British Airways (BA), had to pay a steep bill after a shortage of toilet paper roll and the wrong kind of headphone on board a flight from London, Gatwick to caused a five hour delay.
Under European passengers’ rights rules, BA could be paying passengers up to £291,000 in compensation, plus thousands more in expenses.
The BA 777, with a capacity of 280, was due to leave at 1.40pm on Sunday afternoon. The passengers were scheduled to touch down on the Caribbean island at sunset, in good time to polish off drinks and dinner before a good night’s sleep.
Reports of inadequate preparation of the plane, which has a capacity of 280 people meant the flight was initially delayed by one hour and 40 minutes.
Rumours soon began circulating amongst passengers about the reason for the delay and many took to social media to express their frustration.
Despite flying the Atlantic with a clean configuration, adverse headwinds meant the aircraft did not reach the terminal in Barbados until midnight. There, over 200 passengers were waiting to fly back to Gatwick on the return leg. They had expected to leave at 8.15pm on Sunday but actually departed at 1.35am on Monday.
Passengers on long-haul flights that arrive four hours or more late are entitled to €600 (£520) in compensation, as well as meals while they wait for their flight. Claims management firms hoping to clean up on the delay have already started approaching passengers who mentioned the flight on social media; they typically take one-third of the compensation due.
Source: travelandtourworld.com
