My suggestion would be to try Trading Standards. With there help I secured a full refund for a holiday when details where changed meaning it was no longer possible for me to go.

I contacted my local trading standards who forwarded my case onto the trading standards where the company was based.

Either the above or give Ros Fernihough a call who is a travel law lawyer and often assists our members.

Ros can be reached on 01922 621114 and will offer you free advice.

Update.

Rang Trading Standards/Consumer Direct who suggested writing to BA outlining the booking process, the incorrect information etc. and asking for a full refund as I was mis-sold tickets based on their expert advice, also to send a copy of the letter to my credit card company (Nationwide) and ask them to pursue the matter as well.

Nationwide replied last week stating they will not get involved, that's all they have said.

BA replied Saturday, again they have decided that I can only have a refund of the taxes and other charges not a full refund, they offered their apologies and are "concerned over my account of the information provided", they have not denied the information was incorrect or that I was given it, just that they apologise for it and "they do pay close attention to what their customers tell them, they are working very hard to get every aspect of their service right" and that my letter was "genuinely helpful" in pinpointing where they need to focus their efforts.

So, 3 choices,

1. Accept a partial refund and loose about £350

2. Risk flying with them and hope I get a legroom seat (very unlikely being disabled according to BA)

3. Ring Ros tomorrow and see what she says, also ring Consumer Direct again as it appears BA may be in breach of the DOT disabled passenger transport guidelines as well as being discriminatory should they give a legroom seat to another passenger who has no special requirements.

I know which one I'm going for
Will let you know what happens

I wouldn't hold out too much hope about you getting anywhere with regard to Option 3. Unfortunately the DoT guidelines are just that - they don't have any regulatory force behind them. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) does but has this wonderful get out clause that companies and organisations are only required to make 'reasonable adjustments' and whether you have a case or not depends on how 'reasonable' gets defined. The general principle behind the Act is that they are not allowed to discriminate against you compared to non-disabled passengers and they are expected to ensure that their services and facilities are as accessible to you as to other passengers but again within 'reason'. And there is not necessarily a requirement to positively discriminate in favour of the disabled. Thus they can't refuse to carry you but neither can they necessarily be compelled to carry you if in order to do so they would have to make more than 'reasonable' adjustments.

This is why you might have seen little notices sprouting outside shops that are to all intents and purposes not wheelchair accessible saying that if you wish service you should ring the bell for assistance and and an assistant will come and serve you in the street! If I was in a wheelchair and shopping for clothes I certainly wouldn't want to make my choice on the basis of an assistant coming out to the street with an armful of clothes for me to look at but until there is a test case in the courts they can argue that they have made a 'reasonable adjustment' to make their services and goods accessible to wheelchair users.

Thus as long as they make the aircraft as a whole accessible, arrange assistance at no extra cost to to enable you to access the plane and enable you to be able to reach your seat they can generally prove that they have made all reasonable adjustments. To date they are not even legally required to have wheelchair accessible toilets as long as they say that the cabin crew will assist you to make use of the existing ones. doesn't do much for your dignity but it's enough for them to demonstrate they have done what is 'reasonable'. I think that what has muddied the waters is that some companies and organisations have made a very substantial effort and actually exceed the reuirements of the Act. For example, the Scotrail Caledonian Sleeper trains not only have a specially adapted berth with en-suite private toilet facilities for wheelchair users but if you are registered disabled and cannot travel unaccompanied will allow your carer to travel for free with you as long as you have paid for a ticket. But there was no legal obligation for them to go this far - they've done it for the goodwill it generates not because they were legally obliged to and other train companies insist that a carer must pay for their ticket too.

Generally speaking the majority of extra legroom seats on most aircraft are by the exit doors and disabled people or anybody else the cabin crew think might not be able to follow the emergency procedures or might hinder the safe evacuation of the aircraft in an emergency are not allowed to be sat there. In fact they can insist that even if pre-booked, that someone move and sit elsewhere if they don't think you are fit and agile enough to operate the mechanism.

