British Airways

Not Verified | We will never fly British Airways again. Our flight on July 15 2023 from LHR to LAX was cancelled 20 hours before departure without any explanation. Since 8 weeks we are now waiting for the refund and BA does not pay us the cost caused by the cancellation. Very disappointing.

Not Verified | British Airways has confirmed itself as the worst airline in the UK. Last minute cancellation, no explanation, refusal to book with another airline “because we don’t have an arrangement with them”. What’s happened to what used to be our national airline?

✅ Trip Verified | Worst BA experience. I was supposed to fly out to Italy on 7 September 2023. I arrived at OR Tambo International airport ready to check my bags in (I already checked-in online the previous evening so I had my boarding pass ready). At the counter I was told that I had been off-loaded from the flight as my connecting flight has been cancelled. No information was sent regarding this beforehand. The team at the check-in counter tried to get me on another flight that evening, but there were no flights available. They did manage to get me another flight the following evening with Lufthansa to Italy via Frankfurt. However, I did miss the first part of my trip having arrived a day and a half later than I was supposed to. Upon moving the flights I did ask the BA staff whether my flights back are still valid and that everything is in order, which they assured me is correct. I have to fly back to South Africa on 18 September and upon checking my booking information I noticed on my BA account that my first flight (Milan to London) is just missing from my booking. My connecting from London to Johannesburg is still there. After spending the entire morning on the customer helpline two different operators picked up and in both instances, the moment I proceed to give my booking reference number, my call gets dropped. Currently it seems like I will be arriving at the airport again on Monday without a flight.

Not Verified | The worst service ever, my baggage did not arrive on time. Both my flights were delayed. I will never fly them again. Even the food was bad and your service.

✅ Trip Verified | 4/4 flights we booked this holiday were delayed about 1-2 hours. No wifi available on 2 of 4 flights Food and drinks very basic and expensive. Cannot recommend

✅ Trip Verified | British Airways has a total lack of respect for its customers. I was booked to fly from Frankfurt Main to London City Airport, and just a couple of hours before the scheduled departure the flight was suddenly cancelled by BA without explanation, when I was already at the airport. The worst thing was the utter callousness that staff showed towards customers. The ground staff’s attitude was that they are merely third party agents, not BA employees, and therefore they quickly washed their hands of us all, telling us we had to contact BA directly via phone if we wanted help. They couldn’t even provide us a phone number, telling us to look it up on ba.com ! So BA abandoned its passengers. They did tell us that the BA departure to Heathrow had also been cancelled, meaning there would be no further BA flight from Frankfurt to London that day (although other airlines were still operating the route- but BA refused to rebook us on them). The reason given for both cancellations was “technical reasons”. No assistance or information was provided on our rights due to cancellation, nor any information on help regarding food/ accommodation help etc. Their attitude was literally that the cancellation had nothing to do with them and it was our problem, not theirs. I received an email an hour later notifying me that I had been automatically rebooked on an alternative flight 24 hours later, which wasn’t acceptable as I had to get back to London that night. I rang BA’s call centre and again, they showed a high degree of callousness. 95% of the half-hour call was spent with me waiting on hold, with the phone just cutting off after half an hour, and no meaningful information given to me by that point. There was no attempt by the call operator to call me back when the line cut (and I had a solid phone signal and wifi as I was still standing in Terminal 2 of Frankfurt Main airport), even though my phone number is listed in my booking contact details. They just don’t care. In the end I had to arrange my own return to London by taking a coach to Hanh airport which was 112km away , waiting there for 5 hours and then booking an expensive last minute ticket with Ryanair to Stansted. At least that flight operated on time and got me back to London! BA is worse than a low cost carrier now.

✅ Trip Verified | British Airways absolutely does not care. My reserved seat was change from an aisle to center seat for this overnight, full flight and it was quite awful. After enquiring at LAX check in, the agent said sorry, nothing we can do. Onboard the flight the attendants seemed to try and finish the meal service at a racing speed, with meals trays passed out with no proper questions about choice. Then back and clearing trays and they disappeared to rest in the kitchen for hours after that. No water runs, if you need anything do not bother with the call bell, as they simply ignore it. I used to like travelling British Airways 10-15 years ago, but the bean counters have been in and lowered it close to a lowcost carrier. I guess staff are badly paid from their terrible attitude and service. My last trip to London was with Delta, they are so much better than this very poor excuse of an airline that British Air has now become.

✅ Trip Verified | My recent experience with British Airways was not just horrendous, it was an utter abdication of responsibility on their part. I arrived at JFK ready for my flight to Malaga, only to find it had been cancelled with zero notice. After a draining 2-hour altercation, I was finally placed on a different flight. The nightmare continued when I landed in Malaga sans luggage, containing essentials for my son's wedding. Thirty agonizing hours later, the bags showed up—but my brand-new iPad and a special watch for my nephew were missing. The items weren't merely valuable; they had emotional significance, which made the loss even more gut-wrenching. You'd think a reputable airline would make amends for such errors. Despite the clear mishandling of my baggage by their team, they refused to offer any reimbursement or even a modest amount of airline credit. Their customer service was not only ineffective but also astonishingly callous. Their response was, in essence, "It's your fault for trusting us with your belongings." This isn't just poor customer service; it's a complete disregard for basic human decency and responsibility. British Airways had numerous opportunities to right their wrongs and chose not to. If you have any respect for your time, belongings, and emotional well-being, avoid British Airways at all costs. They not only fail to deliver on promises but also refuse to make amends when they err, leaving customers to bear the brunt of their incompetence.

✅ Trip Verified | I arrived at the airport about 2.5 hours before takeoff to have more than about time to get checked in, go through security, etc. All that went without any issues. Being that I was relatively early at the gate, I was one of the first passengers there. After some time boarding had opened. First the business class got called up, then families with children and disabled people. A couple minutes into the boarding they started to call up people, one by one, by name. Then there was an announcement: they won’t let anyone in anymore. Me and about fifty other people were still standing at the gate not being let in. The reason, they said, was that the plane was short staffed (Later I discovered, speaking to a manager, that not only the flight was short staffed but also it was overbooked). After the announcement people were getting angry because they wouldn’t be let in anymore. Nothing changed and everyone was sent away. I had a connecting flight later that day that I was going to miss because I was not let on the plane. First I tried to get my luggage back which I didn’t receive immediately but got a hold of later on thanks to the airport personnel. Then, just like everyone who was going to fly with the same plane, I wanted to talk to someone from British Airways. Since they don’t have a service center at Frankfurt Airport everyone went to the check-in counters where we received food vouchers but not a single person was either able to rebook my or anyone’s flight nor get anyone refunded. All the staff said was that we were going to receive an email in a couple hours with options to rebook the flight or get a refund. I waited four hours for the email at the airport that did not come until today. Trying to call the airline did not help either because they did not answer the phone or hung up in the middle of the conversation. After the four hours of waiting for the email me and some other people from the same flight went back to the check-in counter to get a confirmation from them that I will receive a refund. Being that there was a new shift the personell did not know what had happened. When they scanned my passport an looked at the flight they found out that the system was dying that it was my fault I could not attend the flight. It looked like I had missed it. For everyone standing there with me it was exactly the same. But the people at the counter said they could not do anything about it. Later on we were able to speak to the manager after many phone calls he said they were going to take care of it. We are supposed to get an email at some point in the future. I was not able to get a written confirmation that I will get refunded even after several times asking for it. I already flew a lot of times in my life but never ever has such a thing a happened to me. Not only that me and so many other people were not let into the plane but also the customer service being so horrible that they were not able to rebook or confirm a refund in any way. In the end the only option for me to get to my destination would have been to book a last minute flight for a lot of money which I would not know if I ever got it backed.

Not Verified | BA cancelled our flight and could not book us onto any flight for the next 4 days. I had to spend £5k in expenses to get us back with another airline. 2 months later I am still waiting for reimbursement and have had no response to my 3 written complaints. Even the call centre staff tell me that head office have taken down the telephone number and email for the department who deal with this, so even they cannot escalate or inquire. Utterly useless.