Last week saw BA fork out compensation to passengers after a mouse on board an aircraft meant a San Francisco-bound flight from London Heathrow departed four hours late.
Now, another messy situation has left the flagship carrier with another steep bill.
A shortage of toilet roll and the “wrong kind of headphones” on board a flight from London Gatwick to Barbados caused a five-hour delay.
Under European passengers’ rights rules, BA could be paying passengers up to £291,000 in compensation, plus thousands more in expenses.
Flight BA2153 was due to leave London at 1.40pm on Sunday afternoon, with passengers due to arrive at the Caribbean island around sunset.
However, reports of inadequate preparation of the plane, which has a capacity of 280 people, meant the flight was initially delayed by one hour and 40 minutes.
Rumours soon began circulating amongst passengers about the reason for the delay and many took to social media to express their frustration.
One passenger wrote on Twitter: “BA2153 sat on plane @Gatwick delayed with no idea of departure for wrong headphones!! Really??”
Another passenger later tweeted: “BA2153 utter shambles. BA cost cutting means we’re all disembarked due to shortage of bog roll!.”
The delay meant that BA’s flight schedule had completely crumbled and the crew were now “out of hours”.
As a result, the carrier could no longer service the flight within the time limits.
The airline then took a further three hours to put together another crew, before the flight finally departed.
The five-hour delay at London Gatwick meant the flight did not reach the Barbados terminal until midnight; where more than 200 passengers were waiting to fly back on the return leg.
The aircraft was scheduled to depart the island at 8.15pm on Sunday, but did not take off until 1.35am on Monday.
Speaking about what the captain had told passengers on the return flight about the reason for the delay, Jane Gwizdala told The Independent: “He told us the outbound Gatwick to Bridgetown plane wasn’t prepare satisfactorily.
“He said in his 26 years of flying he had never had such an experience that impacted on crew and passengers.”
Travellers who arrive at a long-haul destination more than four hours late are entitled to compensation of up to £520; plus expenses for any meals while they waited for their flight.
Passengers who reported about the flight on social media have already been contacted by claims management firms.
A British Airways spokesperson said in a statement: “We are sorry customers were delayed after some of the many items needed for the flight weren’t loaded on to the aircraft.
“We gave customers refreshment vouchers so they could get something to eat and drink in the terminal and we got them away on their holidays as soon as the aircraft was ready.”
Express.co.uk has contacted the airline for further comment.
