Complaints

This profile includes complaints for British Airways's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  British Airways

  11 W 42nd St Fl 24 New York, NY 10036-8002

• 

  British Airways

  1830 K Street NW Washington, DC 20006

• 

  British Airways

  238 Lawrence Ave South San Francisco, CA 94080

• 

  Open Skies, Inc.

  6322 S 3000 E Ste 150 Salt Lake City, UT 84121-6921

• 

  British Airways

  100-4120 Yonge Street North York, ON M2P 2B8

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/13/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Due to covid I had to cancel a British Airways flight long ago. I was given a series of vouchers and during covid the voucher expiration dates were pushed out. Last year I purchased a ticket with my voucher and the remainder on my credit card to go to ******* in May 2023. ** December 2022, British Airways cancelled the final leg of my trip from ****** to ******, *******. I was given the option to cancel the full ticket which I did for a full refund. I never received my refund. I have contacted British Airways customer service several, several times and **** refuses to escalate my question to a supervisor and clearly refuses to read my messages. He insists my refund was issued with $338.58 going back on my British Airways credit card (never happened) and the remaining $1225.69 going to what he calls a credit card ending in ****. I have told him numerous times I never owned a credit card ending in ****. Furthermore, even a small amount of thinking would help you deduce that would not make sense since I paid that portion with a Voucher. Why would they reimburse a random credit card I do not own instead of reimbursing the voucher I paid with? I sent them statements from my credit card ending in **** to show I never received the $338.58 they claimed they reimbursed me and have explained over and over I never owned a credit card ending in **** and I paid that portion with a voucher so why would they have reimbursed a credit card? It has now been 4 months since I requested the refund, I have been waiting to rebook my flight and now it looks like I will not be able to take the trip because British Air is refusing to reimburse me what I am due.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/11/2023

  The following email was sent to *************************** on 09May23:

  Dear *************
  
  An update from British Airways
  Thanks for contacting the Better Business Bureau. Your correspondence has been sent to Customer Relations and we have been asked to respond to you directly.
  I'm sorry to hear you haven't received the refund you were expecting. I understand why you needed to bring this to our attention. Please also accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.
  I've reviewed your claim and I can confirm we've processed a total refund for $1,225.69 back to your ********** ending **** and $338.58 to a **** card ending ****. I've included more information, below:
  On 20 August 2019, you booked a ticket to *********** under booking reference ******, using a ********** ending ****. You were later issued with a voucher for this booking, **************, valued at $1,712.60.
  This voucher was then used for a new booking, ******, and a residual voucher for $608.91 was issued. You didn't travel on this booking and another voucher, **************, valued at $1,225.69 was issued.
  You then made a further booking, ******, using your voucher, **************. You also paid an addional $338.58 using a **** card ending ****. When this reservation was cancelled, we refunded $338.58 back to your **** card ending **** and $1,225.69 back to your ********** ending ****.
  You've told ** you're unable to trace the refunds we've arranged for $1,225.69 and $338.58. Please provide your bank with the following Acquirer Reference Numbers (ARN), as they'll be able to use them to confirm the transactions.
  Refund: USD1,225.69 ARN *********************** 
  Refund: ******.58 ARN *********************** 
  Once again, thanks for taking the time to get in touch. 
     
  Best regards
  
  ******
  British Airways Customer Relations
  Your case reference ***********

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/12/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 2/3/2023, I booked travel with British Air for 2 passengers for travel on June ***** from ************* to ******; ****** to *************. Unfortunately, one of the passengers was unexpectedly laid off and could no longer afford to travel. I cancelled both airline tickets on 3/20/2023 using their online portal. On 3/31/2023, I sent an email to British Air asking about my refund or travel credit toward a future trip. I was told by BA that voluntary cancellations do not qualify for any refund or credit, only a credit for the taxes. I have received $408 for this. I am extremely dissatisfied with this decision. I cannot find their cancellation policy on their website. If I had known that no refund or travel credit would be issued, then I would have not cancelled my tickets. I have lost over $4000. I do not understand how this can be their policy when it is not listed on their website. I do not know of any other airline that has such a policy. I am hopeful that you will investigate my claim and provide a favorable outcome. Thank you.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/07/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/12/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My wife and I flew from ***************************** to ******** International airport on Sept.9 , 2022 on British Airways. Our luggage went missing. After numerous calls to British, we established a claims number and emailed all our documentation, twice, to the airline. Their website states after 8 months our baggage are missing. We spoke to a person today at the airline in baggage claims. She said we need to talk to someone in customer relations. We asked if she could give ** that number and she said there is no such number. This pretty much sums up our experience with this airline. We would lke help getting compensation for our missing bags from the airline. Thank you.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/07/2023

  At this time, I have been contacted directly by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********, however my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

   I am waiting for British Airlines to deposit the compensation that they offered ** into our bank account.

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  Sincerely,

  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/07/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had booked and traveled BUSINESS CLASS on British Airways from ****** --> ****** --> *****. I had a connecting flight from *****--> *****. The travel dates were March 16th and return on April 1st.There were 2 issues on this travel.1. ****** to ***** and on to ***** (3/16/2023)****** - reached ****** on 3/16 by BA 180. However, due to lack of ground staff they could not connect the vestibule and we sat in the plan for over an hour which made us miss our connection to ***** (******). They rerouted us to ***** via ******. This rerouting made us lose our connecting flight from ***** to ***** as we reached ***** a day later. This caused us to rebook the tickets which cost us $732. (expense attached). I am requesting a full refund of this extra expense I had to incur only because of a delay by BA 2.****** to ************ (4/1/2023)****** - On this flight, back home the business class seat I was assigned (Seat 4D) was broken. The seat's cable was broken and hence could not recline or move the seat. Staff tried for hours to try to fix it but said that only the maintenance folks can do so. However, one of them was able to tilt the seat some but there was a big gap in the middle which was very painful to spend an 8 hour flight. I am requesting a full refund of this flight as it did not meet the requirements of having paid so much to get a good seat. I also have a note from the ****** on the flight and was also told that he had logged this malfunction.Attaching all documents to prove my case.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/02/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/06/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Nature of complaint against British Airways (additional information attached below):Poor treatment / customer service; especially while 6 months pregnant Delayed baggage BA agents at ****** not reporting a claim as required Abandonment of personal property outside of terminal involving ******************************** (responsible parties British Airways and BEX Delivery courier service)Imposed security risk of theft and/or illegal tampering with my baggage Concealment of truth by British Airways and refusal to acknowledge events Need to purchase clothing out of pocket due to pregnancy / no clothing available outside of suitcase

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/01/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/05/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Problem: Lack of response by British Airways to refund a flight they cancelled for *** of 2020 due to COVID. After several attempts to get a refund on flight that BA cancelled in 2020, finally received an email on 1/19/2023 that i could apply for a refund. I did. It was approved on 1/20/2023. They supposably sent a refund to Paypal, which doesnt accept refunds that old. I have asked several times to just send a refund via check. They first said they have to check with management 2/23/23 then no response. Inquired again, they write on 3/16/23 they forwarded the request to "chargebacks". Still no response back as of 4/4/2023. Problem is their lack of response and follow through for cancelling a flight during covid and never refunding the payment for 3 years.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/30/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/03/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We traveled to Europe , on the way back , December 4 2022 British Air lost the luggage. We have a lost claim number , we called numerous times and ******* told to wait due to large volume of claims . Long story short , original claim doesn't exist anymore because too much time passed , we filed an online reimbursement claim but we get the same response , due to large volume, it might take awhile..... About a month ago we sent an email to ask for status and we had that automatic answer .... yesterday we wrote again and we got the same generic answer again .... The content of the luggage was very special , we went to visit my mom , we had gifts for the children and us from her , she passed away 2 weeks later ! We can't put a monetary value on that but for sure we didn't need the run around from British.Lost luggage *** BA ***** Ticket# **** BA ****** I flew Dec.4 2022 flight BA 223

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/03/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Description of Complaint:Dear BBB: This is my complaint to British Airways regarding my travel last year in the month of October 2023 and my return travel in the month of November 2023 (travel ticket is attached). I flew from ********* to ******/********* and back to ********* (Booking reference: *******. My flight from ********* (**) to ****** was delayed by more than three hours. My return flight took off from ****** to ********* on 15th of November. On arrival at *****************, I found that my luggage (one large suitcase) had been heavily damaged, lock was broken and lost, exterior torn. I approached British Airways representative at the ** airport, and she told me that they had a very small footprint in ********* and was unable to help. Instead, she gave me customer care phone number which never worked. Then I went ahead and filed a claim online on their website at ************************************************************************************************* case ref. no. is ********.There was a follow up by British Airways representative, **************, via e-mail and asked me to buy a replacement language suitcase at half the price of my current luggage (as I did not had receipt for my old luggage, I mean who keeps receipts of old luggage because they might travel with BA, here already I see shady BA business practices) and ask me to upload on this website here *********************************************************************************************** Anyways I accepted the offer, but I could never upload receipt file (PDF or Jpeg) on their website as it kept giving me server error. Screenshot of error is attached. Since then I had multiple e-mail exchanges via their website, however each time they will insist that I should upload to website and they will not reply for weeks. In my last conversation, they accepted there was problem with their website, and asked to re-try. I did but same results. Then I also send a direct download link to receipt from my Dropbox folder and since then I have not heard anything. British Airways has been constantly lying and intentionally misleading so that I am unable upload receipt on their faulty website and have wasted several hours of my time. Record of recent conversations is attached. It's surprising that they initially wanted to resolve this issue and made me purchase new luggage for which I had no need at this time. They could have just denied my case, instead of constantly lying. BA owes my full price of my damaged bag 150 GBP and 500 GBP for wasting my time. I am no longer in a position to accept their 50% offer, I demand a full refund of my damaged bag (pictures of damage are also attached) and wasting my time.If they dont settle my case, I am ready to file court claim at ********** court ********************************************************** the receipts and records of some conversations, and screen shot of fault website is attached for your consideration.Thank you and I appreciate your time looking into this matter.Best regard ********************* to court The ticket was cancelled over the phone with **************** care agent due to Covid infections in the family. I have spoken with Expedia customer care (CC) agents multiple times since April 2021. On each count, the matter was supposedly resolved over the phone with the promise of refund to be processed within the next few business days. My last contact with CC was on October 21st, 2021. On October 23rd, 2021, a follow-up email was sent by Expedia CC, confirming that refund is being processed and will be deposited into the paying account. However, to this day no refund has been sent to my account. Neither was any reply made to my e-mail sent on November 8th, 2021. I am now tired of these constant lies and have wasted enough of my time with hours of phone calls. As mentioned during my last contact with CC, this was my last attempt trying to informally resolve this over the phone. Attach are copies of tickets and recent Expedia CC communication. Thank you for helping with this. Sincerely, ********************* Desired Settlement: Refund

