BA bumped me off business class but won’t refund the difference

M

y wife and I are getting on in years so we always book business-class seats when crossing the Atlantic between our homes in Devon and Florida.

In May last year I was flying solo from Florida to Philadelphia with American Airlines. I was due to catch a connecting flight to Heathrow with British Airways. I bought my tickets on the BA website, paying $3,267, which included a return journey in October.

The American Airlines flight was delayed but I managed to make it to the gate 15 minutes before my connecting flight departed, only to be told that I had been taken off the passenger list and wasn’t allowed to board the plane.

BA told me to go to the nearby American Airlines desk and book on to another flight. I was rescheduled on to one leaving just over an hour later, so landed in the UK only slightly later than planned.