In late 2021, Mark from San Diego and his wife were flying home on British Airways premium economy from Split, Croatia, via London and Dallas, but missed a connection. They were rebooked in economy on Virgin Atlantic and tried for two years to get compensation when finally, in December 2023, they were told they had agreed to the downgrade, which he denies. (It shouldn’t matter anyway, both Mr. Leff and Mr. Radchenko said.)
They finally received $746 from British Airways earlier this week. However, the full cost of their original round trip (two tickets from San Diego to Ljubljana, Slovenia and return from Croatia) was $5,821, and it is unlikely that their refund would represent 75 percent of a premium economy transatlantic flight. British Airways confirmed that they calculated the fare difference rather than using the parameters set by the UK government and gave me no explanation as to why.
A year later, Cynthia and her partner had a very similar situation, missing a British Airways premium economy connection to London on their way back to Los Angeles, ending up in economy. They had booked through a travel agent who tried unsuccessfully to get a refund. Cynthia then ran into a brick wall when she tested herself. Has not yet received a refund.
In the third British Airways case, David of Carmel, New York, and his wife were asked to fly first class from London to New York when their flight was cancelled. On rebooking their flight, they were downgraded to the equivalent of business class. Their initial request for a refund was rejected by someone who almost comically misinterpreted their complaint, replying that they were not entitled to compensation because their flight had only arrived “18 minutes late”. Subsequent calls to customer service led nowhere. And even after I contacted the airline, another representative wrote to the couple with the coup: They were not entitled to a refund because “based on our research, your last flight was in First Class, so there is no downgrade refund for your reservation.” (I can confirm that their boarding passes say otherwise.)
British Airways finally sent the couple a refund, $1,036, last Saturday. But their original first-class fare (plus a short hop from Amsterdam to London on the way back) was just under $10,000 for both of them, which apparently means that round-trip flights from London to New York cost a total of close to $5,000. Again, British Airways said it calculated the difference in fares, not the appropriate percentage of the original fare. I have advised David to look at the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s guidance on rejected claims.
