‘No excuse for last minute cancellations,’ says former airline boss as passengers hit out at summer flight disruption

23 August 2023, 07:31 | Updated: 23 August 2023, 07:37

By Henry Riley

@HenryRiley1

Passengers have complained of another summer of travel disruption, after people were hit with last minute flight cancellations.

The months of July and August are notoriously the busiest of the year for travellers, with many using the summer break to take a holiday, visit family and to travel.

But angry passengers have complained that last minute cancellations have shattered their plans, and hampered their holidays – with some complaining that they had already checked in, and were waiting at the airport.

One of whom is Stephen who travelled to Heathrow from Birmingham just a few weeks ago for a direct flight to Denver in Colorado, only to find it was cancelled just over an hour before departure.

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Stephen told LBC that the lack of communication from the airline, British Airways, was “irritating” and “annoying”. He said “it was a family holiday and we were all ready at the boarding gate, looking out at the plane, only to be told it was cancelled”.

He added that “the process of getting a refund was a challenge in itself”. In response to this cancelled USA flight, the airline maintain that there was an unforeseen technical issue which meant that they could not give more notice, saying that customers would have been provided with rebooking options.

The issue of last-minute flight cancellations is one which affects all airlines, but experts say there is a particular scrutiny on British Airways with it being the UK's flag carrier.

Tim Jeans, who was formerly the Managing Director of Monarch Airlines, told LBC that there was “no good excuse for last minute cancellations”.

He added “the one thing you never do is cancel a flight once it has gone for check in. There are plenty of opportunities to do this earlier, and to let people know before they leave for the airport”.

With regards to the challenges with British Airways, Tim Jeans, who now serves as a director for Newquay Airport, added that it faced a “greater struggle” with cancellations due to it operating a “very complex network”. But he confessed that “communication was letting airlines down” and “leaving passengers in the dark”.

Growing frustration among passengers comes in light of concerning data from the consumer group Which? Who conceded that it had been an “abysmal summer” for air travel.

In a survey of over 8,000 people, Which? found that customers were repeatedly let down by poor service at various airlines - including at BA.

Rory Boland from the group told LBC “for the flag carrier, with a tag line of To Fly To Serve, clearly a lot of customers are disappointed with the service they have received, and that has been the case for several years”.

He added that BA was “simply not providing enough value for money”, and that “people are often paying a little bit more” but for no improvement in customer service.

In response a spokesperson for BA said 'The overwhelming majority of our flights operate as planned.”

“If we have to make the difficult decision to cancel a flight we contact our customers with as much notice as possible to apologise and inform them of their rights and offer options, including a full refund or the ability to rebook onto an alternative flight with British Airways or another carrier.”

Whilst passengers complain that flight cancellations are becoming a regular occurrence, some can be outside the control of the airline. They can often be imposed due to Air Traffic Control strikes, adverse global weather restrictions or the closure of airspace.