British Airways strike: Airline refuses to re-book passenger on Virgin Atlantic

Civil Aviation Authority ‘will be reminding the airline of its legal obligations to passengers during any period of disruption’

After cancelling hundreds of flights as a result of the bitter pilots’ pay dispute, British Airways is failing to comply with its obligations to some passengers.

Members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) working for BA will stage a second strike on 27 September.

The first grounded almost every BA flight on 9 and 10 September – almost 1,700 flights – disrupting the travel plans of nearly 200,000 passengers.

Ahead of the first walkout, the airline failed to notify some passengers about their entitlement to be flown on the same day as originally planned on a different airline.

Following intervention by The Independent, British Airways now tells disrupted travellers about the option. But according to multiple accounts from passengers whose flights later this month have been cancelled, BA is still not honouring its obligations in every case.

One traveller, Maeve Atkins, is booked to fly from Heathrow to Seattle on 27 September. The European air passengers’ rights rules require her to be offered a flight on the same route on the same day if seats are available, as they are on Virgin Atlantic. Another option is Norwegian from Gatwick to Seattle.

But Ms Atkins said that when she called British Airways, she was refused a seat on either airline: “They’ve said they can't book on Virgin or Norwegian. They said they only have agreements with about 20 airlines.”

Ms Atkins accepted the offer of a flight a day earlier on BA. The airline neglected to tell her that it is obliged to book and pay for a hotel for her, as well as providing meals during her extended stay. Instead she paid $290 (£233) for a hotel room.

The Independent raised her case, one of many received on the same issue, with British Airways. A spokesperson said: “We have offered all customers who are affected the option to take a full refund or to rebook on an alternative date or airline.

“We have been working with more than 50 airlines to ensure that customers have as many alternatives as possible to fit their plans.”

The airline did not address the refusal to offer Ms Atkins a different flight on the same day on Virgin Atlantic or Norwegian, nor its failure to offer and provide hotel accommodation.

On ba.com, British Airways says: “You should keep your receipts for any other costs directly incurred as a result of the cancellation, these will be considered on an individual basis.”

A spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which is responsible for enforcing the EU rules in the UK, said: “We are aware of the planned industrial action affecting British Airways passengers on 27 September.

“We will be reminding the airline of its legal obligations to passengers during any period of disruption.

“Passengers who have seen their flights cancelled should be offered the choice of a full refund or alternate travel arrangements under comparable conditions at the earliest opportunity, which includes flights on other airlines, or a new flight at a later date at the passenger’s convenience.

“We also expect the airline to proactively provide passengers with information about their rights when flights are cancelled.

“Passengers with concerns should contact us at passengercomplaints@caa.co.uk."

British Airways announced the cancellations on Thursday, the last possible day before it would have had to pay compensation under the European air passengers’ rights rules.

Balpa has warned: “Should British Airways refuse meaningful negotiations, further strike dates will be considered by the Balpa national executive team.”

But the union has flatly rejected claims on the front page of The Sun that it plans a 10-day strike in November. “This is nonsense as we told The Sun,” tweeted Balpa.