Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

There was a study done (and published between Christmas and New Year!!!) by the CAA into the various ADR providers for the different airlines, and CEDR was the only large one to charge, the others basically negotiated a fee from the airline. The report indicated that the charge did put people off complaining, but that CEDR had one of the highest levels of passenger success - 89% compared to 71% for another ADR provider, suggesting that the charge prevented frivolous complaints. These figures are not broken down by airline, and I very much doubt CEDR upholds nearly 90% of BA complaints.

However as far as I can tell - but not mentioned in the report - CEDR do not actually levy the charge unless it is obviously spurious, it seems to be some sort of fallback. All the offline cases I've been involved with have in their summary said something like "we are not upholding this complaint but we can see the basis of the complaint and therefore we won't be levying the fee". So when you submit a complaint you will be asked to sign something to authorise the £25 charge, but unless you are being silly you're unlikely to pay anything. Disability related complaints are always free.

CAP1602: ADR in the aviation sector - a first review