BRITISH Airways has been accused of being “the national carrier of England, not Britain” after it ran a competition to thank NHS staff for their work in the pandemic - but excluded anyone not based in England.
The aviation firm is currently running a free prize draw which will see 3000 NHS staff win “a minimum of” 60,000 Avios points.
The Head for Points website - which covers airline frequent-flyer programs and hotel loyalty programs - says this number was chosen as 60,000 points would allow “two genuinely free flights under the new short-haul pricing structure, and in some cases will also pay for a hotel”.
The British Airways website says that the contest is being run to say “thank you to all the amazing NHS staff who went above and beyond during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
However, it says in the competition’s terms and conditions that only “NHS Staff in England can submit an entry”.
READ MORE: British Airways reverses 'bizarre' exclusion of non-English NHS staff from prize draw
One Scottish NHS worker got in touch with The National after realising that they were excluded.
They said: “Whilst I am delighted BA have made this generous offer to my colleagues south of the Border, it’s pretty appalling for the national carrier to specifically exclude non-English NHS workers.
“It seems British Airways are the national carrier of England, not Britain.”
Avios is the rewards subsidiary of International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways as well as other flight firms such as Vueling.
The Avios points the airline is giving away were donated by customers after the firm ran a “Thank You Appeal” and collected more than 300 million of them.
It is not clear if the donations only came from people based in England, although nothing on the firm’s site suggests people based outwith that country would have been barred from donating.
The British Airways website says it had "already distributed nearly 2000 awards to front line staff based on nominations by local NHS organisations".
It is not clear where these staff are located, but a statement from the aviation group suggested they are not based in Scotland or Wales.
A loyalty spokesperson from International Airlines Group said: “We are pleased to help recognise the tremendous work of NHS colleagues throughout the UK over the last two years.
“We have already awarded Avios to NHS colleagues in England and Northern Ireland and are currently in discussion with NHS Scotland and Wales.”
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