To think that this response from British Airways makes no sense at all?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I was booked to fly from Heathrow on Sunday afternoon. Massive IT outage meant that none of their display boards were working, it was impossible to know which flight was flying from which gate. There were no announcements and people were missing flights. We finally took off, five hours late. I put in a claim for compensation, and have just been told that this has been refused “because of a lack of facilities on stand” and “there was start up delay due to restriction.” They claim that this was not their fault. When I checked in at the airport my flight was showing as on time, and I was told that an earlier delay due to the storm and a computer malfunction had been cleared.

The last time there was a computer malfunction at Terminal 5, they paid up immediately. But this time they are trying to get out of it.

@hydeandrun the OP stated that she was five hours delayed, which is over three hours so entitled to claim under EU rules!

HTH

OP, be persistent!

Her contract was with BA, not Heathrow Airport. BA will claim compensation themselves from Heathrow Airport and that's their lookout. They are fobbing you off, OP, be persistent.

I know what you mean about the language, OP.

I made a complaint to BA last year bedbugs on a flight back from the US, yuck and the response I received back was completely nonsensical. It was like that computer-generated Harry Potter text from a couple of years back; the words made absolutely no sense. Like yours, full of half-sentences and jargon. I had to complain about the response to my complaint!

I think these companies are so keen to avoid admitting any responsibility that would open them up legally that they mitigate and qualify every single phrase in any response. Sometimes it gets messed around with so much that it ceases to be comprehensible.

@hydeandrun the OP stated that she was five hours delayed, which is over three hours so entitled to claim under EU rules!HTH OP, be persistent!

EU261 rules only apply if it was within the reasonable control of the airline. This was Heathrow wide not BA. The delays were initially weather caused which caused departure delays- then the computer issues. The airport was already on delayed slots from the weather and so the computer issues compounded that.

Some travel insurance does pay out an amount for delays over a certain number of hours. This is in addition to covering expenses incurred.

Only just seen this thread.....
I also flew out of Heathrow on Sunday, from Terminal 2. The whole of the system at the airport had crashed...all the check-in machines, Security, the flight boards, everything, not just the BA systems. No-one knew when their planes were landing, taking off or from where. Everything was delayed because of the weather anyway and people were missing flights because they couldn't see the delays or find their new times or take-off Gate. Representatives of the airlines resorted to walking around the airport shouting "anyone for Dublin (or wherever) now going at X time from Gate XYZ" - never seen anything like it.

My own flight was late by 3 hours, I only found out by chance which Gate to go to by asking and asking and asking, they finally told me at the help desk and by the time I arrived at the Gate they were boarding. I missed all my connections and they had to re-book my onward flights from the plane, and I had to stay overnight in one country as my final flight had been rebooked for Monday. On one flight the captain actually came out and apologised to the passengers!

I am not due any compensation because they "looked after me" and I arrived in the end.....

The stand facilities are not BA's responsibility technically, as Heathrow use Swissport and (I think) Menzies as their facilities and ramp crew, so they are contracted to Heathrow and not to BA. However the reason for not compensating sounds like a huge excuse and I would persevere. My sister's luggage was damaged somewhere between being dropped off at bag drop and landing at Heathrow at the weekend, BA tried to claim that it was not their fault and they didn't have to provide replacement luggage. Luckily DS was flying with her, he works at another airport as a ramp agent and baggage handler and was able to quote the rules at the customer service desk, they ended up providing a new set of cases. Their customer service is appalling in general.

BA are the new RyanAir. Everyone is so price sensitive now they've cut everything to the bone. It stuns me they think taking a suitcase is some sort of "luxury" to be charged extra for.

Unfortunately I don't know who is particularly better atm.