I had one of the worst customer service experiences of my life with British Airways.

After a serious medical emergency abroad, I was forced to urgently return to Canada and could not use my British Airways return flight from Rome. I notified the airline immediately, submitted extensive medical documentation, and asked a reasonable credit for the unused return segment.

What followed was over four months of obstruction.

British Airways repeatedly demanded highly sensitive medical documentsmany already providedonly to later claim they were in the wrong department or not attached to the case.

Most responses were generic, clearly automated, and often factually incorrect or irrelevant.

Despite acknowledging the medical emergency, British Airways insisted on unrealistic and medically absurd requirements, such as retroactive certificates stating that I was unfit to flydocuments doctors simply do not issue.

Official hospital records were submitted and ignored.

Responsibility was repeatedly shifted between British Airways and Expedia, with each party denying ownership of the issue. Even after confirming that the return flight was cancelled and unused, British Airways continued to delay, request duplicate paperwork, and ultimately refused resolution while issuing empty apologies.

This experience strongly suggests a deliberate strategy of attrition: exhausting customers through automation, procedural barriers, and endless documentation until they give up.