BA’s ‘no-show’ clause cost me £9,000 for new flights

To celebrate my 60th birthday we used an inheritance to book flights from Glasgow to Mexico City via Heathrow, where our son was to join us. Worried that the 90-minute transfer might be tight after storms that week, my husband, daughter and I took a train to London the night before.

At security we were told that because the three of us had not taken the Glasgow flight our tickets were now invalid, including the return leg; our son, whose flight began in London, was unaffected. Faced with sending our student son alone or buying new return tickets at double the original price, we maxed out our credit cards and spent a further £9,000 on new flights and were forced to travel the following day, despite three empty seats behind him on the original plane.

BA’s e‑ticket confirmation makes no mention of the consequences of missing a leg. (SA, Glasgow) These “no‑show” clauses are buried in many airlines’ conditions of carriage and allow carriers to cancel the remainder of a journey if a passenger misses a leg.

no-show clause, british airways, glasgow, mexico city, heathrow, return flights, e-ticket, £9,000, empty seats, credit cards