British Airways has settled a legal claim by some of the 420,000 people affected by a major 2018 data breach.
The breach affected both customers and British Airways staff and included names, addresses, and payment-card details.
The Information Commissioner’s Office handed the airline its largest fine to date. Of 20-million pounds, over the “unacceptable” failure to protect customers.
But British Airways’ settlement – the amount of which remains confidential – did not include any admission of liability.
While collective legal action is not as common in the UK as similar class-action suits in the US, group actions do happen.
Law firm Pogust, Goodhead, Mousinho, Bianchini and Martins earlier this year said the airline compensation claim had become “the largest group-action personal-data claim in UK history”, with more than 16,000 affected people involved.
On Tuesday, PGMBM, the lead firm in the action, announced the settlement included compensation for “qualifying claimants who were part of the litigation”.
However, because the terms of the settlement are confidential, it is unclear how many of the 16,000 will receive a payout – or how much British Airways will end up paying.
The ICO’s multi-million-pound fine “did not provide redress to those affected”, said PGMBM chairman Harris Pogust.
“This settlement now addresses that.”
The company issued a brief statement saying it was “pleased we’ve been able to settle the group action”.
It apologised to customers and reiterated its stance it had acted promptly when it had discovered the problem.
