To be really p****d off with British airways and my travel insurance

Do you have it in writing?

Not defending BA, they cost my friend a fortune in Covid so I boycott on her behalf already! If you have it in writing, that should help. If you don't, they'll likely deny it.

Next time you fly, use national express. For £10 extra you can get a flexible ticket. It's actually quicker from Heathrow to Bristol by bus

Because it was the next best option in the circumstances. It would be lovely if they paid for everyone's ongoing transport from there but why would they be responsible for you choosing to make it more expensive?

What if you had decided that rather than another train you would take a taxi all the way back to Devon or whereever for £850 and wanted to claim that? What's the difference between that and your £250 train? Both are expenses above and beyond what you could have done.

Do you have their email that says they will refund you?

Their terms and conditions state you're not entitled to a refund/expenses if:

You choose to travel from a different departure point or to a different destination than your original booking, you can't claim compensation for any expenses incurred for travel between these or any other consequential expenses, e.g. car hire, parking costs, etc.

It is made clear here that you would need to travel on to Gatwick. By travelling home, instead of to the original airport, you 'chose' to travel to a different destination. I understand your argument that it was pointless to travel back to Heathrow but those were the terms and conditions that were agreed to when booking the flight.

If they've specifically told you that they would refund you then obviously that's different and very poor customer service.

This.

we had this last year. cancelled Gatwick to Ibiza flight so moved to Heathrow and had to pay out a similar amount for parking and too late to cancel Gatwick Parking.

We got a refund for the seat booking and compensation for the cancelled flights but no refund for the parking. The Compensation covered the parking and a little bit left over.

but you cannot count both railway journeys just like I can’t count both parking fees - we would always have used one so it was the second that was the issue.

put in a claim for the cancelled flight and compensation and that should cover it

Not BA, but similar. Our HR flight was cancelled, offered flight to Gatwick, we asked about getting to HR as our car was there. We were told by their guy at the airport to get a taxi and claim it back.
Luckily we were able to get a bus. Tried to reclaim the bus fare, they wouldn't have it, even when I pointed out it was their representative who told us, they just said he didn't have the authority to do that. So glad we did pay for a taxi.

But you haven’t claimed your 261 compensation, right? Airlines will never offer this unless it is claimed. Ask for it.

And did they send you anything to say you were entitled to it? I am guessing not. That is also a requirement under the legislation (Article 14) and the Regulator (the CAA) would not be impressed. Info should be displayed at the check in desks too.

Go to the consumer part of the CAA website for more information.

Ba were responsible to get you back to Gatwick, not the ongoing journey. I've been changed to a different airport and a coach or taxi was provided each time, they did not pay for train fares though

It's not pointless, it would have allowed to complete your journey as originally intended.

One for those that know the really really fine detail of 261.

Is the fact the change is from one London Airport to another London airport a factor/complication here.

I have a very vague memory of discussion elsewhere, a while ago, regarding a flight switching between a couple of the Berlin airports and some debate about what effect that had on EU261 or any other compensation….

You seem awfully bothered about the money indeed.... Why say you are not bothered about the money when you have literally not stopped mentioning that you should be refunded? I am not finding you very credible.

I've had to taxi from Gatwick to Heathrow in the past. It was £65 in an Uber and took around an hour. This was about a year ago.

I expect they're not refunding as you could have made your original train by doing the above. They have a responsibility to get you to where they were meant to fly you into, but not to get you home.

Please don’t confuse delay and cancellation compensation claims. The rules for delay claims are that you must arrive at your destination more than three hours later than scheduled.

For cancellation claims you get the compensation unless the airline re-routes you to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and reach your final destination less than 2 hours after the scheduled time of arrival. (article 5(iii))

OP’s flight was cancelled then she was re-routed. They were not delayed.

I don't think BA are responsible for you choosing the most expensive option home when you could have much more cheaply and at little additional inconvenience gone round to Gatwick and used your original train tickets. The taxi from Heathrow to Gatwick they should and probably would have paid for.

Im not aggressive. I am however a seasoned traveller who has dealt with BA ( amongst many other airlines) with cancelled and rerouted flights and have a pretty good idea what you can claim a d what you can and also aware of easiest ways of contacting them and getting it sorted

it would also cost a fortune and take an hour, and again mean going back on ourselves! Why should we have done that because BA couldn't be bothered to run our flight?

They likely would have reimbursed that though, then you'd have been able to use your tickets so you'd have only lost time not money. And you can include the travel to Gatwick in your delay, so if it took 1.5 hours to get Gatwick and 1.5 hour plane delay, you might have met the threshold that the law requires you be paid some compensation.