Which? responds to further BA flight cancellations

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:

The busy holiday season is only just beginning but already BA is breaking its promises to its customers that it would avoid a repeat of last year's travel chaos, with thousands of passengers now finding themselves in holiday hell as a result of yet another IT disaster.

Too many travellers will now be missing out on long-awaited holidays through no fault of their own, and for some the consequences are immense - we've seen cases where people have been forced to cancel their wedding because of the meltdown, and miss milestone anniversary trips.  

BA has a legal responsibility to refund or reroute any passenger caught up in the chaos, and travellers shouldn't be shy about enforcing their rights - if another BA flight isn't readily available to get to where you need to go, the airline must book you tickets with a rival carrier. Anyone who has suffered a cancellation or delay of more than three hours should also be eligible for compensation.

Occurrences like this are becoming all too familiar. The government must act and give the CAA the power to issue fines when wrongdoing occurs, or airlines will be free to continue riding roughshod over passengers without fear of consequence.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

Which?’s Transform Travel Campaign

Which? is currently campaigning to Transform Travel, and at the time of writing, over 43,000 people have signed the consumer champion’s petition to the Secretary of State for Transport demanding urgent action and over 1,100 campaign supporters have submitted evidence to the ongoing review of the CAA. Please find a link to view the petition here.

You can find Which?’s submission to the Department for Transport’s call for evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of the CAA here.

The consumer champion is calling for:

Enforcement – The CAA should be doing more by holding airlines to account proactively. It also needs direct powers to monitor and fine airlines when they flout the rules 

Resolution – We need a dispute resolution system that is mandatory for all airlines flying to and from the UK so travellers don’t have to go to the small claims court to enforce their rights

Compensation – We need to protect passengers’ rights to redress when airlines are at fault for delays and cancellations.