BA compensation approved, no payment received after four weeks

[Mark in CA]

About a month after my wife's long haul flight on BA arrived more than five hours late at her destination, BA finally acknowledge she was due the maximum compensation. At that time I was also told by the customer service rep via email, "I’ve raised a bank transfer for this amount in your local currency, which will be paid directly to you. You’ll receive it soon."

It's now been four weeks, and no funds have been received. During that time, I've made two follow-up requests using the proper BA web-based form asking about the status of the payment, and have received no reply.

Any suggestions? Is this normal for BA? I've received compensation before from Air France, and it all went much more quickly.

[flyingfemme]

A bank transfer sounds unlikely unless the ticket was paid for with a bank transfer. Have they provided any details of the transfer?

[Mark in CA]

This isn't a refund. It's compensation for a delayed flight. I've been through this before with Air France, and they also wired the money. In both cases, the fares were paid via my credit card.

I have heard nothing from BA since the notification I received that affirmed the compensation decision. I pinged them again (third time) yesterday, as it is now more than a month since they told me they had approved the compensation. Still nothing yet.

[dastocks]

It still seems a weird (to the extent of being suspicious) way to transfer the funds. When I claimed for a hotel and meal bill after a flight was cancelled (not compensation or a refund) the money was credited to the card I used to pay for the ticket.

[Mark in CA]

Well, if you've never received compensation funds before, then I guess you can think whatever you like. But in my experience this is perfectly normal. This is not money I paid for anything (from a bookkeeping standpoint). Hence, the funds are not attached to any particular payment method I may have used to purchase tickets or food anything else. Even further, the passenger was not the one who paid for the ticket.

[mikemmb]

I got a compensation payment the same way from a UK airline. Phone call from them confirming compensation approved and requesting bank details, payment was in my account in the time it took to drink a celebration coffee!

[Reverserbucket]

Absolutely - I've received a couple of cheques in the past from BA and more recently a bank transfer all deposited into a different account to the one used to make the purchase.

[swordfish41]

I received compensation for a delay caused by the computer crash last year.
It was in the form of a cheque, received fairly quickly after the claim was accepted. I can only suggest making a phone call, as your e-mails go unanswered.

[Tray Surfer]

Yes, its normal for BA. Refunds/payments are very slow to come out of them.

If you keep sending the web form/email messages, then every time you do that it just goes to the bottom of the pile and will be seen in date/time order by the India data centre.

You need to ring them if you want any form of response sooner.

[blind pew]

My son was about to board when they used the aircraft from LHR for another service.. there had been wind in Gatwick.. had around 7 hours delay and refused to answer his communications.
Had a similar one with FR after the IAA put a statement up on their site that all flights on 12sept would be entitled to full compensation..since then disappeared and dealing with the Irish compensation system a waste of time.

[ExXB]

Hire one of the companies that specialise in extracting payments from airlines. But READ THE FINE PRINT FIRST before signing with one. There be pirates out there.

[Mark in CA]

I finally heard from BA and they claim they sent the funds to my account three days after notifying me of their decision, back in early February. They asked for, and I sent them, a letter from my bank stating the funds were never received. I also forward to them from my bank, the exact instructions for sending funds to my account. This last communication with them occurred last Thursday, 3/15/2018. We'll see what, if anything happens now. BA was not specific about what method they used to send the funds, even despite my specifically asking them about it.

I have since opened a TransferWise Borderless Banking account, which gives me an account number, routing number IBAN/SWIFT info for a bank in Munich that accepts euros, and so if this is not successful, I'll be able to provide them with an easier way to send the funds to me.

[Mark in CA]

Swordfish41, I did not see a number to call for this kind of thing. Do you have it, or can you point me to it?

[PAXboy]

The benefits of keeping good records and copies of transactions is evident.

[Mark in CA]

I'm happy to report the funds arrived in my US bank account today, just three months after the fight in question. While BA's customer service communications could be better, persistence and patience paid off and the wire transfer was finally successfully received, with a great assist from the fine folks at my local bank branch. I'm even very pleased with the exchange rate I realized on the EUR-USD conversion.

PAXboy, yes, I learned that lesson long ago.

[PAXboy]

As VS are about to find with me. Not a compensation issue but customer services failure to give a good reply and then, following a further question, have not replied after six weeks. I have all the emails. But the, VS is not VS anymore ...