British Airways
reviews and complaints

On June 19th, 2022 British Air canceled our flight from Split Croatia to London Heathrow with no notice forcing us to miss our subsequent connecting flights back to Phoenix Arizona, USA. They offerd us flights that left the following day and had a 12 hour plus delay at London Heathrow, thus arriving two days after our original arrival date.. This simply would not work for us. We purchased new flights from British Air at the additional cost of 1000 dollars. Many months ago, I filed applications for compensation with British Air providing an explanation of loss and supporting documents. However, other than an email from British Air stating they have received my information, I have heard nothing else. I think this is an intentional attempt by British Air not to provide compensation to passangers. It is impossible to reach anyone in British Air Customer Service by phone to speak with someone regarding our situation. Worse, their website simply loops back to the same forms I have previously filled out and submitted. The reference number that the information has been received from British Air is 4SLL3f as provided by British Air. I am at a loss as to what to do at this point in time.

Dear Customer Service,

My Wife and I recently used BA to fly from Cairo to London. My complaint is that my NatWest visa debit card appears to have been deducted twice for the same flight. The flight details were BA0407 on the 19th December 2022, booking ref. QEWRLZ. £161.30 has been deducted twice on the same day, on the 3rd December 2022. I believe an error has been made - can you confirm if an error has been made please.

Thanks,

Husain Merchant

Booked round trip flight from Chicago to Madrid from Friday November 18th to Wednesday December 14th. Arrived at Chicago O'Hare airport on time for check in. Counter was to open at 1300 and didn't open until 1345. Check in went smoothly. arrived at gate and boarded plane 45 minutes late at 1745 with a scheduled takeoff time of 1700. Waited on plane at the gate until 2135 when we were notified of mechanical issues and flight would be cancelled. We were told to return next day at 1300 to rebook. They hel onto my checked baggage.

Returned Saturday November 19th and had to wait 2 hours in line (1230 to 1430) before I could be ticketed for new flight. Boarded new flight at 2015 with a gate departure of 1900. we sat on runway que until 2300 when finally took off. Made connecting flight from Heathrow to Madrid. Baggage was not in Spain. Took 6 days for my baggage to be retuned to me.

On return trip Plane from Madrid to Heathrow was delayed. upon arrival to Heathrow there was no gate available. We arrived with plenty of time for me to make my connecting flight. Unfortunately we sat just outside the terminal for more than 2 hours forcing me to miss that connection. there was no customer service help and I had to 6 hours before finally being ticketed for another flight on Thursday December 15th. I had to sleep in the terminal with little food and water. British Airways is a poorly run organization. They don't seem to place getting passengers to connecting flights/destinations very high. I will never use their services again.

I have copied a letter I sent to Chief Executive of BA on 12 November to which I have not had an answer or even the courtesy of an acknowledgement. The letter is self explanatory can you please help?

12 Shortlands Close

Helmdon

NN13 5QR

12 November 2022

Attn: Mr S Doyle

Chief Executive Officer

British Airways

PO Box 365

Waterside

Harmondsworth

UB7 0BG

Dear Mr. Doyle

I am writing to you concerning a ludicrous situation concerning a voucher issued by British Airways.

The situation is fairly simple, in that we went to Berlin in October (Booking reference UWYGKG) our arrival was a shambles as the transfer did not turn up. We were advised to make our own way to the hotel and that a refund would be made for the transfer fee, this was done. We were also advised to write in on our return, to let BA know what had happened, as we lost several hours of our first day

As a result of writing in BA very kindly issued a voucher, for £50.00 per person off our next trip. The voucher has a reference of [protected] and a voucher code of B7JGVXV2Y4X.

We have been using BA city breaks for over twenty years and we were not going to let the experience in Berlin put us off. We duly booked our next trip for Rome and Venice next year (Booking reference LP9WLH) I had trouble applying our voucher and when I queried this, I was eventually told that the voucher could not be used. It was explained that the voucher was for flights only as there were franchise issues. Our dealings have been solely with British Airways, to be honest I am not interested in any internal policies in British Airways. If we are booking a city break, we would book a flight and hotel and it was as a result of fiasco in Berlin the voucher was issued. Why would we book a flight and no hotel? Surely it is reasonable to expect the voucher to apply to our next City break as this is what the voucher was issued against. It is a bit like Ford issuing a voucher that can only be used on a Focus when the individual has a Galaxy!

All I am asking Mr. Doyle is for fairness in applying our voucher to our Rome and Venice trip, rather than being penalised for an issue originally caused by British Airways.

