British Airways Reviews 

We had the most amazing flight with BA, purely down to the amazing staff on the plane. We were looked after by Ros, Phillipa and Sam on our flight from Venice to London Heathrow on 24/09. They made us feel so comfortable - my partner is not great with flying and they genuinely made him laugh during the flight which is no small feat! We were given special attention as we had just got engaged - which made the flight feel extra special.

I do hope that Ros, Philipa and Sam get recognition for their amazing work on this flight :)

My business class (direct) flight to Larnaca was cancelled on 9th September, due to the air traffic control system issue. BA were unable to get me onto another flight until the following day, with a stopover in Athens, and reaching my destination very late the following night on 10th September. I stayed in a hotel at Heathrow airport prior to the flight. Unfortunately, the local hotels took advantage of the situation and increased their prices to almost twice the normal cost; however, BA have refused to re-imburse me for the full cost of the hotel, which is extremely disappointing. I also had to cancel my accommodation in Cyprus, due to the very late arrival, as I was due to check out on the morning of 11th September to fly elsewhere. BA have also refused to compensate me for this, which is a disgrace, as the first part of my holiday was completely ruined and I've lost quite a bit of money in the process. I have been a good and loyal customer for many years, but this experience has tarred the way I feel about BA. Evidently, good custom and loyalty mean nothing to this airline. I will be using other airlines from hereon, and will not waste any more of my money on BA.

Our flight was cancelled coming back from Marseilles due to a fault on the aircraft. The Captain and crew kept us sat on the tarmac for 2 hours whilst they tried to carry out a repair. The repair was unsuccessful and so we waited another hour for someone in BA UK to authorise buses to take us back to the terminal?? When we got to the terminal the ground staff (Avia)did their best to find out what was happening whilst passengers grew angrier. There was no BA representation and everything had to be relayed via UK causing massive delays and confusion. Customers were getting more and more irate at zero information and decisions. The Flight could have been cancelled after 4 hours but instead we spent a day sitting around waiting for a decision. It really was a shocking performance. We then had to wait a further 2 hours for our luggage to be returned. There was no assistance to arrange hotels. We were left to fend for ourselves. The BA website says that they will keep you informed. They failed. The whole website reads like a Labour Manifesto promising everything that you want to hear and having no ability or interest to deliver. You cannot operate an airline remotely. You need a local representative to arrange local services. Not leave customers fuming and becoming angry with local sub contractors all because somebody sitting in the UK didn't understand what was happening in France. It really was shambolic and demonstrated everything that is going wrong with Britain. I am flying out to the States next week but have decided not to use BA but fly United instead. I generally fly long haul 4 times per year but will now avoid BA like the plague. This cancellation caused me to miss a business flight the following day. BA website tells me that because my next flight is with another airline they will not compensate the missed flight or hotel. It's just not good enough!

I am leaving the original review below so that people can see the issue I had, HOWEVER I would like to say that I was fortunate to be contacted by Demi who is in the Trustpilot scheme with BA who has been fantastic.

She totally understood everything had reviewed the case and could see I was being very reasonable by what I was asking for.

She is transferring me back the money I paid to reserve the two seats together (rather than wait until 24 hours before the flight) and as a gesture has offered an additional air miles transfer as an apology for the inconvenience.

She has been great, called me yesterday and called back today exactly when it was agreed I would be free.

Demi is a real asset to the company and whilst I originally gave my review a 1 star, this has been amended to 4 because in fairness I fly a fair amount with BA and this is only the only time I have had an issue that has not been sorted. (if it was based on just the aftercare since my review I would have provided 5 stars)


We had 2 seats sitting in premium on a long haul flight from Heathrow to Singapore and to ensure they sat together I paid nearly £90 to reserve the seats plus air miles.

Unfortunately one of the seats didn`t work properly which was very disappointing.

Upon our return to the UK we raised the issue that they were aware of so i requested the fee we paid to reserve the seats back (its free to reserve the day before but I paid this to guarantee them together).

They refused and offered 5,000 airmiles which I found an insult!!

I was not looking to make money, get loads of air miles, simply get my money back I paid to reserve the seat but it was a stone wall no and just 5,000 air miles.

The whatsapp feature to resolve my seating issue was effieciantly handled this morning.

I had an issue with the seats and my flight was scheduled for the next day. Customer service was very helpful and resolved the issue immediately.

1 star is generous.
I transferred 50,000 Avios into British Airways specifically to move them to Finnair for a time sensitive partner award. What followed has been one of the most dysfunctional customer-service experiences I have ever dealt with.
For four full days, BA repeatedly forced me through identity verification, including government ID uploads and facial verification, only to reject the Avios transfer again and again with no meaningful explanation.
I corrected my date of birth with both British Airways and Finnair. Finnair confirmed that everything on their side was correct. BA support then told me there was no visible restriction on my account, yet the transfer continued to fail.
I opened case 15172005, spent hours on phone calls and live chat, re uploaded my passport, contacted Executive Club, escalated through IAG Loyalty, and was repeatedly sent in circles. At one point, BA’s own case tracker claimed they were waiting for information from me because they had emailed me no such email was ever received.
Meanwhile, the award availability I transferred these points for disappeared.
The most frustrating part is not that a security check happened. Security is understandable. The problem is that nobody at British Airways could explain what was wrong, nobody could fix it, and I was repeatedly asked to complete the same verification process that had already failed multiple times.
I have now had to escalate the matter outside British Airways because normal support has been incapable of resolving a basic Avios account issue.
An airline loyalty program should not make customers feel like they are fighting their own points just to use them.

Jo was able to help where multiple other agents were not. I was told by another agent that this was a glitch they couldn’t do anything about and unfortunately I had to suffer. Jo to the rescue!

I needed to change my 2FA app.

BA's website and app are full of issues. One (of many) is that there are no two-factor authentication settings at all.

On the flip side, I asked the BAC team (initially via WhatsApp) to remove my 2FA so I could set up the new one, and they resolved my issue very quickly.

​I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction with both the onboard experience on our recent long-haul flight and the subsequent handling of Case Reference 14120404.

​Having saved air miles long and hard, my wife and I redeemed a significant number of Avios to upgrade our seats expecting a restful, long-haul journey. Instead, both seats suffered from faulty recline functions, completely defeating the purpose of the upgrade. While the cabin crew attempted to assist onboard, the issue remained unresolved, leaving us unable to relax for the duration of the flight.
​The recent BA customer relations Team —acknowledging the seat defects while refusing any meaningful compensation or resolution—is deeply disappointing. Suggesting that issues like this should simply be resolved mid-flight on the aircraft places passengers in an unfair and uncomfortable position, while brushing off the loss of value from hard-earned Avios redeemed for a premium experience.

​I requested that British Airways re-evaluated its stance on the matter and provide appropriate compensation for the compromised flight experience and faulty seating. After various responses from a customer care centre, based outside the UK there was a distinct lack of interest or concern! The experience has really dissapointed us and our loyalty for "flying the flag" and that well known cliche has gone down the pan. Very sad!
​Geoff Thorpe

My family of four flew first class BA, London to Chicago on 4 July. The plane was delayed by over three hours due to a technical problem - unsurprising as their planes are all so old, nothing works. Having kept us waiting at the gate with nowhere to sit for three hours (not the first class experience we had planned) and when we did board, the crew on the plane completely neglected us despite our family of four taking up half the first class cabin. Due to the 3 hour delay, the plane hit bad weather and we were diverted to Cincinnati. We were kept waiting for hours at Cincinnati with two young children with not even so much as an offer of a bottle of water or anywhere to sit. We were told that BA London would sort us out - they in fact did nothing except have their useless staff ask for positive reviews. In fact BA sorted nothing and we had to find our own hotel accommodation - now in the middle of the night local time, early hours of the morning UK time and also sort our own onward flight as the British Airways website was down. On the flight home two of our seats inflight entertainment didn't work - again because their planes are so old. When we got home after our holiday I made a compensation request for the flight delay, hotel accommodation and downgrade in flight as our flight to Chicago ended up in economy AND they didn't credit me for the tier points on this leg saying I should have kept my boarding pass and maybe I had entered the club number incorrectly despite them crediting the other flights on the same booking. British Airways entire modus operandi is to frustrate you into giving up. They are utterly useless. They have confirmed in an email on 19th August I would receive the compensation direct into my bank account within 7-10 days. Despite it now being 5 weeks later I still haven't received the money. They then separately confirmed I would receive a refund for the difference in fare from Cincinnati to Chicago as we paid for first but ended up in economy. They said they would refund x amount for the adult fares and y for the child fares. I have only received a refund for the adult fares. And finally they have said that they will credit me my tier points but that I should have checked I entered the club account number correctly. I have repeatedly told them that the flight was under the same booking of four flights and all the other three flights had their tier points credited successfully. They just send you pointless emails saying they are looking at your case but weeks and months go by without them actually doing anything. There is no number to call them on. The cabin crew on our flight home took pity on us as they confirmed our experience was so poor and kindly made a complaint via the onboard app requesting customer service to telephone me - they did no such thing. If this review deters even one person from flying with BA it will be worth it until they start to value their customers. We flew American Airlines and the service was great. We even flew Delta economy and the planes and service was also so much better than BA. Don't go by the nostalgia - there are so many better airlines out there, even within the One World group.

After a computer error that cancelled my booking I was treated appallingly by BA. I had WhatsApp messages at 1am and then no response for 24 hours. I was bounced between customer relations and customer services- all telling me that responding to bad service is nothing to do with them! I managed to rebook the flights but getting a response about why they manage customer queries so badly has proved impossible.

If I could do -0 I would. Our annual anniversary business class flight we have been down graded, words cannot explain my dissatisfaction. My husband & I do this once a year and we have been downgraded to middle of plane we are not even sitting together, how awful is that. Our meals & drinks that we paid for in Jan are no more, I am distressed & so so frustrated, the not giving a shit displayed by your ground staff is unbelievable. They told us to speak to plane staff re our meals & drink, total gaslighting the plane staff advised everything was down graded including meals & drinks shame on your staff. Heartbreaking to see all the passengers in business glass being offered food & drinks and we are not even sitting together. Shame on you.

Very poor experience with British airways. Declined boarding and we are after claim more than 2months. Issued no balance compensation card and cheated

Request to change name was due to passport control regulation changes and having to get a new passport after flight was booked.
Multiple phone calls regarding updating my name on existing booking went unresolved with none of the agents being able to find resolution. After a month of trying to find resolution , I was informed by agent that only option was to cancel my existing booking and rebook. Result was loss of sest booked on points and rebookinf for either $2000.00 in economy or $6000.00 and separate me from my family.
There was room on the existing flight however BA agent never offered a lateral move; just me to pay atrocious cost of new ticket.
The whole fiasco began due to a British Airways agent entering my name incorrectly in my booking.
Multiple Agents were rude (i was hung up on by one). Another chastised me for not doing anything sooner (i was at this for two months, 8 phone calls, waiting for a response which never came). One BA agent said their systems couldn’t make the changes and the partner airline would not make changes either. Three other airlines Cathay, West jet and Transat facilitated the exact same request within 24 hours and at no additional expense or alteration to my family travel plans.
Review should be a zero star.
This is the worst experience I have ever had in all my time travelling and is my first and last dealing with British Airways and Iberia.

Two passengers requiring wheelchair assistance, with four missing bags including mobility equipment. British Airways gave conflicting information about where the bags were, provided no practical assistance to recover them at Heathrow despite being told to travel multiple times between terminals 3,4 & 5, failed to transfer them to our onward flight as promised, and we have since failed to get any response from British Airways since travelling 5 days ago. All contact methods fail. Emails are ignored. Telephone customer service unable to provide any assistance stating only to file an online complaint and terminate the calls. If you require mobility assistance do not travel with British Airways. Wheelchairs passengers appear as a burden and BA look only to discourage them from flying with British Airways.

On a flight back from Washington Baltimore to London, I was offered an evening meal of curry....or curry. The cabin crew serving had inch long false nails. Three hours after I got home, having eaten nothing but BA curry myself and my daughter both got diarrhoea and vomiting. When I complained, the BA complaint officer required, bizarrely, a photo of the meal I'd eaten. There was an 'investigation' which came to nothing and no apology for lack of good choice, the poor handling of the complaint and the hygiene and uniform violation of unhygienic nails when serving food. Suggest you explore all airline choices before booking BA.

Shocking lack of communications and hostile customer service
I had an absolutely terrible experience on my recent trip with British Airways marked by total operational chaos and a complete lack of empathy from staff
My flight was rebooked without any communication or explanation of the cause. To make matter worse , the ground staff offered no assistance whatsoever , there was massive queue at immigration making things worse and reasons for people to miss the connections flight and BA staff there was doing nothing to help the customers, when the flight was officially rescheduled for the following day, I was forced to bounce between four different service counters just to secure a hotel accommodation, Most of the staff I encountered were incredibly rude and unhelpful, and culminating in an encounter with a customer service lead who was outright hostile,
Airlines face operational delays but the way British airways treats its passengers during a disruption is unacceptable, The total breakdown in communication and the defensive rude attitude of the staff made a stressful situation much worse,

Very disappointing experience with British Airways.
On flight BA721 from Istanbul to London, I politely asked a cabin crew member for water because my wife needed it to take medication. Instead of simply explaining that the water service had just started and asking me to wait, she responded in an unnecessarily aggressive and disrespectful manner in front of my wife and other passengers.
This was not an isolated interaction. The same crew member had also responded abruptly and unfriendly to the passenger sitting next to me when she asked about ordering breakfast. After witnessing the way the crew member then spoke to me, that passenger independently intervened and questioned why she was being so aggressive.
What made the experience even more disappointing was how British Airways handled my complaint afterward. I received a general apology, but my main concern was never properly addressed. I specifically asked whether the crew member had been identified and whether this particular incident had been formally reviewed by the appropriate management. My case was closed twice without receiving a satisfactory or substantive answer to those questions.
I simply expected to be treated with dignity and respect and wanted assurance that this type of behavior was taken seriously.
Unfortunately, both the onboard experience and the way my complaint was subsequently handled have made me seriously reconsider flying with British Airways again.

BA stepped up when most wouldn’t. When faced with a personal family emergency, BA were there the moment I called, the gentleman on phone was kind and empathetic and BA put adjustments in place to get me where I needed to be quickly. Small issues can often be overinflated but in a life defining moment, they showed up. I’m very grateful.