A formal complaint to an airline
The formal register under pressure: a complaint that must stay cold to work. Written online against the clock, self-assessed against the four criteria, and shown beside the Band 7.5+ model letter I wrote for it.
How to use this. Write the letter in the box below in about twenty minutes, at least 150 words, as in the real test. Cover all three bullet points and hold a consistent register throughout. When you've finished, open Self-assessment to mark your own work against the four criteria and read the Band 7.5+ model letter I wrote for it. You can download a copy to keep. For a person to mark your writing against the criteria, the first lesson includes a full assessment. New to the letter? Start with the GT Writing: the letter guide. The same register: paper 01, the hotel complaint.
Write the letter.
Recommended 20 minutes · at least 150 words
You recently travelled by air, and when you collected your suitcase at the airport you found it had been badly damaged. Write a letter to the airline. In your letter:
- describe the journey and what happened to your suitcase
- explain what was damaged and what it will cost you
- say what you would like the airline to do
Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter Dear ...,
Mark your own work.
Be honest with yourself against the four criteria, the same four an examiner uses on the letter. Then read the model letter and see exactly what a Band 7.5+ answer does.
Task Achievement
Coherence & Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The model letter I wrote for this task
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to report serious damage to my suitcase on flight MA417 from London to Bangkok on 14 June, and to request compensation.
When I collected the case from the carousel in Bangkok, one corner had been crushed and the zip torn away, so the case no longer closes. It was intact when I checked it in at Heathrow, and your staff at the airport photographed the damage and gave me the reference PIR-58214.
The case itself, a hard-shell model bought in March, cost £120 and cannot be repaired. Inside, a bottle of aftershave had shattered, ruining two shirts; replacing these will cost roughly £60. I have kept receipts for everything.
I would therefore ask you to reimburse £180, or to explain what your procedure requires beyond the report I have already filed. I would be grateful for a reply within fourteen days, and I can provide the photographs and receipts on request.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Mercer
Why it scores. Every paragraph is a bullet: what happened, what it cost, what is wanted. The tone never heats up; the case is carried by dates, reference numbers and figures, which is exactly what Task Achievement rewards in a complaint. The requests are firm but softened correctly (I would therefore ask, I would be grateful).
Where a letter like this usually loses marks. Anger. Candidates reach for outrage (disgusting, unacceptable service) and the register collapses; a formal complaint scores by staying cold. The other classic loss is vagueness: no flight number, no figure, no deadline, which caps the second and third bullets.
This is a model letter I wrote for this task, not a marked student submission. For a person to mark a letter of yours against the four criteria, the first lesson is a full assessment.
Take your work with you.
Download your letter alongside the model, so you can revise it later or bring it to a lesson.
First time writing a letter? Work through the GT Writing: the letter guide, then write this one against the clock.
Send a task. Get it back marked.
A model shows you the target. It can’t tell you why your own letter sits below it.
Write the letter above and send it to me. I’ll mark it in detail against the four assessment criteria and return it to you annotated, line by line, so you can see exactly where the band is sitting and what is holding it down. Written work is handled this way around the lessons, sent over and returned marked between sessions, which keeps the fifty minutes themselves free for speaking. The first lesson is a full assessment. Regular lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English.