compensation for flight delay on BA - stuck in Bangkok due to volcanoe dust cloud

[Dave Noble]

The fact that people can claim from an airline because the law says they can does not mean it is right that they can and that was the point Travel Guru was making. If the airlines has any chance of fixing the problem themselves I would say they should look after their customers and pay compensation.
I think airlines should help people out with free re-routing were possible but that is as far as it should go.

And I disagree with the suggestion. If all airlines had been operating in a manner perceived to be fair and equitable then regulations would not have been put in place. For routes where the regulations exist , it is perfectly right that they do claim

Left to their own devices, many airlines would leave passengers to fend for themselves. c.f. USA when people have flights cancelled due to weather and other than maybe getting access to a reduced rate at a hotel, the passengers are left to fend for themselves

 

[dajop]

and in some ways if it does then I think BA & QF are doing poorly by there pasengers as there's nothing stopping them having a plane ferrying passengers between points in Asia and Australia .

Why bring QF into this? I understand QF are currently operating all but one pair of their Europe flights as far as Asia, ie QF1/2, QF9/10, QF29/30 and QF31/6 - cancelling only QF5/32 - to carry passengers between Asia and Australia. With the JSA, I would have thought BA could have put you on QF2, unless flight is full.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Why bring QF into this? I understand QF are currently operating all but one pair of their Europe flights as far as Asia, ie QF1/2, QF9/10, QF29/30 and QF31/6 - cancelling only QF5/32 - to carry passengers between Asia and Australia. With the JSA, I would have thought BA could have put you on QF2, unless flight is full.

I booked my flight using QF FF points. The fight is a code share with BA. They both fly SYD BKK and since they have the JSA to me it seems they could have come up with a solution to get people out of BKK back home rather than leavig them "stranded"

My feeling is if I'm stuck here past Tues then it's no longer a natural disaster, rather QF & BA have decided to leave me here.

I really feel that there should have been a way to get me back today, as there will most likely be quite a few empty seats on the BA & QF flights since a lot of the European passanegers wil not be on the planes.

 

[Dave Noble]

Why bring QF into this? I understand QF are currently operating all but one pair of their Europe flights as far as Asia, ie QF1/2, QF9/10, QF29/30 and QF31/6 - cancelling only QF5/32 - to carry passengers between Asia and Australia. With the JSA, I would have thought BA could have put you on QF2, unless flight is full.

BA7312 from BKK-SYD has some seats showing as available in Y and B classes; perhaps might be worth the OP calling BA and seeing if they can get on it. If the BA office is closed in BKK, try calling BA USA on +1 800 AIRWAYS ; free call if using skype

 

[dajop]

I booked my flight using QF FF points. .

Aah, I c. So essentially the airlines are treating you in that subhuman category - known as a leach. It's wrong the way they seem to be treating pax on award flights vs normal.

FWIW the award booking engine is showing BKK-HKG-SYD on CX on Tuesday - which is only extra 5,000 pts (which can't book online as 1 way due to ticketing restrictions) That should at least be an option for you, if you have the extra 5K pts up your sleeve, and maybe better than paying for lots more accommodation should this continue.

Also showing availability tomorrow ex-SIN via BNE, so whilst they may not spring for you to get to SIN, in the long run it may be worth trying to get on one of the LCC's to get to SIN, and home from there, maybe cheaper in the long run than prolonged accom.

Of course, you would be on a partner award and once travel has commenced cancellations are not allowed so it probably isn't as simple as cancelling the unused sectors with the cancellation fee waiver.

 

[Dave Noble]

I really feel that there should have been a way to get me back today, as there will most likely be quite a few empty seats on the BA & QF flights since a lot of the European passanegers wil not be on the planes.

Have you spoken to BA to see whether they will rebook or to QF to see whether they will allow you to come back from, say , SIN? If they have declined to offer it, then unless you enjoy being in BKK , I would be buying a ticket and claiming off of insurance. $533 and get home rather than be in BKK for an indeterminate time

There is no certainty that there will be flights from the UK on monday. The ban on flights in UK airspace has just been extended to at least 18:00 BST Sunday

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

I am now told the 25th is the earliest I can get a flight.

