British Airways overbooking
On the 26th of June 2014 British Airways denied boarding to my wife and I on a flight bound from Boston Logan to Heathrow. At the time they simply downgraded us to stand by status and left us to our own devices. We are both senior citizens and they never offered any explanation not even a cup of coffee. We were left in the terminal with no help whatsoever and the attitude of their staff was awful. Three hours later we were able to board another BA flight to Heathrow. We had missed our connecting flight to Yorkshire and suffered another long wait at Heathrow. I contacted their customer services by recorded mail some four days after we arrived home. What followed was two months, yes two months, with no reply. Using their e-mail access to customer service I tried to chase them up and this had no effect. Two days ago they finally contacted me by e-mail and conceded that they had subjected my wife and I to an involuntary denial of boarding because they had overbooked the original flight from Boston to Heathrow. They offered us compensation of Sterling 674.17 in the form of an e-voucher for use on a future Britsh Airways flight. This is pretty insulting because an EU based carrier flying to an EU destination is bound by a regulation of the European Union to provide a monetary compensation for an involuntary denial of boarding. This would also apply to US citizens using British Airways. There is a tariff for the compensation depending on the length of the flight. In this case the set amount is Euro 600 per person. How British Airways arrived at Sterling 674.17 is beyond me but an unkind observer would say that they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. As for offering an e-voucher for future use with them this too could be construed as trying to confuse the situation. I have contacted British Airways customer service today by e-mail to request the payment of compensation in line with European law. The manner in which they have handled our initial complaint was a disgrace. The compensation offered does not appear to be in line with EU law and the whole business has taken months. I feel sorry for anyone who faces the situation which we did. If they did this to two senior citizens it shows they are a pretty uncaring organisation.
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