Originally Posted by
HarryKUK
I have a little more clarity on what happened - apparently some of the immigration channels were left unmanned and a number of pax proceeded through the unmanned channels. As these pax have not flown before, and had their passports checked at check in, they were unaware that this was the more formal check and simply walked through unhindered. I do accept that this is the fault of the pax, but as they were first time fliers I do think BOM Immigration and indeed airport security need to accept some responsibility for this.
Sadly though this is India and there is no way Immigration are ever going to accept fault. In the short term they have rebooked all nine pax with the next available airline but we were at least hoping to get the taxes and fees back from BA since they didn't travel. Not expecting anything else from them since I think we all accept this isn't their issue.
As an aside, they don't normally check for stamps at the gate so I am guessing that someone realised the channels had been left unmanned and therefore did a secondary check for stamps at the gate to find those pax who managed to walk through. They seemed to accept the pax were innocent enough as they were not blamed for this or questioned in any way, simply asked to go back to the desk to resolve it.
if BA have rebooked them on other flights at no charge to the passengers, why are you expecting a refund of taxes?