I called the QF FF centre and was told that the QF flights are fully booked at the moment

I'm wondering what BA is doing with all the parked planes in BKK and Australia. Surely they can do a few flights to get people home???

Anyone got an idea of just how many planes BA has stuck in the APAC region?? This smells to me of profit before customer service.

 

[docjames]

I am now told the 25th is the earliest I can get a flight.

I called the QF FF centre and was told that the QF flights are fully booked at the moment

I'm wondering what BA is doing with all the parked planes in BKK and Australia. Surely they can do a few flights to get people home???

Anyone got an idea of just how many planes BA has stuck in the APAC region?? This smells to me of profit before customer service.

I seriously doubt there'd be many flights heading AUS-EU over the next few weeks at mcuh less than 100% full.

Why wouldnt you believe them - they're not going to fly any a/c all the way back to the UK without a load of pax....

Even if BA had two planes on the ground, they'd have 4+ days worth of flights to get to london, even at a Load factor of 75%, that's # days worth of flights to cram onto already realtively full aircraft.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

My question is why BA can't get people back to Australia from Asia when they have aircraft available.

I am not talking about getting people back from EU, just from Asia.

I'm sure they could run a flight every 2nd day which would help dramatically.

 

[markis10]

have you looked at getting an award booking ex SIN- there is availability 21 and 24 april online.

 

[Dave Noble]

My question is why BA can't get people back to Australia from Asia when they have aircraft available.

I am not talking about getting people back from EU, just from Asia.

I'm sure they could run a flight every 2nd day which would help dramatically.

Surely what is most relevent is what is happening and what can be done to get back to Australia rather than what could potentially be done. UK airspace is now closed until monday evening, so the chance of BA9 departing UK on monday is, I would say, fairly low and what I would be doing is that which would be pragmatic to getting to destination. BA may not be operating, but there are services; you may be able to get an award changed as suggested earlier or just look at purchasing a ticket and claiming which would be better things to focus on imo

If getting back is not urgent and happy to sit in Thailand until all is clear, that's cool, but there are options open for getting to destination despite BA not operating

 

[dajop]

you may be able to get an award changed as suggested earlier or just look at purchasing a ticket and claiming which would be better things to focus on imo

+1 . Even if it is ex-SIN, you can get BKK-SIN for about $100AUD on 21 Apr, surely that's got to be better than mounting hotel bills. Of course that depends on QFF or BA having enough flexibility to allow you to reroute out of SIN, which of course may be a problem.

 

[N860CR]

There are two BA planes (744 and 777) parked on the remote stands at SYD, and they haven't moved for a few days now.

I think it's rather poor that they aren't operating as far as SIN/BKK (given there are crews on the ground able to do it) and then not allowing people to reroute on another carrier. I'd imagine BA sell a fair few tickets as far as Asia only, and although they wouldn't be full, they would fill some seats at least.

 

[ejb]

There are two BA planes (744 and 777) parked on the remote stands at SYD, and they haven't moved for a few days now.

I think it's rather poor that they aren't operating as far as SIN/BKK (given there are crews on the ground able to do it) and then not allowing people to reroute on another carrier. I'd imagine BA sell a fair few tickets as far as Asia only, and although they wouldn't be full, they would fill some seats at least.

As previously commented on here and other threads, there are NO rooms in Asia to accommodate people so taking them to BKK/SIN is damning them to sleep on the floor of the airport.

You can't expect the airlines to fly empty to BKK to pick up people as that is financially irresponsible.

Until EU/UK is open I don't see many people moving in Asia.

YMMV

ejb

 

[anat0l]

You can't expect the airlines to fly empty to BKK to pick up people as that is financially irresponsible.

I think this forum has oft shown time and time again that people do not care about a company's financial responsibility as much as its "moral" responsibility.

Even if BA and/or QF were to get people to BKK/SIN, there really isn't much other places they can go. Perhaps they could get them to Turkey (are they unaffected?) or one of those Baltic countries, then send them on a train the rest of the way - satisfactory solution? (It's more desperation or possibly a "lemonade from lemons" solution IMO). Or they could fly them to other Asian ports of call (NRT, India, etc.), put them up there instead, readying them to go to LHR as soon as they are given the all-clear.

Surely some pax are ticketed directly SYD-LHR on BA: doesn't this mean they also get compensation? (Article 3 seems to satisfy enough of the requirements: your ticket says you are travelling to LHR (check) and your carrier is BA (check))

 

[dajop]

As previously commented on here and other threads, there are NO rooms in Asia to accommodate people so taking them to BKK/SIN is damning them to sleep on the floor of the airport.

You can't expect the airlines to fly empty to BKK to pick up people as that is financially irresponsible.

What about the pax who actually have bookings only to BKK? I assume there a few enough of these that they can be re-accommodated by BA onto QF1, and if they have a revenue ticket, those wanting to get back to SYD are being re-accommodated onto QF2. I am gathering the OP's problem is not relating to a revenue ticket but inflexibility that BA choses to deal with a QFF award ticket.

 

[Dave Noble]

Even if BA and/or QF were to get people to BKK/SIN, there really isn't much other places they can go. Perhaps they could get them to Turkey (are they unaffected?) or one of those Baltic countries, then send them on a train the rest of the way - satisfactory solution? (It's more desperation or possibly a "lemonade from lemons" solution IMO). Or they could fly them to other Asian ports of call (NRT, India, etc.), put them up there instead, readying them to go to LHR as soon as they are given the all-clear.

Getting them to somewhere closer doesn't really help them much plus other than BKK/SIN where is BA able to fly to from Australia? get them part way and then stuck somewhere else. Saving them 8 hours plus then expensive hotels ( was booking one in Singapore for someone today and rates were over $500 a night )

Waiting in Australia is probably a better bet than waiting in Asia

Surely some pax are ticketed directly SYD-LHR on BA: doesn't this mean they also get compensation? (Article 3 seems to satisfy enough of the requirements: your ticket says you are travelling to LHR (check) and your carrier is BA (check))

Those booked SYD-LHR should be covered by the EU regulations and be able to get accommodation from BA I believe

 

[Dave Noble]

What about the pax who actually have bookings only to BKK? I assume there a few enough of these that they can be re-accommodated by BA onto QF1, and if they have a revenue ticket, those wanting to get back to SYD are being re-accommodated onto QF2. I am gathering the OP's problem is not relating to a revenue ticket but inflexibility that BA choses to deal with a QFF award ticket.

With a QF award ticket it is not too unreasonable for BA to get QF to deal with it. Plus QF's policy does seem to allow changes and there have been shown to be available seats from Asia to Australia should they be contacted and a change requested

 

[medhead]

You can't expect the airlines to fly empty to BKK to pick up people as that is financially irresponsible.
ejb

But there has to be a trade off between paying for hotels and flying an empty plane to BKK. A full plane load of pax wanting to get back to Oz and your paying $500 a night each for their hotel. It can't take too many nights before it becomes financially irresponsible not to send an empty plane to BKK.

Even if BA and/or QF were to get people to BKK/SIN, there really isn't much other places they can go. Perhaps they could get them to Turkey (are they unaffected?) or one of those Baltic countries, then send them on a train the rest of the way - satisfactory solution? (It's more desperation or possibly a "lemonade from lemons" solution IMO). Or they could fly them to other Asian ports of call (NRT, India, etc.), put them up there instead, readying them to go to LHR as soon as they are given the all-clear.

Well as of last weekend they even had better options that turkey. Spain was open, in fact only UK and Germany were closed at the start. Based on my brothers MUC-MAD being cancelled by the intra spain wasn't cancelled.

 

[N860CR]

My concern was more that BA are abandoning their passengers booked only as far as BKK/SIN (They happily sell tickets to Asia, so one could argue they should provide the service). Of course, if all pax are being accommodated on QF services, then its not a valid point.