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

[NeedSomeAnswersPlease]

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?!

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

@HotCrossBunplease no, I'll get onto that in a second

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.

@HunterHearstHelmsley they said they'd refund us 🤷🏼‍♀️ lesson learned to never fly with BA again

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.

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

@DappledThings if they're gonna cancel flights so close to departure I'd assume they'd plan for things like this

Fat chance 😂

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.

Plan like getting you on another flight back to the same city? They did.

They didn't cancel the flight just for the fun of it.

Also hold on if you had train tickets from Heathrow to the SW surely you only needed to cover the bit from Gatwick to Clapham as ultimately you would be on the same train or have asked the train company if they would cover you getting a later train

but claim compensation it is a minimum of £220 each (depending on distance and delay)

@HunterHearstHelmsley thankfully yes, I just can't be bothered with any of the rigmarole to be honest. I just don't understand how they justify it

Different operators, again we were going to drag ourselves on the tube

I thought the airline was responsible for returning you to original destination airport, so should have funded taxi from lhr to lgw.

What were your initial train tickets and what did you change to? I can’t see why the change between the two airports would mean a difference it getting to an inbetween station?

but no they don’t refund travel just the compensation which will cover it

Original were Gatwick to Clapham junction then to Devon, by the time we'd got across London we may as well have just got a train from Paddington as they're faster and get us home easier. Didn't realise BA wouldn't refund that despite saying they would

Could you not have used the Reading to Devon leg anyway? So just needed tickets from Heathrow to Reading?

They would have done, but the OP chose not to make that journey. She also chose not to contact them to discuss alternative arrangements from the GP. I can understand her being annoyed, but this is absolutely not all on BA.

Nope, train didn't pass through Reading (SWR v GWR)

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease if your flight was cancelled with less than 14 days’ notice and you got to your destination more than 3 hours late you can usually make a claim even if they get you close to your destination. Use the free Resolver tool on Money Saving Expert - unlike some law firms you won’t be charged if you’re successful (or if not successful) …

Well then you just issue a Small Claims Court claim. You took the Heathrow flight on the basis that they had said they'd deal with any costs arising from changing rail tickets etc. Have you actually made it clear to BA that they promised in writing to cover your costs?

@Anthologist I have sent all screenshots to them on Twitter and asked it to be passed on to a human to actually get an answer

They would have meant trains between the two airports, not to any destination of her choice. That will definitely be spelled out in any communication from them.

Here we go, knew this sort of situation sounded vaguely familiar..

Given all this happened elsewhere in Europe it may be utterly irrelevant but I’ll put the link up for info’s sake.

https://www.eccnederland.nl/en/news/european-court-ruling-you-are-not-always-entitled-to-compensation-if-you-land-at-another-airport

That's not what the OP says.