Can we claim our extra costs after BA cancelled our flight?

[Cockahoophappy]

Morning all

BA cancelled our flight home the morning we were due to leave and put us on a flight 56 hours later.

We were unable to contact BA (numerous phone calls only lead to being cut off and sent a useless text message being directed to the their website, online options all fruitless) so had no alternative but to accept this change.

We have incurred huge costs because of this as you can imagine. Hotel, hire car extra days plus we are now flying home from a different airport, living expenses, missing 2 days work, extra dog care)

Does anyone have any legal advice please? Can we claim all this from BA?

TIA

yes you can.keep receipts then there is a form on their website to fill and upload receipts to. Did this and was refunded. It takes ages especially the compensation (to the extent that i complained on X and was almost scammed. story for another day).But yes you can claim costs.

ETA:
Based on your info, you are entitled to costs plus you can claim £500+ compensation on top (EU rules that we thankfully still have to abide by). Here us the link @Cockahoophappy

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/feedbackclaims/public/en_gb/select/dcd

The answer to this mostly hinges on the reason for the cancellation.

This is what your travel insurance is for.

What was the reason for the cancellation?

Give it a go - years ago BA cancelled a flight I was on, into Gatwick. They rebooked us to Heathrow. They said to contact them regarding expenses. We got the cost of the flight back, the cost of our trains from Gatwick to home, the cost of our trains from Paddington to home, plus as a goodwill they also refunded our trains up to Gatwick. Couldn’t have been happier to be honest

Not if it’s due to reasons beyond their control like strikes or weather

In those circumstances the airline should still pay any reasonable costs associated with accommodation and food (due the duty of care)...but usually they won't pay for much if anything beyond that.

What info? OP hasn’t said why the flight was cancelled so how can you confidently say she is entitled to compensation?

Travel insurance should cover this if BA doesnt

Yes keep all your receipts and claim when you get home

When something like this happened to me with Jet2 they provided all accommodation, food, travel to the different airport as well as compensation in cash.

I don't know how people are confidently answering "yes" without knowing the reason for the delay.

If for example this delay was down to the Thunderstorms that hit the London area Sat night then the answer is possibly "no, not everything" since a lot of cancellations were forced on multiple airlines by the Air Traffic Control authorities..

This happened to us last year with Aer Lingus. They immediately booked us into a hotel for the night at their expense and refunded all of our expenses quickly when we got home. We then received compensation for the cancelled flights.

We were really impressed by them, it could have been an extremely stressful situation but they handled everything and were incredibly helpful.

I know. I actually re-read OP’s post two more times, as quite a few posters are telling her she is entitled to compensation that I thought I missed the reasons for the delay.

They pay reasonable costs which will include hotel cost (typically 3/4 star including breakfast) a modest priced lunch and normal dinner though sometimes this will be booked directly with the hotel as a package) and a soft drink with each meal, transport to the airport if not the able to change your original plan and transport from the U.K. airport if not the one you originally booked. I’ve never known them cover hire car costs though. Your insurance may have additional cover eg for pets

changes beyond their control will not attract additional compensation beyond costs but it’s worth asking.

exh has been delayed many times (travelling for work) and they have always been fair and typically booked him a hotel with 3 meals a day so he didn’t have to actually claim the money they covered it up front.

It says on the BA website that they may pay for accommodation and reasonable food expenses but won’t pay additional costs such as car hire or pet boarding but you may get that from your insurance. So many flights were disrupted because of storms all over Europe which were obviously beyond airlines’ control.

We had this happen with BA, the reason being a fault with the plane.

We kept receipts for hotels and food and they reimbursed us after much wrangling. If not we’d have used our insurance.

They didn’t cover costs such as late pick up of our car and additional travel costs to the airport etc, but did cover all meals and our hotel (we extended the stay in the hotel we were staying at and didn’t hunt out a cheaper option)

You’ve missed the most important piece of info from your OP so nobody can answer until you tell us why the flight was changed.

This is why we always book a package holiday. Tui cancelled the flight and put us in a hotel for 5 days and paid all expenses.

What they say v what they do is different. BA is one of the better airlines for this to happen with as they still care about image.

Haven’t you go any thing more exciting to do with your day?

Yes, you will be able to claim all the costs your have occured. Depending on the reason why BA cancelled your flight, will depend if you're due compensation on top.

Our flight with BA home from Sardinia was cancelled in 2023. It was cancelled due to ATC and the weather, so we received no compensation, as it's wasn't within BA's control. We had to hire a car, drive 2.5 hours to another airport on Sardinia, stay over night, fly back to Gatwick, pay for National Express to take us back to Heathrow where our car was parked!! BA were utterly useless, cut off twice, just directed us to their website!

Apologies for not mentioning the reason given.

BA said it was “cancelled due to operational challenges as a result of the crew being out of position.”

https://www.caa.co.uk/air-passengers/travel-problems-and-rights/flight-delays-and-cancellations/cancellations/

You are entitled to reasonable expenses (hotels, meals, transport etc) and you are also entitled to compensation based on the length of your journey - short flights £220 per person, medium flights £350 and long haul £520. Make sure to apply for both the expenses and compensation as you are entitled to both! I got compensated for 3 people before - even though it was just me and my daughter who was a lap infant at the time - the third person on our booking they compensated was actually a comfort seat on my booking, really surprised me!

My mum had it happen when visiting me - she had to get a taxi to an airport well over an hour away (no train or bus route between cities) and the taxi was between £150 and £200, they only wanted to reimburse either the compensation or the taxi and made her jump through lots of hoops but she got both in the end. My aunt had a similar thing happen (also in my local airport) but managed to get transport to another city and a hotel - they paid her train, hotel, meals and compensation!

You do need receipts for everything - when it happened to me they kept delaying a flight by an hour at a time - I obviously got dinner and coffees but didn’t save receipts as I kept thinking it was a short delay (it was not) - I also didn’t book a hotel as they led us to believe the flight would leave at any moment but we waited in the airport all night (Ryanair). My mum couldn’t claim for meals for the 24hours she was delayed as she didn’t think to keep receipts for some and ate at my house for the others.

DC1’s BA flight from LHR to the US was cancelled. They were rebooked for a flight the following day, put in a hotel for the night at BA’s expense and given £700 compensation. This was last year.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/flight-cancellations-delay-refunds-passenger-rights-b2964236.html

This explains things very well. There are a lot of posters who are confused about the rules. The reason for the delay is only relevant for the compensation element, not the duty of care element.