British Airways has been hit with a $1.1 million fine from the US government over delayed refunds in the pandemic era and as far as I am concerned, the fine is fully justified.
US Imposes $1.1 Million Fine On British Airways For Deceptive Refund Practices During Pandemic
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has accused British Airways of failing to provide “timely refunds to passengers” for flights that were cancelled or faced a severe schedule change during the pandemic. DOT notes that it received over 1,200 complains and that the British Airways website manipulated customers into choosing to future flight credit instead of a cash refund by maliciously removing other options.
British Airways maintains it “acted lawfully at all times” and cheekily dismissed consumer complaints:
“We’re very sorry that at the height of the unprecedented pandemic – when we were unfortunately forced to cancel thousands of flights and close some call centres due to government restrictions – our customers experienced slightly longer wait times to reach customer service teams.
“During this period, we acted lawfully at all times and offered customers the flexibility of rebooking travel on different dates, or claiming a refund if their flights were cancelled. To date, we have issued more than five million refunds since the start of the pandemic.”
What a load of poppycock.
The Smoking Gun
I don’t talk much about it, but I still operate a very boutique consulting service called Award Expert, in which I help individual and companies effectively use their frequent flyer miles and credit card points. While Award Expert is not a travel agency, our work has matured into booking many revenue (cash) tickets as well.
During the pandemic we spent (hundreds of) hours working with British Airways over cancelled flights to secure refunds for our clients.
The smoking gun was when British Airways removed the ability to cancel many tickets online. Rather than being able to cancel a ticket, you were prompted to call the British Airways call center. It was cumbersome and time-consuming…unless you just wanted to request a voucher for future travel, which you could easily do online.
Trying to call British Airways is often difficult but was even worse during the pandemic. Calls were routinely disconnected after hours on hold.
In short: I can personally testify that British Airways made it extremely difficult to secure refunds and brazenly pushed alternatives to cash refunds.
(and to be fair, it was not the only one…do not get me started on TAP Air Portugal)
Maybe it was “legal” in the strictest sense of the word, but it was unethical and I am happy to see US regulators protecting consumers in this way.
Removing the ability to refund a ticket online demonstrates bad intentions.
CONCLUSION
I’m quite happy to see British Airways hit with a $1.1 million fine ($550,000 of which will be applied toward refunds already processed). Hopefully that will serve as a deterrent next time there is a disaster that money cannot be stolen from consumers when their flight is cancelled.
image: British Airways
Not much of a deterrent. They basically got a cheap loan by holding peoples cash.
If they had to raise the same amount in the money markets it would have cost them more than the $1m paid in the fine. Smart financial move for them.
This is pathetic. No company the size of BA wooo even notice this tiny amount.
Sure, but still better than nothing.
Absolutely the worst airline and I’m saying this as a British Citizen. They cancelled my flight from IAD to LHR back on 5/13 which meant I missed out on my trip to Poland to see my parents. It was booked through AA and I got a full refund but the way it happened after I’d packed and was ready to leave for Dulles from Charlottesville (a long trip in itself) was a total disappointment. Now I can’t get time off from work until the end of September because we have staffing issues over the summer. Although looking on the bright side my luggage would have likely been lost at Heathrow so perhaps not going through that abysmal airport was pure luck.
3rd world sh#thole that we should have nuked in the 1700’s if the technology was there. Those aholes cost us tens of thousands in American lives in WW2 while they and the stinking French were too afraid to defend themselves. And what did we get? A “Prince” who dressed as a Nazi and now agrees with us.
Thankfully we have the Manor rooms at Circus Circus to exploit these idiots when they bother to bring their non tipping asses over here.
That first paragraph of theirs you quote – the snarkiness! Wow. It’s more like what I’d expect Ryanair’s twitter team to put out (although they’d do it with a bit more humor).
Horrible horrible company which somehow manages to trade on goodwill from decades past. TAP, or even Turkish Airlines, might be equally bad at handling IROPS, but they definitely won’t turn around and make fun of their pax for having dared to expect to receive a reasonable level of service in exchange for the money paid. It has also been well-documented that they train their call centre agents to lie to customers (particularly around their 261 rights). I agree with previous comments that the fine is extremely low.