[MrsFinots]

I made a mistake with our connecting flight from Joburg to Vic Falls, booked for 3rd August when in fact should have been booked for 4th August, realising my mistake I called BA's customer service team within a few hours of missing the flight, but I was informed that nothing could be done to change the booking to the following day as the flight had already departed. I took the loss on the chin, it was my stupid mistake and accepted that I had lost the money for that leg of the booking, by this point I was on my way to Heathrow airport in a taxi with no access to any documentation.


I asked for advice on rebooking the flight and I was informed that it would make no difference whether I rebooked online or via the booking centre, so I visited the BA helpdesk at Heathrow airport. I explained the situation again and spoke the represntative about only needing the outward flight because I still had a return flight booked. (I eventually booked the flight online however as advised by the Heathrow desk because he told me it would be cheaper). At no point during either conversation was I informed that my return flight would be cancelled due to the no show, so we arrived at Victoria Falls airport on 17th August and were turned away being told that we had been informed of the cancellation, which we had not.


We are not frequent flyers and I was not familiar with this clause, I was not given any kind of opportunity to save the return flight despite them knowing my intention to rebook the outward flight the following day. I would have paid any charge incurred or additional fees that may have been involved to rebook the outbound flight and re-secure the inbound flight if that was necessary, or even included a return flight when I rebooked our outward flight.



I certainly would never have arrived at the airport with my entire family including two under 5 year olds and my 65 year old mother to board the return flight and be turned away, they had resold our tickets as well because the flight was full, so we could not have even paid again to board the flight at this point. This resulted in 24 hours at the airport and additional costs of $900 for a new flight and £500 to rebook our connecting flight with the other airline, not to mentions the loss of earning from the delay and the loss of the £2000 original ticket cost as well.


I really do feel that our treatment in this case has been very unfair, they would not have lost anything by allowing us to keep the return flight, I had paid for all of the seats, including the outbound flight even though we didn’t make it, so they had not lost out financially, I would have also paid any additional fees incurred to the return flight if that had been necessary, but we were simply not given any advice or information.


The whole experience was extremely distressing. Even if there was no option to hold onto the booking, I could have made arrangements for an alternative flight, or made our new booking a return, if I had been informed during either conversation with BA, surely there must have been more options that tough luck, you’ve lost everything?


I appreciate that they don't want empty seats, but this is one step further, they are cashing in on peoples misfortune! The customer service team have absolutely no concern for the effect their lack of service have on any of their customers. Yes we did make a mistake, but the attitude from BA seems to be that 'it's all your own fault, so why should we help you' it's just disgraceful and I'm left feeling a bit like I've been mugged. How can they get away with this!?

I have contacted BA since our return and they will not consider any form of compensation for this and have not apologised.

[jimworcs]

This another example of exploiting people's misfortune. This rule was implemented to protect the airlines revenue, because they often charged ludicrous fees for single tickets, so passengers often threw away one leg of a return. This is not what happened In Your case, you gave BA advance notice of your intention to still use the return leg and they sold you a single, knowing that it would have been cheaper for you to purchase a return ticket. This is bordering on fraud. They knew that you expected to utilise your return. I consider their actions to have been dishonest. There is a general obligation in any contract for the the transaction to be honest. How angry are you? Did you have any witnesses who will testify that you specifically told the BA staff who sold you the replacement outbound ticket that you intended to return utilising the return portion of the ticket. If you can establish this, you could argue that BA entered into your new contract in bad faith. If small claims accepted this argument, the contract is negated. Small claims are often sympathetic in these situations, but be realistic. Your loss would be the difference between the cost of buying two singles for each passenger, versus the cost of buying a new return on the 4th. That is what you would be suing for. You are also entitled to claim back the tax and APD on the unused tickets. Your decision is whether to gamble on court or let it go. I would however, write again to BA summarise your claim, invoking bad faith and emphasising that you told the BA staff that you still intended to use the return ticket at the time they sold you the outbound singles. This is critical. If this doesnt work, write to BBC Watchdog and see if they show any interst and post it on BAs facebook and other websites. It is little comfort I know, but the EU is currently consulting on a new rule which would outlaw the cancelling of return legs in circumstances such as yours. Hopefully, this will happen, but if you can let your MEP know of your story, that might help.

