Scotland World Cup flight farce sees charity left thousands out of pocket

A Scottish sports charity has been left thousands of pounds out of pocket over their World Cup transport - as British AIrways wouldn't let them change three names on a group booking.

The FootGolf Association of Scotland booked flights for staff and players to go to the FootGolf World Cup in Mexico later this month, at a cost of more than £30,000.

Three players had to pull out of the squad, and replacement players have been called up in their places.

But when the association tried to change the names on the flights, British Airways said it was not possible.

They said that flights could only be cancelled within 24 hours of booking, meaning the cost of all three flights, which were around £900 each, had been lost.

And they said the flights would need to be rebooked - at the increased cost of around £1,500 each.

That meant it would cost the association an extra £4,500 to send three players on flights they had already booked.

Having already shelled out so much on the initial flights, it means the charity has had to look at alternative flights, leaving players to travel on their own rather than with the rest of the squad.

The SNP and Scottish Liberal Democrats called on the airline to allow the players to travel for the initial sums already paid.

SNP candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Maree Todd, also wrote to BA to ask them to show the association some compassion, but BA doubled down.

Neil Shave, President of the FootGolf Association of Scotland, has hit out at the situation.

He said: "This is at a time where there's conflicts going on all over the world and what we have here is us being left thousands of pounds down.

"We weren't asking for the flights to be cancelled and the money to be returned to us.

"We were asking for names to be changed of three passengers - we were still taking the full allocation that we had purchased.

"And we were asking this at a time when all we had given them so far was the name.

"We hadn't given any passport details or anything, therefore it was as easy as them just changing the names, before we even got to the stage of putting in passport numbers and that kind of thing.

"It really was possible and it wasn't at any cost to them and we would have been happy to pay an extra fee for that - of course we would've.

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"We are a small charity and have spent £30,000 on these flights. A couple of years ago we spent more than £18,000 on flights with BA to go to the 2023 World Cup in Florida.

"The likelihood is we would need to use British Airways again in the future for other international tournaments, but this hasn't been a great experience and has caused us needless hassle.

"We hoped that as it was a charity making the group booking, that it was for so much money, and that it is to send the official Scotland teams to compete in the world cup, the biggest tournament in this sport, that BA would have been more understanding.

"It's very disappointing that they wouldn't give us any leeway, especially with politicians backing us over it."

Scottish Liberal Democrats sport spokesperson Neil Alexander said: "I'm sorry to hear that the charity are facing being left out of pocket.

"Given that this is as simple as changing a name on a booking I would hope BA would be understanding.

"To insist on flights being cancelled and rebooked at greater cost while pocketing the original fares, feels like a real injustice.

"I would like to see the Scottish Government's sports minister turn up the heat on BA and see whether they are able to engineer a suitable solution."

Maree Todd said: “It’s disappointing to hear that the FootGolf Association of Scotland, which is a charity, faces being left out of pocket due to exorbitant administration charges to change flights.

“I have written to BA asking them to reconsider on this occasion so that our athletes don’t miss out on the opportunity to represent Scotland on the world stage - and wish the teams every success if and when they get to Mexico.”

A British Airways spokesperson said: "Like all airlines, our ticket conditions are clear at the time of booking and are applied consistently to every customer.

"There is a 24-hour cooling off period after booking and we also have more flexible ticket options for customers whose plans may be uncertain.

"In this case, non‑flexible tickets were purchased, therefore the standard conditions have to be applied.

"We appreciate this will be disappointing for our customers and we wish them every success in Mexico."

FootGolf is a cross between football and golf, which sees players playing golf with a full size football on golf courses with adapted holes.