can I take BA to court?

"William Black" <> wrote in message
>
> In simple terms they have to offer you another flight or your money back.
>
> They don't have to give you the choice.
>
> When it happened to me I found myself on another flight on the same date
> but a bit later.

I have a question. I bought tickets to fly to the UK from US. I bought
travel insurance from travelite. http://tinyurl.com/2avs5f
Would this insurance have covered something like what happened to the
gentleman left in Rome? If not, is there something else I could or should be
aware of incase something simular occured. I still have 9 days to change the
insurance.
Thank you,
Cheryl
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 15:20:57 GMT, "C. Nicholson"
<noshohcin1 RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote:

>
>"William Black" <> wrote in message
>>
>> In simple terms they have to offer you another flight or your money back.
>>
>> They don't have to give you the choice.
>>
>> When it happened to me I found myself on another flight on the same date
>> but a bit later.
>
>I have a question. I bought tickets to fly to the UK from US. I bought
>travel insurance from travelite. http://tinyurl.com/2avs5f
>Would this insurance have covered something like what happened to the
>gentleman left in Rome? If not, is there something else I could or should be
>aware of incase something simular occured. I still have 9 days to change the
>insurance.

If, in fact, the man in Rome actually did walk away from the BA
counter because of the line length, I suspect the insurance would
not cover him since he did not avail himself of the remedies
offered.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hatunen@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

"gA" <realty.TakeThisOut@ualberta.net> wrote in message
news:xBdtj.40733$Ly.6879@pd7urf1no...
> Four months ago BA left me stranded in Rome after canceling all their
> flights. I had to find my way back to Canada without any assistance and
> this cost me a lot of money in purchasing other air tickets, hotels,
> taxis, etc. BA acknowledged the problem at first but refuse to answer any
> of my follow-up correspondence. What's the best way to deal with this? Has
> anyone ever been in this situation? Is there an authority on these
> matters? Should the Canadian Court have jurisdiction on this?
> Thanks for any advice you can offer.
> - gA

I would take it up with the travel agent (if you used one) and any consumer
protection agency in the country where you bought the ticket (Canada I
assume) as that is where you you have your legal contract - i.e. where you
paid the money.
Here in the UK the newspapers often have consumer help pages, and they can
be very good if you can't get things resolved as their publicity is a strong
weapon - probably you have similar columns in your newspapers.
There may well be EU protection but it would probably be harder to follow up
than doing it in Canada.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:06:07 -0800, "Mr. Travel" <mtravel RemoveThis @a.a> wrote:

>John Kulp wrote:
>>
>> Rather obvious since that is not what happened if you bother to read
>> the letter this chap wrote to BA. He voluntarilty took off and
>> traveled on his own.
>
>No kidding. He could have flown out of a location BA didn't cancel
>flights from. He didn't have to buy a ticket all of the way back home.

Not only that, but he refused to hang around to see what BA was
offering. You can rest assured that will absolve BA of any liability.
This is governed by a convention whose requirements he just ignored
and now wants BA to pay.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

"C. Nicholson" <noshohcin1.RemoveThis@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:tbDtj.832$eg3.535@trndny05...
>
> "William Black" <> wrote in message
>>
>> In simple terms they have to offer you another flight or your money back.
>>
>> They don't have to give you the choice.
>>
>> When it happened to me I found myself on another flight on the same date
>> but a bit later.
>
> I have a question. I bought tickets to fly to the UK from US. I bought
> travel insurance from travelite. http://tinyurl.com/2avs5f
> Would this insurance have covered something like what happened to the
> gentleman left in Rome? If not, is there something else I could or should
> be aware of incase something simular occured. I still have 9 days to
> change the insurance.

It depends on your policy.

If stuff goes wrong I just phone them and ask for instructions.

I have a 24 hour phone number I can contact.

As a rule, if it's a flight gone missing or luggage disappeared, they say
'wait an hour or so and see if anything develops'.

I got put on another aircraft by the airline, and had the details within
the hour they'd mentioned.

But reading my policy later I found that I was entitled to a hotel room if I
was delayed, and another flight that they'd book for me if no transport was
forthcoming.


--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

"John Kulp" <john_kulp.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> ... [H]e refused to hang around to see what BA was offering.
> You can rest assured that will absolve BA of any liability.
> This is governed by a convention whose requirements he just
> ignored and now wants BA to pay.