[MrsFinots]

Hi, thanks for the response and the advice.

I called BA as soon as we got back, they listened to the recorded telephone call I had with them from the taxi and responded to my complaint by saying, "we have listened to your call, and you are right that we didn't tell you, but it doesn't matter because it is in our terms and conditions that your flight would be cancelled so tough", or words to that effect. Then when I tried to argue it they said "with all due respect, you would say that because you're not getting your money back". Pretty rude I thought, and no mention of the fact I could claim the taxes back either, I didn't know that until now! Unfortunately I went alone to the BA desk at Heathrow while the rest of our party went to find somewhere for the children to run around while they waited for our Virgin flight to Joburg, so other than any records they may have, so I have no proof of this.

I have since sent a complaint letter similar to my original post and the reponse said that they were sorry to learn that I had missed my flight and could understand my frustration but would not offer any kind of refund because of their terms and conditions. No reference to the customer service issues.

I am still pretty angry, but I also don't want to risk losing any more money to this. We already have a large credit card balance as a result and I'm getting to the end of my fight!

I have however just contacted them regarding the taxes etc, I was on hold for 20 minutes before they told me that I can't claim all of the taxes back and the refund will be subject to a £30 admin fee per person (a total of £180), he couldn't tell me how much I would receive, or how long it would take.

Thanks again for your comments, I will definitely have my own little smear campaign and one last letter before I call it a day! I just don't want the same to keep happening to others so it is a comfort to know that hopefully the EU will get some new rules in place.

[anonymouscomments]

Unfortunately this happens quite a lot. It is sometimes the case that people do actually deliberately miss their outbound flights as often booking a return is cheaper than a single. Obviously still lots of people genuinely make mistakes like yourself but the same rules on a ticket for noshow apply. Working for BA in customer support (department that deal with changing bookings) i do deal with this quite regularly and its never nice at all having to explain this to people believe me. There are actually flexible tickets where you can miss outbound flights however and still take your return but these are considerably higher cost tickets. For refunds in this case as a rough guide you would be entitled to the unused government taxes (not YQ tax which is fuel sucharge) minus a 30 pounds service fee per person and the refunds usually take approx 7-10 days. If you still have a copy of your e ticket i believe it would show the taxes so if you just deduct YQ tax and then the 180 gbp svc should give you an approx figure.

[MrsFinots]

H, thanks for the nformation, that leaves me with a £120 refund from 6 tickes costing £2000.

I too come from a customer service background and this is partially why I'm finding this all so hard to believe. My point is that nobody did explain that to me until we returned, which was what caused the distress and a large amount of the expense. I was not given the opportunity to save my return flight, even by paying for it again, when both BA representatives knew my intention to book another outbound flight, it was obvious from the conversations I had with both of them that I had no idea it would be cancelled, so why withold the information? This is what I can't get an answer to.

Can you imagine spending 24 hours at a foreign airport with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, then taking a 16 hour journey home? While may I add, trying to save our connecting flight from Johannesburg to UK and trying to get the money together for the new flights.

I understand the reason for the clause but I fail to see WHY BA would enforce it in a case where it is obvioulsy a mistake and the customer is trying to book a new single flight for the next day? Virgin would have allowed us to move our tickets on by a day even if we had missed the flight.

Also, when I booked the tickets there were only two flight options Economy or Business class, that was it. I actually paid for business class.

[jimworcs]

The reason why is that BA see customers' misfortune as an opportunity to make money. However, I think in this case there is more to this. BA knew that you intended to continue to use the return portion of the tickets. I think they were acting in bad faith. It is also outrageous BA made no mention to you of your right to reclaim the taxes, seeking instead to keep the money unless you specifically asked for this. BA have lost their soul in their efforts to compete with Ryanair. easyjet now has a more customer friendly culture than BA, who have lost touch with the basic requirements of the fair treatment of their passengers.