Hi Everyone,
Long time lurker on FT, very infrequent poster. I had an uncharateristcally poor set of flights over thanksgiving with BA in World Traveller. The first flight was a very old and well worn 777-200, BOS => LHR. However on the return (BA0239 - Oct 26th) my row had no IFE (except one channel), no reading lights, not even the call button worked. I ended up having to sit on one of the flight attendant seats in the back by the bathrooms reading as there were no alternative except sitting in the dark at my seat. I was appalled considering the price of the ticket. Am I entited to any compensation, and if so how do I go about it?
Thank you!
Last edited by Distilledhighlife; Nov 27, 12 at 9:52 am..
Reason: added question mark.
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Send them an email first of all but don't get your hopes up.
When I had cause to complain, for 4 bad seats and 4 bad experiences from check-in staff (group of 4) they offered me a very generous £15 voucher to use on my next flight, between the 4 of us!! So, not enough for a BA pen each.
I told them to stick it from the reject bin from where they got it.
I was quite shocked compared to the compensation I got from Virgin (15k miles) for a complaint I didn't actually make, lol
You should get compensation Avios for non-working IFE, the amount based on the cabin you were in (from memory, scaling from 5K to 20K). Contact BA to let them know the problem.
You might be able to get more since it was more than just the IFE broken.
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This is unacceptable and, unless the a/c was completely full (which is not clear from the OP), the CSM/CSD should have offered some form to complain, should have offered to feedback on the OP's behalf, and if possible should have offered an op-up to a better seat (even if only in WTP). BA is meant to be a full service airline (whatever that means these days) and from what the OP describes, it fell well short of that on this occasion.
Things only improve if the culprit of poor service/performance is made to compensate a significant sum, which I would suggest is not acceptable in terms of just a small voucher and/or some avios, but something substantial in relation to the price paid for the ticket.
Yes you should get some but not a lot of compensation either in the form of Avios or a Voucher.
If you informed the CSD at the time they should have taken note of the defects so customer services will have a note of it which will help speed up your claim.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HIDDY
Yes you should get some but not a lot of compensation either in the form of Avios or a Voucher.
If you informed the CSD at the time they should have taken note of the defects so customer services will have a note of it which will help speed up your claim.
Agreed, although the "should" is pertinent. My last trip with a broken footrest was clearly not logged as a defect, so I got nothing apart from the usual 'cut and paste' ... And probably a black mark for becoming a serial complainer
Agreed, although the "should" is pertinent. My last trip with a broken footrest was clearly not logged as a defect, so I got nothing apart from the usual 'cut and paste' ... And probably a black mark for becoming a serial complainer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paralytic
Was the breakfast not very good either?
I'll get my coat
hohohoho
I don't even bother with the CW TATL breakfast now - not even the awful coffee. I wait until I get into the LGW Lounge!
But I don't complain about the food - I'm just pleasantly surprised when it's nice. Called managing expectations, I believe. But I do expect, as the OP notes, the hardware to work.
My last trip with a broken footrest was clearly not logged as a defect,
TAM have a good system in place.......they have a customer complaints book on board which you can ask for if you have an issue you wish to complain about.
You fill it in, cabin crew sign it so you know it has been logged and that it will be given the proper attention by customer services without you having to resort to sending in a letter.
You'll automatically hear something back from them six months later.
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Don't let the Walter Mitty's get you down....
Thank you so far for the great tips which will help manage my expectations.
A couple of clarifying points:
1. The trip was actually yesterday, apologies for the wrong date.
2. I did fill out a complaint form onboard and requested that the issue be logged as well.
3. Flight attendent first asked me to mail it and since BOS was my final destination I asked if she could mail it on return. Won't hold breath.
4. I was told around 12 seats had similar problems to my own and I did not want to cause a fuss by asking for a higher class of travel and the flight attendents were really good about working around me.
5. This plane had NF so has been refurbished sometime recently.
A few questions for the community
Does BA have a system thats logs these issues? I was surprised that BA hadn't fixed the issue at heathrow in the first place. Or been more proactive about saying an issue existed and recitifying the situation as much as possible before boarding had begun. Any thoughts from more experienced fliers?
Final question, I have noticed that a lot of BAs planes are either old and showing it (inbound trip) or have various malfunctions. Whats the deal there?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Distilledhighlife
Hi Everyone,
Thank you so far for the great tips which will help manage my expectations.
A couple of clarifying points:
1. The trip was actually yesterday, apologies for the wrong date.
2. I did fill out a complaint form onboard and requested that the issue be logged as well.
3. Flight attendent first asked me to mail it and since BOS was my final destination I asked if she could mail it on return. Won't hold breath.
4. I was told around 12 seats had similar problems to my own and I did not want to cause a fuss by asking for a higher class of travel and the flight attendents were really good about working around me.
5. This plane had NF so has been refurbished sometime recently.
A few questions for the community
Does BA have a system thats logs these issues? I was surprised that BA hadn't fixed the issue at heathrow in the first place. Or been more proactive about saying an issue existed and recitifying the situation as much as possible before boarding had begun. Any thoughts from more experienced fliers?
Final question, I have noticed that a lot of BAs planes are either old and showing it (inbound trip) or have various malfunctions. Whats the deal there?
I think the final question about the old planes is best answered by looking at the delays on new aircraft entering the market such as the a380 and the 787. These aircraft have suffered HUGE delays, and many operators have been forced to continue using aircraft which they would have rather retired had they been able to. This often means that cabins are also then left without being refurbed, because the aircraft is destined to be removed from the fleet as soon as possible. This appears to have been the case with a few carriers, not just BA (LH for example, as well as TG, just off the top of my head).
Very Poor Flight, Entitled to Compensation?
