Missed flight compensation

[newtothis1123]

Back in July we missed our flight to my best friend's wedding due to utter chaos at the BA check-in desk. We were there 3h before the flight and only got to the front of the queue 30mn before our flight despite me trying to get help from BA colleagues to get checked in sooner. We had checked in online but had to stick to a specific desk to check-in at Heathrow due to having a buggy with us. Once we got to the front of the queue we had to wait even further as a BA colleague supporting another family whose flight was later than ours came and commandeered the check-in desk stating she'd be really quick but that query ended up being bigger than shed thought which ultimately led us to miss our flight. Despite our bags being checked in and our boarding passes printed, by the time we go to security a matter of minutes later they denied us entry. Our bags eventually were delivered back home 14 days later and one had been broken into (it had a built in lock) and items were missing along with wedding presents/card being ripped open and damaged. Whilst our bags were missing we were advised over the phone by 2 BA colleagues we could claim for essential items which we did as we had some items for our baby in the cases that we needed, the claim was less than £100.

Has anyone had success in a similar situation to claim compensation as BA currently are declining anything including our expenses claim?

I'd be going on their SM with that shitshow of a story if they've still not done anything for you.

If you have tried their complaints process what about your travel insurance? Luggage is normally handled by a third party after check in.

Feel for you OP.
We used T3 at Manchester a couple of months ago.
The check in opened 2 hours before the flight ( first of the day ) and the two queues built up quickly. The check in staff had to resort to standing and shouting at the queues ‘this queue is only for flight xxx, leave the queue if you’re on a later flight’.
We made our flight but it all felt rushed given the slow progress at check in.

Yes I have, I'm not getting anywhere with the BA complaints process and it has taken me 4 months to even hear back from them! Travel insurance won't do anything as the flight took off, just without us on it 😞

I tried to ask them to prioritise checking in based on flight time but they were only dealing with those who really kicked up a fuss, regardless of the fact their flight was later. I ended up having to breastfeed my 6 month old on the floor in front of the check-in desk which was so degrading but he couldn't wait a minute longer and had done so well in such a stressful situation.

Contact the ombudsman. We had an issue missing a flight and the ombudsman requested Flybe pay compensation. It was an unusual situation were due to extreme bad weather it was going to be cancelled. We were told by phone then it wasn't. We were booked on the next day flight and then months down the line after contacting ombudsman we had compensation due to denied boarding

Sounds horrible, and I don’t have any helpful suggestions, but TBH I’m actually surprised check-in physically accepted bags and (if I understand you correctly printed boarding cards) with 30 min to go to planned departure (STD).

Airlines like BA usually close the check-in process at about STD -45 to allow the load and balance process to be finalized..

….and sadly as you found out the conformance process at least a couple of Heathrow terminals usually blocks you from going airside later than STD-35…

That said I do hope you get some sort of satisfactory resolution to this.

We had an issue with BA for international flights and it took months to sort out, they lost our bags from the UK to America, we applied for compensation and despite me messaging every week for months it took forever to sort out. Keep updating your complaint and chasing it, their customer service is shocking.

Insurance should cover your luggage regardless.

Our insurance we had to have had an active complaint with BA and then to finish their investigation before we could claim with them, plus I wasn't going to pay an excess with them when I didn't need too and it wasn't our fault the luggage was lost.

Why didn’t you get the next flight?

Go onto the BA flyer talk thread and ask for help
They will know the exact entitlement
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

Be careful going online to complain as there are a lot of scammers.

Yes BA at fault but reading your OP this also reads as a life lesson in he who shouts the loudest gets. I am one of the people in the queue who would have been kicking up a giant loud fuss - as you said others did. Next time do it loudly so you cannot be passed over if a similar situation arises.

When you make a comment on their sm content you will be targeted by scammers pretending to be them. My suitcase has been stolen a couple of years ago under BA and I filed for compensation and received it months later.

Anna Timms at the guardian's consumer champions column seems good in getting these things moving.

It was fully booked so we were put on the waiting list to be contacted if a seat became available which it didn't unfortunately

Thank you, will take a look.

Yes I agree although there was only 1 BA colleague dealing with the whole family queue which was easily a couple of hundred people and she was barely around to make a fuss to, and when she was she was dealing with a family who were pretty aggressive and loud. It was so badly organised. They ended up getting random Heathrow colleagues from admin departments down to help and I got their help immediately but it was too late for us unfortunately.

hi OP, I settle baggage and delay complaints, you won’t get anywhere with a SM post so definitely don’t bother.

it sounds like there’s 3 parts to the complaint here:
their actions caused you to miss the flight
I’m unsure whether you had to pay out of pocket for a new flight but maybe this too
the baggage not being returned in a timely manner
the damage to the luggage and contents

Have you enailed the CEO? It isn’t ever actually the CEO personally but it will be an escalated and more senior complaints team. You can usually find the address by googling it (not allowed to post it here) just googled British airways CEO email. Send everything you’ve written here plus if you have any timestamped evidence from the desk/ queue on the day (texts or photos you sent) include them as evidence.

if that fails, did you pay by credit card? Get the ball rolling On a Chargeback if so.

if nothing comes of the complaint, open a money claim online (used to be called small claims), you set out everything you’re claiming for and send it to the company. Usually they’ll settle out of court as it costs them time and energy to do the process

Best of luck x

Honestly.
go onto flyertalk and follow their advice
the regular posters are BA ggl who give their time to help

sounds like it might be involuntarily denied boarding to me which has a pathway but they will know.

you wont get better advice anywhere else. They certainly do include lawyers who are BA frequent flyers and know the aviation compensation routes in detail

Also can you share what they’d said back to you so far, this might be able to help me help you x

compensation aside did they refund you? Is all pretty awful

we had a similar check in cock up at KLM -(this was a few years ago) and in the end we were cutting it so fine we got personally escorted through the fast track lane in security then upgraded on the flight. Ticket was bog standard economy.

Since July has been mentioned I wonder if the “utter chaos” was down to the Crowdstrike upgrade foul up on the 19th...that hit a lot of systems at various airlines and airports.

I gather at LHR and elsewhere ground staff in many instances had to revert to manual procedures which as an aside might explain why it was still possible for the OP to check bags and have them tagged at STD -30 because on a normal day the computer at BA would certainly have said no.

I’d second the advice given by @WhitbyBee to look at somewhere like Flyertalk but have to point out that the general feeling on some threads there discussing that specific incident is that the airlines (plural) are justified in claiming the delays were outside their control and therefore were not paying comp under EU261….I guess that may get tested in court at some point.

www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Explaining-the-largest-IT-outage-in-history-and-whats-next

Ex BA Manager here but have just left after my mat leave!

I doubt you'll get compensation due to missed conformance (not being able to pass through security in time) as there's signs up everywhere and on the TV screens above each check in desk and on your boarding card.

You don't need to check in at the family zone with a buggy for the next time you fly (if you ever book Ba again) any of the self service machines will print you off a tag and you can drop off at oversized baggage and if you need extra as it's a buggy of two parts staff in those zones can override and print additional!

Baggage claims can take a long while to be sorted out!

Sounds like it was the normal holiday chaos unfortunately it happens all the time- staff should have been calling out flights closing within 90mins to get people checked in but that obviously didn't happen!