Fed up with being fobbed off, a passenger took on airline giant British Airways single-handily … and won

A determined passenger fed up with being fobbed off by British Airways over travel vouchers has taken on the airline giant and won in court thanks to some sleuthing at the local library.

Jennie Barber, from Birmingham, had booked two tickets to Japan in January 2020, just before the Covid pandemic hit. She was told that the flights, which were scheduled for May, would be cancelled and that she would receive vouchers instead.

However, with Japan showing no sign of reopening its borders during 2020 and 2021, Barber argued that she should receive cash as the vouchers were useless because she could not travel where she had originally intended. The airline disagreed.

That’s when Barber, armed with only some basic law knowledge from school, decided to head to court, and to the local library.

It was there she found contract legislation from 80 years ago called the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943. It stated that because the sale involved could not be delivered, through no fault of her own, she was legally entitled to her money back.

Barber argued her case in court and she won £2523.42 (NZ$4845) to cover the cost of the flights, the interest up to the date of judgement, as well as costs.

She has now set up a Facebook group to help others in the same predicament.

“If you’re an ordinary person, who is not a legal professional, going up against someone like British Airways is scary – and it is intimidating,” she told the BBC.

“If I can get more people their refunds … I think that is the ideal outcome.”

Lawyer Michael Frisby, a partner at Stevens & Bolton, told ITV that it was a “classic case of David versus Goliath”.

“Airlines will doubtless sit up and take notice of this action recognising that others may follow Ms Barber’s example on an individual basis,” said Frisby.

“What will concern them even more is that today’s decision might prompt group litigation, whereby a group of individuals group together to bring claims or an individual brings a class action on behalf of all affected potential claimants.”

British Airways defended itself saying it was “the first UK airline to offer customers the unprecedented flexibility to change their plans during the pandemic by providing them with vouchers for future travel”.

“Customers can use these vouchers up until September 2023 to give them as much time as possible to re-schedule their trips.”

Credits and vouchers became a hot topic during Covid as airlines scrambled to deal with border restrictions and lockdowns.

Air New Zealand announced last year an extension to the expiry on its credits scheme.

The national carrier said anyone who had a credit as of September 30, 2022 has until January 31, 2024 to book a new flight and until December 31, 2024 to take that flight. The change affected around 500,000 customers.

Qantas has recently reported there’s over A$800 million in unused flight credits which were given to people whose travel plans were cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic.