BA urged to tell stranded passengers of their rights to compensation
Consumers’ champion Which? Travel says British Airways should proactively inform passengers of their rights to compensation following today’s technical failure, which has led to dozens of flights from London being cancelled or delayed.
Describing the disruption as ‘another kick in the teeth for travellers’, Which? Travel pointed out that passengers should also be refunded for ‘reasonable out of pocket expenses’ by the airline.
Thousands of BA passengers, who for weeks have faced the fear that their BA flights might be cancelled this month due to a pilots’ strike or strikes at Heathrow, have been left stranded at London airports today by a breakdown of BA systems that control check-in and flight departures.
The airline has been checking in passengers manually since early this morning when it became apparent that they were having problems checking in online.
However this, and a separate problem affecting flight departures, has caused delays and cancellations.
The problem appears to be mainly affecting flights from Heathrow, where dozens of mainly short-haul flights have been cancelled, but it has also hit Gatwick and London City.
If the technical problem is indeed BA’s fault, the airline will have to compensate passengers whose flights have been cancelled as well as those whose services have been delayed three hours or more under EU regulation 261.
Which? Travel’s Naomi Leach, said: "This apparent BA systems failure is another kick in the teeth for travellers who are likely to have spent weeks worrying about whether their holiday flights will take off – so it is important that the airline now moves quickly to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to minimise disruption.
"Passengers who have had their flights cancelled at short notice should be offered an alternative flight or a refund and as these problems appear to have been caused by BA’s technical failure, the airline should also be proactively informing passengers of their rights to claim compensation and reasonable out of pocket expenses."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025
U.S.A. and Israel attacks on Iran impact air movements in the Gulf (Update 1.00pm CET)
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025