British Airways

Unable yo rearrange a flight. I tried but couldnt do it on line for some unexplained software reason.

Then I thought Id try to call from Austria, very difficult to find a number. Gave up, went into a chatbot session. Also not easy to find on the website. Went back and forth having to provide responses from the apps limited drop down menu, None of the options represented my situation.

(just wanted to change one leg of a connection within their system).

I was told but the bot, I needed to speak to an agent and given a number. Not live transferred. Agent was in France and he tried, but I had to spell everything out letter by letter, sometimes twice, due to a language issue. After over an hour on the website and another 45 minutes on the phone, a trip to the hotel concierge I was finally able to change my flight to avoid a lengthy layover between connections.

The customer service phone hours are limited and I think they arent available after 6pm.

All of this seemingly unnecessary if the website were more forgiving and the call triage was better. Live agent transfer? The Ritz Hotel concierge tried to call for me and he could not connect either!

Next time I will try to fly Delta or KLM.

As the Ritz concierge said,theyve made it easier for themselves and harder gor the rest of us. That was 3 hours lost from my vacation.

I have been a fairly frequent flyer on BA from the states to the UK and Europe, including serving as a member of BA Future Lab. We booked some time ago a trip for Ireland for my 15th wedding anniversary.

I booked my son and my flight, as my husband always books separately since he and my son have the same name and this can get confusing to the airlines. My son is no longer attending the event in Ireland so I had to call to cancel the flight, since online I would have had to cancel my booking as well. First, the system hung up on me twice (even though I typed "1" when asked it didn't register and ultimately hung up), then I waited 15 minutes to get a hold of the agent. I was first told the value of canceling a $1600 one way ticket, would be "$0" to which I replied that can't possibly be.

I was thinking there may be some fees, but nowhere could I have imagined it would be almost $600 in fees. After that, I asked to speak with someone else, because nowhere could I find on my emailed receipt or in the Manage My Booking a disclosure that said I would be charged that much. I was then (after an additional hold) transferred to the Supervisor, Tarun, who reiterated the same thing and then provided a new code for my son's ticket and told me to hold again while he finished processing the change. When he came back online a few minutes later he told me I would get $0 refund.

I said, I understood that but I would be getting the $1075 credit, correct? No, he said now my ticket was completely unrefundable in any way and that I would get absolutely nothing. This is absolutely ridiculous. While it does say you can get a complete refund within 24 hours, there was nowhere that I could find that said I would get nothing.

This is lack of transparency is ridiculous.

I started this whole process in early July trying to book a return flight on BA from London, and thought I could use the credit from my son's flight, but this absolutely makes me question every part of the BA pre-flight experience. It is now August 16 and I have heard nothing from BA and every time I log into their system to track the complaint it says "Sorry, we cannot find your case" so I tried so submit a new case, and it says I already have a case and won't let me.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing this on a flight from Lisbon to London (BA0501), connecting on BA189 to Newark, NJ. My husband and I travel very frequently, BA is our preferred carrier.

We travel with size conforming rollerboard hand luggage, with a small zipper bag on top. We are both in our late 70s. At Lisbon airport, a very officious BA ground crew member insisted on taking our cases, the reason cited, the aircraft was full to overbooked. She left us to carry heavy bags, until we boarded our flight to Newark.

She showed no empathy or concern whatsoever.

We boarded the flight from Lisbon to London. In actual fact, the seat between us empty and numerous other seats in business and economy remained empty. The overhead lockers too, were not at all filled to capacity.

We were forced to carry two heavy bags on and off the aircraft in Lisbon and London, and all the walking in the terminals and finally to the gates. We were utterly exhausted by the time be boarded the flight to Newark.

Then on arrival in Newark, having to walk to collect our luggage.

We had a wonderful family holiday, BA really upset us. This is not the reputation that BA is known for.

This is the first such incident and complaint that we have experienced on BA.

We will be travelling on BA in October to Budapest, record locator, 4ARSUF. I hope we never have a repeat of this incident in the future.

We very much look forward to your early response.

Sincerely,

Susan and Steve Sinek

Dear British Airways Customer Service,

I am writing to formally file a complaint regarding the significant disruption and mishandling of my flight on February 17, 2025. While I understand that there was an emergency situation, I must point out the airline's failure to comply with the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), resulting in undue stress, discomfort, and inhumane conditions for passengers.

Below are the key facts of the incident:

Our flight was diverted to Hamilton at approximately 2:30 PM, and we landed at 2:50 PM.

The news/Twitter from Pearson Airport informed us that the emergency caused by a crash had been resolved by 5:00 PM, yet we remained waiting with no plan in place for an additional 4 hours.

Initially, the pilot indicated we would be refueled and re-land at the original airport, but this did not happen and no reasonable plan was put in place by the crew. Instead, we remained on the plane until 9:00 PM when passengers started panicking and threatening to call 911.

We finally reached the airport by bus around 11:00 PM and got home around midnight.

During this period, we were subjected to an unacceptable level of discomfort, and I would like to highlight the following violations of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations:

Failure to Provide Regular Updates: Airlines are required by law to provide updates to passengers every 30 minutes during a delay. This did not occur, and we were continually misinformed by the crew, with various conflicting statements that created confusion and frustration.

Failure to Provide Emergency Food and Water: Under the APPR, airlines must provide sufficient emergency food and drink for passengers when a delay exceeds 2 hours. However, no food or water was provided from 3 PM to 11 PM when we finally arrived at our destination and passengers, including babies and elderly individuals, were kept in inhumane conditions for an extended period.

Failure to Provide Food After 2 Hours: Passengers are legally entitled to food after waiting 2 hours, yet we were not offered any food or refreshments, despite the extended delay.

Failure to Provide Communication Means: The regulations require airlines to provide passengers with free communication means, such as Wi-Fi, during long delays. This was not provided, leaving passengers unable to make essential communications during the delay.

Failure to Allow De-boarding After 4 Hours: According to the APPR, passengers must be allowed to de-board after 4 hours of waiting. Despite the fact that stairs were ready for deboarding around 3 hours into the delay, airline staff failed to follow the law and did not allow us to disembark. We were not given the opportunity to leave the aircraft, nor did the crew effectively advocate to customs to speed up our de-planing despite being one of the first airlines on the ground. The crew also failed to provide or obtain food from the airport.

Inhumane Conditions for Vulnerable Passengers: Throughout the ordeal, passengers including babies, elderly individuals, and those with special needs were subjected to degrading conditions. The airline failed to prioritize their comfort, and the extended delay without proper care was unacceptable.

It is important to note that although this began as an emergency, the crash that led to the diversion had been resolved by 5:00 PM, and yet we remained trapped on the tarmac for an additional 4 hours without clear communication or proper assistance. Despite being one of the first re-routed commercial flights, we were the absolute last to be allowed to de-board, which is a direct violation of the APPR.

The airline's blatant disregard for these regulations and failure to fulfill its legal obligations has caused undue hardship and frustration. The airline is subject to administrative monetary penalties of up to $25,000 per incident for non-compliance with the APPR.

In light of these violations, I am requesting compensation for the extensive delays, inadequate treatment, and violation of my rights as a passenger. Should this issue not be resolved directly with the airline, I understand that I have the right to escalate the complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) for further action.

I trust that the airline will take immediate steps to address this situation and ensure that it does not happen again in the future.