British Airways

[Wolfie]

This is an understatement! We got bumped following a tech issue resulting in a smaller aircraft...

1. Told we couldn't check in
2. Told this wasn't denied boarding
3. Told to go away and phone BA
4. BA's system hung up on me. Had to call the sales line
5. Customer services had "no record" of the issue, told me he'll change our flights but only as a one-time "favour"
6. Re-approached check-in desk to see if they had any no-shows: told as we had rebooked, they wouldn't let us on even if they had the space now.
7. Claiming EU261 via their ticketing system involved them just closing the ticket multiple times saying they've emailed an update and never did
8. Currently on month 6 of a small claims court claim and their pathetic defence was just a lie that we voluntarily changed our flights
9. Their offer at mediation was "we'll pay your costs, that's it, no compensation"

Waiting on a court date...

Ridiculous waste of court time. I have a recording of the call, a witness, a taxi receipt showing we arrived in good time etc and they still are proceeding with wasting the court's time

Don't forget to claim filing costs and interest.

 

[Bald Rick]

This is an understatement! We got bumped following a tech issue resulting in a smaller aircraft...

1. Told we couldn't check in
2. Told this wasn't denied boarding
3. Told to go away and phone BA
4. BA's system hung up on me. Had to call the sales line
5. Customer services had "no record" of the issue, told me he'll change our flights but only as a one-time "favour"
6. Re-approached check-in desk to see if they had any no-shows: told as we had rebooked, they wouldn't let us on even if they had the space now.
7. Claiming EU261 via their ticketing system involved them just closing the ticket multiple times saying they've emailed an update and never did
8. Currently on month 6 of a small claims court claim and their pathetic defence was just a lie that we voluntarily changed our flights
9. Their offer at mediation was "we'll pay your costs, that's it, no compensation"

Waiting on a court date...

Ridiculous waste of court time. I have a recording of the call, a witness, a taxi receipt showing we arrived in good time etc and they still are proceeding with wasting the court's time

Did you consider CEDR out of interest? There's no obligation to use them, but it is a free, zero-risk option and they do seem to be at least somewhat willing to challenge and overrule BA. Moreover, whilst not a quick process, it's still quicker than a contested court case. I've won a couple of cases through them, along with one in court when BA failed to comply with the judge's directions...

Don’t know why you still fly with them!

 

[cactustwirly]

The irony is, if you're flying to somewhere at the extreme of short haul (Greece, Cyprus etc) you'd much rather have a EuroFlyer A321 than a Heathrow one as they aren't fitted with such awful seats!

Exactly, but then you have to go through Gatwick South instead of Heathrow T5
Would probably be cheaper though

 

[Watershed]

Don’t know why you still fly with them!

If I avoided every company that has poor customer service, I would never travel anywhere!

 

[speedy1]

Did you consider CEDR out of interest? There's no obligation to use them, but it is a free, zero-risk option and they do seem to be at least somewhat willing to challenge and overrule BA. Moreover, whilst not a quick process, it's still quicker than a contested court case. I've won a couple of cases through them, along with one in court when BA failed to comply with the judge's directions...

I had read that CEDR tended to side with BA. And I felt the way they almost forced me to rebook myself I knew they were planning on using that to avoid compensation, so I kind of wanted the case to go through the court system rather than them hiding it in CEDR, because it's extremely underhanded

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Jul 2026 ==

Don’t know why you still fly with them!

Because the timing worked and they were cheap. There's not really much point paying more these days

Knowing the tickets were cheap, I wouldn't have pursued the full compensation if they had easily rebooked us and given us a decent prepaid debit card... but they treated us like total dirt so they'll reap what they showed now.

Unfortunately all budget airlines (which is most airlines) are all the same and have the same strategy when it comes to providing no customer service and then just doing battle for UK261/EU261 compensation. It's one of those "unintended " consequences of that law...

 

[Bungle965]

I have just had one of my flights cancelled as part of a BA Holidays purchase.
Flights are months aways so not that concerned just yet, I did have a look at what they offered me but it was just being rebooked onto one of the earlier MAN-LHR shuttles to connect out.

Did you not used to have a little more flexibility here before? For instance, currently I am MAN-LHR-JNB-CPT I was hoping that I would be able to change myself to MAN-LHR-CPT as a result

 

[cactustwirly]

I have just had one of my flights cancelled as part of a BA Holidays purchase.
Flights are months aways so not that concerned just yet, I did have a look at what they offered me but it was just being rebooked onto one of the earlier MAN-LHR shuttles to connect out.

Did you not used to have a little more flexibility here before? For instance, currently I am MAN-LHR-JNB-CPT I was hoping that I would be able to change myself to MAN-LHR-CPT as a result

Have you tried phoning them

 

[sh24]

It's worth calling them, but I doubt they'll accommodate that!

 

[Bungle965]

Have you tried phoning them

Nope! Just wondered what people thought beforehand, I've had some pretty useless phone calls with BA (not the holiday side to be fair) before

 

[sh24]

Nope! Just wondered what people thought beforehand, I've had some pretty useless phone calls with BA (not the holiday side to be fair) before

The holidays people are generally very good. I was disrupted at JFK some years ago and they tried very hard to help. Mainline BA were useless even though I was GGL (Gold Guest List, super high status) at the time.

 

[Mojo]

I have just had one of my flights cancelled as part of a BA Holidays purchase.
Flights are months aways so not that concerned just yet, I did have a look at what they offered me but it was just being rebooked onto one of the earlier MAN-LHR shuttles to connect out.

Did you not used to have a little more flexibility here before? For instance, currently I am MAN-LHR-JNB-CPT I was hoping that I would be able to change myself to MAN-LHR-CPT as a result

Not quite sure when it’s a holiday but does the system not give you an option to either accept the new timings or look for an alternative flight?

To be fair, it’s normally quite good when you get a cancellation on a flight only booking in my experience, although this might just be the basic IT systems rather than an official policy. I have had a flight where the only change has simply been to the flight number. The origin and departure times have stayed the same, yet because this showed up on the system as a cancellation it allowed me a rebooking free of charge meaning that I could change it from Gatwick to Heathrow (I only booked Gatwick as it was cheaper than the flight from Heathrow), and I was able to change the dates to get a longer trip away!

 

[Watershed]

Nope! Just wondered what people thought beforehand, I've had some pretty useless phone calls with BA (not the holiday side to be fair) before

The Holidays side is quite different to the airline itself and they are generally helpful in my experience. It's the Newcastle based team you usually speak to and they tend to be friendly.

 

[Bungle965]

Not quite sure when it’s a holiday but does the system not give you an option to either accept the new timings or look for an alternative flight?

Sadly not, I was given the choice of either accepting the new flights or refunding the booking!
Like what you said, I'm sure in the past (with BA rather than BA Holidays) I have been offered basically anything that day to choose from

The Holidays side is quite different to the airline itself and they are generally helpful in my experience. It's the Newcastle based team you usually speak to and they tend to be friendly.

Thanks! I'll give them a ring

 

[John R]

BA Holidays call centre was very helpful with me a couple of years ago when they retimed my Verona flight from 5pm to 6am from Gatwick, which would have meant an overnight stay which I hadn’t planned.

Ironically, the alternative I asked for and got would have originally been my first choice but at 3 times the price I hadn’t chosen. But they cheerfully rebooked me on a Heathrow to Milan service at no extra cost. Result!

 

[Butts]

I had a BA Holidays flight changed late last year for travel in January this year.

LAS-LAX-LHR-EDI changed into LAS-LHR-EDI after the 1st sector was cancelled.

This gave us nearly an extra day in Las Vegas and at the time of booking originally the cost for this was prohibitive as travelling in Club.

 

[Segedunum]

I'm flying from Berlin to London City tomorrow on a Rewards flight in Business (no Economy availability and I need to be back in London tomorrow) - just had a text telling me I'm not getting a meal due to "operational challenges" and to go speak to the check-in desk for a meal voucher at the airport.

Any idea what value of voucher is typically offered in this situation? If passport control isn't chaos I'll probably just make use of the lounge but I know that's also not a given at the minute.

 

[sh24]

£20 voucher. Complain after the flight and a few Avios will also head your way.

 

[Segedunum]

£20 voucher. Complain after the flight and a few Avios will also head your way.

Thanks. I do wonder if anything at all will be offered on board or if they're just not loading any stock.

I'll swing by check-in nice and early.

 

[Butts]

Thanks. I do wonder if anything at all will be offered on board or if they're just not loading any stock.

I'll swing by check-in nice and early.

Anecdotal evidence on Flyer Talk suggests you will still get drinks and a packet of pretzels or the like.

Hopefully Berlin is better organised than Frankfurt where it took me 50 minutes to exit on Thursday.

Just watch out if the Lounge is before Passport Control (can't remember) at Frankfurt luckily it was after.

 

[Segedunum]

Anecdotal evidence on Flyer Talk suggests you will still get drinks and a packet of pretzels or the like.

Hopefully Berlin is better organised than Frankfurt where it took me 50 minutes to exit on Thursday.

Just watch out if the Lounge is before Passport Control (can't remember) at Frankfurt luckily it was after.

It took me 45 minutes to exit Berlin on Thursday which is why I'm wary - the lounge is before passport control albeit *right* before, so I can stick my head out and keep an eye on it.

 

[Watershed]

I'm flying from Berlin to London City tomorrow on a Rewards flight in Business (no Economy availability and I need to be back in London tomorrow) - just had a text telling me I'm not getting a meal due to "operational challenges" and to go speak to the check-in desk for a meal voucher at the airport.

Any idea what value of voucher is typically offered in this situation? If passport control isn't chaos I'll probably just make use of the lounge but I know that's also not a given at the minute.

Cityflyer changed catering suppliers at the start of the month (more cost-cutting, presumably) and to say it's gone badly would be an understatement.

I would suggest you buy whatever F&B you fancy at the airport, if the voucher doesn't fully cover it then send your claim for the difference into BA and the likelihood is they'll pay up.

Alternatively if you ask for Avios for the inconvenience (since the enhanced catering is literary the only onboard difference on Cityflyer for business vs economy) you'll probably get 5 or 10k. They might offer you a cash e-voucher, but I'd ask if you can have Avios instead, as you usually get given twice their face value as Avios (valuing an Avios at the usual 1p rate).

 

[cactustwirly]

Cityflyer changed catering suppliers at the start of the month (more cost-cutting, presumably) and to say it's gone badly would be an understatement.

I would suggest you buy whatever F&B you fancy at the airport, if the voucher doesn't fully cover it then send your claim for the difference into BA and the likelihood is they'll pay up.

Alternatively if you ask for Avios for the inconvenience (since the enhanced catering is literary the only onboard difference on Cityflyer for business vs economy) you'll probably get 5 or 10k. They might offer you a cash e-voucher, but I'd ask if you can have Avios instead, as you usually get given twice their face value as Avios (valuing an Avios at the usual 1p rate).

Which supplier are they using now for Cityflyer

 

[Huntergreed]

Which supplier are they using now for Cityflyer

Gate Gourmet - the transition has been a disaster over the past few weeks.

Anecdotally hearing that 5K Avios is being given for any complaints being sent in, so definitely worth sending one in if affected.

 

[Starmill]

I had read that CEDR tended to side with BA. And I felt the way they almost forced me to rebook myself I knew they were planning on using that to avoid compensation, so I kind of wanted the case to go through the court system rather than them hiding it in CEDR, because it's extremely underhanded

Do let us know how the judgement goes! I'm sure you'll succeed.

 

[eoff]

Sad to hear this as I have been choosing to fly to London City over Heathrow for years and I started to do that due to the better free catering when BA stopped it on the Heathrow route.

 

[Huntergreed]

Sad to hear this as I have been choosing to fly to London City over Heathrow for years and I started to do that due to the better free catering when BA stopped it on the Heathrow route.

As far as I’m aware, it’s only club Europe (business class) catering that’s been affected - euro traveller (economy) is still the same with the improved drinks service (including free alcohol) compared to mainline BA.

 

[sh24]

As far as I’m aware, it’s only club Europe (business class) catering that’s been affected - euro traveller (economy) is still the same with the improved drinks service (including free alcohol) compared to mainline BA.

Correct.

 

[cactustwirly]

Gate Gourmet - the transition has been a disaster over the past few weeks.

Anecdotally hearing that 5K Avios is being given for any complaints being sent in, so definitely worth sending one in if affected.

Interesting each airport has a different contractor
Heathrow is Do&co and believe Gatwick is Newrest

 

[Segedunum]

Cityflyer changed catering suppliers at the start of the month (more cost-cutting, presumably) and to say it's gone badly would be an understatement.

I would suggest you buy whatever F&B you fancy at the airport, if the voucher doesn't fully cover it then send your claim for the difference into BA and the likelihood is they'll pay up.

Alternatively if you ask for Avios for the inconvenience (since the enhanced catering is literary the only onboard difference on Cityflyer for business vs economy) you'll probably get 5 or 10k. They might offer you a cash e-voucher, but I'd ask if you can have Avios instead, as you usually get given twice their face value as Avios (valuing an Avios at the usual 1p rate).

I turned up about 3h10 before departure so I could use the lounge first (and in case of EES delays) and all the desks were unstaffed. The good news is I quickly established there was a separate passport control booth by the lounge so I had ample time to fill my boots in there before getting through immigration almost instantly.

I've sent in a complaint to BA anyway - and have also pointed out that (even though I arrived quite early) I couldn't have availed of the voucher even if I wanted to.

 

[Butts]

I turned up about 3h10 before departure so I could use the lounge first (and in case of EES delays) and all the desks were unstaffed. The good news is I quickly established there was a separate passport control booth by the lounge so I had ample time to fill my boots in there before getting through immigration almost instantly.

I've sent in a complaint to BA anyway - and have also pointed out that (even though I arrived quite early) I couldn't have availed of the voucher even if I wanted to.

The separate Passport Control is a tremendous perk in the current environment - do they just scan at the booth and stamp it or is there one of those self service machines. There used to be a few Airports around Europe with a similar set up. Can anyone allude to any others? I'm sure a couple in Italy had a similar facility.

Apparently the Swiipr Voucher is like a digital Mastercard and can be used anywhere that accepts it's provider for up to 24 Hours after issue- One guy on Flyer Talk used it at his "Local Spar"