British Airways has stopped selling tickets for short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport for the rest of the week.
Travellers cannot book tickets for domestic or European services flying from the west London airport until Monday August 8. Bookings are still available for short-haul BA flights flying into Heathrow.
The airline said the move came in response to Heathrow’s request to limit new bookings in an effort to avoid disruption and provide a better experience to customers. In a statement, BA said: “As a result of Heathrow’s request to limit new bookings, we’ve decided to take responsible action and limit the available fares on some Heathrow services to help maximise rebooking options for existing customers, given the restrictions imposed on us and the ongoing challenges facing the entire aviation industry.”
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Heathrow announced last month that no more than 100,000 daily departing passengers are permitted until September 11. BA earlier responded to Heathrow’s cap on passenger numbers by announcing it would cancel 10,300 flights until October, with one million passengers affected.
Many passengers flying to and from the UK’s busiest airport have suffered severe disruption in recent months, with long security queues and baggage system breakdowns. Tens of thousands of flights have been cancelled to cope with the demand for air travel amid staffing shortages.
It comes after Emirates last month rejected Heathrow’s order to cancel flights to comply with the cap. The airline accused the airport of showing “blatant disregard for consumers” by attempting to force it to “deny seats to tens of thousands of travellers.”
Virgin Atlantic also criticised the airport’s actions and claimed it was responsible for failures which are contributing to the chaos. A Heathrow spokeswoman said at the time it would be “disappointing” if “any airline would want to put profit ahead of a safe and reliable passenger journey.”
On 21 July, airlines were accused of “harmful practices” in their treatment of passengers affected by disruption. The Competition and Markets Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority issued a joint letter to carriers, expressing concern that “consumers could experience significant harm unless airlines meet their obligations.”
The letter stated: “We are concerned that some airlines may not be doing everything they could to avoid engaging in one or more harmful practices.”
These include overbooking flights, not always “fully satisfying obligations” to offer flights on alternative airlines to passengers affected by cancellations, and failing to give consumers “sufficiently clear and upfront information about their rights.”
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