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/03/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  - Purchased 2 flights for our honeymoon in Premium Economy Class.- Flight cancelled related to Covid, was moved to Economy Class, and instead of receiving a refund, received 2 2Vouchers that expire September 30, 2023.- Lost thousands of dollars having to cancel part of our honeymoon.- The vouchers received are cash value yet they expire. This essentially forces us to fly to Europe to avoid losing the money altogether. - Attempted to purchase flights with the eVouchers, but each time we ener the information a message comes up stating the information in the eVoucher does not match the inputted information. However, the eVoucher can be used by anyone not just the person it is issued to, so there should not be a problem. But the eVoucher gets frozen each time I try to unsuccessfully use it. - Prices have gone up hundreds of dollars since I initially tried to buy flights using the eVouchers, now I am out of pocket even further.- I have contacted British Airways 20+ times and no one is able to assist or remedy the situation. Each time I am just told it should work as the eVoucher user does not even have to match the name of the user (even though in this case it is me). - I have lost thousands of dollars due to British Airways' disregard for customers and need to at least receive working eVouchers with the value of the cash I actually spent and British Airways is unlawfully obtaining.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by British Airways regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/31/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Booking # ****** I want to get my ticket refunded so I can re book. We tried to use a couple of e vouchers one did not apply so i need to get refund and re book. Been over a month and nothing has happened. BA Is holding over 500 dollars of my money and 473 in voucher i cannot get back. I bought and cancelled ticket on FB 18th (well before the 24 hours expired) if you have booked directly with British Airways and you notice a mistake with your booking after you have paid for your ticket(s), you can cancel your flight booking and claim a full refund without penalty, up to 24 hours from when you make the original booking.BA is not honoring what is on the website. i am getting the runaround. the customer complaint number is not working, the refund number is not working. I have filed an electronic complaint and spent well over 60 hours on the phone with no resolution. I demand my refund.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/10/2023

  The following emails were sent to ***************** on 28Mar23 & 10Apr23:

  Dear *****************
  
  An update from British Airways
  
  Thank you for your email. Were receiving a high volume of direct emails from customers at the moment and it is taking us slightly longer than usual to respond. We are very sorry about this. We know its not the level of service youd expect to receive as a valued British Airways customer. Ive shared your email with our Customer Relations team who will review and respond to you within the next 14 days. Thanks for your patience.
  
  
  
  
  Best regards
  
  *********************
  British Airways Customer Relations
  Your case reference ***********

  ==============================================

  Dear *****************
  
  An apology from British Airways
  I'm sorry for the issues you've had with receiving your refund. We appreciate your reasons for getting in touch. We'd also like to thank you for your patience whilst we got back to you.
  I've checked booking reference, and can see there was an error when processing the refund under our 24 hour cooling off period. It looks as though this has now been corrected though, so you should receive the outstanding amount soon.
  Once again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any further issues in receiving this amount, please contact me directly by using the blue link below.
  
  
  
  Best regards
  
  *********************
  British Airways Premium Escalations Team
  Your case reference is:********

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/12/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  Its been over the alloted time to get my refund. I have checked both credit cards  and still no refund.   Every one keeps saying the refund will happen, it has been well over 3 weeks and still nothing.

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/25/2023

  The following emails were sent to ***************** on 16Apr23 & 18Apr23:

  Dear *****************
  
  An update from British Airways
  I'm sorry you still haven't received your refund, thanks for letting me know.
  I've escalated this with our Refund team today who will look into this as a priority for you. Once I hear back from them I'll be in touch with an update.
  Thanks for your patience whilst I look into this for you.
  Best regards
  
  *********************
  British Airways Premium Escalations Team
  Your case reference is:********

  ============================================================

  Dear *****************
  
  An update from British Airways
  Thanks for your patience whilst we've looked into your refund for you.
  I can confirm there was originally an issue with processing this, but it has now been rectified. The following amount have been arranged today and should take around seven working days to appear in your accounts.
  USD471.35 to card ending in ****
  USD438.35 to card ending in ****
  Once again, I'm sorry for the delay. If you have any further issues, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
  
  Best regards
  
  *********************
  British Airways Premium Escalations Team
  Your case reference is:********

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/25/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************