Well, anybody can sue anyone for anything, and there are people
who do, but the question is, will your lawsuit: (1) not be thrown
out with liability for fees+costs; and (2) earn a recovery which
outweighs the expense. This is speculation, bu my guess is that,
even if the EU conventions allow some sort of recovery, the sum
would be a waste of a lawyers time. Filing a complaint with
regulatory authorities might be a better bet.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:06:15 -0500, "Rog'"
<rcblinnNoSpam.TakeThisOut@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>"John Kulp" <john_kulp.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> ... [H]e refused to hang around to see what BA was offering.
>> You can rest assured that will absolve BA of any liability.
>> This is governed by a convention whose requirements he just
>> ignored and now wants BA to pay.
>
>Well, anybody can sue anyone for anything, and there are people
>who do, but the question is, will your lawsuit: (1) not be thrown
>out with liability for fees+costs; and (2) earn a recovery which
>outweighs the expense. This is speculation, bu my guess is that,
>even if the EU conventions allow some sort of recovery, the sum
>would be a waste of a lawyers time. Filing a complaint with
>regulatory authorities might be a better bet.
>
>

A complain for what? Refusing to follow the convention's and BA's
procedures to handle his situation to which he agreed when he bought
the ticket? That will go a long way.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

John, instead of continuing to sit back and amusing myself in
reading all possible arguments based on assumptions, I wish to
point out a couple of things, especially for the benefit of Cheryl
who seems genuinely interested in getting advice (as I did):
- yes, I do have the BA handout which appears to be essential. The
BA employee also confirmed not knowing when flights would resume -
'for sure not until tomorrow, then nobody knows..';
- BA did not offer to help, take me anywhere, or offer refunds;
I found out since that the strike had been started by BA
employees. Later, others joined for solidarity (true???)
- the 'boarding counter' and the 'ticketing counter' are on 2
different floors (see my letter 2. & 3.);
- I did not walk away from anything: the approx. 1,300 people
lining up by the 2 open desks were going nowhere because the 2
employees where doing NOTHING. When I approached one them to
verify if the strike rumors were true and why they were not
helping the crowds move, he simply replied: 'that's the purpose of
a strike', with a smirk on his face...
- I appreciate NG people taking positions on the basis of what
they understand: If they don't, they fill in the lack of details
with assumptions, and this creates meaningless dialogue.

That's Usenet, and I was prepared for it. The ones that understood
my letter (although concise), made some useful comments. But I
appreciate all of them, since they all help one way or another.
Cheers.
- gA

John Kulp wrote:
> On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:06:15 -0500, "Rog'"
> <rcblinnNoSpam DeleteThis @bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>> "John Kulp" <john_kulp DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> ... [H]e refused to hang around to see what BA was offering.
>>> You can rest assured that will absolve BA of any liability.
>>> This is governed by a convention whose requirements he just
>>> ignored and now wants BA to pay.
>> Well, anybody can sue anyone for anything, and there are people
>> who do, but the question is, will your lawsuit: (1) not be thrown
>> out with liability for fees+costs; and (2) earn a recovery which
>> outweighs the expense. This is speculation, bu my guess is that,
>> even if the EU conventions allow some sort of recovery, the sum
>> would be a waste of a lawyers time. Filing a complaint with
>> regulatory authorities might be a better bet.
>>
>>
>
> A complain for what? Refusing to follow the convention's and BA's
> procedures to handle his situation to which he agreed when he bought
> the ticket? That will go a long way.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:58:01 GMT, gA <realty.DeleteThis@ualberta.net> wrote:

>John, instead of continuing to sit back and amusing myself in
>reading all possible arguments based on assumptions, I wish to
>point out a couple of things, especially for the benefit of Cheryl
>who seems genuinely interested in getting advice (as I did):
>- yes, I do have the BA handout which appears to be essential.

Which you said was given to you by some other passenger and then they
were stopped given out. BA will say they didn't give it to you and
you had no business relying on it. Prove otherwise.

The
>BA employee also confirmed not knowing when flights would resume -
>'for sure not until tomorrow, then nobody knows..';

So what? All you heard was the truth which gives you absolutely no
additional rights outside your contract with BA to do anything. Just
where does this BA employee come from anyway? You said you left the
line and went on your own. Doesn't matter anyway because your trip is
governed by BA's terms and conditions which clearly spell out what you
were entitled to, decided to ignore and took off on your own.

>- BA did not offer to help, take me anywhere, or offer refunds;

For pete's sake. How could they when you left the line doing the help
and just took off. You have no concept whatsoever of what your
responsibilities were do you? You just want to hold BA responsible
for your own irresponsibility.

>I found out since that the strike had been started by BA
>employees. Later, others joined for solidarity (true???)
>- the 'boarding counter' and the 'ticketing counter' are on 2
>different floors (see my letter 2. & 3.);

So what? Strikes are clearly excluded under their terms and
conditions which you agreed to when you bought your ticket.