Yours Sincerely.

David Bridger

[protected]

|

We arrived in Toronto, but our luggage was left in Heathrow. Our car keys were in our luggage. We had to rent a car at the cost of $150.00 and $32 in gas cost. We live 1,5 hrs away from Toronto. We had to drive rental car home, then return it today and pick up our car from Park n Fly . This was a very inconvenience to us. We had been up for 23 hrs and did not need this added stress.

We would like compensation for the added cost to us because you left our luggage there

Also if the connection time between flights was longer this would not of happened, We only had half an hour to catch our flight and that is why our luggage was left behind

Sirs, on Wednesday 31/8/22 I travelled from Tampa US to LHR, leaving Tampa on flight AA2920, transferring to BA0294 at O'Hare, Chicago. Our flight was several hours late arriving in LHR as it was late getting into Chicago and the plane had to be cleaned. My baggage did not arrive in LHR on 1/9/22 It eventually was delivered to me at 12pm on Monday 5th Sept, in Cornwall, our train left that day at 12.20pm. I was informed at Heathrow if my baggage did not arrive within 48 hours I could claim up to 100 pounds for necessities, I had underwear and medication and chargers in my hand luggage, but had been in the same clothes for Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun and most of Monday. I put in a claim for one long sleeved sweater and 1 pair of clothing amounting to 59.89 pounds, receipts were attached which has been declined and I would like to know the reason? I left Tampa in a T shirt, light jacket and jeans, it was unreasonable for you to expect to wear the same clothes for 5 days, I certainly did not go overboard with my claim.

booked a stay and flights with you, November 2022 hotel was not what you advertised. We booked this hotel on the back of your advertisement most of the amenities were unavailable during our stay and are still currently being advertised. this is 4 star hotel which did not have restaurant which we required. No roof top bar, no club bar no vouchers or credits as promised. As our stay in new york we a female only trip to celebrate 2 big birthdays with shopping during the days and safe nights in eating and enjoying the bar and club along with the hotels other advertised amenities. sadly as these were not available and have not been available since before covid our short break was very disappointing.

I discovered that I have 2 flights booked in my BA app going at the same time to the same first destination (Miami) for the 2 same persons. Could someone from BA explain me how this got in there? BA helpline keeps hanging up on me, after trying twice:

S9VQ64

S9DCRZ

I filed a complaint along with many, many pages of receipts and documents, on August 3, 2022 and received a case reference number - [protected]. I have reached out several times since then, asking for an update, but I have yet to hear back from you. The missing baggage report number is: FAOBA14194. My booking reservation is 2DAMNJ. I copied and sent you all of my receipts and information. You must have received it because you gave me a case reference number. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. I could use the reimbursement! Thank you!

My flight and seat on the London Heathrow to Houston flight (BA0195) 26th oct had irritated me before my holiday had even begun. I chose a window seat and to my surprise the window had been removed! I had to sit elsewhere, near the toilet. I asked if I could upgrade and I was told that was not an option for me. Not only was the flight delayed - reason for the delay was we were waiting for a pilot?

I departed approximately 2 hours late on a Flight from Houston - George Bush International on 7th Nov 2022 to London Heathrow (BA0196). I had received a text message from BA a couple of hours before checking in. The flight was postponed and then delayed. The pilot once boarded said the nose of the plane had to be replaced due to birds thus the reason for delay. We arrived in good time but we were then held for at least 30 - 40 minutes whilst a taxi became available and then had to wait for shuttle buses to collect us.

I am very loyal to BA. I choose to fly with you above any other airline. However, this trip was terrible from beginning to end. I am not satisfied with the service received.

My husband and I had booked through a company called BudgetAir with British Airways on 24 of July 2022 from South Africa to Funchal Airport in Madeira Portugal to Fly on Sunday 6th of November 2022 at 22:15. The return flight is on the 28th of November 2022 We have saved for 2 Years to visit my husband's parents, because they are both old and we don, t know how long they have left to live. British Airways refused me on the flight because of a "Transit Visa", but we were never informed and were told it was a new system and I did my research yesterday and saw I did not need a "Transit Visa" for a 2 hour waiting period. I saw a lot of complaints about the same problem. My husband is from Portugal so he did not have a problem going through. I don"t want a refund, I just want a new flight this week so that I can join my husband in Madeira for a visit with family and little traveling.

No one is helping me, I have called every resource I have My South African Number is +[protected] if you can help in any way please?

