British Airways find $1.1M by US Government over Covid refunds 

The US Department of Transportation said the airline had not provided “timely refunds to passengers” for abandoned or rescheduled flights to and from the country.

It said it had received more than 1,200 complaints about the airline.

According to the transport department, from March to November 2020, BA’s website instructed consumers to contact the carrier by phone to discuss refund options, including for flights the carrier had cancelled or significantly changed.

Advertisement.

“There was also no way to submit a refund request through the carrier’s website during this period,” the department said.

It said that along with the 1,200 complaints received by the department, BA had received thousands more complaints and refund requests directly from consumers.

The department said the failures had “caused significant challenges and delays in thousands of consumers receiving required refunds”.

Advertisement.

The airline said: “We’re very sorry that at the height of the unprecedented pandemic – when we were unfortunately forced to cancel thousands of flights and close some call centres due to government restrictions – our customers experienced slightly longer wait times to reach customer service teams