BA told to pay up over crisis

BRITISH AIRWAYS has been urged to intervene after experts warned that thousands of travellers caught up in the chaos of the computer meltdown would not be refunded the cost of their holiday.

A “catastrophic” IT crash – the origins of which are still unknown – brought delays, cancellations and disruption to weary travellers at Heathrow and Gatwick and around the world.

With approximately 800 BA flights per day leaving Heathrow and Gatwick, lawyers are predicting that the total compensation bill for BA may come to as much as £150million.

However, many people will not receive more than a maximum of €600 (£522) in compensation. Consumer experts are now calling on BA to do more to help passengers claim money back and suggesting that it is the minimum it should do to rebuild its reputation.

“The IT meltdown has been a public relations disaster for BA,” said travel writer Nick Trend. “Not only does it need to demonstrate real commitment to meeting its legal obligations to compensate passengers under the EU directive, it needs to win back the confidence and goodwill of all those customers whose holidays and travel plans were ruined.

“The least it can do is to offer them a free return flight by way of apology.”

Holidaymakers who were fortunate enough to book package breaks through

tour operators are likely to be given either a chance to rearrange their trips or to receive a refund.

Those who will lose out will be those who booked flights and accommodation independently of each other, who may only be able to claim limited compensation for flights. The maximum compensation for a cancelled flight under EU regulation 261 is €600.

Dale Harwood is one of those having to accept that the $4,000 (£3,100) he and his wife paid for new flights back to California will never be repaid to him.

The pair were due to fly back from Barcelona via Heathrow after taking a cruise, but ended up paying an extra $2,000 each for a new flight with United Airlines back to San Francisco. “The whole round trip with BA had only cost £675,” he said.

BA has said that customers were handed out a letter at the airport advising them how to claim their EU261 payment. But, in the case of Mr Harwood, the couple still do not have their luggage and only found out about claiming compensation through web research.

Jim Fitzpatrick, an aviation minister in the last Labour government, called on BA to give more help to passengers.

“One would expect a company like British Airways to go the full distance in looking after passengers,” he said.

“They should be given full compensation for hotels and other expenses as per the regulations under aviation law.”

The law firm Bott & Co calculated that BA could be forced to pay out £100million in flight cancellation compensation plus an extra £50 million due for “care and assistance”. Coby Benson, flight delay legal manager at Bott & Co, said: “BA can’t get away with refunding passengers and hoping that’s the end of the matter – they are obliged to provide compensation under Regulation 261/2004.”

British Airways said in a statement: “We are doing everything we can to help our customers.”