Seeking compensation from BA – next steps

[tilly c]

Hello advise please

Flight LHR- NYC was delayed taking off by 2hr 30 flight landed 3hr 15 late

This was in Jan

Flight was delayed due to crew shortages. We arrived at the gate for the normal departure time (plane was at gate ) after an hour or so , gate agents appeared and advised that due to crew sickness flight was going to be delayed. Vouchers given out for 10pp to passengers at the gate. We boarded late

Reconfirmation of the delay was given by crew onboard

I put in a claim for 260pp got a reply 2 week ago saying that they have rejected claim as they are saying delay was due to ATC, have gone back pointing the above out (in more detail ) asked for a final letter . BA responded again saying claim rejected due to ATC, no final letter , wrote to legal special delay asking them to reconsider before I take to cedr , gave them 7 days , today is the 7th day and no response

Should I now go to cedr , do I need a final letter to make a claim with CEDR

[JDB]

You don’t need a final letter to go to CEDR. You can’t really rely upon the hearsay evidence of gate agents etc. BA will I guess try to say that ATC restrictions/delays took the delay to under three hours, so that you don’t even get the ½ for 3h15 but you have nothing to lose by going to CEDR.

[Richie]

My personal view is you don’t have enough correspondence from BA yet, so wait for a final letter.

[tilly c]

BA today have sent a final letter saying no comp due etc and are sticking to their guns . I’ve raised a case with CEDR , crystal ball I know however how likely is it for me to get any kind of compo or am I going to be stung the £25 for not being successful

[Matt]

There is close to zero chance of you having to pay £25 to CEDR, unless you’re not telling us that you’ve already made a load of vexatious claims to them.

If the pilot’s announcement was that the cause was crew sickness, and it was from BA’s home base, then you have a fairly strong case. BA will likely try to allocate some of the delay to ATC/weather/whatever to take it below 3 hours, but that has to be significantly out of the usual, not just the headwinds were a bit strong that day.

Also not sure why taking the word of BA’s employees/agents at the time is “relying on hearsay” – you’d like to think that they know what’s going on. The onboard announcement especially should be the best record of what caused the delay.

[tilly c]

I claimed under a different complaint for broken IFE, terrible service , small food portions , they offered avios straight away for that which I accepted , that shouldn’t affect this claim surely .

I submitted the names of the 2 crew members on board who said about the pilot being sick , also the flight deck who did there announcement before take off apologising about the delay due to crew sickness too, I didn’t get there name for that part.