The main curtain was missing yesterday (JER-LGW) but the little ones above the seats were there and they were closed.

Glad this isn't part of the "upgrading" of services to/from LGW. Ah well, just bad luck I s'pose. I have sent an email asking what the problem was, and if they fancy topping up my mileage whilst they’re at it... ;) I'll let you know what happens!

I'm soooo disappointed that MAD/BCN etc are disappearing from LGW. Who the hell made that decision...??

The significantly larger and more comfortable seats would have made an AA premium cabin easily distinguishable from 'coach'. More then can be said for Crap Europe. ;)

Happens quite a bit sometimes they are closed though but I complained about it when I was in WTP a few years back. Strange they never forget to close them when its in the middle of J and F on the 52 744.

And DUB, JFK, GIB, NQY etc etc etc!
Please, please, please British Airways...... make use of LGW and the brilliant staff who work for you there, please send some more aircraft over to resume some of these routes!

Same on LGW-ALC A319 last Saturday morning.

Unfortunately the people who are allowed to move the curtains (usually cleaning supervisor) treat the divider as a guy they'd like to beat up. This means that the dividers break quite often or gets stuck and we can't use them. They haven't got the best design or userfriendly parts anyways.

I'm getting good at fixing them though... (shh, don't tell the boss as I'm not supposed to touch them)

The dividers will most likely have been put in the book (tech log) but are not an "urgent" item compared to other things in the book. Engineers will have a certain amount of time before they must fix it, and therefore you'll sometimes be on board an aircraft without a curtain. Apologies for that, but rest assured that if it happens on my flight I won't let ET passengers disturb you ;)

There are several, rather new, Airbus aircraft at LHR flying around without main divider curtains. I hate the way it looks...

BA's response:


Dear Mr jaslocombe

I am sorry that your flight was disrupted by the poor behaviour of your fellow passengers. Thank you for contacting us about it.

I appreciate that it can be upsetting when the divider is not placed between our Club Europe and Euro Traveller cabins.

On every flight, we have a cabin service director and he or she manages our response when a problem like this arises. They are in contact with the captain too, and together they decide the best course of action. It is not always an easy decision to make, as we have to carefully weigh up whether intervening will inflame the situation or not. Our first consideration is always the safety of our customers.

I understand your reasons for asking, however, I am afraid I cannot offer any compensation in this situation.

Again, please accept my apologies. Incidents like this are rare but they are always unpleasant and we hope that you will travel with us again in happier circumstances.

Best regards

[BA STAFF NAME]
British Airways Customer Relations
Your case reference is:x

Please use the following link if you need to send us a reply:
http://britishairways.com/travel/web...lic/en_gb?eId=
Please quote your case reference x in any correspondence with us.


And jaslocombe's response to the above:


Good morning, [BA STAFF NAME].

Firstly, thank you for your prompt response. But I must insist on a few points.

I was not upset by the behaviour of my fellow passengers as you wrote - I was disturbed. I pay for a CE seat so that I am not disturbed. That's the whole point of having the middle seat free, wider seats, more leg room and so on. When the divider is not in place, as on this occasion, the CE cabin becomes an extension of the ET cabin thereby increasing the noise, flow of passenger traffic along the aisle, customer requests etc etc... these are disturbances.

The CSD, or purser, is paid to make decisions and to judge whether intervening with the situation is most appropriate. He was asked by me and a fellow CE passenger to kindly ask those standing in the aisle to use the loos at the rear of the aircraft. Whilst he did so once, he failed to do so again and ET passengers continued to form a queue overlooking my seat. There were no arguments, no cross words, no abusive behaviour whatsoever. Whilst I agree and appreciate that the crew is in place primarily for our safety, there were no safety implications to the situation onboard and therefore the implications of the CSD actions (or inactions) were wholly regarding comfort.

The situation did leave me feeling disturbed and uncomfortable, especially since I purchase a Club ticket primarily to aviod this (don't we all?). So I am unsure how you justify not giving compensation in this situation where the service for which I paid was not delivered? Clearly I am expecting a reimbursement of the fare, but if this is not possible I will accept a gesture of goodwill (albeit a sizeable amount of additional Exec Club Miles, reduced future travel...). I'm sure if you take the time to look at my Exec club account, both past and future, I am a heavy user of BA's product and therefore expect a level of customer service beyond that the company is currently offering.

Kind regards,
jaslocombe

You might also wish to point out that ba.com clearly advertises Club Europe as a separate cabin....

