British Airways Settles Data Breach Claim
British Airways says it is pleased to have settled a legal claim by some of the 42,000 people who were affected by a major data breach in 2018. The breach included names, addresses, and payment card details, with BA customers and employees affected.
The Information Commissioner’s Office handed the British airline giant its latest fine to date of £20 million. The Information Commissioner’s Office labelled British Airways’ failure to protect its staff and customers as “unacceptable”. The amount British Airways are expected to pay in their settlement, however, remains confidential.
In the UK, collective legal action does not happen as frequently as class-action suits occur in the US, however, group actions do happen. Earlier this year, the lead firm in the action Pogust, Goodhead, Mousinho, Bianchini and Martins (PGMBM) said that British Airways compensation claim had become the biggest group-action personal-data claim in UK history. Over 16,000 affected individuals are involved.
On Tuesday, PGMB announced that British Airway’s settlement will include compensation for qualifying claimants. However, as the settlement terms are confidential, it remains ambiguous as to how much British Airways will payout and how many of the 16,000 affected individuals will receive financial compensation.
British Airways has apologised to its customers and has reinforced its position that the company acted quickly as soon as the breach was discovered.
