British Airways hold their ground – no refund!

Dear Mr Bennett

Thank you for coming back to us about your booking to Cape Town.

I am sorry that you are unhappy that I have not been able to offer to refund your ticket to Cape Town.

I have thoroughly reviewed your circumstances again.  I do understand your disappointment with our decision, but I am afraid that, based on everything you told us, our position hasn’t changed.  As the ticket you purchased is non-refundable we would not be offer to refund any part of your ticket other than any applicable portion of taxes, fees and charges.

Thank you again for contacting us and for giving me an opportunity to look at your case again.  I hope our decision will not deter you from flying with us in the future.

Best regards

Kate Inskip
British Airways Customer Relations
Your case reference is:7722821

Latest Email to British Airways

Dear Kate Inskip,

I have already replied to your email, but have had no further response from BA. Whilst I appreciate your reply to me and the polite tone, it is a real shame that BA will not offer me a refund. I am happy to pay £100 (that is fair as everything has a cost) for admin cancellation, but not lose £630.

I have made the following blog web site and it appears to be having some traction. People are commenting on the site and I have yet to publicize this through social media and online publisher routes. http://britishairwaysfail.wordpress.com. The hit rate over the weekend was in the 100′s and growing.

Would you please reconsider your decision? I do hope you can offer me a refund.

Kind regards

Alex Bennett alex@bennett.uk.com

Making mistakes when booking with British Airways

Hi people,

Am I going mad, or is this unreasonable. Is it right that you can book a £701 return flight with a premier airline carrier and there are no refunds if you need to cancel?

Hey, I would tolerate a£100 cancellation charge, but no refund is a bitter pill to swallow. Especially if you are student.

Here is my story.

I recently needed to cancel a flight i booked online, direct with British Airways. However, during the booking process I did not pick up on the fact that this was a ‘non-refundable’ web fare ticket. Now, I appear to have missed the ‘terms and conditions’ through the booking process stating ‘no refunds’, but never before have I booked a long haul flight and expected a zero refund policy. Yes, you can argue that it is my fault for not picking this up, but I am not sure that this is ethically or morally right.

This was £701 return ticket to Cape Town, not a £50 no-frills European carrier ticket. The only money I could get back was circa £68 against government and airport taxes. My pockets are empty enough.

I contacted British airways to highlight my cause, (my email) and asked for some lenience here. However, although polite, there was no movement – see BA response.

So the question remains. Although I have missed the terms and conditions through booking online, is it right that there is no refund whatsoever?

Would love to hear about similar experiences and your thoughts on this.

Fighting for a world of reasonability.

Alex Bennett

British Airways Customer Relations Response – Polite, but basically, no refund!

Dear Mr Bennett

I am very sorry to learn that you have had to cancel your booking to Cape Town and have been disappointed to find that your ticket is non-refundable.  I do understand your frustration.  Please accept my apologies.

We understand that there are times when, often for good reason, our customers need to cancel their tickets.  However some tickets are non-refundable.

We do make customers aware on ba.com if the ticket they wish to purchase is non-refundable.  After having chosen the flight you would like, there is a box on ba.com titled ‘About Your Flights’.  Within the box is a section named ‘Fare Conditions’ which explains whether the ticket is changeable or refundable.  If the ticket is not refundable it will say ‘There are no refunds except for any government & airport taxes’.  Before purchasing the ticket customers then have to tick a box to say that they agree to the terms and conditions of the ticket.  I am sorry if you were not aware of this.

When you book your tickets and you are absolutely sure of your plans, then we do have some very good value fares.  But these often have restrictions on making changes and may not be refundable.  So, if there is ever any doubt about your plans or the time you need to fly, it may suit you better to buy one of our more flexible tickets.  If you would like more information on our range of fares, please go to ba.com.

I appreciate this is not the answer you were hoping for.  I am sorry not to be able to help you more on this occasion.  I hope this will not deter you from travelling with British Airways in the future.

Best regards

Kate Inskip
British Airways Customer Relations
Your case reference is:xxxxxxx

My email of complaint to British Airways

Booking reference: xxxxxx

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you concerning the above booking reference, a return flight from Heathrow to Cape Town, made by myself directly online at ba.com. This flight was £701.

Unfortunately, I am unable to make this flight and will not be able to go to South Africa. I therefore contacted your general enquiries number to look into cancellation and refund. I was of course expecting to pay a penalty of circa £100 for cancellation, however I was informed that as I bought this online, there would be no refund available, bar a proportion of the government taxes, circa £68. There was no further discussion or option given to me by the agent, only to contact you.

Quite frankly, this is not acceptable. I stand to lose in the region of circa £630 pounds. This is not an Easyjet/RyanAir Gatwick to Amsterdam £50 fare. This is booking long haul with one of the self-proclaimed world’s best carriers, with apparent exceptional customer service. Interestingly, this flight (according to your customer service staff) is very full and offering this seat forward, if I cancelled, would probably enable you to leverage a higher fare.

Your user experience when online booking needs to be looked at as during the booking process, as it is not explicitly stated that this is a non-refundable ticket (Unless you hide these terms in the ‘tick this to accept terms and conditions’ which interestingly you have to agree to complete the booking). Quite frankly, I am not impressed with this treatment by BA and it is a shame that after my last long haul flight with you to Shanghai back in July (which was superb) I find myself in this position. I had a choice when rebooking – your or Virgin to South Africa. I remained loyal to your brand. It’s a shame that this is now damaged.

What I would like is a refund of my ticket, immediately. I will not accept a loose, intangible web fare ruling from you. I am a student at the moment studying my MBA so cash is a critical issue at present.

However, my studies have specialized in Marketing, Brand and PR in the online sphere which has led to an in depth study and research into online communities, social media and brand reputation. Therefore, through my own personal networks – twitter, facebook and wordpress blog I would be happy to express my concerns with this treatment and lack of refund and therefore put this permanently on the web as a for viewing as a tagged ‘google-able’ example of poor customer service.

£68 is not worth the refund in the face of highlighting the way you treat your loyal customers. I would rather put the story online if that is all you are going to offer me.

I leave this with you, BA. I await your response. I hope that you are prepared to do the right thing and honor a refund.

Kind regards
Alex Bennett