Our British Airways flight from Amsterdam to London Gatwick was cancelled recently, and we were put on a BA flight to Heathrow instead. The BA desk at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport assured us that BA London would be informed that we had to get back to Gatwick, where our car was waiting for us.
On arrival at Heathrow we were met by a friendly carer to help my wife, who has difficulty walking, and he took us to the BA desk which, as it was now 10pm, was closing. A senior BA official told us to make our own way to Gatwick, get a receipt and send it to the airline. So we got a taxi, which cost £150. At no time were we offered meal vouchers or told why our original plane had been cancelled.
I sent these details to BA, including a copy of the taxi receipt, and it acknowledged it had let us down. But it didn’t give an explanation as to why our flight was cancelled, and said: “BA isn’t liable to pay any consequential loss you incur due to the delay or cancellation”. It refused to pay the taxi fare and there was no offer of compensation. We have received a payment of £8 with no explanation – I assume to repay us for the seats we had pre-booked on the original flight, but this is of course less than what we paid. We feel badly let down by what used to be “Britain’s favourite airline”. JS, Claygate, Surrey
If it is any consolation, you are not alone in suffering from what appears to be a dramatic decline in BA’s customer service. Britain’s favourite airline is fast becoming Britain’s least trusted airline, if our postbag is to be believed. A few years ago we used to get almost as many letters praising it – now BA is vying with easyJet as our most complained-about airline, and is just about winning.
Too many readers are being promised one thing by staff on the ground, presumably to get rid of them or get them on another flight, only for the head office to later deny or ignore what was promised. Sadly, it has got to the stage where I would urge readers to record or film any significant financial offer made by a BA staff member to get you off an overbooked flight, or a promise of onward travel. Without this you are open to such treatment.
We asked the BA head office about your experience, and it told us: “In the rare event of a flight being cancelled, customers are always offered an alternative to get them to their destination as quickly as possible. By accepting a replacement flight, customers accept responsibility for onward travel arrangements.”
But if this is BA’s official policy, it begs the question: why were you told twice by BA staff that it would pay to get you back to Gatwick? We asked flight compensation specialist lawyer Bott & Co about this, and it said BA’s line was nonsense. “This is a blatant and scandalous disregarding of the regulations,” it told us. “In a case where a town, city or region is served by several airports, and an operating air carrier offers a passenger a flight to an airport alternative to that for which the booking was made, the operating air carrier shall bear the cost of transferring the passenger from that alternative airport to that for which the booking was made – or to another close-by destination agreed with the passenger.”
Bott & Co also said that you are probably entitled to €250 in compensation under the EU delay rules. It has generously agreed to take up the matter on your behalf and waive its fee. This week, BA made an about-turn and has decided it will repay you the taxi fare, but is still arguing that you are not entitled to delay compensation.
Anyone else wrongly denied compensation should get a firm such as Bott & Co on the case. You should also complain to the Civil Aviation Authority. If enough people do, it may make the CAA take some action. There is clearly something going on at BA – cost-cutting on a major scale, or similar – that has led to the big rise in complaints. Perhaps someone who works at BA can enlighten us? Email the usual address please – anonymity guaranteed.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number
