My battle to get BA to comply with EU 261/2004.

Update: After Tweeting, emailing, and contacting the VP of BA, I finally received a cheque, denominated in CAD, for the full amount owed!

This past summer, I flew with British Airways from Edinburgh EDI to London LGW. There was a flight cancellation, and they put me on the LHR bound flight, which left me at my final destination much later than I would have otherwise been.

In this case, I would be entitled to 250 euros of compensation under EU 261/2004 (under Article 5 and Article 7).

I sent an email to BA. Amazingly, they approved the claim on the first try! They then asked for my banking information for a direct-deposit. I triple-checked that information and emailed it to them. Nothing… I ask them, “what’s up?” Our systems show the transfer went through. Nada, nothing, nil. Even asked the bank if there was an attempt: nada, nothing, nil.

I emailed them asking where my money was. The issue would be under investigation. Awhile later, I emailed again. Still, it was under investigation. I was getting pissed, so I emailed them saying to just send me a cheque to this address, this wait (~2 months now) is getting ridiculous. No reply. I email again. No reply.

This time, I take to Twitter. The Twitter team, to my jaw-dropping amazement, states that the transfer went through, my file was closed! It looks like the original person NEVER REOPENED THE FILE! This was getting ridiculous. Again, I’m being told to wait (as the investigation begins…?)

I think a wait that is approaching 3 months is far too long to receive EU 261/2004 compensation. Further, it was wrong of BA to (1) ignore my follow-up emails, and (2) not actually open-up any investigation when they said they did, and only doing so when I went public with the issue on Twitter.

I’m still waiting for my money, and the next step is to sue them in the English courts. This is a pain, because I’ll need an English proxy address, but if need be, I will do so.