cabby Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 We flew to Dubai at xmas and had our BA flight delayed for 15 hours due to a technical fault on the plane - great fun with 2 kids ! Anyone had much experience of pursuing a successful claim? From what i've read the airline will try everything to not pay (it's works out at circa £2k so can see why). We've had the following response to our initial on-line claim from BA. Dear Mrs Thank you for contacting us. Your claim for compensation has been refused because flight BA0105 on 18 December 2013 was delayed due to unexpected technical fault which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation. During our final safety checks, we noticed a fault with the engine. As this had been maintained in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines, this constitutes as extraordinary circumstances and could not have been avoided. Unfortunately airline operations are subject to circumstances outside the airline's control. British Airways takes all reasonable measures to avoid delaying a flight in such circumstances. Consideration is given to whether there are any operational options available before a decision to delay is made. We are sorry that the delay was necessary in this case.In your email you also requested reimbursement for your expenses. This will be dealt with separately under case reference number 11734522 and you will hear from us soon. Thank you for following this up with us. I do hope we have the chance to welcome you on board again soon. Best regards Sahadev MalaEU Compensation Claims Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 MSE has a section dedicated to the topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 If they don't fall foul of EU rules I doubt you will get much aside from a few Avios. At the end of the day you probably appreciate safety first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabby Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 MSE has a section dedicated to the topic. Had a look at that and will follow its advice. Was wondering about the 'extraordinary circumstances' technical fault issue and how we might check what actually happened and whether its does/doesn't qualify - where's DHA when you need him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabby Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 If they don't fall foul of EU rules I doubt you will get much aside from a few Avios. At the end of the day you probably appreciate safety first. Of course - goes without saying - but having lost a day of holiday, a shed load of hassle and spending the night in a Premier Inn when I should have been here http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g295424-d301584-Reviews-Le_Royal_Meridien_Beach_Resort_Spa-Dubai_Emirate_of_Dubai.html makes be hope i'm entitled to some form of compensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabby Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Could be helpful . . A judge in England has sought to clear up the confusion further by ruling that unforeseen technical faults are NOT 'extraordinary circumstances' at all, even if an airline has taken all reasonable steps to deal with the problems and avoid the delay - but that it is 'inherent in the normal activity of the air carrier to have to resolve such a problem' http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2478424/Landmark-ruling-forces-airline-pay-compensation-flight-delayed-technical-fault.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Its virtually impossible to get anything out of the airlines for flight delays - there are so many get outs, its crazy! I had an 18hr delay leaving Singpaore due to techincal fault on the plane (A380 black box failure they had to fly a new box in from Sydney) - I booked BA but got codeshared onto a Qantas flight, when I complained about the delay their response was that it was nothing to do with them as Qantas was my carrier, and being based in Oz the EU regs on compensation don't apply! Even when I raised that my ticket 'contract' was with BA and I had no control over who's plane they put me on, it got me nowhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 I got $200 each for 14 of us from Delta for a flight delay of 14 hours overnight due to aircraft problems. I agree likely to be AVIOS points if anything but remember Avios can be used for loads of stuff Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 We're off to Dubai later this year - and for the first time ever we'll be going with BA. If we got a 15 hour delay I'd be raging. Worst I've ever had was 10 hours - and we got a free meal in a shitty airport restaurant and a hotel room for the night. Wasn't impressed. That was in 1996. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 I booked BA but got codeshared onto a Qantas flight, rule #1: Don't fly codeshare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 rule #1: Don't fly codeshare. Yup, wasn't paying attention and didn't book it myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Why (in general)? I thought Quantas were supposed to be good (in this case)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 C'mon Waylander, it's all capitals - QANTAS. Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service and yes code share sux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) Code-share flights are fine for most flyers however, if you're a frequent flyer like Bazza, Andrew and myself and hold Elite Status with an airline (I'm Star Alliance Gold, IIRC Andrew is BA Gold) you can loose out on upgrades and more importantly elite-qualifying miles/points (EQMs). If you're not aware code-share agreements offer airlines the ability to use one flight, operated by a partner airline’s “metal” (this is very important) with multiple flight numbers. Passengers on board these flights can accrue frequent flyer program miles, EQMs and other perks, such as priority check in, boarding, etc. So in Bazza's case I assume he held a BA ticket for a flight code-shared with Qantas and therefore didn't get his EQMs/perks. In my case if I book a Thai Airlines ticket to Bangkok and fly on Lufthansa metal (they code-share on the route) I only get half the EQMs than if i'd flown on Thai metal with a Thai ticket. Thai offers 200% miles in business (depending on the ticketing class) whilst Lufthansa only give 100%. To maintain my Gold status I need to accrue 50k EQMs per year, which I will have done by May this year. Code-shares generally happen within an alliance (OneWorld, SkyTeam, Star Alliance) such as BA and Qantas both OneWorld airline. For routes between London and Australia the two airlines operate code-share flights. For the first leg of the travel, from London to Singapore passengers board an BA Boeing 777-300ER, flying as BA Flight 256, which also operates as Qantas 3978. From Singapore to Sydney the passengers then board a Qantas Boeing 747-400, flown as Qantas Flight 6 with the code-share flight number of BA Flight 8096. (I made up the flight numbers) Edited January 10, 2014 by Andy_Bangle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 aha got it Thanks Andy I transferred all my BMI points to Avios and then used them to buy my Orlando tickets I was confused because the couple of vode share flights I took I felt I ended up with a better experience than the booked tickets (Star Alliance) That being said coming back from Malaysia was my single worst flight ever.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Avios can offer really flight deals, I used 5000 BA Avios points to a score a business seat on a Qantas flight which would have cost me much more in cash. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Why (in general)? I thought Quantas were supposed to be good (in this case)? All the airlines in OneWorld have different miles (avois) and tier points earnings with eachother, its crazy complicated - in general flying BA, Cathay, Qantas etc doesn't affect much - checkin, security, lounge, extra luggage, upgrades etc are all the same - but in this case beacuse Qantas flew me (not BA who I bought the ticket from) and they are based out of Oz, it meant EU delay regs don't apply so I got zip for my 18hr delay leaving Singapore... sneaky eh? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) I got $200 each for 14 of us from Delta for a flight delay of 14 hours overnight due to aircraft problems. I agree likely to be AVIOS points if anything but remember Avios can be used for loads of stuff Good luck I was flying back from Stockholm on SAS when they announced that the plane wasn't meant to do international flights as it didn't have heaters for the food. They apologises and said they'd compensate everyone in business class. The cold meal was probably the best I'd ever had on an SAS flight and it tasted even better once they'd put $200 in my hand Edited January 10, 2014 by Scotty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 SAS, food? that must have been a long time ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Prob about 8 years ago I guess. The had various chef's doing the meals. I preferred it to BA ... apart from all the trolley dolley's are 50+ of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Those same trolley granny's are still shuffling around, thanks to the Swedish unions There's an unofficial contest between us SAS biz customers to see who can score the most free muffins & (mini) bottles of fizz on a flight, as they're included in the ticket price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 I got $200 each for 14 of us from Delta for a flight delay of 14 hours overnight due to aircraft problems. So that's why American airlines go into Chapter 11 so often............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted February 5, 2014 Report Share Posted February 5, 2014 feck that - I earned every penny of that compo I assure you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabby Posted May 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 A belated update. After being told by BA to 'do one' in response to our initial letter, we decided to let a third party in the form of Bott & Co take it on for us. I was quite dubious given they are a no-win-no-fee type outfit but was very pleasantly surprised. We are now £1,600 better off after their circa 30% fee and we received the money within a few days of BA paying out. Result! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted May 8, 2014 Report Share Posted May 8, 2014 Blimey. And it wasn't a valid EU claim either was it? Probably explains why my flights cost more all of a sudden ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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