As Swanhunter eruditly points out, when there's not much to justify the delta in cost between CE and ET, every little bit counts....

Agreed; and there is an element of principle here too.

I'm not a crazed "ooowww, keep me away from them’ poor people" manic, since I am very often at the back myself, but will there be a day when BA thinks...

"Hummm. Nobody has complained about absent dividers. Let’s do away with them..."??

id be interested to hear what reply you get from ba jaslocombe

I spent almost the whole of a CDG flight discussing toilet use in Club (not the passengers toilet habits, but the use of the facilities...)

A lady immediately behind the curtain wanted to use the toilet in Club, I politely asked her to use the toilet at the rear. She launched into a tirade of "you are abusing my human rights by not letting me use that toilet!"... "you are being an idiot by making me walk all the way to the back of this Airbus A319 (:rolleyes:) to use the toilet"... "you are being a snob by saying those people are more important and deserve more than me"... etc... etc... etc... I will not continue with the comments...

It then transpired, and this bit I loved... That the lady had connected in from LAX in WTP... Now, having been in WT+ on several 747 aircraft, I am fully aware on the Mid J aircraft, WT+ have their own toilet in the cabin... So, after a little more raised voiced from this rather obnoxious French lady... I asked...

Me:"So, you were sat in WT+, behind First Class?"
Her:"Yes, and that was awful, we were not allowed to walk forward, or backwards..."
Me:"But you had your own toilet in your cabin, exclusively for the use of WT+ passengers... Why should the people in Club, who like you, also pay a premium for a separate cabin, not have the same benefit?"

She went aaaaallllll the way to the back of the A319 to use the toilet...

Further BA response:

Dear Mr jaslocombe

Thank you for coming back to us about your recent flight.

I am sorry that you are unhappy with our response. I understand that you feel that we did not take your complaint seriously enough.

When our customers tell us that something has gone wrong, our first response is to apologise and take action to address the problem and try to stop it happening again.

I have thoroughly reviewed your circumstances again. I do understand your disappointment with our decision, but I am afraid that, based on everything you told us, our position hasn't changed.

Thank you again for contacting us and for giving me an opportunity to look at your case again. I hope our decision will not deter you from flying with us in the future.

Best regards

[BA STAFF NAME]
British Airways Customer Relations
Your case reference is:x


and jaslocombe's response to the above:

Dear [BA STAFF NAME]

Again, thank you for your prompt response.

And again, I am responding to you because you have not concluded this matter to my satisfaction.

You have failed to explain why the divider was not in place, and you have failed to offer an adequate explanation as to what steps you will take to address this problem in future. You have successfully apologised for other passengers' "poor behaviour", even though there was none, and have failed to apologise for the inaction of your staff.

You have failed to provide me with the service as you advertised to me before I purchased the ticket (see: https://www.britishairways.com/trave...club/_gf/en_gb). This page advertises that "Club Europe offers the high levels of comfort and excellent service", and, "on board enjoy... extra legroom in the comfort of our separate Club Europe cabin...", and, "by travelling in Club Europe, you can be assured of an upgraded experience, with responsive and efficient service, ensuring that your individual needs are recognised at all times."

I have described my experience as disturbed and interrupted, in the same cabin as ETers, a poor representation of an upgraded service and unresponsive staff. You have therefore failed to provide me with the advertised product on all counts.

Allow me to direct you to the eleventh edition of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing which came into force on 4 March 2003 and the relevant points of that code: Point 1.1a (available at http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/codes/cap_...clause_id=1430) states that all "electronic and printed material" is included; point 1.3a, where it describes a product as "encompassing goods, services, ideas, causes, opportunities, prizes or gifts"; and point 7.1, under Truthfulness, states that "no marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise."

I am therefore suggesting that BA is breeching the CAP Code by advertising a service which, without a stated reason, it has failed to deliver; and upon request for a refund or compensation, has failed to acknowledge fault, offer reassurances that such incidents won't happen again and refused reimbursement, in full or out of goodwill.

Reluctantly I will carry this forward to the ASA if your next responses fails to address these issues appropriately.

Kind Regards,
jaslocombe

Just to make clear here people... (before I start making enemies on the board too! :rolleyes:) I think I'm pushing my luck. But nobody has responded to say why and what they're gunna do to solve the problem... I so hate damming my favourite airline, but for goodness sake, someone please get a grip: we pay good $$$s for a good product. And when you pay to sit in a seat without a queue of people holding their nuts at eye level, I kinda expect to get one... a goodwill gesture would be nice BA....