Chris Martinez seeks feedback on a British Airways disaster he shared to Twitter.
BA cancelled his family’s original flight, forcing them to rebook. Their paid seat assignments were lost. When BA cancels a flight, paid seats become refundable. He requested that refund, and wound up disputing the fee with card issuer.
- Never dispute a credit card charge with an airline while you have active travel with them. They’ll cancel your ticket.
- And they may even ban you, even if your chargeback is 100% justified.
What seems to have happened is that British Airways cancelled his wife’s e-ticket in response to the chargeback. Her reservation and seat assignment remained in the reservation, but the underlying ticket was no longer valid. And so when they showed up at the airport they had to buy a $3,200 replacement ticket. The airline apparently says the prior chargeback justified what happened.
I never post, but what @British_Airways did is horrible and it can’t go unnoticed.@British_Airways canceled our reservation without notifying us until we got to baggage check. We’re a family of 4 with 2 kids and they cancelled my wife’s ticket without any notification when we… pic.twitter.com/p83a9rej65
— Chris Martinez (@topher_tinez) August 1, 2026
This is what happens in practice, although oddly British Airways Conditions of Carriage say they can refuse transportation when a fare hasn’t been paid – but here the seat fee was disputed, not the fare.
Nonetheless, here’s a similar experience where the airline suspended a ticket because of a chargeback over duplicate taxes, even though a reservations agent instructed the passenger to file it.
What happened here is that British Airways cancelled a ticket even though they’d been fully paid for it. They appear to have invalidated it because of an unrelated ancillary dispute, and then charged a second time for the same transportation.
I might try filing with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and since the departure was from Paris I’d also seek EU261 compensation over denying boarding on the cancelled ticket. The European Union Court of Justice says a carrier’s own mistaken operational assumption is not a reasonable justification for denying carriage.
BA = BEST AVOIDED
The key thing you posted is NEVER initiate a chargeback with an airline or hotel group (regardless if you feel it is justified) if you ever plan to use them again. Not only will existing reservations be cancelled but many will, as you noted, add you to the “do not fly/stay” list. While some think this isn’t “fair” no business is required to do business with people that they feel may not pay them. That is just good business.
I have a personal airline rating system of 0 to 105. British Aiwways gets a zero.
so petty. great way to lose in the public opinion.
Thank you, Gary, for endorsing the better consumer protections in Europe. Kinda buried the lede at the end there. Still, not perfect, can always be better.
@MGHOW — Zing!
@Gene — Got’em!
@Retired Gambler — Still cuckin’ for multi-billion dollar for-profit corporations, eh?
The UK is not in the EU
While the EU has great consumer protection laws especially for airlines the UK does NOT. The customer might have some leverage if the flight originated in the EU. Most UK companies even charge you to talk to customer service when they screw up. I avoid purchasing anything from a UK company that I can’t take with me – just like Mexico.
Corporations need to have a “Department of Stupidity” to resolve problems like this, to save themselves from creating PR nightmares.
Sorry, I forgot that they used to have dedicated staff to perform these tasks, but they were the first people on the chopping block so that the bottom line would look better and stockholders would be happier.
(sigh)
@paul — Oh, you are so misguided, sir. Your assertion that the UK lacks strong airline consumer protections is incorrect. UK261 provides robust, parallel legal protections to EU261, and British Airways remains bound by those obligations.
@Lucky Larry — Not to worry, folks like @Retired Gambler, or, usually, @George Romey, are quick to fill-in, and regularly attempt to sane-wash on behalf of corporate, seemingly for free. *sigh* indeed.
BA *may* claim that they believe their actions are justified but it’s just another case of them trying to obfuscate their obligations under UK261 regulations…
Simply Beyond Abysmal treatment of paying customers and a FAR from unique example of this carriers systemic exploitation of customers ignorance of the regulations and UK consumer protection law
Mhm, @John. BA’s *willful* ignorance of their obligations… hope these passengers get a better resolution, soon. It’s good when Gary and the various blogs expose this nonsense.
Petty and retaliatory. Not a good look.
@Paul doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The UK airline and consumer protection laws are very strong and mirror much of the EU and certainly a huge step up from any ‘protections’ offered in the USA. In addition, telephone calls are super cheap with monthly unlimited data and call minutes contracts for $20 a month readily available so who cares whether customer services is freephone or ‘paid’ for number… consumers won’t be paying to speak to an agent. Very surprised someone has the time to comment on an article so ignorantly when it would take less time for them to google and educate themselves.
@Ramsey did I insult your mother? My most recent issues were with IHG Customer service and the UK taxi company that handles Booking.com’s ground transportation (I ended up successfully challenging the charges through my bank card). In the past BA and Aer lingus did not compensate me for covid disruptions but Lufthansa, CZ rail and DB rail did. You are assuming parity in CS practices between the UK and the EU. The laws are similar but the attitude is not. I was an international buyer and yes I still pay for my UK phone calls because I pay $10/month for domestic cell service and use Google voice for international calls. Don’t assume your kit is everyone else’s.
Ps. I would not mind paying for CS calls if I would be compensated for the excessive hold time in which case they would owe me for the call. Just bad CS and protections matter how you slice and dice it.
Gotta love that Walsh legacy service.