ITM TO ASSIST TRAVEL BUYERS IN BA/VIRGIN FUEL CASE
BA/Virgin price-fixing settlement: Court approves historic UK advertising campaign
Following its groundbreaking £73.5m settlement (Settlement) in February this year on behalf of UK air passengers in the price-fixing litigation brought against British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic (Virgin), the Claimants' co-lead counsel (lawyers) Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll has now secured approval by a US Federal Court for an historic advertising campaign designed to inform UK businesses and individuals - amounting to some 5.6 million passengers - of their rights to claim refunds.
The advertising campaign, which will be funded by both BA and Virgin in addition to the £73.5m settlement monies, has been sanctioned by the US District Court for the Northern District of California as part of its preliminary approval of the Settlement. During the period 1 to 14 July 2008 advertisements will be placed in UK national newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines, and travel booking websites such Expedia and lastminute.com. BA and Virgin have also agreed to publish the advertisements, which will inform claimants of their entitlement to claim refunds and how to process them, in their in flight publications High Life and Seatback.
Additionally, on 14 July claim forms are being sent directly to those businesses and individuals whose contact details have either been provided by BA and Virgin or who have registered to make a claim. From the same date businesses and individuals will be able to make a claim on-line at the www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk website and businesses will be able to call 0800 043 for assistance.
If your business needs to claim here's what you need to do once you have registered...
How to Claim
"Corporate deal" customers (that is, those who have such a deal with either or both airlines) have the benefit of:
• being able to provide the required information EITHER by attaching an electronic copy of an existing spreadsheet when filing on-line OR completing the on-line grid on the website OR attaching a disc or paper copy of the spreadsheet to the paper claim form (these can also be emailed to the administrator at info@airpassengerrefund.co.uk ); and
• a live operator on a free number, 0800 043 0343, who will be available to give guidance directly from the claims administrator, ‘The Feinberg group', between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
The required information for each passenger is their full name, plus EITHER:-
(1) a BA Executive Club number or Virgin Flying Card number (in which case no further information is required); OR
(2) for BA flights, a passport number (in which case no further information is required); OR
(3) for both BA and Virgin, the dates of departure for each flight together with either the origin and destination city or flight numbers - this will need to be inserted for both legs of a return trip; OR
(4) for both BA and Virgin, the ticket number for each flight - the ticket number is not the same as a flight number but is a unique number assigned by the airline to a particular ticket.
Payment
Claims are scheduled to be paid-out on a rolling basis from October 2008. We encourage you to submit your claim as soon as possible to reduce any delay to your payment. The latest date for lodging claims is 31st December, 2012. No claims will be accepted after this date.
Charities
In the US, any unclaimed money left over from the settlement funds will go to the charity ‘Miracle Flights for Kids'. In the UK there is no such provision, and any unclaimed money will remain with the airlines. Representatives from two UK charities did travel to the court in San Francisco to try to persuade the court to have unclaimed monies from the UK settlement donated to charities in the UK, but they were unsuccessful. The charities were the Association of Air Ambulance Charities at www.airambulancescharities.co.uk and the British Disabled Flying Association (BDFA) at www.BDFA.net (which provides opportunities for disabled people to learn to fly, but which cannot meet demand).
