EU261. An actual experience when BA cancelled an EU flight.

[Austman]

I thought I'd post an actual EU261 compensation experience when BA cancelled an EU flight from LHR (London, Heathrow) to LIN (Milan, Linate).

 

[juddles]

I thought I'd post an actual EU261 compensation experience when BA cancelled an EU flight from LHR (London, Heathrow) to LIN (Milan, Linate).

details?????

 

[Austman]

The original flight was booked using Qantas FF points on the Qantas website:

2 x adults:

01 Jun 18 BA574 London Heathrow 1030, 10:30AM Terminal 5 to Milan Linate 1330, 1:30PM 01 Jun 18

The tickets of course have an 081 (QF) ticket number but the flights were BA flight numbers.

 

[Austman]

I received an email from BA, dated ca 01:00 on 01 Jun 2018 to say that BA574 had been cancelled :

"We are contacting you to let you know that your flight BA0574 from Heathrow (London) to Linate (Milan) on 1 Jun 2018 has been cancelled. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. We're doing what we can to rectify the situation and you may have already been rebooked on to an alternative flight.For further information, and to rebook yourself on to the next suitable flight or to claim a full refund, please go to Manage My Booking on ba.com as follows: Manage My Booking "

Thanks to jetlag, I was awake at 03:00 in our hotel next to LHR.

Clicking on the supplied link got the message, similar to (I can't remember the exact wording):

"Sorry, we cannot make any changes to this booking, please contact your travel provider, call BA or go to the airport".

Mmmm ... It's 03:00 am ...

What to do, who to call, why am I even awake and reading emails?

 

[Austman]

First up I decided to check for availability to see what other flights might be offered. But LHR-LIN (and MXP) on BA was pretty much sold out for the day.

Then to decide who to call? QF, who issued the ticket or BA, the operator? While I know that close to the actual flight it's probably the operator who has control, this was still about 8 hours out and I had heard that calling BA can take hours to answer. I though I'd at least try QF first - and it was then ca 3:00pm AEST.

 

[Buzzard]

And......

 

[Austman]

QF saw the cancellation and initially thought I'd have to deal with it with BA as it was within 24 hours of the flight departure .

Then QF told me to "hold" for a few minutes. They then stated that there were no later flights with seat availability that day until the late afternoon (ca 6 hours later) but there were still 2 seats on an earlier 07:35am (ca 3 hours earlier) departure. Could that be suitable?

Considering we were now awake, I stated it probably was suitable. Qantas actually then moved our flight to the 07:35 BA564.

I then checked on the BA website and confirmed our new flight. I could even select seats. There were only 4 left to choose from, none seated together and of course our previously confirmed exit row seats were gone. I then tried to print our new BPs but alas, that's when BA's website once again stated it was not possible. And to go to the airport.

At the airport, even the agent had trouble issuing the BPs but eventually, with the help of a supervisor, managed it. Then off we went to MIL on an otherwise uneventful flight, landing in delightful weather.

It was only some time afterwards that I considered "what about EU261"?

I had a look and noted that all the other (5?) BA flights between LHR-LIN had operated that day. So why was just ours cancelled? The weather was good. No other flights were being cancelled out of LHR T5 that we could see.

Could we claim on EU261?

 

[serfty]

...
Could we claim on EU 261?

Certainly as long as the cancellation was not due to extraordinary circumstances.

Compensation would be due to being rebooked departing on a flight more than one hour earlier than originally booked.

Likely reduced by 50% as I guess you arrived earlier than you had been scheduled.

I reccomend you read this extremely informative thread on FT first before embarking on any claim:

The 2018 BA compensation thread: Your guide to Regulation EC261/2004 - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Austman]

So I put in a claim. You can actually do it on BA's website. I did it on 12th July and received an immediate confirmation.

On 20th July I received a reply from BA:

"I’ve checked our records and can see that your claim for compensation has been refused because BA0574 on 01 June was cancelled because of adverse weather conditions, which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, I’m afraid we’re not liable for a compensation payment in this situation."

I find it curious how a European A319 flight scheduled for a 10:30am departure can be cancelled due to "adverse weather conditions" at ca 01:00 on the scheduled day of departure from a curfew restricted airport (LHR) when all the other flights on the same route (LHR-MIL) and carrier (BA) both before and after the scheduled cancelled flight actually operated that day. Including the one we eventually caught!

 

[Austman]

So what do others think? Can "adverse weather conditions" actually be a valid cancellation reason under the actual circumstances?

I have now asked BA this question and will post their response when I get a reply.

Could it have been weather the day before or something like that? Is that still allowed?

Maybe I should have asked the reason for the cancellation at the airport check-in? It's certainly not given in the cancellation email from BA.

 

[Buzzard]

Sounds like a crock from BA

 

[OATEK]

Waiting for the next instalment!

 

[serfty]

It's up to BA to prove the weather conditions were adverse.

But this is a typical BA response for most claims.

My question is, how did BA pay you the compensation? Direct debit?

 

[Moody]

They're just trying to bluff you - anecdotally most airlines respond in this manner ...."Sorry <insert name here>, we have considered your claim for compensation but are denying it because of <insert lame excuse>". When my son received such a response he pointed out that the lame excuse that they gave in their email was given as an example of non-allowed exemptions on the carriers' own website

They paid up.

 

[Ansett]

I would have thought given no other flights were effected you should pursue your claim. After all nothing to lose

 

[opusman]

The operating aircraft may have been delayed by weather somewhere other than London or Milan.

 

[vetrade]

Certainly as long as the cancellation was not due to extraordinary circumstances.

Compensation would be due to being rebooked departing on a flight more than one hour earlier than originally booked...................................

Not sure how that would work given that the change was made by QF and not BA, with agreement from the pax.
Given the scenario which ensued in this case, I'd have thought compo would be contingent on BA changing the pax to an earlier flight involuntarily.

 

[serfty]

I'd have thought compo would be contingent on BA changing the pax to an earlier flight involuntarily.

There is no reference in the regulation as to how the rebooking may have occurred or by whom/what. There is reference to "operating air carrier" but those clauses don'r reference this how and whom.

Aside from that, the flight was cancelled; that's as involuntary as it gets and is specifically covered in the regulation.

I thought I'd post an actual EU261 compensation experience when BA cancelled an EU flight from LHR (London, Heathrow) to LIN (Milan, Linate).

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource....a7-8bf4-b0f60600c1d6.0004.02/DOC_1&format=PDF

 

[Austman]

My question is, how did BA pay you the compensation? Direct debit?

No payment yet as they are claiming "weather" but they request your bank account details.

The operating aircraft may have been delayed by weather somewhere other than London or Milan.

Sure but how can that happen for an A319 at 01:00 AM for it's scheduled 10:30 AM flight? Considering LHR has a 11:00 PM to 06:00 AM curfew. I doubt an A319 flight scheduled to arrive to LHR at near 11:00 PM would be next scheduled to operate a10:30 AM flight. Even our eventual 07:30 AM LHR departure was on an A319 that had just arrived from CPH an hour or so earlier. I could understand a cancellation maybe 4 or even 6 hours before the scheduled departure time due to weather elsewhere in Europe, but 9.5 hours before?

 

[Austman]

I found this interesting site:

Flight Delay Compensation Experts | Flight Delay Claims 4 U

Case details
Jager vs, EasyJet took place at Macclesfield Crown Court in September 2013 and related to an incident where the claimant suffered a flight delay because of bad weather at an airport which was not part of her flight’s scheduled route. Ms. Jager was due to fly from London-Heathrow to Nice, but bad weather in Milan meant that the aircraft that was allocated to operate on the London to Nice route was unable to make its way to Heathrow on time. Consequently, the claimant’s flight arrived in France over 3 hours behind schedule.

Court ruling
Ms. Jager’s initial claim was rejected by EasyJet on the grounds of “extraordinary circumstances” in the shape of bad weather flight delays at Milan Linate Airport. However, the court decided that the claimant should be entitled to compensation as the bad weather cited by EasyJet didn’t directly impact the route being flown by the “flight in question”.​

Mmmm. So a cancellation due to bad weather must actually be due to bad weather on the route being flown?

My response to BA has been:

"Dear British Airways,

Thank you for your email.

Could you kindly tell me how our flight, BA0574, scheduled to depart Heathrow at 10:30 AM was cancelled "because of adverse weather conditions" at 01:00 AM, some 9.5 hours before the flight?

I already have a history of the flights between LHR and LIN on that day and it seems that flights successfully operated both before and after the cancelled BA0574. This included BA0564 scheduled departure at 7:35 AM, BA0576 scheduled departure at 9:20 AM and BA0562 scheduled departure at 12:00 NOON.

As our eventual flight, BA0564, scheduled departure at 7:35 AM, was not weather affected, it's very odd that a flight scheduled to depart some 3 hours later could be weather affected over nine hours before its scheduled departure (it was cancelled at 01:00 AM)."​

Response awaited...

FWIW, LHR weather on 1st June 2018 was misty, MIL weather was fine and mild, there was no significant in-flight turbulence that I recall. On 1st June 2018 there were few BA cancellations, world-wide, according to thebasource.com.