Are you still waiting for a refund from British Airways? Do you need to make changes to your booking? Are you fed up of waiting hours on hold to get through to customer service? You’re not alone. Customer complaints about the difficulty in contacting British Airways increase daily. Read on to find out how you can contact British Airways and make a formal complaint.
Image by Bilal EL-Daou from Pixabay
How to contact British Airways by telephone
All contact numbers for British Airways are listed on its website.
For most enquiries the number is 0344 493 0787 calls are charged at local rate and lines are open from 7.30am to 8pm.
However you can avoid charges by contacting British Airways by telephone on 0800 727 800. Be aware you could still have a long wait and may be cut off. Choose your times carefully and avoid peak call periods. Making smart calls at optimum times can reduce your waiting time to get through to a real person.
Customers with disabilities can contact British Airways on 0800 408 1100 and lines are open from 9am to 5pm.
British Airways has a specific compassionate line (0203 684 9677) to help with changes or cancellations due to bereavement.
Contact British Airways via Head Office at Waterside 0208 738 5050
Customers can connect with British Airways via social media and Twitter aka X in particular always seems to prompt a quicker response. However you still need to ring British Airways to use a Future Travel Voucher.
Write to British Airways at the following address:
British Airways
Customer Relations (S506)
PO Box 1126
Uxbridge
UB8 9XS
United Kingdom
Don’t forget to quote your reference number if applicable
How to contact British Airways by email
British Airways can be contacted by email via this online form.
You can also make complaints and claims on the BA customer service portal.
Email the CEO Sean Doyle Seanl.Doyle@ba.com
Updated email options to try are detailed below.
globalcustomerrelations@ba.com
duty.office@holidays.ba.com
baholidays.contactcentre@ba.com
basupport@email.ba.com
Customer.Relations@holidays.britishairways.com
Shahid.tufail@ba.com (Customer Experience Manager)
Calum.Laming@ba.com (Chief Customer Officer)
manjit.brar.escalations@ba.com
I hope that the above contact details are useful. If all else fails please do feel free to email me jane@ladyjaney.co.uk
Trying to write to CEO and 5 others about exemplary service all mails returned
Your message to seanldoyle@ba.com couldn’t be delivered.
seanldoyle wasn’t found at ba.com.
Hi Gordon, yes it does appear that BA are blocking emails to the exec team. I have contacted the press office to clarify this and will update asap. Nice to know that you wish to praise the airline, just a shame you can’t do so which kind of defeats the object. If you are on Twitter I would send them a DM or tag in to a tweet.
Hi Gordon, BA have replied to me saying that no emails are being blocked and that the CEO one is correct. They have also said that any comments about exemplary service can be sent via https://www.britishairways.com/travel/webforms/public/en_gb?eId=120001&wfpId=customer_compliments. I doubt they get that many 😉
Think its seanl.doyle@ba.com
But jane.phillips@ba.com does bounce back
Hello Jane, I e-mailed the CEO with an issue over a refund on the 25/5. Just wondering how long to give it before I chase them up as I haven’t received even an acknowledgment. Thanks Nigel
Good point Nigel, they have had ample time to get back to you. I would chase next week if still zilch.
Hi Stephen thanks for the info, I’ll check to see if any updates are needed to the list. Try sending the email from a different address? Sometimes it can be our own servers which are causing the blockage as opposed to those of the recipients.
Hi Jane,
I tried using gmail instead and again it was blocked
The response from the remote server was:
550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied. AS(201806281) [AM0EUR02FT034.eop-EUR02.prod.protection.outlook.com 2023-07-26T15:22:27.082Z 08DB8CED041ADF38]
Access denied…. I don’t think Mr Walton wants to receive emails from customers!!!
That wouldn’t surprise me. Am sure you have done so already but exhaust all email and telephone options. I have sent a request to connect with him on Linkedin instead.
Hi Jane,
A happy ending!
After 4 phone calls and 4 emails, I tried your contact link at the top of the page – and on the second attempt, having re-classified my message, it was registered as a complaint. The next day a nice chap from BA ‘phoned me and the matter was resolved there and then, so no need to take it to the top! I think he was a little concerned that it had not been picked up and resolved by somebody more senior in a call center!
Kind regards and thank you, Steve
Hi Steve, thanks so much for the message, that’s excellent news! You’re very welcome. Well done for getting your issue sorted. BA are hard work but persistence beats resistance.
Which contact link did you have success with. I have sustained a very bad hand injury (Potentially life changing) on a flight and BA aren’t responding to anything on line and have refused to do anything when I speak to the exec club
Any help gratefully received
Hi Jane
Now here’s a challenge. I have been writing, emailing, tweeting (Xing!) to British Airways, trying to get compensation for a family of 5 for a flight on August 12th that was delayed 4.5hrs. I have done a claim back on August 13th,the only correspondence I have had from BA, was to change the claim number on 7th November. It is now 4 months and I guess they are hoping I am going to give up. Any ideas/suggestions?
Super frustrated. Loo Gee.
You will need to look at CEDR Alternative Dispute Resolution Loo. Ask for a final response from BA and then proceed with the claim.
Hi Lady Janey, I have complained about a flight and holiday in September, with a whole number of issues such as cancelled flights, not receiving our upgraded seats that we paid £222 for and finally after 8 weeks and another couple of emails they have said they have a limit of £100 voucher they can offer which is mad? Any suggestions who to complain to next as simply they have took our money and not delivered the product we paid for such as upgraded seats.
Hi Jamie, seek appropriate refund via method of payment. Also escalate complaint by asking for BA’s final response.
I have sent a letter to BA a month ago, and as yet not received any reply or acknowledgement.
I have tried to speak or email them, but as I do not have the requested complaint number, am unable to go any further. I fell out with the bot !!!.
Have tried to contact them by phone but the only numbers that are shown, and that you show
one, are for the BA baggage department. One of which I fell out with earlier,
Sorry to hear this David. Have you tried to contact the CEO?
Hi
I like many people on here have complaints about terrible customer service.
I and my wife flew P Economy to Australia on Cathy in December and back in early January.
I expected to see many 1,000’s of Avios points and progress to silver.
When I returned and found the points hadn’t been credited I raised a claim, after 3 weeks I chased and the lady I spoke to told me the claim had been rejected, but no explanation email was sent to me. She raised a new claim and I contacted Cathy direct.
Cathy responded in 1 day to say they had issued the points to BA but BA had reject. They also confirmed the claim was valid.
Left 4 weeks the called Avios customer service again. To be told some bookings don’t pay Avios points, I informed the adviser Cathy had confirmed they had tried to pay the points and sent me an email confirming the points were valid.
The adviser still said they are not payable but when I said I wanted to speak with someone senior he gave me an email address and said they would sort out that day.
3 days later I haven’t t received any recognition or complaint number and feel I have been fobbed off again.
Email they gave me was call.executiveclub@ba.com
Is this a genuine address or am I wasting my time
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan, sorry to hear about your experience. It’s not an email address I am familiar with. I would cc in the CEO to any future correspondence. If you are an executive club holder there are some phone contact options on the website. BA seem to make it as difficult as possible to get in touch with them https://www.britishairways.com/travel/contact-executive-club/public/en_gb
Hi,
My BA190 flight departing Austin 18:00 to London Heathrow was cancelled on Sunday 12th May 2024.
I was rebooked onto an American Airlines flight from AUS to LHR via Charlotte on Monday 13th May 2024. Unfortunately, there was a weather delay so that I would not have caught the connecting transatlantic flight in Charlotte.
BA customer services team rebooked me to the BA 190 on the same day (13/05/2024) which was scheduled to depart at 18:00. The incoming flight from LHR was delayed such that the flight did not depart Austin until close to 23:00. I eventually arrived back at LHR almost 30 hours after my scheduled arrival time from my booking.
