British Airways offers quicker help with flight disruptions

If your British Airways flight is delayed or canceled, you may be able to claim expenses for hotel accommodation, transport, meals and refreshments. But the airline won’t cover “consequential losses” such as missed hotel stays or car rental or pay for you to head off to another departure point or a different destination. This is just some of the advice on a new section of the BA website designed to allow customers to get help more quickly when their flight goes awry. READ: British Airways going back to the future for its first 100 years. You can also apply for a refund for selected seating or ordered meals and get help with lost or damaged baggage. BA carries about 125,000 customers a day on 800 flights and says the vast majority depart on time and without issue. But the complex nature of air travel means there are always disruptions and one of the biggest complaints by passengers when this happens is that there is never enough information. The airline hopes ba.com/helpme  will overcome that by assisting customers with managing their bookings, re-booking, refunding or changing their flights. It also links them to specific customer relations teams able to help them request special assistance, claim compensation, locate their bags or apply for reimbursement. It says this will speed up resolution times. “We know that when our customers have experienced an issue they expect us to respond quickly,”’ said BA general manager global customer care  Finola O’Sullivan. “They also want us to give them more control over their journeys. “The new section of the website means our customers can clearly identify where to send their enquiry, and, as it is immediately delivered to the appropriate team, we are able to deal with it faster.” The move is part of a £6.5 billion investment by British Airways over five years to improve the experience of its customers. It is also investing millions in training staff at its London Heathrow hub to help customers across areas such as re-booking, changing reservations, finding delayed luggage or providing up to date flight information. It says this means every customer service agent will be able to help passengers with a range of issues.