[RD1069]

My husband and I will be married for 25 years on March 25th. We decided to celebrate this milestone by traveling to Italy for two weeks. We purchased our tickets in January with our AMEX reward points on British Airways. Due to the Corona Virus – Covid 19 British Airways cancelled our flight into Venice. The President of the US also issued a travel ban for nonessential travel to foreign countries.

Our flight is supposed to leave this Saturday, March 7th. I have made numerous contacts to AMEX and British airways.I was told I could change true flight but had to complete my travel by May 31, 2020. My husband and I are administrators in the education field and do not have the same luxury as teachers, meaning that we work during the summer. Therefore, we are not able to take the suggested vacation.

AMEX tried very hard to discuss our issue with British Airways for a refund or even allowing us to book the ticket for next March during our spring break. Again, we were turned down. I completely understand following rules, however this is a situation beyond our control. We were also told that you would fly us to Zurich or Geneva and we could drive to our destination in Italy (which means we would have to drive through the quarantined areas. Of course, this is not an option.

We listened (on mute) in as the AMEX agent talked to one of your employees and then a supervisor. I could not believe how cold, callous, and rude your employees were. The Amex agent verified twice that they did not care and would not help anyone. I was truly shocked how unprofessional and uncaring British Airways was towards this horrible situation our world faces.

I am 62 years old with an autoimmune disease and extremely susceptible to viruses etc. I can not go somewhere that would jeopardize my health or take that risk. We used our AMEX points to purchase our flight tickets and wa told that we would just lose the reward points and ticket. Is this the way that British Airways treat their customers? It is truly frustrating to hear there is nothing we can do. AMEX told us to contact British Airways and British Airways said we must talk to AMEX. We have literally spent at least 20 hours trying to resolve this as soon as possible. I have never been treated or talked to so rudely.

I have never used British Airways and truly considering not using you in the future because of the way I have been treated. As a leader of this airline I pray that the right this is done.

I am asking that you put yourself in shoes and find it in your heart to do the right thing for your customer which would be to refund our tickets due to a serious outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. Travel bans, schools closings, deaths etc. are out our control and not our fault in having to change our plans. We purchased a service from Austin, Texas to Venice Italy. Since this service can not be provided we should be eligible for a refund.

Again, I am asking that you please refund our ticket. Your help and consideration in this matter is greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you via email or via phone.

[Jenni Reid]

Hello, I’m sorry to hear about your experience.

You may be aware but I just wanted to clarify that we are a travel news website called Business Traveller and are not connected to British Airways.

If you need a response from the airline you will need to contact them through their own channels – some links are provided here:
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/help-and-contacts/complaints-and-claims

Best of luck.

Jenni

[FormerBA]

Awful situation and my heart goes out to you.

I would also suggest that give your medical condition that your doctor would might be willing to declare you unfit to travel and in doing so allow you to claim on your insurance.

Good luck

1 user thanked author for this post.

Jenni Reid

[BackOfThePlane]

[postquote quote=992984][/postquote]

Original post stated that they were meant to fly on 7th March so pretty much a done deal.

With the recent news regards Italy, I’m hoping that RD1069 hasn’t travelled to Italy.

[PeterCoultas]

My experience has been much better… also planning on visiting Venise had booked flights and hotels with BA around 6 months back. The biggest problems were the stupid slowness of FCO to advise against travel there and the long (45 minutes plus) waits on the phone when trying to contact BA though that was largely the fault of the FCO waiting until panic was setting in. Once contacted, BA credited my Amex account (a US one) within 2 days. Am now wondering if I can also cancel another planned trip (using points for this one) from DME (Moscow) to London but will be waiting to see if the FCO is awake if there are coronavirus problems with that trip.

[Author]

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