British Airways has come under scrutiny for its high level of cancellations compared with rivals as the busy summer travel season gets under way.
The airline cancelled 2.3 per cent of its flights out of the UK last year, or 4,033 take-offs, significantly higher than the industry average rate of 1.4 per cent of flights, according to figures from Cirium, an aviation analytics business. It cancelled nearly double the number of flights compared with easyJet, the budget competitor.
British Airways has received criticism in recent years for shortcomings in both staffing levels and technical glitches. It experienced IT problems last May, with the fallout resulting in more than 175 cancelled flights. Last month a fault with its baggage system led to significant travel disruption. Many passengers experienced delays, while others took off without their bags on board and were left to wait hours to be reunited with their luggage.
It was only the latest technical fault from British Airways to cause significant flight disruption. In 2017, a computer system failure left 75,000 passengers stranded and 1,000 flights disrupted during a bank holiday weekend.
Concerns about the airline’s cancellation rates come as both British Airways and easyJet faced the High Court over claims that they must automatically compensate travellers whose flights have been severely delayed or cancelled. The case against them has been brought by Claire Smyth, an individual backed by litigation funders.
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The two airlines are seeking to have the case against them thrown out in a two-day hearing. They have argued that the case is “misconceived”, according to report in The Daily Telegraph.
Lawyers have found details of up to 100,000 flights since 2016 that were either delayed or cancelled. The case has the potential to leave airlines paying damages of up to £100 million to passengers who were affected by the disruption.
Passengers are entitled to compensation of up to £520 if their flights are delayed by more than three hours. However, they must contact the airlines themselves to submit a claim. There are concerns that passengers are unaware of their rights as many do not seek compensation for flight disruption.
If the High Court case is successful, it could lead to a shake-up in the way passengers are reimbursed for delays or cancellations. Travellers would be automatically reimbursed and would not have to submit a claim themselves.
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A British Airways spokesman said: “We comply with our obligations under the regulation. We don’t believe this claim has a proper legal basis. It’s misconceived and therefore, along with easyJet, we’ve applied to strike it out. In any event, we will continue to strongly defend our position.”
EasyJet said: “Not only do we believe this has no legal or procedural basis, this action is being brought in order to profit by taking a cut from every claim when there are already existing and easy routes for eligible customers to receive 100 per cent of their compensation.”
Shares in International Consolidated Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways, rose by 3½p, or 2 per cent, to 176p. EasyJet’s stock added 6¼p, or 1.3 per cent, to 471½p.
