British Airway Complaint Process
Hello!
My family of 4 recently flew British Airways roundtrip from LHR <--> LIS. We live in the US, and LHR was used as a positioning airport to get to LIS.
The LHR --> LIS flight went perfectly fine.
The LIS --> LHR flight was a nightmare. We were supposed to depart at 6:55pm (Lisbon time). The flight was delayed multiple times to about ~ 8:30pm. We waited to board the airplane for about an hour. Some people had to wait on the transfer bus that takes you to the airplane for the hour.
We finally boarded the plane, and the crew let us know that the flight had been delayed overnight. We had to deboard the plane. There was an issue with smoke/fumes and they were testing a reactor.
Details from BA on the overnight delay: A "technical issue" is listed as the cause.
The British Airways crew had been working for ~ 12 hours, so they had to rest. Thus, we were left with LIS airport employees to assist all the passengers on the flight to get acommodations, etc.
We had a flight the next day from LHR --> US at 11:15am (London time) with Virgin Atlantic. Our "rescheduled" BA LIS --> LHR flight was not doing to depart until after 1:00pm the next day.
We had to get BA to book a different LIS --> LHR flight for 7:20am the following day. I was on the phone with the BA customer service for ~ 2 hours to get a different flight booked. We got our Virgin Atlantic next day flight changed from 11:15am to 4:25pm.
I have read on BA's expenses and compensation website that customers can receive compensation for delayed flights. I am assuming that we should be entitled to 400 Euros in compensation because the LIS --> LHR flight is greater than 1,500km.
We lost out on 2 hotel rooms booked at LHR because of the overnight delay. We have 4 meals that I will need to get reimbursed. I also made 3 phone calls to get flights rescheduled. I plan on trying to get at least 2 of the calls reimbursed.
This is my first time submitting a complaint/compensation request with BA. Are there any recommendations/strategies that I can follow to achieve the best results? Thanks in advance!
Posted Jun 13, 2025, 3:51 AM UTC