Airlines To Start Charging You to Complain

Airlines are already penalising customers for all manner of minor indiscretions, such as bringing 1 kg of extra baggage or not printing a boarding pass before arriving at the airport. But when the airlines are the ones in the wrong – when their flights are delayed or cancelled, or when a passenger’s luggage goes missing – it seems that it is once again the customer who will have to pay.

A recent announcement reveals that airlines will now charge customers £25 to make a complaint. Airlines are outsourcing complaints to a third-party dispute resolution company. The problem with this is that some of these companies charge for their services, and airlines will likely pass any such costs onto the customer. British Airways, easyJet, Thomson and Thomas Cook have all signed up to use the services of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, which charges complaining passengers £25. If it’s not already frustrating enough going through a complaints procedure, it seems that customers may very well have to pay for the privilege!

Luckily, the £25 will be refunded if a claim is successful, but not if the claim is deemed groundless. So, passengers will have to make sure that they can build a sufficient case before they consider complaining. This will probably put some customers off starting the complaints process in the first place, allowing the airlines to get away with providing sub-standard service.

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