BA Sidesteps Paying Compensation

British Airways, the world's favourite airline, uses some favourite excuses to prevent paying lawful compensation to its passengers

BA refuses to pay compensation of up to £476 per passenger under European law - EUclaim instructs solicitors Lavelle Coleman to start legal proceedings.

EUclaim announced today that their law firm Lavelle Coleman has commenced a claim for compensation under Regulation 261 in the Uxbridge County Court on behalf of 23 British Airways passengers affected by the cancellation of flight BA 0502 on the 14th March 2008 that was scheduled to fly from Heathrow to Lisbon.

EUclaim currently represents several hundred claimants who have suffered flight cancellations or long delays whilst travelling with British Airways. Some of these claims, relating to 88 British Airways flights, date back as far as 2006.

"British Airways has produced numerous reasons for cancellations and for the non payment of their passengers' claims - these range from insufficient cabin crew and staff sickness to technical problems. Quite frankly these are, in most cases, not extraordinary circumstances and the airline is simply hiding behind these excuses. We have repeatedly asked BA to give the real reasons behind the cancellations but they have refused to do so," said Hendrik Noorderhaven CEO, EUclaim.

In most cases airlines will reject claims made by individual passengers, stating 'extraordinary circumstances' as the cause of the delay or cancellation. More often than not this is not the case. But, it is virtually impossible for passengers to object to airline statements about technical circumstances. The burden of proof concerning a cancellation and whether it is caused by extraordinary circumstances rests with the operating air carrier.

It would appear that airlines have taken it upon themselves to declare staff sickness and shortages as an extraordinary circumstance, however airlines are responsible for their staffing and they cannot therefore claim sickness or lack of staff as an extraordinary circumstance. Technical problems are also a favourite excuse, used by many airlines. But can only be justified and seen as 'extraordinary' if, for example, something goes wrong during takeoff, or in case of a bird strike. In response to a number of claims put forward by BA passengers the airline responded that they cancelled flights due to Air Traffic Control restrictions as a result of bad weather. However, the airline has, to date, not provided EUclaim with any evidence to substantiate this.

EUclaim have submitted hundreds of BA passenger claims to the airline but as yet have not had a proper response from them. As a result, the company has decided to take legal action and have handed over a number of these claims to their Dublin-based law firm, Lavelle Coleman, in a bid to ensure that British Airways passengers who have suffered flight cancellations or long delays whilst travelling with the airline receive the financial compensation that they are entitled to under EU Law.

EC Regulation 261/2004 was established in 2005 to protect passengers and their rights in the event of cancellation, denied boarding and long delays of flights.

"Sadly, passengers are unaware of their rights - they go online to claim compensation from an airline and their claim is rejected - most give up - it's just too expensive to take legal action as an individual," added Noorderhaven. "We started EUclaim so that we could make passengers aware of their consumer rights and have already helped thousands receive their lawful compensation. The process is quite simple, passengers can check for themselves whether they are entitled to compensation on our site www.euclaim.co.uk. "

EUclaim specialises in gathering and analysing flight data which it uses to assist passengers in dispute with airline companies. EUclaim was featured last night on Channel 4's Dispatches: The Trouble with British Airways?

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14 October 2008