British Airways Loses Legal Battle Over £12 Passenger Debt After Cancelled Flight

A British Airways passenger has won a David-and-Goliath court battle against the airline after taking legal action over just £12 in interest.

Ed Butler, 43, sued BA after it refused to pay interest on the reimbursement of costs he incurred when a cancelled flight left his family stranded in the US.

Mr Butler, his wife and their four children were due to fly home last July, but their flight was delayed by a day because of a technical fault. BA instructed the family to pay more than £2,000 for hotel accommodation and meals before reclaiming the money.

However, what Mr Butler expected to be a straightforward reimbursement turned into a months-long dispute. The airline initially offered just £800, leaving the family more than £1,500 out of pocket.

He said BA fought his claim "every step of the way" until he threatened legal action in September, prompting the airline to settle the full amount.

But Mr Butler argued the reimbursement was effectively a debt and that he was entitled to statutory interest because of the delay in payment.

He calculated interest at 8 per cent over the 35 days between submitting his legal claim and receiving the reimbursement in October. BA disputed the claim, arguing the law did not require it to pay interest on compensation.

Mr Butler said: "Because they had put me through the trouble of going through complaints and issuing proceedings, I was not going to back down when they had unnecessarily made me go through the legal process.

"BA seems to have a policy to obstruct any claim and be really difficult in the hope that people give up or claim off their insurance, rather than pay out what is legally due."

His persistence paid off when Uxbridge County Court ruled in his favour in May, ordering the airline to pay £11.76 in interest, as well as a £181 court fee.

The judgment could encourage other passengers to seek interest on delayed reimbursement claims.

Consumer expert Martyn James said: "The small claims court is the lowest court, but it is still a legal ruling. There's a judgment that other people could argue is a precedent, and a judge may interpret it that way."

He added: "Despite the law being clear about passengers' rights when flights are cancelled, some airlines remain reluctant to comply. They will often do the bare minimum required by law, and sometimes only after legal action has been threatened."

A British Airways spokesman said: "On the rare occasions cancellations occur, we always do our best to make things right. Where customers submit claims that meet the legislative requirements, our teams work hard to process them as quickly as possible."

Whitestone Solicitors