Originally Posted by
barneybarnicles
24 hours ago around the time that check-in opened I upgraded my cabin online, paid the upgrade fee and then went back to manage my booking to check in. When I tried to check in or select a seat I kept receiving error messages so I called up and was told on several occasions that it was just an error with the website and if I waited it would resolve itself shortly.
As you might imagine the errors never resolved and I was not able to check in online or select a seat.
When I arrived at the airport at check-in I was told that I had been placed on a standby list for the upgraded cabin because there were no seats available and that I would only be offered a upgraded seat if someone did not show up. In the end there were no free seats and I had to go back to the lower cabin, in a seat which was newly assigned to me. In the end, I was in a worse position than before the “upgrade”. None of the call centre operators were able to tell me what was happening which was quite frustrating because if I had known I was on standby I would’ve cancelled the upgrade and retained my old seat.
Not entirely surprising given BA’s IT is from the 1950s but wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and if so how BA dealt with it?
Just thought id add some insight by here. Its not really systems as much as it is process, the airport are the ones to manage oversold flights or cabins, not the contact centres.
The contact centre would be able to see that there arent seats in the cabin available, and the flight loads. However we dont get any indication of who could be bumped or put on standby.
Even if you knew in advance, you cant just cancel an upgrade as you suggest because upgrades are non refundable. It wouldnt make sense to do this either given that there could be noshows on the day for various reasons.
So in any scenario like this the advice will always be go early, speak to the check in desk and they will discuss it with you.