Please also find attached our flight information and please advise me if you can help. I am a first time flyer and hope I hear from you soon.

Kind regards

Yvette Sousa

I have made the changes in my flight and there was supposed to be a refund of Rs 15,575 approx. which has not been credited to my account till date. While I called up your customer care number [protected] at around 10:45 AM on 31st Oct 2022. One of your executive Mr Aman took my enquiry and to utter surprise he is not ready to revert back what is the status of refund. I asked him to take up with his refunds / accounts team to which he got offended and started responding we don't have any team. He asked me to wait for 7 days and refund will be processed. I asked him if he didn't then he said call us again.

Strangely this is first time I have seen such a customer executive. I mark my words please give him training how to attend the customer quereies.

And please update my refund status as same is pending for more than 1 month now.

On the route that you have at British airways, it’s one of my favorites. The LHR-BNA. As behalf of the aviation community at BNA, I would like to ask if you could send a Boeing 787-9! It has been since September 16th that a single 787-9 Dreamliner has arrived at BNA. When I try to book a flight, it is always full. I would like to with that there would be more flights and larger planes to Nashville.

With thanks.

Costumer.

Booking Flights for 2 from Heathrow to Funchal but getting confused with online system. I would prefer to conclude payment by TELEPHONE.

My wife is 91 and I am 89 anmd modern methods sem to block my confirmation of payment.

Can I ask British Airways to contact me giving me a phone number to make payment PLEASE?

Our BA Flights are from Heathrow to Funchall - Sunday28 May 2023 and return from Funchal Sunday04 June 2023

Richard Porter

[protected]

to whom this may concern

Recently I booked a trip to USA Maime which required me to put in my exact name including my middle name - Naureen Ahmed Khan. They truncated the names to be Naureen AhmedKhan

However my executive club membership required only first and last name so is associated with the name Naureen Khan

I called and I was able to provide all my booking details (which entailed address, email, other passenger name etc), but yet they could not make the simple adjustment of adding the booking and associated points to my account.

i have also called them 3 to 4 times and each time have had to wait for 35 plus minutes and have been hung up on several times. This British company has been appalling in its customer servicing and are getting away with it because of their monopolistic hold of this market and brand name.

I flew BA to Rome from San Francisco on Sept. 1, 2022, via London. I arrived in Rome, but the only suitcase I checked in San Francisco at a fee of $75 did not. I opened a lost bag report and was told by BA that my bag had arrived in London and would be delivered to me at my lodging in Rome, but it was not. The bag contained heart medication, contact lenses, and some articles of clothing all of which I needed in Rome, and which I had to replace in Rome at my expense. The bag was not delivered to me until several days after I arrived back home in California on Sept. 15. I wrote to BA to request refund of the $75 baggage fee and reimbursement for the expenses I had incurred in Rome to replace the aforementioned items. I received an apology from BA but no payment of any kind, Insted BA assured me that my experience would be used to improve service for future customers. While I am happy for those customers, I think I deserve at least my baggage fee refunded.

Booking Reference [protected]. BA Membership [protected]

When i contacted you to book the above holiday, i was told you do not fly from any airport in Wales. In order to use my avios vouchers, it would be best for me to book a flight and use the vouchers to book the accommodation. We were a party of 5 adults requiring 2 rooms. We asked for The Triton Hotel in Benalmadena with Half Board. On our first visit to the restaurant, we were told we had not booked for food. If you check your records you will note I made numerous phone calls to BA regarding this from the resort. Eventually, we had no alternative but to buy all our meals at local cafes and restaurants.

Now, I paid £1635 for the flights with Tui and £1905 PLUS 199,800 vouchers.

This means without even using the vouchers, I had paid £3540.50 .

Looking back on September's prices, it cost approx £600 for room only. This comes to £3500, which is the amount of cash I paid. So, I would like to know the monetary value of these vouchers.

Now I know I booked half board and definitely NOT room only, if I was told at the time of booking it was room only, then most certainly would have raised a querie there and then.

Either your company has made a genuine mistake or the whole vouchers scheme is a mockery. I had saved these vouchers over a very long period of time and am bitterly disappointed to learn they gave me no advantage over the cost of the holiday, ie. £3500 if i booked with a travel agent for room only.

Actual cost of booking room only with you £3500 PLUS 199,800 vouchers!

Please could you look into this for me and let me know the monetary value of the vouchers.

I look forward to your reply asap.

