Following the massive system failures that affected thousands of people due to board BA flights at  Heathrow and Gatwick over the weekend, Bott & Co solicitors who have expertise in flight delay claims have offered the following information. 

Its British Airways Flight Cancellations: Your guide to claiming includes the amounts for cancellations with and without alternative flights offered. The company says flight delays or cancellations resulting from technical problems would be eligible for compensation under EU regulation 261/2004.

If the BA flight is cancelled or delayed due to an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ then the airline does not have to pay compensation to passengers. It does though still have a duty of care and assistance. Regardless of the reason for the delay, care and assistance is an obligation and includes:

Food and drink in reasonable relation to the waiting time
Overnight accommodation where necessary
Travel to and from the airport and accommodation
Two free calls, emails, or fax messages

The amounts of compensation are set by the regulation. They vary depending on the distance of the flight and the length of the delay.

As the flights are cancelled within 7 days of the departure date the claim amounts range from 125 Euros to 600 Euros if a replacement flight is offered.

To claim, first of all BA should pay compensation. If they don’t, the customer has the option of writing to them to request payment under Regulation 261.

Coby Benson, Flight Delay legal manager at Bott & Co, said: “British Airways have had several IT glitches over the last couple of years but nothing quite on the scale of this latest crisis. Passengers who have had flights cancelled will be eligible for compensation as we don’t consider this event to be an extraordinary circumstance.

“The specific criteria for amounts and delay lengths depend on whether alternate flights were offered or not and how long the delay ultimately lasted for. BA can’t get away with refunding passengers and hoping that’s the end of the matter – they are obliged to provide compensation under Regulation 261/2004 and we’re preparing for a busy week helping passengers recover that compensation.”