I have submitted a claim for the mandatory EUR 600 compensation as well as expenses (meals, transport etc) around two weeks ago. I have had an automated reply but no other response from BA. Is there a way to escalate this claim for compensation and expenses? How long does BA usually take to respond?
Ashwin
Hi Ashwin, BA take an age to reply and often reject initial complaint relying on people to give up after first fob off. Escalate to CEDR if this happens. Also email CEO via the address in blog post to expedite a response and payment of any compensation owed.
Hi Janey
I booked a family holiday to Italy -return flights with BA, hotel directly. Today BA have cancelled the outward flight to Verona and given me no alternative one on another day, including the day itself. I’ve had to book with Easy jet to ensure we arrive on the correct day. I was confused re refund as I would have been happy to stick with the return flight with BA and just got a refund on the outwards flight. However, I tried to speak to someone at BA – no joy. All options resulted in them saying they were busy and sending me a text. I ended up cancelling the entire booking and rebooking a separate return flight but still with BA. Its cost me more money than the original booking. I’m furious plus the lack of human contact. What can I do if anything? Thank you Rekha
Hi Rekha sorry to hear about this issue. Unfortunately it’s nigh on impossible to get to speak to a human at BA hence why you were unable to discuss possible re-ticketing options before making alternate arrangements. The outbound leg of a trip must be taken in order to keep the return sector. You can get your money back for all parts of the ticket which haven’t been used. For example, if you have booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, the full cost of the return ticket can be claimed back from the airline. Hope this helps.
thank you so much! I ended up requesting refund for outward and return. had to them book fresh flights out and returning. Livid as it cost me a lot more. TBH i will not fly BA again unless I have zero choice- have had too many issues over the years.
Thanks for your advice
You’re very welcome Rekha and yes I’d certainly make alternate choices of carrier in future if poss.
I’d just like to thank you for the information above. It enabled me to resolve a long-running issue concerning an upcoming flight for my family. I was getting nowhere through the standard customer service channels. The thing that resolved it in the end was emailing Calum – he has a premium customer service team that he passed my complaint to and they resolved my issue within a few minutes.
Hi Frank, this is such good news, you’re very welcome. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.
Thank you Frank for sharing this, ive been waiting over 8 weeks for reimbursement of costs from a BA flight that was cancelled due to crewing constraints, and we had to wait 24hrs to added to the next flight home. I’ve emailed Calum, I just hope I get the same kind of service you experienced, as so far my case is still in an open status, keeping my fingers crossed
Hi Lady Janey,
On the 12th July my family and I were due to fly to Glasgow from Heathrow for a family celebration but were denied boarding because the check in staff, supervisor and ‘visa check line’ all insisted my 15 year old son required photographic ID.
We took the decision to drive to Scotland which obviously impacted are arrival and subsequent departure times and added further expense.
I later found out that as my son was 15 years old and accompanied by us that he did not in fact require ID:
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/passports-visas-and-api
I immediately complained requesting the EU/UK compensation for cancelled flights with an arrival of 3+ hours @ £220 per person per flight totalling £1320 and fuel expenses etc, but got no response in 5 weeks so emailed Seanl.doyle@ba.com.
Funny old thing I got a reply the next day from globalcustomerrelations@ba.com telling me that i was only entitled to the denied boarding for one leg of £660 but they would refund our additional expenses.
Never one to take the first offer I replied back as i assume its an email that can be replied to expressing my dissatisfaction and that they should pay the full £1320 as when they denied us boarding for the outbound leg they would have automatically cancelled the return leg and thus denied us boarding for that as well.
Please can you advise as it’s been nearly 2 months now:
Am i being greedy or impatient?
Is there anyone else i can email as I’ve chased them a few times since with no joy and when i check the case status it now says ‘closed’?
Have BA given up on customer service completely now?