Regards

Mrs J A Billingham

British Airways advised me by circular email 30 June 2022 that all future travel vouchers were being cancelled and that refunds would be issued. The email further stated that the refund would appear on my statement in approximately 30 days. My wife and I have two travel vouchers Nos. 125-[protected]/2.

Despite several complaints made through the BA Complaints Section, I have still not received the promised refunds and instead, BA keep referring me to their original circular email dated 30 June. In their last email dated 26 September 2022, headed "Final Response", they stated that "As previously explained, we'll contact you for a refund." Once again, their email referred me to their original circular email of 30 June. The email finished with the sentence "We're unable to respond to any further requests."

What else can I do to obtain the promised refunds?

BA1495 from Glasgow Terminal M to London Heathrow Terminal 5 - Tuesday 28 June 2022.

Flight was due to depart at 1845 but was several hours late. Prior to departure the it was apparent that we would not make our connecting flight from LHR to Sydney, via Singapore (BA015), The staff on the desk in the BA lounge at Glasgow assured us that upon arrival in London, alternative flights on BA or partner One World airlines would be arranged. We were also assured that it would be best to proceed to London, rather than remaining in Glasgow and recommencing the journey the next day. This began a pattern of moving us along to make us someone else’s problem.

On board our flight from Glasgow, we were told by cabin crew that it was possible that our connecting flight would be delayed and we may well make it. We were also told repeatedly that everything possible would be done in London to quickly arrange alternative flights and overnight accommodation, in accordance with BA’s IATA obligations.

On arrival at LHR, the aircraft waited at the gate for 40 minutes until the airbridge could be manoeuvred to the aircraft door. The pilot informed all pax via cabin announcement that the delay was due to a lack of ground crew at LHR. We were also informed that anyone that had missed their connecting flight (approximately 70 people) should follow the purple signs to the Customer Service desk near the gate.

Once the airbridge had been manoeuvred in to position and we were able to disembark, we proceeded to the Customer Service desk, as directed. This was staffed by a single individual who dealt with one person (a woman with a wheelchair bound autistic child) before a supervisor told the remaining passengers that the desk was closing (as the airport itself was closing at 2200) and that we should proceed to Area E in the departures hall. Upon arrival at this location, we were informed by the extremely curt staff member that she knew nothing about us (not having been informed by the aforementioned supervisor that a large number of passengers were en route to her location) and she would not be dealing with us. We enquired about the accommodation that had been promised on board the flight, to which she replied that none would be provided as there were no available hotel rooms for us. We were to stay in the departures hall overnight and see someone in the morning to arrange onward flights. As some of us had read the material on your own website regarding passenger rights in the event of a delay, we knew this to be not only disgustingly unsatisfactory, but a manifest breach of BA’s obligations in law. When we informed the staff member of the legal obligation to provide accommodation, she repeated that there were no hotel rooms available. Even to the most naive observer, it seems unlikely that there was not a single hotel room in the entire London metropolitan area available. Eventually we were able to convince the staff member that more needed to be done to rectify this situation. More staff came and went through the closed door, none of whom saw fit to let us know what was happening.

As the flight was originally scheduled for an 1845 departure, and there was no food service on the flight, most of us had not eaten an evening meal. Around 1130 the staff began handing out vouchers for use in the few open outlets. This process took about 30 minutes as it seemed that the staff member kept running out of vouchers. Simply counting the number of passengers at the area and multiplying by three seemed too complex an operation. To my amazement, when I attempted to purchase an alcoholic drink to have with my paltry meal, I was refused, with the server in M&S informing me that the purchase of alcohol was not permitted with these vouchers. Nowhere on the voucher does it state that it is not valid for purchasing alcohol. After humiliatingly returning the alcohol, I returned to the desk at Area E to ask why the M&S server had refused my purchase, to be informed that he was correct and alcoholic beverages could not be purchased using these vouchers. Had I been on board my scheduled flight, the cabin crew would have happily served me a drink, however trapped in the departures hall, this simple pleasure was incomprehensibly, not permitted.

About 1230 the next morning (Wednesday, 29 June) the BA staff informed us that they would open the arrivals lounge for us to use in lieu of the hotel accommodation they were unable to find. We were patronisingly informed that were mustn’t use any of the facilities in the lounge other than the seats and we had to leave it clean and tidy on our exit at 0430 when the terminal reopened. Once again we were being treated like children and we were left in no doubt that we were a severe inconvenience to the staff and we should be fawningly grateful for their generosity. Arranging this took an inordinate amount of time. When the lounge had been prepared for our arrival, the staff member came back to Area E where we were all sitting/standing and said, ‘Are you coming?’ Foolishly, I expected something considerably more civil, like, ‘Would you like to come this way?’, rather than being further treated as an inconvenient idiot.

After an hour or so, several new staff members arrived in the lounge and informed us that accommodation had been found and that bus transfers would be occurring. Becoming accustomed to the notion that everything took five times longer than might otherwise be expected, I was overjoyed when the bus finally departed a little after 2.30am. After a detour through a demolition site that the bus driver thought was our hotel, we arrived at the miraculously appearing hotel and were in bed for 3.30am. After being woken at 5.30 by the neighbouring room’s blaring TV and at 9.30 by a fire alarm, we slept through the breakfast, which finished at 10.

The last thing we were told prior to departing the terminal and proceeding to our accommodation was that we had all been booked on flights - ours being the same flight the next day (BA015 on Wed, 29 June). Further, we were informed that we only need arrive at the terminal an hour before as we only had carry-on baggage and security would be fast tracked. Wisely, we decided not to believe the staff and arrived six and a half hours before scheduled departure only to be informed that we had not been booked on the flight and, after 20 minutes with the check in staff member, we were told that the only two seats remaining in PE were 4 rows apart. Given the cost and the inconvenience incurred, we believed this to be an unsatisfactory outcome - we felt we were being punished for something not of our making. We requested to speak with a supervisor and after 15 minutes, or so, we spoke with Raja (?), who was extremely polite and listened patiently to our tale of woe, but was ultimately unable to do anything to progress the matter, other than state the obvious in that any two-person no shows or cancellations would ensure we be prioritised in sitting together. Almost all the staff on this day (in stark contrast to the previous one) were considerate, patient and friendly and our thanks go to them for this.

Raja arranged for us to be admitted to the First lounge. After several hours, my wife attempted to arrange some toiletries for us to properly clean ourselves - of course, all our own toiletries had to be in our checked in luggage due to the presence of liquids in excess of 100ml. She was given two toothbrushes and toothpaste, which was a pleasant refreshment. When she asked about some moisturiser, she was told to use the hand lotion in the bathrooms. She did not think this was a satisfactory response and asked another staff member a short while later. This person was aghast at the suggestion of using hand lotion and kindly arranged for some face cream and after enquiring as to why she was in need of it, heard an extremely abbreviated version of the drama thus far. He was so appalled by our circumstance that he very kindly arranged for us to have a meal and a drink in the Concorde Club, which was very much appreciated. This staff member also took note of our flight number and seats and said he would try his hardest to arrange either an upgrade or seats together. He said we should ask the cabin crew when boarding the aircraft whether this had been possible.

Unsurprisingly, the flight was delayed and upon enquiring at the Customer Service desk in the lounge, we were told not to bother leaving the lounge before 2210, as the aircraft was boarding via bus transfer at gate 10b. At 2155, we were informed the lounge would close at 2200, so we began to organise ourselves to leave. At 2200, a staff member came over and said that if we didn’t immediately leave the lounge, she would need to call security to remove us. This seemed unnecessarily aggressive as we were almost fully organised for leaving. We walked to the gate, waited another 20 minutes, boarded the bus, which took another 20 minutes and then boarded the aircraft parked on the apron. In accordance with the instructions from the staff member, I enquired as to whether an upgrade of adjoining seats had been made possible. I received the tart (and quite loud) response, ‘Only if you’re sitting on someone’s lap’. I was shocked and humiliated by this. While I’m sure it would be met with gales of laughter in the crew room, I couldn’t believe I was being treated with such utter contempt on the aircraft, especially after the harrowing experience we had been through.

It was only when we sat in our seats did my wife enquire of the person sitting next to her as to whether he would move seats so we could be together were we seated so. No member of staff assisted. I was too taken aback by the rudeness of the staff member’s comments to me to ask the person beside me.

I have flown over a million miles during my life with a wide variety of airlines (mostly Qantas) and this is, by a very wide margin, the worst flying experience I’ve ever had.

Booking Ref: NBF9JF

Fights: BA0393 and BA0392 were cancelled by British Airways. Therefore I and my wife could not made our fights from Brussels to Chicago.

I made several contact with BA and my travel agency Chepflights.de for refunds. The travel agency say the airliners has not dispatch the refund to them. British airways Belgium office says I need to ask my travel agency instead of them them.

First cancellatiom e-mail came into my e-mail box on 5 July 2022 but no refund has been made yet. I have been waiting for 3 moths to get my thicket fare be paid back.

R. Kayikci