I appreciate that many of us, including me, have had occasion to post criticism of how BA has treated us. But my own experience of service recovery when things have gone wrong has always been excellent. And yesterday was another example.

My wife and I were booked on the 1800 to Marseille, which ended up being cancelled because of the fire and the closed airport. We found out at about 1720 as we were entering the BA lounge after a decent meal in the AA lounge and a cocktail in the Qantas lounge. So I called the Gold Line which was answered immediately. Five minutes later we had been rebooked on the early flight today. Whilst I was doing that, an announcement in the lounge advised of the cancellation and said that BA staff were at a nearby gate to give more information. We walked to the gate to be told that a hotel had been arranged, and that we should walk back to the UK border via the now open door at the back of the gate. Five minutes walk with no queue at the border with the e-gates working well and then hold bags already taken off the baggage delivery belt and lined up. We didn’t bother finding out what hotel BA had booked (and had said that to the staff at the gate, and I’ll claim on the travel insurance) and were at the Hilton Garden Inn by 1830. I thought that it was all truly impressive and hassle free.

I understand that others have had very poor recent experience and that the Gold membership no doubt helped. The latter is something I expect I will miss when I join the ranks of the demoted next April…