"The Tverskoi Court in Moscow awarded Bure 57,000 rubles in compensation for financial damages and 10,000 rubles for moral damage," the spokesman said.
Last October the retired NHL right wing, known as the "Russian Rocket", was scheduled to fly on BA875 flight from Moscow to London, when the pilot allegedly mistook Bure for a Russian soccer fan, and refused to take off until the hockey star had left the plane.
Bure filed a lawsuit with the Tverskoi Court in Moscow on June 20 demanding that British Airways pay him 20 million rubles ($771,000) in compensation just for moral damages.
Dmitry Ragulin, a lawyer for Bure, said the defense and his client completely disagreed with Friday's court decision and will appeal to the Moscow City Court.
"The sum awarded for moral damage is ridiculous and we intend to seek an increase," the lawyer said.
Ragulin said earlier that his defendant lost his connecting flight from London to Los Angeles, U.S., and spent almost the entire day at Domodedovo airport, in Moscow, waiting to board another plane. He added that the sum of 20 million rubles could increase as his client suffered not only moral damage, but financial as well.
British Airways officially apologized to the Russian hockey star the day after Bure filed the lawsuit. The company said in a June 21 statement that it realized how unpleasant this incident was for Bure, adding that the star was removed from the plane for security reasons, following an incident the day before involving drunken Russian soccer fans.
On October 30, 2006 British police arrested six passengers for being drunk after the BA875 flight from Moscow landed in London. The detained were all Russian soccer fans going to London for the Arsenal - CSKA Moscow match. The drunken Russian fans smoked cigarettes and were rude, disturbing other passengers on the flight.
