EU Compensation Rules Question

[p--and--t]

A question for the brains trust as I have no real understanding of the EU rules regarding airlines.

Its pretty long winded, but to try and overt wasting peoples time, I thought I'd lay out the full picture.

Two of us were booked on a BA ticket MEL to LHR via SIN. Both sectors were in whY.

Separately purchased from BA were actual Exit row seat numbers and legroom upgrades for the sector SIN-LHR at a cost of $142pp plus exchange and cc fees = $146.26

The flight MEL-SIN was actually on QF as a code share.

On arrival in SIN, the signboards showed no departure time for the onward BA flight to LHR .

We went to the transfer desk to ask what was happening. We were advised BA kept changing the departure time delay from 3hrs to 5hrs and now they were uncertain if it would go at all. A couple of calls were made and we were told the flight wasn't going and we would be transferred to QF1 for the onward journey. As seating was very limited we were placed separately in "no extra legroom" seats in the rear cabin.

During the multi hour layover in SIN, I lodged a complaint/claim on the BA website asking for a refund of the exit row fees as the service was not provided.

Five weeks later after emailing them again I received a response from BA that says in precis

"Thanks for letting us know what happened when you were travelling from Singapore on 26 July. I apologise for the delay in my reply. I completely understand how frustrated you must have been when your flight was delayed. I’m sorry for the problems we caused you.
You’re clearly disappointed with your seat because it didn’t have as much leg room as you’d expected. The seat maps are for guidance only and not true to scale. The extra space between rows doesn’t indicate legroom.
We’re very grateful you’ve taken the time to contact us and let us know what happened, as it’s only through feedback from our customers that we’re able to focus on areas where we can improve.
......Case closed"

I later found out the BA flight did actually go, fourteen hours late. And I guess I am just another dumb customer to them that doesn't understand what legroom is or what an exit row is.

Now I am guessing, because they put us on another flight that left about the same time as the original schedule and it cost them $$ because they had to pay QF for a last minute pair of seats, and we arrived in LHR less than 30 mins later than originally scheduled that BA will duck and weave as much as possible.

Just for the sake of completeness, because of the lack of adequate response from BA, lodged formal complaints with PayPal with supporting evidence and they have refunded the exit row charges in full. So we are not out of pocket.

I guess the question of the brains trust, what are BAs obligations in this scenario???

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That’s pretty much spot on

 

[TonyHancock]

Going by the Compensation thread on the Flyertalk BA forum, it appears to be SOP for BA customer service to 'blow claimants off'.

Just to add a slightly different perspective, I was left "stranded" in Amsterdam with a colleague in December 2017 due to severe weather (snow) and despite this being outside of EU261 BA rather generously, and without even the hint of a question, paid for a one way car rental Amsterdam to Paris, two rooms at a hotel in Paris, and two Business class Eurostar tickets to London. I suspect that this was in the days prior to BA working out I am one of those dreadful "ex EU" GGL types and of little value to them as a customer.

 

[RAM]

Thanks, as I said I'm not out of pocket thanks to PayPal, but was looking to find out what BA should have done for me (e.g. I would have thought at least refunded the extra I paid for exit rows, over and above the original tickets) and not just blown me off.

Did you arrive later than the BA scheduled time though?

If more than 4 hours (for long haul I think it is) then you can claim compensation.

This is a useful summary from The Guardian... Note it covers airlines BASED in the EU not just flights originating in...

What are your rights when flights in Europe are cancelled or delayed?

When an airline starts cancelling or delaying flights for more than three hours, passengers are entitled to compensation of €250-€600 (£230-£550) under EU rules.
The cause of the problem has to be under the airline’s control and not an ‘extraordinary circumstance’. Lack of planes/staff, flight overbooking, a strike by airline staff or an IT failure are all considered to be within the airline’s control – so compensation is payable.
Passengers on cancelled short-haul flights – up to 1,500km – are entitled to €250 or £230. For flights of 1,500km-3,500km, passengers are entitled to €400, and €600 for the longest flights (more than 3,500km).
Compensation is also payable if the plane is delayed. The payments are the same but only kick in when the plane has been delayed three hours for short flights or four hours for the longer trips. The delay is calculated against the time the plane was due to arrive.
Passengers are also entitled to ‘assistance’ under the EU rules. Short-haul passengers should receive food and water after two hours. Mid-distance passengers get help after three hours, while long-haul passengers receive it after they have been held in the terminal for four hours. If the delay is overnight, passengers should be provided with hotel accommodation but this often does not happen. This assistance should be provided irrespective of whether the delay is the airline’s fault.
The airlines have fought these compensation rules since they were introduced and passengers have had to go to court to get their money. The airlines frequently blame delays on events outside their control. Freak weather events or a last-minute strike by air traffic controllers are deemed to be outside their control. A lack of planes or staff is not.
The rules only apply to EU-based airlines or all flights that start in the EU on non-EU based carriers. What will happen after Brexit is not yet clear. Miles Brignall

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No. The OP arrived 30 minutes later than scheduled.