Missed connection because of BA delay
 

I'd really appreciate some advice on how to approach BA to reimburse my out-of-pocket expenses caused by a BA flight delay.

My 13 month old and I recently flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico via JFK on BA for the first leg and Jetblue for the second leg. The flight was delayed by 3-hours because of a technical fault with the BA plane. We finally got to NY at 11.30pm by which time we'd missed was the last flight of the day, so my daughter and I had to spend the night in NYC.

The BA ground staff at JFK told me that because my onward journey was on a separate ticket that there was nothing BA could do. Long story short I had to pay for a hotel & taxi, and I had to pay a cancellation fee and the fare difference to be put on the Jetblue flight the following morning.

When I got back to the UK, I emailed BA and they wrote back "We're not liable for any consequential loss a customer or third party may have as a result of a delay, so I'm afraid I cannot reimburse your out of pocket expenses." Any advice on how to respond would be much appreciated.

"Technically" they're correct. An airline ticket is a contract. If you bought a British Airways ticket to New York, and a separate Jetblue ticket to San Juan, BA's "contract" with you was only to New York. All airlines claim they do not guarantee their schedules, so they fulfilled their contract with you, although 3 hours later than scheduled. If you had bought one ticket LHR-JFK-SJU, then the "contract" would be from LHR to SJU and, most likely, they would pay your overnight expenses.

Unfortunately, BA are correct that if you don't book the tickets as a single trip they are not responsible for consequential damages. However, EU regulation 261/2004 may help a bit. If you arrived more than 3 hours late, a recent court ruling says that the airlines must compensate you as if the flight was cancelled. The court ruled...


"Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation EC 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that passengers whose flights are delayed may be treated, for the purposes of the application of the right to compensation, as passengers whose flights are cancelled and they may thus rely on the right to compensation laid down in Article 7 of the regulation where they suffer, on account of a flight delay, a loss of time equal to or in excess of three hours, that is, where they reach their final destination three hours or more after the arrival time originally scheduled by the air carrier."[4]

You Would therefore be entitled to €400 compensation which would go some way to cover some of your costs. Write again to BA asserting your rights under 261/2004. You can get further information from wikipedia. You can also file a complaint via the CAA at

Complaints
Civil Aviation Authority
Room K401
CAA House
45-59 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6TE

If all else fails you can get EUCLaims.co.UK to help you, but they will charge a fee, on a no win, no fee basis.

Thank you for your advice, it is much appreciated!