The US authorities are right to hit BA with $1.1m fine, says Which? director of policy

That time, if not quite completely over, has certainly faded in recent years. The carrier hit significant turbulence in Which? Travel’s most recent survey of the best airlines, posting a thoroughly mediocre rating for both short and long haul flights, and has recently been in the headlines again for the wrong reasons - the latest of which was yet another IT meltdown last month.

Yet, while frustrating for those with holidays booked, tech troubles aren’t in and of themselves inexcusable. It is how airlines behave after the event that matters most. That not only means rectifying the issue as soon as possible, but also ensuring that passengers are made aware of and granted their rights under consumer law. And it is here where airlines - so often fall short.

If you arrive at an airport only to discover that the flight you thought you were supposed to board has been severely delayed or cancelled entirely, you should be eligible for compensation and certain essential expenses.

But how often does any of that happen in practice? It is, sadly, not as often as it should be with many airlines. A recent Which? investigation found airlines have run up £4.5 million in unpaid court orders after failing to pay passenger expenses and refunds that they are legally entitled to.

And it is on the issue of refunds which caused the US government to fine BA $1.1m last week. The Department of Transportation (DOT) said it had received over 1,200 complaints from passengers, many of whom told of how they weren’t able to contact BA’s customer service agents in pursuit of refunds for abandoned or rescheduled flights. While BA rejects the DOT’s claims, arguing it acted lawfully at all times, Which? found millions of UK travellers were left waiting for refunds they were legally entitled during the pandemic too as some airlines, including BA, broke the law and let down passengers with appalling customer service.

The US authorities are right to hit BA with a fine large enough to give it an incentive to improve its performance. Indeed, America is not the only country to have stronger enforcement powers. Across the border, the Canadian Transportation Agency can hand down fines of up to $25,000 per incident for non-compliance with the country’s passenger regulations.

The biggest shame, then, of this sorry episode is that the UK’s regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), lacks fining powers to follow the lead of its North American counterparts. In addition the regulator seems reluctant to use those powers it does have, such as “naming and shaming” businesses behaving unfairly, favouring an approach of voluntary action by airlines to encourage better practice - an approach which has consistently failed. It has taken just one enforcement action in nearly two decades.

Hamstrung by the inability to punish airlines with hefty fines should they break the law, the deterrent for airlines to comply is all but removed. Customer complaints can simply be ignored, meaning airlines can - and do - simply walk away from enforcement decisions they don’t like (as Ryanair did in 2019 when it was instructed to compensate passengers for cancelled flights during strike action).

Worse still, our Department for Transport still has a proposal on the table to weaken domestic passengers’ compensation rights. It would be a slap in the face for consumers, particularly disabled and those more vulnerable if the Government was to proceed with this.

With the PM in the US he should ponder why American passengers are going to get a better deal for the same issues British ones are left out of pocket. And when he returns he has an opportunity in Autumn’s King Speech to side with holidaymakers and hand the CAA the powers it needs to finally hold airlines to account.

Rocio Concha is Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy and Chief Economist