Thank you
Simon
Hi Simon, sorry to hear about this. BA always pushback on first claims, I would escalate to CEDR for resolution. If you have booked a return flight and you are denied boarding on the outbound, you are entitled to claim for the full cost of the return ticket back from your airline. And yes BA don’t seem to give two jots about customer service nowadays, profits first people second.
Hi Lady Janey,
I bought BA ticktes for friends to travel with me to South Africa. For the return leg of the journey I upgraded the seats to economy plus and I paid to prebook the seats. Online check-in was not available and when we got to the check-in desk they were told they had been bumped down to economy, as the flight was oversold. I asked how this could happen, as I had prebooked the seats. I was told that the customers who had bought seats after us had paid more therefore they got priority for seat allocation. I tried to talk to BA today and they will not discuss it with me as I am not the named person on the ticket. Strange how they were happy to discuss the upgrade on the phone and take my money for it, but they can’t talk to me now. I have also tried calling the customer Relations number of 0191490790 (as provided on the ticket info) but that is a defunct number. Any suggestions on how to speak to someone?
Hi sorry to hear this Helen. If an airline downgrades you to a lower class than the one you booked, you are entitled to reimbursement of a percentage of the price for the downgraded flight. Sadly with BA it is nigh on impossible to speak to anyone so you’ll have to submit a claim via their worse than useless system. When you get a response which is no doubt just as pitiful, refer to CEDR for a more appropriate resolution. Claims link is https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds
Hi there! Hoping for some advice please. I had an appalling experience with BA in Sept. Arrived at the airport and they didn’t have my booking details. I had booked two reward flights months before, all paid and Avios deducted, and even seats selected. They fobbed me off to multiple departments at LHR. Eventually i had to call Avios and they were just as useless. Two hours of being passed around or on hold as no one at the airport would help.
With minutes to get to the gate, they finally agreed to charge me again and deduct the Avios from my account. They apparently had no record of ever taking the money or points in the first place, although I have evidence of both on my statements
I’ve complained to BA and got a case number. They closed the case with no correspondence. I reopened it last month and emailed them … but nothing. I’m still waiting for my initial money and Avios points to be refunded.
BA are totally silent and I can’t seem to complain to CEDR as that’s for delays, cancellations etc.
Really don’t know where to go from here. Avios can’t help either. Any advice appreciated!
Hi Clint very sorry to hear this, could you drop me an email? jane@ladyjaney.co.uk
Hello, looking for some advice. I flew hong kong to London recently with BA. It was first ever business class flight as we were on honeymoon.
Sadly upon getting settled in the cabin my throat started to scratch. I checked my seating and flooring and found that a full bag of nuts had been emptied on it and not cleaned prior to boarding. The crew were helpful in that they were on their hands and knees picking up the mess, however I was really poorly and ended up in hospital for 3 days due to the exposure
I’ve emailed many times to ask for the complaints procedure and only had a reply with an apology and a £100 off future travel.
I’m still recovering 6 weeks later and would just like a a sufficient complaint and resolution.
Hi Kate, really sorry to hear this. Hope you have now fully recovered. Try to escalate your issue for better resolution via CEDR https://www.cedr.com/consumer/aviation/make-a-complaint/
Hi Jane,
My son was refused to get during check in by BA on 14 February.
He was supposed to go in an organised ski trip accompanied by school teachers.
The Italian embassy confirmed twice that he does not need a visa. He has complete documents required – passport, UK eVisa, expired BRP, letter from school he is attending school trip. BA did not accept and did not allow him to get on board from check in as they are looking for a visa. My son was sent home by teacher. We spent £1797 for ski trip alone not including other expenses such as clothing, equipment.
I have made a complaint with BA on their website 6 days ago. I know it is still early but I just want to know if I am doing the right thing or if there is anything else I need to do.
Hi, sorry to hear this, lodging an official complaint is the correct process if you made the booking. Once 8 weeks has passed the issues can be escalated to CEDR for resolution. if the school made the they need to contact BA or their travel operator and seek reason and refund for denied boarding.