British Airways passenger ‘£12k out of pocket’ after flights suddenly cancelled

A passenger who forked out a whopping £12,000 on a dream holiday to Dubai claims he’s been left to foot the bill after BA cancelled his flight at short notice.

David Spencer, from Nottingham, shelled out £10,000 for business class flights from London to the United Arab Emirates on December 30 to spend New Year there.

He was due to leave Heathrow’s Terminal 5 with friend Lotte Reynard to head to the sparkling city for a party.

However, while enjoying some free wine on the plane in their business class seats they were told to disembark after waiting on the runway patiently for three hours.

They headed back to the departure lounge only to be told a further three hours later that the flight was now indefinitely cancelled.

David claims that British Airways offered the pair a new flight, but that it would not have arrived in time for them to attend their New Years Eve celebrations due to being a day later than planned.

They then had to rush from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2 in order to catch an Emirates Air flight for an additional cost to themselves.

Speaking to MyLondon, David said: "The whole point of the holiday was to go for the New Year celebrations.

“At best after the cancelled flight with British Airways, their rescheduled one would have got us there the day after."

After five days in the UAE, David and Lotte returned to Heathrow after yet more hours-long delays and attempted to get a refund for their £5,000-each tickets.

However, after months of trying to contact British Airways David claims he has still not been compensated for the cancelled flight.

The £12,000 he says he was “scammed” out of includes the cost off the two business class flights to Dubai from London Heathrow, a one night stay at the Wardlow Hotel and a £100 airport transfer.

So far, he has received only £1,200 compensation, which is the industry standard for cancelled flights of that nature.

David, who recently returned from Thailand, was hoping to use the money owed to him by BA to fund his latest trip, but the holiday has come and gone.

Now, the Brit claims that he would not be happy with a voucher and says he will never fly with the airline again.

He added: "After hours on hold and countless phone calls over a period of months, the customer relations department got back to me and paid out £1,200 compensation with is the standard aviation compensation for cancelled flights.

“But British Airways holidays still have not contacted me to pay back my cancelled flight, hotel and transfer costs.

“Despite continuously trying I still can't get hold of them.

"I recently flew with Emirates Air to Thailand and I had absolutely no problems. Even when I had a slight issue with my return flight, I was able to phone someone and they actually picked up.

“I’ve even had cancelled flights with Ryanair in recent years – but even with them, I was able to get a refund no problem.

"Their telephone systems are rigged so you can never get hold of anyone and eventually it hangs up. I have tried for hours and hours.”

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He added: “I have sent numerous e-mails to their complains department, you eventually get a response and a case number but nothing happens, it’s a scam.

“As I see it British Airways have purposely set their systems up so they hold onto customers' money – and then you can’t get hold of them to sort it out.

"As time goes on, I try less and less to sort it out because I'm in their hands. No one picks up and I just feel hopeless. I am truly at a loss.

“The whole system is rigged, there is nothing I can do."

British Airways has been contacted by the Daily Star for a response.

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