Flight Delay

i know some of you are very knowledgable on flight delays and might be able to help me.

I was on a BA flight that was eventually delayed for 36 hours. I was traveling in premium economy on a upgrade with points from economy.

I was notified of a delay 12 hours before, but they couldn't provide any information except that it had been delayed overnight. As I needed to get back to the UK and I sensed it might be a bigger issue - with a bit of persuasion they transferred me onto a Singapore flight which left about 3 hours later. I also agreed to fly this in economy.

Do I have any right to compensation? I would like to think so as it was handled so badly and was quite stressful, but I know the reality is probably not. But worth asking.

Can I claim my miles back for the upgrade and can I claim the miles I should have earned for the flight I never took?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

IMO Yes to both!
Even though they reseated you on another plane, you still had a delayed landing in getting home.
Also, as you was bumped to E, then they should refund any loss.

However, they did go the extra mile in getting you on an earlier flight... you could easily have been stuck with the whole delay!

My understanding of the legislation is that you should receive:
Compensation as per the length of your flight - in your case I'd imagine €600.
Reimbursement of the miles used to upgrade since you were downgraded to your original cabin.
If your delay was overnight and required an extra night in a hotel this should be paid for by the carrier.

As for claiming your miles as part of the FF programme, you should be ok but they may calculate based on flying with a partner airline - I'm not sure.

I'm not so sure. There's not enough info here to determine for sure whether compensation is due but it doesn't look good.

"a Singapore flight which left about 3 hours later" - Time of departure is irrelevant. Only time of arrival matters. Flights often make up time in the air.
You don't specify the origin or destination of the flight. If it's "a flight not within EU of greater than 3500 km in distance" then it needs to be a 4 hours delay on arrival before anything is payable.

Also, if you agreed to take economy rather than hold out for PE I doubt any compensation for involuntary downgrade is payable - you agreed to it, it wasn't involuntary.

Based on what you have said and a guess that this is SIN - LON then nothing is due under ec 261/2004

We are missing a lot of info that is essential to be able to give you a proper answer.

What date was this?

What airlines and flight numbers and scheduled departure & arrival times?

What route?

What was the cause of the original BA delay?

You mention an SQ flight that left 'about 3 hours later' - later than what? Your original BA flight or was it delayed as well?


You should get original routing credit from BA but you'll have to contact them for it.

There are rights to some compensation for the delay BUT it depends on the actual details of your flights. There is no provision for compensation for 'stress'

Thank you for your replies.

The flight was the BA16 from Sydney to Singapore 2 weeks ago yesterday. It continues to London, but I had a stopover in Singapore before flying to London the following Saturday night on BA12.

The issue was hydraulic related - the plane was stuck in Singapore for 48 hours waiting parts and to be repaired. It eventually left Singapore for Sydney at the same time I boarded for London on the sat pm. BA call centre in Australia directs through to Delhi and they could tell me very little about when it might go. I found out more via social media from those stuck in Singapore. They were mentioning a 2 day delay. I had a meeting in Singapore and then needed to be in London for the Monday. Therefore I asked to go on another flight. Qantas was full and the Singapore flight had no premium. It was my decision, but surely I should at least get my points back.

The Singapore flight left 3 hours after I should have left on BA and arrived I guess 3 hours after I should have.

Hope that helps explain the issue a little more.

Your entitlement to compensation under EU261/2004 depends on how late you arrived at your final ticketed destination. You reckon you were about 3 hours late into LHR - fair enough but every minute counts in this case as 3 hours is the magic point at which compensation kicks in.

If the aircraft door was opened at LHR less than 3 hours after the scheduled arrival time of your BA flight, you're entitled to nothing. If it was opened more than 3 hours after that scheduled arrival time, you're entitled to claim €300. And if it was more than 4 hours, that goes up to €600.

So it's very much in your interests to remember - or find out - exactly when they opened the doors at LHR as there's a €300 difference between 2'59" and 3'01"!

If you don't know, just put in a claim anyway - the worst that can happen is they say no. There's an EU261/2004 claim form on the BA website which you'll need to fill in and submit.

As for the downgrade - not sure on that one. An involuntary downgrade would entitle you to a 75% refund however as you specifically asked to be put on a flight that didn't have the cabin you paid for that might not apply. In any event it's worth writing to BA as they do often appear quite generous at handing out Avios as a goodwill gesture when things go wrong.

Thanks for the extra information.

So it was the BA12 that you were scheduled to fly on from SIN-LHR that was delayed and you switched to SQ?

Based on that -

As your flight from SIN-LHR was on SQ then EU261 delay compensation does NOT apply as SQ is not an EU carrier (it only applies to non-EU carries when leaving the EU). It is the operating carrier that matters not the one you booked on or were scheduled to fly on.

So once you switched from BA to SQ then you lost any rights to EU compensation for delay

Again it was your choice (understandable due to your commitments) to take the SQ flight so again you can't claim under EU261 for a downgrade.

BUT what you should claim from BA is

- The miles you paid for the WT to WT+ upgrade (plus any fees associated with that)

- Original Routing Credit for the Avios and TPs

They may throw some avios in as a gesture for the inconvenience.


If I've mis-understood which flight was delayed then post the details.

Oh dear, I'd misunderstood the SQ bit. Thought you meant you'd rebooked on to a different BA flight. So no, sadly no EU261/2004 compensation due.

Thank you again.

I'll contact BA and see what happens. With regards to arriving into Singapore with SQ I didnt note the exact time. After midnight so after 3am in Sydney and I had been asleep. As I was transferred I have very limited details on the exact flight times, but I can look th up.

Thanks again

Thank you again.

I'll contact BA and see what happens. With regards to arriving into Singapore with SQ I didnt note the exact time. After midnight so after 3am in Sydney and I had been asleep. As I was transferred I have very limited details on the exact flight times, but I can look th up.

Thanks again

This is getting confusing

Which flight was actually delayed - the SIN-LHR one or the SYD-SIN one or both?

Which airlines did you actually fly each leg on as opposed to which you were booked on.

Sorry not trying to confuse!

I was meant to fly Syd to London on BA with 1 night in Singapore. BA have 2 daily flights to Sin with one that continues to Syd. My Sin to Lon flight was not the one that started in Syd. If you do the route frequently it's probably easier to understand.

My Syd to Sin flight was delayed so I flew that on SQ. My flight to Lon was BA.

How late did you arrive in London? Was London your final destination on your ticket?