British Airways’ failures deprived me of the chance to say goodbye to my dying grandmother. After she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, my mother and I booked flights from Hong Kong, where I was working, to the UK so she could meet my newborn baby. Shortly before our trip in September, we learned that her condition had deteriorated and she was asking for us. She was desperate to hold her granddaughter before she died. My mother called the BA executive club line and our booking was changed to the earliest available flight. We duly received confirmation emails. However, at the airport I was told there was a problem with my ticket which could not be resolved before takeoff. My mother, on the same booking, was checked in successfully and I was forced to return home. I was told I could not take my original flight, either, because my ticket had been resold.
BA eventually offered me a flight the next day for an additional £1,450 which I felt I had no choice but to accept. I was then told that my return flight from the UK had been cancelled when I’d amended the outward-bound leg. I booked on to an alternative flight at an additional cost of £1,750. My mother reached my grandmother just in time to say goodbye, but I arrived too late. The two flights home were also a farce, as BA told me my baby didn’t have a ticket despite having charged me £400 for it, we missed our connection due to delays, and our luggage failed to arrive with us. BA has since refused to refund either my original booking, or the subsequent one, and has told me I’m not eligible for compensation for denied boarding. Because of its errors I am out of pocket by £3,500, and my grandmother never got to meet her great-grandchild.
KC, Hong Kong
