In May my husband and I went on holiday to Lake Como in Italy. We flew from Heathrow to Milan Malpensa Airport with British Airways and paid with Avios.
We also booked our hotel and an airport transfer on the BA website. The latter service cost £432 and was described as a “premium private car transfer service”.
On the way there, the car transfer took an hour and a quarter. On the way back, we booked a pick-up at 11:00 for our 15:05 flight and we were expected to arrive at the airport around 12:15, which gave us plenty of time.
However, the car arrived 35 minutes late, which the driver said was due to traffic. The hotel checked the car’s navigation system and suggested an alternative route to avoid it.
The driver insisted on continuing on his route and we arrived at the airport at 2:40 pm, more than two hours late. The check-in counter was closed and we missed our flight.
You missed it: LH’s holiday to Lake Como came to an infuriating – and expensive – end when his car transfer to the airport was delayed, meaning he arrived too late to catch his flight.
We called BA but were told they couldn’t transfer us to the next flight without paying as we had used Avios for the booking.
I had to go home that night for a doctor’s appointment, so I booked the last available seat online for £444. My husband Booked at the box office for a cost of £618. Both were economy class.
We complained to BA and they told us to speak to the car company, but our booking didn’t include the name of the company and BA won’t tell us.
We have lost over £1000 on replacement flights and would also like some of the money back from the £432 premium transfer. We have also lost the Avios from the return flight we missed. LH, Essex
Helen Crane, consumer rights campaigner at This is Money, replies: You and your husband were loyal British Airways customers and had saved up enough Avios loyalty points to buy a pair of business class return tickets to Milan.
At the time of booking, you say it would have cost you around £800 in cash. You spent 18,250 points and used a companion voucher.
You had planned a short getaway to Lake Como, the beautiful spot in northern Italy where George Clooney famously owns a waterside villa.
You spent a few days living la dolce vita, but it all came to a very abrupt end when it was time to go home.
When his return trip to the airport ended in disaster, BA effectively told him – in the words of Clooney’s 2005 drama – Good night and good luck.
In total, you had paid around £2,800, plus Avios, for the original holiday. While everything was booked on the BA website, the hotel and car company is not run by BA.
The airline argues that since the vehicle was transported by a third-party company, it was not responsible for the missed flight.
But I would say that because the trip was booked on BA’s website as an add-on to your flights, and you paid your money to BA, the car company assumed some responsibility.
“We would have expected a reputable company to get us to the airport on time and take into account reports of heavy traffic,” he told me.
Even if I wanted to complain directly to the taxi company, I couldn’t (BA refuses to give them their name), something I’ll come back to later.
Of course, traffic jams happen, but the late arrival of the driver made the situation even worse. If I had arrived at the airport 35 minutes earlier, I could have made it to the flight by the skin of my teeth.
He also refused to accept the detour suggested by the hotel receptionist, which involved taking a ferry across the lake to another town.
Luxury: But LH’s “premium private car” failed to live up to expectations (file image)
I was also surprised to learn that British Airways would not give you a seat on another flight that day because you had paid with Avios, not cash. What a way to treat your brand’s most loyal customers!
To add insult to injury, when you finally got on the flight you told me that your £444 seat appeared to be double-booked.
In what may be your only stroke of luck that day, the person who booked it wasn’t sitting there and had bought it to make more room. He kindly allowed you to sit there anyway.
After you finally got home from Italy, you contacted BA to try and get some of your money back… and to give it a second thought.
Unfortunately, he washed his hands of the problem faster than someone who eats tiramisu without a spoon.
He insisted that the car transfer was a “third party” booking and that he would have to deal with them. But, surprisingly, BA refused to give him the name, phone number or email of that company, claiming that it did not even know them.
You have shown me your emails with BA where you repeatedly ask for these details and the customer service rep responds “we do not have the details you are requesting”.
He asked her to check her booking confirmation, which came from BA and simply said: “premium private car”.
He was later told that the heavy traffic was a “force majeure” event, which would not be covered under their refund policy.
I had a lot of questions so I reached out to BA to ask some of them.
When a customer books a car transfer on the BA website and pays BA, who is the contract with? What is BA’s policy on transfers to another flight when paid for with Avios? Would you be refunded the £1,062 for the replacement flights, the £432 for the car transfer or the Avios used on the flight you missed?
Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of a response. A BA spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about our customer’s experience and are in touch with them to resolve the matter.”
They have now agreed to refund you £300 in cash and 8,500 in Avios points.
That’s better than nothing and allows you to get back the Avios you lost on the return journey. But you and your husband still have no money and you still feel like BA has left you, to quote another Clooney film, in Up in the Air.
You told me that you are not happy with the amount, but that you are “losing the will to live” trying to get the refund, so you will accept it.
She is also considering filing a claim on her travel insurance and reporting it to the Center for Effective Dispute Resolution.
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