British Airways is one of the world’s largest and oldest airlines, founded in 1974 after the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways. The airline is owned by the International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns some other airlines.
Operating a fleet of over 270 aircraft, including Boeing 777, 747, and 787, as well as Airbus A320 and A380, the airline offers service to more than 200 destinations in 80 countries around the world, with London Heathrow as its primary hub and London Gatwick as its secondary hub.
How to Contact for Help
More About the Airline
Passengers choose to fly with British Airways for several reasons, including the airline’s reputation for excellent service, comfortable seats, in-flight entertainment, and a wide range of meal and beverage options. British Airways also offers a loyalty program, known as the Executive Club, which allows frequent flyers to earn points that can be redeemed for rewards, such as free flights, upgrades, and more.
The airline has won numerous awards over the years, including Skytrax’s “Best Airline Staff in Europe” award and “Best Airline Transatlantic” award. It was also named the “Best Airline in Europe” at the Business Traveler Awards and was also recognized for its commitment to sustainability with the “Eco Airline of the Year” award.
British Airways is known for its commitment to customer service, extensive global network, and innovative features such as its in-flight entertainment and loyalty program. These factors, along with its reputation as a reliable and safe airline, make it a popular choice for travelers around the world.
Some of the Popular Routes
British Airways’ operation base is at London Heathrow Airport, where the airline has its headquarters and operates most of its flights. In addition to London Heathrow, British Airways also operates flights from other airports in the United Kingdom, including London Gatwick, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
Being one of the oldest and most reliable airlines in the world, British Airways flies to numerous destinations around the world. Some of the countries and continents include — the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Europe (France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands), and South Korea.
The major cities it serves are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Toronto, Dubai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Athens, Moscow, Beijing, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.
Please note that the above list is by no means exhaustive as the airline flies to many other destinations around the world.
How to Book Your Flight Online
Visit British Airways’ official website at www.britishairways.com. Click on the ‘Book’ option on the main page, and select ‘Book a Flight’. Enter your departure city, destination, travel dates, and the number of passengers. Select ‘One-Way’ or ‘Return’ as may be applicable in your case. On the search results page, choose the flight that suits your schedule and budget. Select your preferred seat and any additional services such as meals or extra baggage. Enter your personal information, such as your name, contact information, and passport details. Review your itinerary and make sure all entries are correct.
You will receive a confirmation email from British Airways with your flight details and booking reference number upon successful payment. Print your itinerary or save it to your mobile device for easy access during your trip.
If you face problems booking your flight online, you may contact British Airways customer service for support and assistance.
Please note that British Airways accepts a variety of payment options for booking flights. These include credit (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and UnionPay.
How to Check-in For Flight
There are several ways to check in for your British Airways flight.
Online Check-In: Visit the British Airways website and enter your booking reference and last name. Online check-in is available from 24 hours before your scheduled departure time up to 1 hour before departure for most flights. During online check-in, you can select your seat, print your boarding pass or download it to your mobile device.
Mobile Check-In: You can also check in using your mobile device by downloading the British Airways app. Once you have the app, you can log into your account and check in for your flight.
Airport Check-In: If you prefer to check in at the airport, you can do so at a self-service kiosk or a British Airways check-in desk. If you are traveling with baggage, you will need to drop off your luggage at the bag drop desk after you have checked in.
Check-In at a Bag Drop Desk: If you have already checked in online or using your mobile device, you can simply drop off your luggage at a British Airways bag drop desk at the airport.
Please check the check-in times for your specific flight and airport as they may vary depending on the destination, route, and type of fare you have purchased.
How to Manage Booking
Visit the official website of British Airways and select the ‘Manage’ tab on the home page. Enter your booking reference and last name to access your booking. Once you have accessed your booking, you can make changes to your flight itinerary, such as changing your flight dates/times/destination, upgrading your booking to a higher class, choosing your seat, and adding extra baggage allowance. Furthermore, you can request special assistance, or update your contact information. You can also cancel your flight or make a refund request.
Some changes to your booking may incur additional fees or charges. The availability of certain services may depend on your fare type or the specific flight you are booked on. We recommend you check the terms and conditions of your booking before making any changes.
Overview of Frequent Flyer Program
British Airways’ frequent flyer or loyalty program is called the Executive Club. The program is designed to reward loyal customers who frequently fly with British Airways and its partner airlines.
Membership in the Executive Club is free, and members can earn Avios points when they fly with British Airways, or any of its partner airlines, including American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas, among others. Avios points can also be earned through hotel stays, car rentals, and shopping with participating retailers.
As a member, you can use your Avios points to book flights, upgrade seats, and purchase other travel-related services.
The Executive Club has four membership tiers — Blue, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each tier comes with its own set of benefits and features, such as priority boarding, access to airport lounges, and bonus Avios points on flights.
To move up to a higher tier, you must earn a certain number of tier points. These are awarded based on the distance flown and the class of service purchased.
Whether you are a frequent flyer or an occasional traveler, the program is worth considering if you are looking to earn rewards and enjoy a more comfortable travel experience.
It is truly very poor service that one cannot contact British Airways via email for any emergency inquiries. Making a phone call takes up much of one’s already pressing time. I have been trying to sort out an issue with my vouchers for some time now without joy.
Never before have I come across a company so distant from their customers. I have been trying for weeks to get through to them to sort out a Travel Voucher that their website doesn’t accept. At no stage does the website or contact details allow me to actually have a conversation with a human or in fact anything that makes sense, Disgusted at this poor performance of a system that should be seamless in this day and age.
Hello . I’m very frustrated with British airways because I been booked flight . First one I was going booked so they say my credit card is failed so I make other booked with PayPal got approved but I got two ticket how come . My friend try call BA say won’t help me because of security so they need me I call because I’m
deaf so how make bloody call . So I email three diff email no answer . You think it’s fair ? Without how I call you . I’m not in UK so I’m away holiday . Please help me to email me now to sort my ticket !
GAVIN Dorrington
I am a US business traveler and take 30+ flights each year. This was my first flight with BA and overall I considered this to be a below average experience. The on boarding process and traffic control is very poorly managed and customer are left bumping into each other when overhead space is full. The icing on the cake is that BA lost my luggage. I was left standing in LAX for a long period of time and that agent confirmed that my bag was delivered too LAX. On the way home I received a text that my bag was in San Francisco. For the last 2 weeks I have been trying to call BA for an update and experienced horrific rude customer service. The agents as me what level of member I am and then say that they have no information and are unable to get in touch with someone in the terminal. I called the baggage reimbursement line and they line is busy and not taking calls. The sense of urgency and lack of customer service is beyond bad. Next week will be three weeks and I am still unable to get any information of anyone from the airline that is remotely willing to take accountability for mishandling my baggage. Be wary of this airline! SL
I am a British Executive Club member and retained my Membership since the early days.
The Frequent Flyer Program stood at the Primitive age.
Calling Brtish Airways within UK and or overseas is like a advance cancer pateint waiting for his demise.
To contact BA Executive Club by way of logging in the Executive CLub account and edit Complaint and Fee back is prohibitively difficult to complete and even if you are lucky to format it and complete it, you will get a auto response with a Ref Number. A Club Member cannot use the same number to communicate with BA.
In my expereience BA Executive Club lacks trained Human resources, and I did not get response of my several feed back and or complaints.
BA Executive Club does not have an online chat.
Impossible to reach BA on phone.
I would like to change a flight – so frustrating too many calls to the call centre so being cut off especially when I have to advise my work ASAP of the changes
Carolina,
I am an Gold Executive Club member.
We had the misfortune of being informed on Saturday morning 24 August 19, that our flight no – JJ7UJJ6 on the 8 September 2019 from Johannesburg – London – San Fransisco was cancelled due to potential strike action. We tried calling all the contact offices but all the offices locally was closed on the weekend. We then tried to shift our flights to an earlier date to same location, but all earlier dates were unavailable. We then decided it may be best to get to an alternative destination in the USA and try to get and internal flight and get back to our planned itinerary starting on the 9 September 2019 in San Francisco.
We booked a flight to Chicago on the 6 September and managed to book 2 nights in an hotel and got aninternal flight to San Francisco on the 9 September 2019.
What really created my absolute dissatisfaction was that after we did all of the above at a cost of just over R15000.00 we got a mail that evening to say that the original flights had been reinstated after a resolve with pilots not to go on strike.
I feel done in as the big turnaround swing within 12 hours all seems to be resolved but I have had to folk out R15000.00 and massive inconvenience to fly to the East Coast of America and my actual holidays is on the West Coast.
As a Gold Executive club member I would like to know my inconvenience and cost will be handled. At this point the cost of the original flight and avios points also have not be reimbursed either yet.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards
Deon Cogill
Dear British Airways,
I need to bring to your attention that on both my international flights on 10 April 2019, I probably had the worst experiences in the last 10 years of traveling. I do travel extensively Globally for the past 30 years and have visited more than 80 Countries – but these last 2 experiences were really unsatisfactory, frustrating and annoying. I have not travelled often with BA in the past years (mostly with Delta, KLM, Lufthansa, United, Air France & Emirates) but after today I know why not. I recently joined One World as I belong to 3 other frequent flyer programs and travel with those mentioned a lot – frequent flyer number AA 2NN86F0.
1. Flight BA885 from Bucharest to LHR (economy class)
– Seat 36 C (2nd row from the back) – early flight from Bucharest
– Cabin Crew service was shocking to say the least – let me rephrase; no service at al (one could purchase coffee, tea or drinks – and that was it) – a 3 hour flight
– The most annoying, at any given time, 3-4 of the cabin crew were have a chat in the gully behind row 37; non-stop chatting, almost shouting so loud it was – not possible to sleep at all on the flight due to the loud noise from their chatters – as I said no service at all
2. Flight BA 197 from LHR to Houston (business class)
– I am on company business but upgraded myself to business class from my own pocket; paid more than GBP 700
– Seat 15 G
– Service was really bad – not sufficient cabin crew for full business class; forgetting to serve what was ordered, seems call bell not working or just ignored it – on 3 occasions and calling about 20 times no response – not 1. Had to get up and walk to the front 3 times to get stuff or take thrash to them
I am travelling BA from London Heathrow to Glasgow in July. I have a business class ticket and also a Silver Qantas club card. I’m assuming I can use the Galleries lounge at terminal 5? Would you please confirm.
On Feb 4th my wife and myself were waitlisted on flight 059 Cape Town to Heathrow, not being able to be accommodated on this flight we tried to try the earlier flight 048 . We have nothing but praise and thanks for the ground staff who facilitated this to happen, Nadine Helmsley and John at check in were most caring and did everything to change our booking. We successfully managed to board this earlier flight. I am a retired staff member of 35 years service and I’m so grateful for the help these two people in particular gave to get my wife and myself home.
I always praised BA and even not being a frequent flyer BA is always my first choice for my trips.That been said I must tell you that my last experience was far from been pleasant. Here shortly my story:
I purchased a return flight ticket to Venice from Dec 17, 2018 to Jan 9, 2019.
(Itinerary # 7388091234240 Confirmation NKF4G7 (British Airways) $1,226.35)
On November 28 I received a call from Italy that my mom was hospitalized and the situation was very critical. I decided to anticipate my departure. I contacted Chase bank through whom I purchased the ticked in order to change the departing date. Their answer was that I had to buy a new ticket and the cost would have been around $ 3,800.00 which for me was way too expensive…
I decided to look on line to find something cheaper and I purchase my ticket trhough another supplier (Booking ref: PZDX2W Issued date: 29 November 2018 USD$ 1395.47) keeping in mind that I would have used the above BA thicket for my return on the 9th.
On January 8 when I wanted to do my checking on line I had the very sad surprise that my flight was cancelled and I had to buy a new thicket. I contacted BA help center and the operator was far from being helpful. First he said that there were no seats on the 8:40 BA flight from Venice to London and I had to leave from Milan or Bologna. For many reasons that would have been impossible for me and because I needed to be back in Phoenix on the 9 I decided to purchase another thicket, the third one (Itinerary # 7403515066282 Confirmation UKH78Y (British Airways) $1,477.21).
