BA bumped us from our wedding flight because we booked with Avios
On 5 June this year, my wife to be and I were removed from our BA flight to Florence at the gate. We were travelling to our own wedding.
The gate manager told us the flight was overweight and that we'd been taken off based on our CIV (Customer Importance Value) score. He was pretty upfront about it — Avios bookings rank lower than cash bookings, so when they need to offload someone, we were first in line.
We'd spent years collecting Avios. Used them for what felt like a meaningful trip. And it turns out that's exactly why we got bumped.
We ended up on a flight to Pisa after a lot of complaining, paid €220 for a taxi, and arrived in Florence over 6 hours late. I've filed a UK261 compensation claim for £440 and I'm still waiting to hear back.
I don't think most people collecting Avios know this is how the system works. Cash passengers are protected. Avios passengers are expendable. Worth knowing before you redeem on anything that actually matters.
Happy to answer any questions, and if anyone has been through the UK261 process with BA recently, I'd love to know how it went.