As you seem to have paid less than £500 for this ticket I assume that it was a 'non-transferable, non-refundable' one and I think that the onus is going to be on you to prove that you were mis-sold this ticket. You could try and request copies of any tapes that might exist of the conversation but without them it boils down to your word against theirs. And if you actually made the booking over the Internet, you'll also need to prove that there's nothing in the terms and conditions (that you will have had to 'click' that you'd read) that says they will only try and provide an extra legroom/medical seat etc but that they don't guarantee it. My mother is disabled and we always request assistance and a medical seat and we usually find that staff are very helpful but the terms and conditions have always said that there is no guarantee that a 'medical request' will be fulfilled. This might be why Nationwide have declined to get involved - they are jointly liable with the service provider if it can be proved that the goods or services are not as described etc or if you have been mis-sold them but it appears that they have decided that you were not mis-sold this ticket and that they have no liability.

SM

If you order a product that's urgent and you state at the outset, when ordering, that "time is of the essence" with regard to a speedy delivery the company accepts your order on the condition that a speedy delivery is required and has been promised.

When B.A. took your order for the seats it was on the understanding that you required a special seat on medical grounds - and furthermore, they gave you the distinct impression that ONCE you'd booked it was a formality to ring a dept in B.A. to organise.

In my opinion (I've no legal training) they failed to honour that pre-contract condition. They and your credit card company are jointly responsible - point this out to B.A. and if you still get no joy with them chase your credit card company as you feel there's been a breach of contract.

When B.A. took your order for the seats it was on the understanding that you required a special seat on medical grounds - and furthermore, they gave you the distinct impression that ONCE you'd booked it was a formality to ring a dept in B.A. to organise.

In my opinion (I've no legal training) they failed to honour that pre-contract condition.

I think that this really depends on when and where the booking was made and I would have thought that Jeff will have a stronger case on these grounds if the client advisor he spoke to also took the booking or whether he spoke to them and then later made the booking via their website. I grant that he seems to have received misleading verbal advice (but without the tapes it is his word against theirs) but the BA website clearly states that a request for a specific seat on medical grounds can be made but that there is no guarantee that it will be fulfilled. If the booking was made via the website and he 'ticked' that he'd read the T&Cs and accepted them then he has a much weaker case. Also, Jeff hasn't disclosed the nature of his disability but on the BA thread in the 'flights only' forum indicate that he had been told that there were only 3 seats that met his request - commonsense suggests that the odds on having the request fulfilled wouldn't look good, especially if there were competing requests from more than 2 other passengers.

I always make a medical request for my mother and luckily we've always received one from scheduled operators (the chartered operators record is less good) even if it means that I couldn't sit next to her but it has always been made clear to me that there is no guarantee that she would get it - they're allocated at the discretion of the staff confirming the final seating plan.

This is an instance where people might be well advised to consider booking with a US airline because US legislation covering disability and discrimination with regard to public transport is very much stronger than ours and has far more teeth to bite the operators with if they get it wrong but they also sometimes expect much more documentary evidence to prove the need too.

SM

Thanks for the input
My main problem is with Osteo Arthritis, I have this in both knees and hips, my right left knee and right hip being particularly painful, painkillers do not provide much relief at all and I have tried any number of "cocktails" with little or no difference. My seating requirements were simple, a bulkhead seat so that I do not have to sit with my knees jammed into the back of the seat in front, I am 6' 6" so this is also a problem. I explained this in exact detail, even mentioning the excellent service I'd previously had from USAirways, Martinair and even BA on the short haul Newcaslte/Gatwick flights.

The BA advisor I spoke to assured me that BA do acceppt and honour medical seating requests, as you say "BA website clearly states that a request for a specific seat on medical grounds can be made" having booked the seat I was later told this was not the case, they no longer accept medical requests for seating and haven't done so for some months, this is contary to the website info and the information I was given on more than one occasion over the phone.

The "3 seats" problem is that they now use a 777 on this route, economy only has 1 bulkhead row, an exit row so out of the 7 seats 4 are on the exits.

Hi there sorry to hear about your problem with BA.

Quote :-

BA website clearly states that a request for a specific seat on medical grounds can be made" having booked the seat I was later told this was not the case, they no longer accept medical requests for seating and haven't done so for some months, this is contary to the website info and the information I was given on more than one occasion over the phone.

Unquote.

The fact that they do not offer this service now is not your problem! They have mis-sold you a product and they have a legal obligation to refund you the money you have paid. Don't let them get away with it.

My experience with taking TO/TA/Airlines to task is that if you stick to you guns and don't let them bully you into submission, you will get the desired result.

Good luck
Bizzilady