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I cannot get BA to acknowledge that their derisory offer of 5000 Avios is final and they won’t send copies of our telephone conversations. What can I do with this non communication and no final response letter, despite this is the simplest way to proceed with CEDR or County Court now? Appreciate views
( I am claiming compensation of £3000 for cancellation of one 2/4/1 leg to CPT on 8/01/22 and no offer of going via JNB or another airline — I was forced to pay full fare less £600 compensation).
Did you have a thread on here about the original cancellation?
I don’t believe I did. Have been passed from pillar to post as you can imagine, clearly BA don’t want to deal with me as their final person, in CPT as it happened, exceeded her authority.
I have, after using an FTV, a string of emails confirming the original flight and seat changes. Then I was told as I didn’t have an e-ticket I would have to pay despite several conversations just before Xmas that I was told the booking was ok.Who are you dealing with at BA?
A succinct letter to BA legal should get things moving especially if you add in the words “letter before action”
Assuming you started contacting BA shortly after the cancellation you don’t need a deadlock letter for CEDR – if it’s been more than 8 weeks since your initial complaint then that’s enough. For MCOL then send a letter before action giving 14 days, and go to MCOL when that time expires.
Thanks. I have lost count of the number of people and departments I have been dealing with. I gave BA until the beginning of August to reply to my request — send me the tel cons and confirm this “5000 Avios” was their final offer — no reply!
I’m confused by the advice to send a ‘letter before action’ when there is so little information that nobody could possibly know what the cause of action is.
On the one hand at 18.01 you refer to a “cancellation of one 2/4/1 leg to CPT on 8/01/22” and at 19.41 “I didn’t have an e-ticket”. The latter potentially sounds like denied boarding rather than a flight cancellation and the fact you received compensation could be for either. You state £600 – was that €600 and did you receive that x 2 as you refer to a 241. You also mention someone, presumably from BA, in CPT exceeding their authority when it was a flight to CPT.
If you want informal advice, if you provide the full facts, I and others will be willing to help, but nobody can be expected to do so in a vacuum. If you want to proceed to MCOL anyway, it is critical to get the facts straight, clearly set out and to identify the specific legal basis for your claim.
Agree with @JDB – you need to provide information. Your protections are reduced and different if you were not actually ticketed and/or paid for a ticket.
Whilst BA unquestionably ignores some complaints probably in the hope you will go away, it is prudent to get a response if you can.
Generally, you can go to CEDR 8 weeks after submitting your complaint. But you still need an arguable case, or you’re wasting your time.
You are entitled to phone recordings/ transcripts under Data Protection dpo@ba.com
Thank you JDB and points_worrier. I appreciate that you cannot help without more facts, but although I have full facts submitted to BA (too long to air here)what I am after is what do when BA won’t reply despite me giving a deadline. It sounds the best way to force them to reply is to go straight to MCOL.
For your interest the flight was booked through a FTV and was confirmed with emails including seat selection, also over Xmas two BA operators confirmed the flights and would sort it out as I couldn’t print our boarding passes- they didn’t come back.
The flight was then cancelled and it was only the operator out of CPT (I chatted with her so I knew where she was ) who told me my booking was not on an e-ticket. I had never used a FTV before and assumed they were dealing with my booking in a normal way. She offered 2x£300 compensation and getting us our 2/4/1 back despite it only being 6 weeks away – how were 2/4/1 seats still available.
@1005dyer I understand your frustration, but there is no point forcing a response by going straight to MCOL unless you have a case. On the limited facts, you have accepted £600 compensation and received your 241 back with a short validity. Unfortunately, accepting such compensation was a major error that is, at best, rather tricky to unwind and BA will fight, arguing they have already settled your claim. You were entitled to 2 x €600 cancellation compensation, plus a flight home (at no additional cost) and any reasonable accommodation and food while you were waiting for that flight.
I sent BA a signed for letter before action last year to their legal department, giving them 14 days to respond, and heard absolutely nothing back (and they did sign for the letter).
