US Government has slapped a fine of $1.1 million to British Airways (BA) over claims it failed to pay refunds for cancelled flights during the pandemic. According to US Department of Transportation, British Airways had not provided timely refunds to passengers for abandoned or rescheduled flights to and from the country. The Department received over 1,200 complaints about the airlines.
British Airways, in turn has refuted all the claims and said that it has acted lawfully at all times.
US DOT said: “From March to November 2020, BA's website instructed consumers to contact the carrier by phone to discuss refund options, including for flights the carrier had cancelled or significantly changed. However, consumers were unable to get through to customer service agents when calling the carrier for several months during this period because BA failed to maintain adequate functionality of its customer service phone lines.”
"There was also no way to submit a refund request through the carrier's website during this period," the department added.
Misleading information on BA’s website led consumers to inadvertently request travel vouchers instead of refunds.
The airline responded by releasing the statement: "We're very sorry that at the height of the unprecedented pandemic - when we were unfortunately forced to cancel thousands of flights and close some call centres due to government restrictions - our customers experienced slightly longer wait times to reach customer service teams.
"During this period, we acted lawfully at all times and offered customers the flexibility of rebooking travel on different dates, or claiming a refund if their flights were cancelled. To date, we have issued more than five million refunds since the start of the pandemic,” the statement added.
US DOT stated that the fine established a strong deterrent to future similar unlawful practices
BA will be credited $550,000 towards the penalty because it paid more than $40m in refunds to customers with non-refundable tickets in 2020 and 2021.