other Spanish cities and then taking alternative transportation.
There are plenty of LHR-MAD flights so this could be your first option followed by a flight or train to Seville.
It will be something like:
1) Fly to Madrid (BA should be able to arrange this)
2) Cab to Atocha train station (capped at €30 INCLUDING all extras like luggage)
3) Train to Seville (hourly for around £60-80)As said above, you should be able to ask refund of the extra cost and also additional compensation for the delay/cancelation of the original flight.
I suggest this would be best option. Take BA or IB whichever BA will ticket and when done advise them before hanging up you will also be claiming transport from Madrid and any other duty of care expenses for this reroute. You don’t have to go into detal this us just to ensure they don’t try to claim later you settled just for Madrid.
Your duty of care expenses that you will also be claiming off BA should include any extra train costs,plus meals at local rates wherever you are en route if your extra time travelling includes a mealtime. Also any extra hotel night required if it turns out that way. You can also insist on being rerouted from Heathrow as that’s where you bookedbfrom, you don’t have to accept Gatwick, City, or Stansted for examole if there are any flights from LHR as they are responsible for providing those.
Good luck,let us know how it turns out.
This sounds like a pain but if your goal is to get to Seville no matter what tomorrow there are plenty of options and hopefully BA can help you by refunding the costs of flying to other Spanish cities and then taking alternative transportation.
There are plenty of LHR-MAD flights so this could be your first option followed by a flight or train to Seville.
It will be something like:
1) Fly to Madrid (BA should be able to arrange this)
2) Cab to Atocha train station (capped at €30 INCLUDING all extras like luggage)
3) Train to Seville (hourly for around £60-80)As said above, you should be able to ask refund of the extra cost and also additional compensation for the delay/cancelation of the original flight.
I suggest this would be best option. Take BA or IB whichever BA will ticket and when done advise them before hanging up you will also be claiming transport from Madrid and any other duty of care expenses for this reroute. You don’t have to go into detail this us just to ensure they don’t try to claim later you settled just for Madrid.
Your duty of care expenses that you will also be claiming off BA as well as 400 euros compensation, should include any extra train costs,plus meals at local rates wherever you are en route if your extra time travelling includes a mealtime. Also any extra hotel night required if it turns out that way. You can also insist on being rerouted from Heathrow as that’s where you bookedb from, you don’t have to accept Gatwick, City, or Stansted for example if there are any flights from LHR on any airline as they are responsible for providing those. Their responsibility is from your booked origin airport to your booked destination airport and this can only be varied if you agree.
Good luck,let us know how it turns out.
Thank you @yonasl
We would ideally want direct flights.Got that, but I feel it is easier to “transfer” from Madrid to Seville than Heathrow to Gatwick (may take even less time!) as you mentioned you will struggle with the car. If you can fly early to Madrid you may be in Seville earlier than originally planned.
Tilly what Yonasi is suggesting is probably the most close, most reliable and least onerous solution. The train between Madrid and Seville is one of the very fastest high speed lines in Spain I think – don’t go by the distance – and BA will end up paying for it anyway.
Unfortunately the early flights to Madrid are all full – BA have a couple of cancellations there too. I suspect you’d need to overnight in Madrid and continue to Seville early on Sunday
If you give BA the opportunity to reroute you at the earliest opportunity (which is Vueling / Easyjet / Ryanair) and they can’t then you can buy the direct tickets and have them reimburse. Your travel insurance may also kick in here
Note I think you can’t have compensation as well if you arrive within 2hrs of your original scheduled arrival time – though I’m not 100% how that works if you’re forced to rebook yourself
If you want to fly directly you could buy a ticket on Vueling from LGW including luggage for £232 per passenger
Departing flight
Sat, Apr 2
1:30 PM Gatwick Airport (LGW)
Travel time: 2 hr 40 min
5:10 PMSeville Airport (SVQ)
Vueling
Economy
Airbus A320
Flight no VY6014The ticket is also sold by Iberia so potentially BA could re-route you on that using the IB flight code
PS as others have said under NO circumstances accept a refund (not even part). The right you have and want to exercise is your choice ie you chose rerouting, and BA is supposed to provide that and will end up responsible for the costs one way or another – euther they ticket you on themselves or Iberia or any other airline all or part of the way or if they (illegally) refuse they will end up paying anyway.
That is why they’re so desperate to push you into a refund.
@tilly I hope you find a good solution from all the helpful suggestions.
It is clear that BA isn’t able to operate its published schedule as they have insufficient staff, so people need to watch their bookings quite carefully as there will probably be lots of Easter cancellations and one wants to be quick to find alternatives with everything so busy around Easter.
EasyJet and Ryanair fly from LGW/LTN/STN depending upon how close you are. All rather pricey.
There are two seats left at €310.49 each so I’d book them immediately and sort it out with BA afterwards. Then tell them to protect the return on your current booking.
Unfortunately the early flights to Madrid are all full – BA have a couple of cancellations there too. I suspect you’d need to overnight in Madrid and continue to Seville early on Sunday
If you give BA the opportunity to reroute you at the earliest opportunity (which is Vueling / Easyjet / Ryanair) and they can’t then you can buy the direct tickets and have them reimburse. Your travel insurance may also kick in here
Note I think you can’t have compensation as well if you arrive within 2hrs of your original scheduled arrival time – though I’m not 100% how that works if you’re forced to rebook yourself
Correct, only option seems to be GTW to SVQ (or MAD but then go direct with Vueling)! Park at Heathrow and charge BA for the cab to Gatwick and the Vueling flights.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Thank you everyone! You’re all so helpful (and knowledgeable). Great advice here, looks like another call is needed.
Thank you everyone! You’re all so helpful (and knowledgeable). Great advice here, looks like another call is needed.
Hopefully you get to fix this and have a great trip. Please post what happened at the end so others can benefit in the future and we know what BA offered you 🙂
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