Fortunately for me, they then did the thing where they changed their policy about rebooking flights within a year, and I was able to get the flight booked to when I wanted it (they’d previously refused to do it). They then changed the policy back again shortly afterwards, so I was extremely fortunate I didn’t have to move forward with my CEDR/MCOL claim. I was really surprised they didn’t bother responding though.
Thank you Steve R
@Ladyshopper I fear not responding is a policy and one that is annoyingly effective.
Thanks JDB,to be clear both legs were 2/4/1 and I was forced to abandon the ‘free’ one to CPT and purchase two tickets for £3600 and accepted a £660 discount. So I paid £3000, which I want back because they would not honour the 2/4/1 going out and did not offer alternatives, via the Middle East or JNB for instance.
I think they broke their own rules to find a 2/4/1 back to London some six weeks later — remember this was cancelled@1005dyer I’m afraid I don’t understand your situation, but if you think you have a valid claim then you should write a concise LBA setting out the legal basis for that claim (which is a non-standard one) and give them 14 days to respond. You will then definitely have complied with the pre-action protocol and it will focus your mind as you turn a complaint into a proper legal argument so you are ready to complete the MCOL form. You need to have a punchy opening paragraph that will grab the attention of the lawyer/judge/arbitrator dealing with this and then put the full detail later on. You should also get the transcripts ASAP.
In your 10.46 post you mention BA giving you a discount of £660 which actually sounds quite unlikely. Was it maybe a refund of the taxes? It appears you bought the new tickets from BA, received a refund in the form of taxes and the 241 but what happened to the Avios? Without having all the facts, it appears that you took a refund from BA in lieu of exercising your rerouting rights and at this stage that is probably an irreversible decision, although some may suggest you could claim under EC261 Article 15. I’m not sure why you make no mention of claiming the EC261 cancellation compensation of 2 x €600.
JDB, you are being very helpful, thank you. Hopefully BA will send the transcripts?
The £600 was in fact not a refund of the taxes but a straight offer and reduction of my purchase of two one way tickets to CPT for £3600. The 2/4/1 and Avios for this flight have disappeared and I want them reinstated by claiming the £3000 that I paid.
I wasn’t thinking about the possibility of EC 261 and I didn’t know about BAs obligation to re-route me on another airline – it was never offered anyway.
It was a stressful situation involving cancelled cars and accommodation, plus my lack of experience of the exact alternatives
Ps they appear to have accepted their mistakes by offering the paltry 5000 Avios!
Remember JDB I was using a FTV which presumably carried all the taxes within the 2/4/1
Yes, understood re FTV, but as you say they have returned the 241, they may have effectively broken it up so check the current status of your FTV and its three individual components – voucher, Avios, cash.
The 5000 Avios will I’m sure have been offered on a goodwill basis with no admission of any fault.
You need to apply to BA for the EC261 which you can still do now.
They will send tapes or transcripts – most companies take DPA pretty seriously.
Look at the EC261 text, it’s not too long or difficult – notably for you Articles 5, 7, 8 and 15. The last matters if, as you say, BA failed to inform you of your rights, so that Article is the key to unpicking whatever settlement BA has bamboozled you into accepting.
Write a chronology – you need it anyway for the MCOL claim and also prepare all the supporting documents evidencing events, payments etc.
Do all the above before sending the LBA so it is as complete and watertight as possible. Wait for agreement or denial of the EC261 compensation.
Sorry JDB, I require more research to give you a proper respnse which will take time, so I will come back under ‘Lack of Response from BA – part 2’ hopefully to make it easier to look up in a week or so — thanks
Sorry JDB, I require more research to give you a proper respnse which will take time, so I will come back under ‘Lack of Response from BA – part 2’ hopefully to make it easier to look up in a week or so — thanks
Don’t worry, you don’t need to give me a response, it’s BA!
Sorry JDB, I require more research to give you a proper respnse which will take time, so I will come back under ‘Lack of Response from BA – part 2’ hopefully to make it easier to look up in a week or so — thanks
Please don’t start a new thread. Just add to this one – book mark it on your device if necessary for easy access – as othereise a lot of context will be lost.
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