Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Page 13

ALRIGHT, JACK!

CROTIA

NETHERLANDS

LUXEMBOURG

GERMANY

POLAND

REPUBLIC OF

IRELAND

BOSNIA

200 miles

DENMARK

A

Kaliningrad

RUSSIA

FRANCE

SPAIN

Palma de

Mallorca

Naples

Olbia

Palamos

Livorno

CORSICA

SARDINIA

OROCCO

ALGERIA TUNISIA

ITALY

Today 7am - 7pm Livorno

Tomorrow, 7am - 6pm

TRIP OF A LIFETIME: WHERE HIS LINER VISITS

Friday Aug 30 9am - 6pm

Saturday Aug 24

10pm cruise departs

Saturday Aug 31

6am cruise ends

Monday Aug 26

7am - 6pm

Tuesday Aug 27

9am - 5pm

Bournemouth

Villefranche-

sur-Mer

Saturday Aug 24 Flight from

Bournemouth airport

to Palma

918 cabins

2,074 passengers

11 decks

7 restaurants

2 pools

(with hot tubs)

7 bars

MARELLA

DISCOVERY 2

■Outdoor cinema –

offering ‘Movies

by Moonlight’

■800 seat

Broadway

Show Lounge

■Four

whirlpool

baths

■Mini

golf (nine

holes)

■Spa, sauna

and beauty

salon

■Casino -

open until

late

LUXURY ON BOARD

THE CRUISE SHIP

BRITISH Airways has been ordered to reim-

burse passengers who booked alternative

flights after they were wrongly told their

BA journeys had been cancelled.

The Civil Aviation Authority said those

affected ‘should not be left out of pocket’

for extra expenses, including travel, food

and accommodation, incurred as a result

of the mistake.

The airline is facing a mounting compen-

sation bill after the plans of hundreds of

thousands of customers were thrown into

disarray by three days of strikes scheduled

for September 9, 10 and 27.

To make matters worse, the airline

emailed many unaffected passengers in

error, telling them their flight had been

cancelled and that is ‘it is likely that you

will not be able to travel’. These holiday-

makers later received another email

informing that, in fact, their flight would

go ahead as planned – prompting fury

from those who swiftly acted on the first

message, and booked another flight.

BA said it will reimburse passengers on a

‘case by case basis’, but this had many

fearing they will be left out of pocket. The

incident could have ramifications for simi-

lar gaffes in the future.

Compensation remains a grey area, and

the CAA stepped up the pressure on BA yes-

terday, saying: ‘Those consumers that took

action should not be left out of pocket, and

any reasonable costs of re-booked flights

should be claimed from the airline.’

Passengers who have seen their flights

cancelled should be offered a refund or

alternative travel arrangements. They also

have the right to a later flight. Richard

Stephenson of the CAA said: ‘We are seek-

ing an explanation to confirm how BA

complied with its re-routing obligations.’

Guy Anker, deputy editor at consumer

Passengers who booked

new flights after email

gaffe ‘must be refunded’

website MoneySavingExpert, said: ‘What

BA did was amateurish in the extreme. The

CAA is absolutely correct that BA should

return every single penny to anyone who

unnecessarily booked alternative flights,

trains and accommodation’.

Last night BA insisted it is working ‘tire-

lessly’ to re-route affected passengers and

reimburse them for extra expenses if they

have a valid claim.

A spokesman said: ‘We are sorry for the

frustration and inconvenience. As soon as

we were issued with dates, we contacted

airlines across the world to support with

rebooking agreements. Our teams are

providing customers whose flights have

been cancelled with options.’

The airline said it has drafted in extra staff

after passengers complained over the

weekend of being forced to wait for hours

to get through on helplines.

By James Salmon

Transport Editor