BA has confirmed that a press and online campaign, which breaks this weekend, will run for two weeks and will target 5.6m passengers who bought tickets from the airlines between 11 August 2004 and 23 March 2006. Ads will also appear in the airlines' in-flight magazines, High Life and Seatback.
In February, a US judge ruled that passengers who bought tickets between the specified dates were overcharged as a result of the airlines' illegal fixing of fuel surcharges. The airlines agreed to pay £100m in compensation to passengers.
From 14 July, claim forms will be sent to consumers whose contact details are held by BA and Virgin Atlantic, and those who have registered online. Passengers will also be able claim at www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk.
Affected travellers can claim between £1 and £11.50 for each long-haul ticket that was purchased in the UK or the US. More than 1000 businesses and 100,000 individuals have already registered for compensation.
Passengers have until 31 December 2012 to claim refunds. BA and Virgin will send reminder notices to eligible passengers in their frequent-flyer statements.
Anthony Maton, partner at Cohen Milstein & Toll, lawyers representing UK air passengers, said: '[US Federal Court] has sanctioned a robust, multi-pronged notification programme designed to deliver plain and easy-to-understand information about the settlement. The programme is estimated to reach almost 90% of those passengers who are entitled to make a claim.'
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