urgent help needed ppruners - BA59 LHR-CPT 28/10/09

[firstchoice7e7]

Any BA bods about that can assist?

me and my partner are booked on BA59 LHR-CPT departing 28/10/09 at 1920pm Club Class

It is 2 seperate redemption bookings linked together. Ive tried to check in online tonight and im having problems. It looks like J is fully booked and although ive been allocated a seat which i cant change, my partner hasnt been allocated a seat and it doesnt allow him to check in online advising him he must do it at the airport. Does this mean we are in a overbooked situation?

I have called the call centre in Newcastle tonight and whislt they were pleasant they werent any help and couldnt explain why he cant check in online.

Any help gratefully accepted.

[firstchoice7e7]

cancel, just spoke to a very nice lady at Newcastle call centre who has renewed my faith in BA. Apparently online check in has been suspended for my flight tonight as it is too busy. Though its a mystery on how i was allowed to use it but not the other party travelling.

[firstchoice7e7]

:ugh:

as i thought despite being lied to by BA at newcastle call centre, we have been split up and the other half has been downgraded to WT+. No appointments at the elemis spa for 3 hours, they have just lost another customer.

[ExXB]

Has BA offered you any compensation for the downgrade? Regulation 261/2004 definitely applies here.

Although the regulation provides compensation of 75% of the fare paid (for this journey) this has been interpreted by the Commission and National Enforcement Bodies (NEBs) as meaning "75% of the published fare in the class reserved, for that flight sector."

Although BA will resist, you are within your rights to insist on 75% of the published J fare LHR-CPT.

See Q27 of this document on the Commissions web-site: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/passengers/air/doc/neb/questions_answers.pdf_reg_2004_261.pdf

Edited to add: The regulation does apply to FF tickets - See Article 3 Paragraph 3 (page 4 of the same Commission document) "... However, it shall apply to passengers having tickets issued under a frequent flyer programme or other commercial programme by an air carrier or tour operator."

[firstchoice7e7]

ExXB Thanks,

The duty manager advised us that as it was a redemption booking we were only entitled to £200 in compensation, and if we wanted it we would have to sign a disclaimer waiving our rights to EU compensation. £200 doesnt even cover the extra tax and fuel surcharge that we paid to fly J, so we declined their 'kind' offer. Due to BA's new pay £60 to prebook your seat 'deal' anyone that doesnt pay to choose their seat may find themselves one of the few to be downgraded if the class is full when you come to check in. We checked in at exactly 24 hours before take off and all bar one of the seats were taken.

Luckily i had done my research and the EU regulation also applies to redemption beookings and i was legally entitled to 75% back, even if that was in miles which i would have been happy with.

We found out that out of a J cabin of 52 seats, they had overbooked by 6.
2 were moved to the later flight, and im not sure what happened to the other 3, though when we were at the gate we were upgraded back to J (Without even so much of a sorry), so it all worked out ok in the end, but the experience was stressful and put the start of our holiday on a downer. I wouldnt fly with them again, BUT the Cabin crew were brilliant and because of them i would.