>- I did not walk away from anything: the approx. 1,300 people
>lining up by the 2 open desks were going nowhere because the 2
>employees where doing NOTHING. When I approached one them to
>verify if the strike rumors were true and why they were not
>helping the crowds move, he simply replied: 'that's the purpose of
>a strike', with a smirk on his face...

Oh c'mon. You did so walk away by your own admission. You spend half
your time trying to change what you already admitted to, just like
this. Walking away is walking away no matter what your reason. And
suddenly the line has grown to 1300. What did you do count them?
Again, makes no difference anyway. Your responsibility was to wait
and get your help. You left on your own making it impossible for them
to help you. Too bad. That's on you not on them. You then just ran
up a lot of bills on your own that they had nothing to do with with no
attempt to mitigate what you now want to claim against them.
Ridiculous.

>- I appreciate NG people taking positions on the basis of what
>they understand: If they don't, they fill in the lack of details
>with assumptions, and this creates meaningless dialogue.

All caused by you giving no details initially, then posting them in
one NG and not another, then admitting to things you are now trying to
change, etc. etc. What a surprise.

>
>That's Usenet, and I was prepared for it. The ones that understood
>my letter (although concise), made some useful comments. But I
>appreciate all of them, since they all help one way or another.

Just who has understood anything other than what you posted? You
clearly admitted that you left on you own responsibility, ignored your
contract with BA as to their explicit means of handling situations
like this, failed to mitigate your claim against them, etc. etc.
Brilliant legal case that. Go ahead and spend your money and see what
it gets you. And, btw, none of this has anything to do with the
question Cheryl asked.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

gA wrote:
> We were offered no money, no assistance, no other flights. We were told
> (by way of a handout) "..we're sorry but we encourage all passengers to
> find their own way to heir destination.." Unbelievable but true!
> - gA
>

No. He said he didn't want to wait in line and left.
Logically, rather than spending money on hotels, taxis, and multiple
tickets, he could hav gone to another location and got assistance from
BA, as it was clear he coulndn't fly out of Italy on BA.
Not only did he buy a ticket out of Europe, he even bought an additional
ticket back to his home airport. Somewhere between Italy and Canada, BA
would have been able to help. He could have easily reduce his expenses.
I don't know about CA or EU law, but at least in the US, it is the
responsibility of the plaintiff to mitigate damages. You don't get to go
out and make exependitures as you please.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

gA wrote:
> We were offered no money, no assistance, no other flights. We were told
> (by way of a handout) "..we're sorry but we encourage all passengers to
> find their own way to heir destination.." Unbelievable but true!
> - gA
>

No. He said he didn't want to wait in line and left.
Logically, rather than spending money on hotels, taxis, and multiple
tickets, he could hav gone to another location and got assistance from
BA, as it was clear he coulndn't fly out of Italy on BA.
Not only did he buy a ticket out of Europe, he even bought an additional
ticket back to his home airport. Somewhere between Italy and Canada, BA
would have been able to help. He could have easily reduce his expenses.
I don't know about CA or EU law, but at least in the US, it is the
responsibility of the plaintiff to mitigate damages. You don't get to go
out and make exependitures as you please.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

C. Nicholson wrote:

> "William Black" <> wrote in message
>
>>In simple terms they have to offer you another flight or your money back.
>>
>>They don't have to give you the choice.
>>
>>When it happened to me I found myself on another flight on the same date
>>but a bit later.
>
>
> I have a question. I bought tickets to fly to the UK from US. I bought
> travel insurance from travelite. http://tinyurl.com/2avs5f
> Would this insurance have covered something like what happened to the
> gentleman left in Rome? If not, is there something else I could or should be
> aware of incase something simular occured. I still have 9 days to change the
> insurance.
> Thank you,
> Cheryl
>
>

The incident in question was due to a strike. So, you would have to read
your policy information to see whether this would be covered. In all of
insurance information I have seen, it would not be covered.
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court? 

gA wrote:

> John, instead of continuing to sit back and amusing myself in reading
> all possible arguments based on assumptions, I wish to point out a
> couple of things, especially for the benefit of Cheryl who seems
> genuinely interested in getting advice (as I did):
> - yes, I do have the BA handout which appears to be essential. The BA
> employee also confirmed not knowing when flights would resume - 'for
> sure not until tomorrow, then nobody knows..';
> - BA did not offer to help, take me anywhere, or offer refunds;

They were on strike. What prevented you from going to a location where
they were not on strike?
 >> Stay informed about: can I take BA to court?