Story Archive

You Say Granada, They Say...

Edward Gamson, of North Bethesda, Md., and his partner wanted to grab a little European vacation before a conference in Portugal. But about 20 minutes after their flight left London, Gamson asked the British Airways flight attendant, “Why are we headed west to go to Spain?” “Spain?” replied the crewman. “We’re going to West Indies.” Gamson said he had told the telephone reservation agent he wanted to go to Granada, Spain, not Grenada, a Caribbean country closer to Maryland than to London. The first-class tickets cost Gamson nearly 400,000 frequent-flier miles, and he thinks he spent more than $34,000 on the vacation he didn’t get to take; as compensation, British Airways offered $376 each and 50,000 miles to him and his partner. Gamson sued. British Airways didn’t comment, but it’s fighting the case; it even tried to remove it from state to federal court to take advantage of a treaty on airline liability. (AC/NBC) ...The world’s favourite legal maneuver.