Compensation cancelled flights

The British travel industry is urging the government to protect the many benefits currently enjoyed by UK holidaymakers under EU membership, including visa-free travel and free or reduced healthcare, in Brexit negotiations. The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) wants ministers to maintain Britons’ ability to travel freely within Europe and beyond and protect existing consumer rights including compensation for delayed and cancelled flights. It is lobbying the government to secure the UK’s continued participation in the European Health Insurance Card scheme, which guarantees UK travellers reciprocal access to healthcare across Europe. In a new report, Making a Success of Brexit for Travel and Tourism, Abta sets out priorities for the negotiations that have implications for UK holidaymakers and the travel industry. Abta has about 1,200 members – including airlines, tour operators and travel agents – with a combined UK turnover of £32bn. The EU is … [Read more...] about UK holidaymakers must keep EU rights after Brexit, says Abta

Strong demand among British holidaymakers for trips to Spain, Mexico and Jamaica has helped the owner of holiday brands Thomson and First Choice to compensate for reduced bookings to Turkey and north Africa. Tui Travel said revenues for the summer, when it makes all its profit, are up 3% and bookings are up 2%. Demand in the UK is strong with revenues up 8% and bookings registering a 9% rise, Tui said in a trading statement. The company said it moved quickly to switch customers to mainland Spain and the Spanish islands after a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Turkey, traditionally one of Tui’s most popular destinations. Flights to Sharm el-Sheikh have been cancelled since a Russian passenger plane was downed in October, probably by a bomb, after leaving the Egyptian resort. Tui said customers are also opting for long-haul trips to Mexico, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and are booking cruises. It has sold 47% of summer holidays, in line with last year, beating its rival … [Read more...] about Tui Travel reports strong UK demand despite terrorism and weaker pound

British Airways's boss has apologised for what he says was a sophisticated breach of the firm's security systems, and has promised compensation.Alex Cruz told the BBC that hackers carried out a "sophisticated, malicious criminal attack" on its website.The airline said personal and financial details of customers making or changing bookings had been compromised. About 380,000 transactions were affected, but the stolen data did not include travel or passport details."We are 100% committed to compensate them, period," Mr Cruz told the BBC's Today programme."We are committed to working with any customer who may have been financially affected by this attack, and we will compensate them for any financial hardship that they may have suffered."BA said the breach took place between 22:58 BST on 21 August and 21:45 BST on 5 September. Shares in BA parent group IAG closed 1.4% lower on Friday. CommunicationMr Cruz also told the Today programme: "We're extremely sorry. I know that it is causing … [Read more...] about British Airways boss apologises for ‘malicious’ data breach

How can this have happened?BA says that: "The root cause was a power supply issue which our affected our IT systems - we continue to investigate this."The airline said it could not add anything further at this stage, but it is understood that all systems are not fully up and running yet.John Strickland, air transport expert and director at JLS Consulting, says: "The problem has affected multiple parts of the business which are not only customer-facing, but also operational-facing, and without which the airline could not do many tasks, for example completing load sheets [which are needed for fuel calculations] for aircraft."BA flights chaos continues at HeathrowWas outsourcing IT to India an issue?The GMB union has suggested the BA computer systems failure was "another example of the shortcomings of BA IT systems since they made a number of staff redundant, and outsourced their work to India in 2016."Mick Rix, GMB national officer for aviation said: "BA made hundreds of dedicated and … [Read more...] about Five questions for BA over IT crash