With surprise and rage I found a seat on the same plane I was suppose to fly on the first place and on the one the operator said there were no seats available.
All this cost me $ 4,139.03 and the end up the story I did not receive my bagges….
I am asking to BA why when I purchase and pay a flight ticket you still feel entitled to cancel it because I did not show up on the departure date? I could have had plenty of good reasons.
In this situation my mind was with my mother who finally passed away on January 3rd, still my seat was paid with my money for the return on January 9 and I should have been entitle to find it. If not why didn’t you send me an email just to confirm eventually that the return was still available?? I supposed that it is easier to cancel and keep the money, which I repeat is my money not yours.
To close the story, when I arrived in Phoenix last night I found out that my baggage were still in London (Transfer from BA Venice Flight to the BA Boston Flight…..)
I truly believe that in this case BA did not act correctly with me and the final cost is going to be heavy on my budget. In life there are rules but people make those rules and people can change them too, at the occasion.
Hopefully you will consider this.
Mirella
I travelled to Accra, Ghana on the 19th May 2018 with BA 81 flight, the flight and the staff attitude was fantastic all the way but when I arrived in Ghana I found that my suitcase padlock was tampered with and I had to smash the padlock. At Accra airport on the evening of the 19th May 2018 many passengers complained about the padlocks either missing or tampered with. Not good for BA’s reputation.
My two grandsons Jack and Rupert Robinson aged 10 and 9 respectively were travelling unaccompanied on flight BA6417 on the 10th December 2017.
We were directed to the Assisted Passenger room where we waited. A Ground Staff Crew member arrived chatted to the person at the computer and then after a while beckoned to the boys and said come! No introduction or greeting they then had to trail your staff member through customs and I watched as she walked ahead with them trailing behind, no care or consideration of whether they were actually there or not.
The flight was delayed by 2 hours – the staff member in the Assisted Passenger room did not check the computer before they set off and could perhaps have seen that it was delayed and they could have stayed where they were with me until it was time to go. But they were too busy chatting.
These two little boys were left waiting for two hours without anything AT ALL to drink or eat. They were not offered anything! We had arrived at the airport at 11am and they took off at about 3pm. This is a long time for little people to be without water at least.
The staff member had the forms with both my number (the Grandmother) and their father’s number on it. Surely a courtesy call to either of us to say do not worry the boys are safe and waiting under supervision during this long delay. My son-in-law simply got updates on his flight re time departure. A phone call re safety of children is not much to ask.
I feel the service and treatment of the British Airways ground crew was absolutely appalling and totally uncaring.
Our children are as precious to us as I am sure your children are to you. British Airways should make it a priority to see that they are well taken care of and we are kept informed via telephone re progress on the ground.
You certainly deserve a bad review on Hello Peter in my opinion.
I made a reservation in Brazil for Decolar.com and NMLI4B and then for an error in my wife’s name, I made the cancellation 2 hours later, however when checking my credit card, I noticed that 2 tickets were made in reais on my card, The first one was 7852.08 reias, referring to the purchase of the tickets and another that I do not know about (irregular release) in the amount of 5907.26 reais, both made by British Airways.
I am outraged, because on calling the British Airways 0800, I was informed that the company does not make debits in reais, so “who would be using the British Airwais name to make debits on my card here in Brazil?
The attendant of the 0800, neither was worried about my problem and repeated the same phrase: British Airways does not make debits in Reals and does not have offices in Brazil.
In my opinion this is an international crime, since someone is using the name of British Airways here in Brazil, and you do not even want to know who it is, but they continue to partner with Decolar.com?
I want this situation to be investigated by British Airways, since these debts were made by you or someone trying to pass you by.
Without further ado, thank you and await response to this problem so serious, involving this reputable company.
A big thanks and compliment to Alan Kenny Britney Wilson and Hannah Broadhurst for their wonderful service on our flight from Philadelphia to London.
Great attitdue and personal service!! They should be complimented and rewarded by BA!!
I am very disappointed at response from BA to request to carry wedding dress in flight to Europe. I am happy to purchase seat for dress which will be in a clothes bag folded like a suit carrier. After many calls and a 10 day wait BA say I can do this as long as it is a box 65 cm x 45cm. So an 18 stone plus person can book a seat but I can’t put a wedding dress on it. Where is the logic??? Really bad customer relations.
I have a confirmed booking for tonight but I need to change he date because of a family emergency, is there a number I can call today (Sunday) to ask If I can have an open ticket till I decide?
From booking online for a flight on BA,I had really good communications,when I needed to book in my hold baggage a day earlier I was given every assistance to help me . The day of the flight was also excellent service ,the baggage conveyer belt was not working and without asking for help a staff member dealt with the getting my case to the new collection point and on to the conveyer belt. This has always been my experience and I can only commend the staff who are on ground level,for they are first inline to take the flack for each and every complaint ,and I think they cope well with complaints whether these are justified or not,and my immense thanks go to the City of London airport staff who were on duty for the 29/30th of October.
My Girlfriend was booked to fly home from London Heathrow to Aberdeen on Sunday night at 8:30pm. Due to the fog her flight was delayed until midnight. She made the decision to change her flight to the next evening at a cost of £160. The following night she arrived at the airport 1 hour before the original flight time even though the flight itself had now been delayed to around 11 o clock. After waiting in the check in queue for almost half an hour she was told her seat had been given to another passenger and that she would instead be put on a flight tomorrow. She has now been told that she is not booked to be on a flight tonight at all!
Effectively after paying for nearly £400 worth of flights she remains stuck in London and has been told it is “her fault” and she needs to rebook and pay again. She has now paid ANOTHER £218 for a single home. We will never use BA again – additionally my parents travel first class with BA on an annual basis at a cost of around 10k per year and are BA club members. There faith in BA is at this point irreplably shaken.
I am finding your website very difficult at the moment, takes an age to log into executive club, to retrieve information. It is not my wi-fi, as do not have a problem with other companies. My BA exec No., is 17474367.
For baggage custom clearance need departure certificate..pls make and send today.
A cautionary tale and note of assistance to all those who have suffered the misfortune of travelling with British Airways and experiencing their unique brand of so-called Customer Service:
BA are an unmitigated disgrace when it comes to customer service and they totally ruined our wedding and honeymoon travel.
My wife and I suffered an appalling trip at the hands of this company and Mr Keith Williams, CEO, and his management could not be more disinterested.
We suffered rubbish on the floor, rude and ignorant BA staff and no food in the Lounge at Gatwick. We had no working entertainment screens, broken seat tables, faulty seat controls, rude and ignorant cabin crew, burned food, an hour wait for dinner and another hour delay being served at breakfast; not to mention the insects, yes, insects, in the seat arm compartment. All this in First Class.
I suggest writing to the following in the hope you have better success than we did. We found emailing them daily was the fastest way to elicit a response. Start with an email to Mr Williams, copied to all. That should provide some response. Good luck.
keith.x.williams@ba.com
americas.communications@ba.com
amy.clasper@ba.com
andy.lord@ba.com
ben.marshall@ba.com
company.secretary@ba.com
Glenda.Midson@ba.com
gsrreplies@contact.britishairways.com
helen.blenkinsop@ba.com
Helena.Flynn@ba.com
international.media@ba.com
investor.relations@iairgroup.com
james.hillier@ba.com
Lynn.McClelland@ba.com
Mary.George@BA.com
media.relations@ba.com
media.relations@iairgroup.com
michele.kropf@ba.com
michelle.parker@ba.com
prensaintl@iberia.es
press@oneworld.com
radhika.raikhy@ba.com
Sanja.Simeunovic@ba.com
sarah.marzari@ba.com
shareholder.services@iairgroup.com
silla.maizey@ba.com
steve.sheterline@ba.com
tehreem.ashraf@ba.com
tobias.klitsch@ba.com
willie.walsh@iairgroup.com
I have a confirmed booking 6CPBVF made on line.
I tried to pay the requested L560 using my credit card
However the site did not show my name as the card holder??
Also there is no debit on my credit card!
Is the booking confirmed?
If there is still L560.. due, how do i pay it to you or is it not due?
A reply would be appreciated since it seems impossible here in S.Africa to find a UK customer service number to phone.
you can call the UK number given on this page..