BRITISH AIRWAYS SHOCKING CUSTOMER TREATMENT

I booked a one-way flight with British Airways in September. I then saw information after the fact that I would have to apply for a transit VISA which resulted in me having to change my flight date to a later one.

On Wednesday 4 October I arrived at OR Tambo International Airport to check in for my flight and had to repack as it was over the weight limit. I had already checked in online using their app and downloaded my boarding passes for the initial and the connecting flight. When I returned to the check in desk, the British Airways security officer directed me to wait in a line that turned out to be for a different flight. He refused to look at my phone when I tried to explain and show him that my flight was about to depart at 19:20, it was around 18:40 at this point. I then received a call from one of the cabin staff at 19:10 informing me that I had been bumped off the flight. I missed my flight as a result which was to attend a wedding in Trinidad.

I asked for assistance at desk A61 as directed by the staff member who called where the lady attempted to get me onto the next departing flight at 20:20. This was not a connecting flight and would cause problems for me based on the type of VISA I had been granted. I was eventually informed that I would be able to catch the Saturday 7 October flight at an additional cost of R3000. I was NOT informed that the flight would keep deferring to the following departure date until I boarded.

Instead, I was informed that my ticket would be forfeited if I didn't catch the next flight or cancel it for a refund. The day before that flight, I wanted to change my flight to a return flight but could not get through to the executive club call centre from 1pm until 5pm. I decided to cancel the flight and request a refund as informed by the British Airways airport staff. On Monday 9 October I found out that after spending R18,355.43 on this booking, including paying for extra checked baggage, I would only be refunded R800 and nothing could be done to assist me with the new return flight booking I had requested. In addition, I have spent close to R13,406.61 on AirBnB stays attempting to resolve this situation.

I contacted the executive club call centre over 8 times and my call was disconnected, the agent was unhelpful or I would be put on hold for over ten minutes at a time until my airtime ran out or they simply hung up. None of them phoned me back even though I advised them that their line tends to disconnect and some were even rude to me. I submitted a complaint to them and received a case number via an automated email response. I was more than willing to change the booking to a new return flight and pay the difference, but I was told the refund has been processed and nothing can be done. I still have not received this refund. To date, nobody has gotten back to me and I have resolved to take legal action if my banker is unable to retrieve my payments on my behalf.