Travel Question: How much compensation can I expect from British Airways?

Q I was flying on British Airways from Heathrow to Austin last month. It was a 10-hour flight where the water ran out halfway through and there was no inflight entertainment. I have been compensated with 3,000 Avios points. Does this look reasonable to you?

Danielle N

A First, the aspect about water is puzzling, since a flight of this duration would normally be awash with drinking water in all classes (and if the economy section went short, then some would be found in business and vice versa).

The reply to you from British Airways suggests some confusion about the flight, or perhaps that the response is a cut-and-paste job. It says: “I’m also concerned to learn that your flight ran out of water due to which half the passengers didn’t had [sic] enough drinking water. This certainly isn’t the sort of service you would expect from us and I’m so sorry for letting you down.”

BA’s explanation of the lack of inflight entertainment is also curious, since it dwells on how marvellous the system is on refurbished Boeing 747s; Austin is served by Boeing 777s, and there are no plans to put jumbo jets on the route.

Anyway, no airline makes absolute guarantees about the service you will receive on board, and inflight facilities form no part of the contract of carriage.

When I flew from Heathrow to Cape Town a few years ago (on a 747) the inflight entertainment was broken; when I put in a complaint, I received a £75 voucher, which is certainly more valuable than 3,000 Avios frequent-flyer points (which I would value at no more than £40).

I asked British Airways about your flight, and a spokesperson told me: “We are normally able to offer our customers a wide selection of inflight entertainment and we are sorry that wasn’t the case this time. We have apologised to our customer and offered a gesture of goodwill.”

I can only suggest that you accept the offer. You could decide not to fly with BA again – but it remains the only airline with direct flights from Europe to Austin.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder