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Original poster

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

159 replies

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:08

Long story short our flight on Monday into Gatwick was cancelled. Instead we were booked to fly into Heathrow.

So we lost £250 on train tickets from Gatwick to home - train company and ticket issuer won't refund. Travel insurance refuse to refund as BA should be refunding. BA have refused to refund. Same with the £250 we spent on new tickets from Heathrow into London and then on to home.

So now we're basically £500 out of pocket without any recourse to receive a refund! Wtf do we do?!

OP posts:
TheTripThatWasnt · 29/08/2024 14:04

How did you get home from Heathrow, and who paid?

Our flight home from France (to East Mids) was cancelled last summer. Ryanair booked us onto the next available flight to the UK, which was to Bristol (next flight to East Mids wasn't for 3 days!). Arrived at Bristol at 3am, took an Uber home (no car hire desk open), claimed from Ryanair the next day and they paid out within a week - no quibbles at all.

I'd say BA should pay for you to get home from H'row without any quibbling at all, and as a matter of good customer service should also refund your train tickets from Gatwick. I can see why the travel insurers are dragging their heels, and actually it's probably not in your interests anyway as by the time you've paid the excess (which is often per person for travel), you won't get much back anyway.

Fluffypuppy1 · 29/08/2024 14:03

How long were you delayed between your original flight and the new one as you may be able to claim some compensation for that? Then add the train ticket expenses on to the claim.

We had a BA flight cancelled last year and they paid for new flights for us, plus gave us compensation for the travel delay and out of pocket expenses.

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 14:01

doggybootcamp · 29/08/2024 13:59

I had a very similar situation recently and BA refunded me.
Original flight was overbooked, they contacted me the day before asking me to fly from Heathrow instead of Gatwick at an earlier time. I agreed as Heathrow is closer and they upgraded me too.
I had booked train tickets to Gatwick, lounge access etc and BA refunded it really quickly.

When we checked in for the new flight we were told £129 to upgrade!

Just a nightmare to be honest

OP posts:
doggybootcamp · 29/08/2024 13:59

I had a very similar situation recently and BA refunded me.
Original flight was overbooked, they contacted me the day before asking me to fly from Heathrow instead of Gatwick at an earlier time. I agreed as Heathrow is closer and they upgraded me too.
I had booked train tickets to Gatwick, lounge access etc and BA refunded it really quickly.

Cosyblankets · 29/08/2024 13:59

Those posters saying 250 out of pocket are right.
It was going to cost you 250
You paid 500 in total
So you're 250 out of pocket.
I agree they should refund you but not 500

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:57

TheFlis · 29/08/2024 13:54

Why on earth would they pay both? It was always going to cost you £250 to get home from the airport.

Because they messed us around hugely by cancelling our flight and rebooking us into a new airport with 0 notice?

Just really pissing me off that all I'm getting is "sorry that's that", guess we'll never fly BA again

OP posts:
AutumnLeaves5 · 29/08/2024 13:55

BA website is pretty clear. If you have an email confirming they would refund your train tickets, I’d appeal in writing and also to the ombudsman.

The alternative was waiting for the next flight into Gatwick and they would have had to pay for your hotel, meals etc.

To be really p****d off with British airways and my travel insurance
AnathemaPulsifer · 29/08/2024 13:54

It was supposed to cost you £250 to get home. If BA paid for the cancelled train tickets AND the new train tickets it would have cost you zero to get home.

JimberlyJo · 29/08/2024 13:54

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:51

@Carwashcath

They should reimburse for both surely?

No, just the extra costs you have incurred. £250.

if the original flight had gone ahead, you were obviously expecting to pay £250 to get home.

You’ve ended up paying £500, so you should only be claiming the additional £250.

TheFlis · 29/08/2024 13:54

Why on earth would they pay both? It was always going to cost you £250 to get home from the airport.

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:51

@Carwashcath

They should reimburse for both surely?

OP posts:
Carwashcath · 29/08/2024 13:51

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:49

Well no, £250 for new trains and £250 for the cancelled trains

They're just saying that the outcome letter is what we get. I've asked to escalate it but they're not replying

Show quote history

That's still "only" £250 out of pocket as you got home using the new tickets instead of the old tickets. You're out of pocket just for the old tickets. They should reimburse you £250

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:51

TheFlis · 29/08/2024 13:50

How are you contacting them?

Twitter

OP posts:
TheFlis · 29/08/2024 13:50

How are you contacting them?

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:49

TheFlis · 29/08/2024 13:49

You’re £250 out of pocket not £500 as it was going to cost you £250 to get home anyway of your flight hadn’t been changed.

What have BA said when you quote their own email back to them saying they would cover trains? And what do they state you should have done to get home in these circumstances? Have you spoken to an actual person or just sent emails? BA are actually very responsive on social media so maybe also worth trying that.

Well no, £250 for new trains and £250 for the cancelled trains

They're just saying that the outcome letter is what we get. I've asked to escalate it but they're not replying

OP posts:
TheFlis · 29/08/2024 13:49

You’re £250 out of pocket not £500 as it was going to cost you £250 to get home anyway of your flight hadn’t been changed.

What have BA said when you quote their own email back to them saying they would cover trains? And what do they state you should have done to get home in these circumstances? Have you spoken to an actual person or just sent emails? BA are actually very responsive on social media so maybe also worth trying that.

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:46

helpfulperson · 29/08/2024 13:44

Actually I've just remembered that heathrow to Gatwick is £15 on the coach. I had to do it last year.

Not being funny but they can't expect us to get a coach across London when they cancelled our flight in the first place?

OP posts:
Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:45

We'd booked an advance ticket out of Gatwick as we had 5 hours gap between scheduled landing and train departure - plus if you miss that you can use it on the next one (I double checked).

If we had travelled between Heathrow and gatwick it would've cost us nearly the same as the train tickets home and taken two hours - nowhere does it say we had to do that!!

OP posts:
helpfulperson · 29/08/2024 13:44

Actually I've just remembered that heathrow to Gatwick is £15 on the coach. I had to do it last year.

poptake · 29/08/2024 13:43

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease if they've said they'd cover trains they should, what reason have they specifically given you as to why they couldn't?

Is it because you changed your tickets to your home? When the same happened to us we got an Uber to Gatwick (we had to, our car was there) that was accepted no issue. I wonder if you were supposed to travel to Gatwick and use your original tickets and it would be the journey between Heathrow and Gatwick that would be covered? Only guessing, but I'd keep pushing.

Astrabees · 29/08/2024 13:42

Could you not have just used public transport from Heathrow to Gatwick and used your original train tickets? Presumably yo didn’t buy tickets for a specified train due to the risk of delay.

helpfulperson · 29/08/2024 13:42

So are they saying you should have got the train from Heathrow to Gatwick, then used your tickets home? What would that have cost

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:41

Beth216 · 29/08/2024 13:37

I wouldn't bother contacting newspapers and hoping they do something about it. You need to read the regs and find out if BA should be paying your travel or whether your travel insurance should.

I would think this is BA, when we had the same with easyjet and got stuck in France they paid all our accommodation and transport to the airport until we were able to get on their next flight. Of course you had to accept the flight otherwise you'd have been stuck abroad. I would find out who the ombudsman is and make a complaint, Civil aviation authority perhaps, also complain to BA - try to speak to someone if you haven't already.

This is exactly it! If we'd said no, we would've been stuck there and would've had to have forked out £500+ for the eurostar, we were left with no option

OP posts:
Waltzers · 29/08/2024 13:40

A few years ago flying Melbourne to London, our flight was cancelled due to a cracked windscreen, we were all moved onto the same flight 24 hours later. For us that wasted a nights accommodation, and the potential to miss a show we had tickets for (depending on how long it took us to get across London) The airline made all the right noises on the day, gave us all the necessary forms (so they claimed!) to allow us to claim on our travel insurance. Of course the travel insurance said we're not covered for that sort of issue, go back to the airline, who said no, we don't compensate for this, that's what insurance is for 🤦‍♀️ gave up in the end, but we did make the show, although my youngest slept through most of it having not had the rest day we'd planned 😆

Original poster
NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 29/08/2024 13:39

helpfulperson · 29/08/2024 13:38

I can understand why insurance won't pay. Did BA offer you the option of waiting for another Gatwick flight?

Have you looked at BA cancellation policy online?

@

There wasn't another Gatwick flight that day, they said in their email that they would cover all incidental costs such as trains

OP posts: