Airlines pay out hundreds of thousands after initially rejecting claims | EUROtoday

Airlines are paying out hundreds of thousands of kilos in compensation to passengers yearly after initially saying no as shopper teams accuse corporations of attempting to place prospects off making claims for extreme delays or cancellations.

Almost £11m was paid to passengers within the yr to October 2025, whose claims have been rejected or left unresolved earlier than being escalated to unbiased adjudicator, in accordance with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Customers advised the BBC that airways had “tried to confuse” them to make them drop claims.

Airlines UK mentioned: “UK airlines take their consumer responsibilities seriously and always look to provide clear information and support for their customers in times of disruption.”

The affiliation, which represents the airline trade, added: “The latest Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Survey reflects this commitment, showing passenger satisfaction at their highest levels since 2019.”

Graeme Bowd, who runs a shopper group on Facebook advising folks on airline claims, advised the BBC: “Weddings get missed, holidays get ruined and business meetings get cancelled and people find it extremely frustrating when their can’t get their compensation claims settled.”

The overwhelming majority of the payouts detailed within the CAA’s knowledge got here from British Airways (BA) adopted by Wizz Air, Ryanair and Easyjet.

BA paid £6.9m to passengers whose claims the airline had initially rejected or weren’t resolved.

Of 10,679 complaints made towards the airline, 81% have been upheld in favour of consumers after being escalated to an unbiased grievance physique.

BA mentioned the “vast majority” of its flights run with out challenge.

In the identical 12 month interval to final October, Wizz Air handed over £1.7m to prospects, Ryanair paid £1.68m, and EasyJet shelled out £371,000 in passenger compensation.

The CAA’s knowledge refers to complaints dealt with by the UK’s two greatest adjudicators – the Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited (CDRL) and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).

A minority of points are handled by smaller adjudicators.

EasyJet mentioned: “We always pay compensation if it is due and have an easy form customers can claim through on our website.”

Wizz Air declined to remark. Ryanair has been approached for a response.

Bowd mentioned BA used “several stock excuses” similar to “adverse weather” or “Air Traffic Control restrictions”.

But he mentioned: “When we check out these excuses we often find they’re not valid at all, but it’s very difficult for ordinary airline passengers to check for themselves.

“I believe the overall precept is that they do not count on all people to say,” Bowd said. “For people who do, if they are often fobbed off and annoyed for lengthy sufficient, most of them will hand over.”

Laurie Watson had been flying back to the UK from Athens after a sailing holiday when his return flight was cancelled.

When he tried to claim, BA told him there had been adverse weather conditions and rejected paying him compensation.

But Watson wasn’t having it.

After checking weather reports for the day he was due to fly, he disputed BA’s rejection.

“They ship such a bewildering quantity of data by way of {that a} lay individual could not perceive it,” he said. “They’re attempting to confuse you, I believe, and make you drop the declare.”

He recalled: “It was a number of aviation communicate and that made me extra decided to comply with it by way of.”

In a judgement seen by the BBC, CEDR found there was “no persuasive proof” that Watson’s flight was affected by adverse weather which would have resulted in such a delay, and the airline was ordered to pay him £700.

Heather Follows had been travelling to her sister’s wedding in Canada with her children but was told her flight with BA had been cancelled due to an engine issue.

She was suspicious from the word go. “It did not fairly stack up in any respect,” Follows mentioned.

“I simply felt prefer it was a tactical strategy that they have been utilizing recurrently to get away with rescheduling flights that weren’t viable.”

Follows felt that BA was unconcerned “each the emotional trouble of attempting to rearrange issues and the private inconvenience and the prices that I’d incurred and simply the period of time that was concerned in truly attempting to get the paperwork collectively”.

Adjudicators found that BA had not “sufficiently demonstrated that there have been no cheap measures it might have taken to keep away from the cancellation of the flight” and that “the defect was recognized to the corporate no less than since 2017”.

In the end, BA was ordered to pay Follows £1,560.

In response, BA said: “Where prospects submit claims for compensation that meet the legislative necessities, our groups work very laborious to course of them as rapidly as doable.

“In the cases raised, our teams have reached out to our customers to resolve the matters.”

It added: “Most delays and cancellations occur as a result of circumstances beyond our control, such as poor weather or air traffic control restrictions, but when issues occur, we always do our best to make things right.”

EasyJet mentioned: “If a flight is disrupted, we take our responsibilities seriously and always try to ensure customers are well informed and looked after.”