Flight BA0117/23 June 2007 Cancellation Compensation?

[kimptoc]

Hi,

 

Looking for some advice on whether we have a claim for compensation.

 

We turned up at the airport around 2 hours before it was due to fly. When we got to the bag drop desk, we were told that our flight had been cancelled as the first officer was sick.

 

They put us on a Virgin flight - 7 hours later - arrived in NY around 10 hours later than scheduled

 

The BA website says that it was "beyond their control" and thus compensation is due. They also said this in a written reply to our enquiry as well.

 

Is this correct - shouldn't they have arrangements in place to cover flight crew sickness as best as possible, obviously within limits.

 

Is there an ombudsman we can escalate this with?

 

Thanks in advance for any tips/experiences.

Chris

[bartymuv]

i know how frustrating this must have been for you,

 

but the fact that they got you to your destination by listing you for a virgin flight, probably means that they covered themselves. presumably, they would have looked after you whilst you were stuck at the airport, food and drink vouchers etc.

 

flying crew, especially pilots and 1st officers, are subject to hours limitations, and although they couldn't find a replacement for your flight, there was in all probability, at least one on standby, but had been used for another flight.

 

not much help for you im afraid, but, think, if you had booked a charter flight you probably wouldn't have flown out till the next day!

[salfordric]

Compensation would have been paid to you if you hadnt got reprotected onto another flight. Normally at BA its something like £250 Denied Boarding Compensation but thats only if you dont fly at all. 7 hours later is a delay for which you should have been given catering vouchers but thats about it. Those by the way are not policies of individual airlines they are set by IATA and CAA.

[kimptoc]

Hi,

 

We did get catering vouchers - but we weren't offered them. We had to go hassle the desk again.

 

BA has rejected our claim as they feel it is an "extraordinary event". Although confusingly they also responded to say the reason for the cancellation was due to the flight crew having insufficient rest - huh - were they just hungover and so more rest would have solved the "sickness" problem?

 

We've sent a letter to the Air Transport Users Council - the people who look after the EU compensation rules in the UK - to see if they agree.

 

Thanks for your thoughts,

Chris

[StudentInDebt]

were they just hungover and so more rest would have solved the "sickness" problem?

No, minimum rest between duties for aircrews is laid down in law and there is no discretion to shorten it. I trust your reference to recovering from a hangover is tongue-in-cheek.

[kimptoc]

Hi,

 

My comment was tongue in cheek. I am just disappointed that BA mixed up the reason for the cancellation. They say its sickness on the day, but in the last letter, they say its due to insufficient rest. We did get a letter saying they have a lot of complaints at the moment and so things were taking longer than usual to be handled - perhaps it also means they are mixing up the cases

 

Regards,

Chris

[PKea]

Think yourslef lucky you didn't book with Easyjet.

After watching the TV programs you'd stiil be sat at the Airport.

LOL

[FordAnglia]

Hi,

 

We did get catering vouchers - but we weren't offered them. We had to go hassle the desk again.

 

BA has rejected our claim as they feel it is an "extraordinary event". Although confusingly they also responded to say the reason for the cancellation was due to the flight crew having insufficient rest - huh - were they just hungover and so more rest would have solved the "sickness" problem?

 

We've sent a letter to the Air Transport Users Council - the people who look after the EU compensation rules in the UK - to see if they agree.

 

Thanks for your thoughts,

Chris

 

I wonder if you received any satisfaction throught your complaint to the AUC?

 

I have been reading of some interesting accounts of passengers challenging the purported defence offered by British Airways when cancelling flights and refusing compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 relying upon crew sickness as an "extraordinary circumstances" defence.

 

There appears to be similar cases which some passengers are challenging through court proceedings-see Battle with BA! - Flight Mole Forum

 

There are also many other cases of passengers challenging the defence offered in cases of technical problems with aircraft. This may be worth a look

[kimptoc]

Hi,

 

BA did offer £50 vouchers per person, for use on non-discounted/scheduled flights - and so are worthless - unless I want to pay more for my flight for the privilege of using BA.

 

The ATUC eventually came back and said they had re-queried things with BA who said the same things and so they accepted what BA told them.

 

I am not going to take this further, the inconvenience was not that bad and life's too short.

 

Have fun,

Chris

[emmess]

If you don't think staff sickness is an acceptable reason not to pay compensation could you please add your names to a Downing Stret epetition. Because I'm new, I'm not allowed to post the URL, but if you go to your search engine and type "downing street epetition" the top link will take you to the home page. This page has its own search engine. Type in "airline sickness" and the appropriate petition appears at the top.