BA settled a UK class-action lawsuit involving hundreds of thousands of customers caught up in a 2018 data breach. The settlement, for an undisclosed sum, followed the leak of the personal data of 420,000 customers and staff, including bank details, contact information and addresses. The deal between IAG-owned BA and law firm PGMBM doesn’t include any admission of liability by the airline. “The pace at which we have been able to resolve this process with British Airways has been particularly encouraging and demonstrates how seriously the legal system is taking mass data incidents,” said Harris Pogust, chairman of PGMBM, said. In October, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office reduced the airline’s fine for the breach from GBP183m to GBP20m in the wake of the pandemic’s financial impact. The case was filed under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which ramped up potential fines for firms failing to protect consumers’ control of their personal data. <br/>
oneworld
American Airlines said Tuesday it carried nearly 2.7m customers on more than 26,000 flights from July 1 through July 5 -- nearly three times the passengers it carried in 2020. The US air carrier flew more than twice as many flights over the five-day period this year versus 2020 including combined mainline and regional flights as more Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19. “After a challenging year, this weekend proved that people are ready to travel again and that the American team stands ready to deliver,” American COO David Seymour said in the memo to employees.<br/>
An American Airlines flight from North Carolina to the Bahamas was delayed by a day after around 30 teenagers refused to wear masks, local media said Tuesday. Flight 893 was scheduled for take-off from Charlotte Douglas airport late Monday but only left the tarmac on Tuesday morning, with the troublemakers still on board. An initial delay of several hours was caused by mechanical problems, but when the plane was finally ready to leave arguments broke out between the crew and a group of youths who refused to comply with federal rules that all passengers must wear masks on board flights to fight the spread of Covid-19, local channel WSOC-TV reported. "It was bad. First, they were yelling. They were cursing. They were being very obnoxious," witness Malik Banks told the station. The group of around 30 teens were high school students from Boston celebrating their graduation. They ended up agreeing to wear a mask the next day, after spending a night at the airport. Police made no arrests, local media reported.<br/>