itsmeitisss

I have been GGL for three years now and I generally enjoy travelling BA and I generally find service to be good, and BA are my first choice on flights. My main concerns are how they manage, or rather often fail to manage their premium customers.

I understand there was some disruption in the schedule today due to weather, and that is of course outside BA's control. How BA deals with consequences of that is inside it's control, however. This morning, I flew with colleagues from BLL to BRU onward to LHR. Due to a change of plans where I was originally going to VIE, and now needed to go to MAN, I booked a return to MAN yesterday and on reaching BRU found a 90 minute delay. I am travelling onward from MAN with one of my colleagues and as checkin at BLL wouldn't split our luggage over LHR/MAN - 2 of the 4 of us were stopping at LHR and the remainder to MAN, but the equipment with us needed checking to LHR - obviously a little complicated for them to check one of my colleagues bags to LHR and the other to MAN, so having 2 hr 20 minutes between flights we thought it would be fine.

Suddenly hit with a delay that wasn't showing while we were in BLL lounge, I phoned GGL from the lounge in BRU as I felt we wouldn't have a lot of time to go and collect my colleagues bag. As the changes were FOC right before I left for the airport, and as there was a delay on our BA flight to LHR, I thought there would be some flexibility and that I could be allowed to change to the 2000 departure so that we would be able to collect bags check in and have a comfortable transfer.

I was quite curtly told that a supervisor couldn't do a thing and that as I was travelling on separate tickets it was my problem. The person actually dealing with me who tried to get approval from the supervisor told me that there is nothing they can do. She told me that I might get flexibility at the airport but couldn't guarantee it.

I had no choice but to rush to the flight which I made but my colleague didn't. As I have a lift with him further north I am stuck at MAN where there is literally nothing open, instead of us being in GF relaxed.

I don't want this to come across as a rant, as I understand that sometimes things are outside BA's control. I was just disappointed that there was no flexibility allowed.

This has left me mulling over the usefulness or otherwise of GGL. Ok I have the two jokers, great as far as they go. I'm always extending my GUF2's as I have zero time to take them, but ok. But what niggles me is that one of the stated benefits is the ability to call the GGL team and get a flight held for a few days and then pay. This is not a free benefit though you still have to pay the offline fee. If I contact a TA, they can hold a flight for me, and BA have to pay them commission. I'm staggered that we have to pay BA to save them paying a TA money.

Where status should really help is when there is a problem. 4 times this year I have had to run to flights that were well within MCT as a result of a BA delay and not once have I had any assistance whatsoever. I'd rather not arrive on the plane sweaty and panting. I'd like to have the choice of rebooking on the next flight or making it just in time. Please BA, give your top level team some ability to make beneficial changes for your most loyal customers in the case of a delay.

Please also BAEC consider removing the offline fee for paying for an held booking which could very easily be made online but you choose to not make it available - all it needs is a secure link to a payment page. Also while the GGL benefit cannot be booked online, (again surely this could authorised online) please review this charge.

With these charges for 'benefits' and lack of assistance in times of problems, I'm feeling scammed.

Oh and just a footnote, my colleague missed his flight because he had to pick up and check a bag. Thanks BA for failing to put that bag on the plane in BLL. That really helped!

avm2806

I have to agree with you that GGL is really not what it should / could be. While in India, the GGL line is amazingly helpful because there are so few GGL's here and I am almost instantly recognized by voice by some of the most courteous BA staff I know - BA at LHR and other ports, Cabin crew recognition etc are all woefully lacking when it comes to this supposedly top elite tier. When compared to what Cathay does for its regular diamonds (not even diamond plus), AA does for a concierge key member or LH for an HON - GGL could go a long way on the soft personal touches. Having said that - it is truly a value elite tier given that it is much easier to qualify for than most super elite tiers (LH HON, SQ PPS being good examples).
But I do agree with the OP - it's the little things that count and could make all the difference and make it worthwhile being a GGL. I won't be chasing it this year - if it happens, so be it. Honestly the difference between Gold and GGL isn't enough to justify the added spend for me.

G-BOAC

The lack of common sense flexibility for GGL members (especially during disruption of some kind) who aren't trying to forever take the piss and just get rules habitually broken (rather than occasionally bent), and are genuinely looking for some help/flexibility is one of the major weaknesses of GGL. It still hasn't properly grown out of its initial "small club where we'll try to add some extras for them" state IMHO. But that is changing over time. The 24/7 telephone line is a good addition, for example, but that took a while to come. I am assured that this very issue is something they're looking at for 2012/the future. These things don't happen overnight and I do take some comfort in the fact there have been many incremental improvements since launch, so I do really believe more will come. But it's quite frustrating when you're in a pickle currently and need the help there and then.

The GGL team just aren't empowered to make common sense exceptions for members. I feel sorry for the team sometimes when they agree with you or you know they want to help...but can't. Even Seating Control have more clout (see rants passim from a former Saint of this parish) which is not the way any sensible company would allow things to run for long IMHO.

itsmeitisss

One positive thing I will say is that sun air's inflight catering puts BA's Mainline CE service into the shade. A nice chicken salad, reasonable wine cake and ice cream cognac's offered with a smile and this on an all Y flight. copy their book please BA. There's a gulf of difference between CE catering in LCY and LHR. Afternoon tea ZRH -LCY 3 sandwiches large scone large punnet of clotted cream. Compare this to BRU - LHR: two stale sandwiches tiny scone tiny punnet of clotted cream. The flight distances were different but flight cost aroun the same

itsmeitisss

I agree with the sentiment here and I think it would be quite easy to administer. Basically as long as you respect the MCT then in the case of delay then GGL should look after its members. If you don't respect the MCT then I think the risk is yours unless there is no viable alternative. If GGL had been empowered they could have taken the stress out of what has turned out to be a long day. I left for Billund at 7.30. I won't get to my destination until 2300. I've had quicker journeys from Asia and MAN T3 arrivals pretty much closes at 7.30 as far as food options is concerned.

I think it's also rather disingenuous for BA to change its online schedule on the app. My colleague's 2000 flight was delayed by 35 minutes. They've retimed it to 2040 stating it's 5 minutes EARLY leaving. BA please don't pick up the bad habits of the railways.

corporate-wage-slave

Well I've read these postings several times and given the mix of precise and imprecise information I must admit I don't quite understand what happened here.

But my own experience is that:
1) If going Short haul to long haul via LHR and there is a delay, then GGL does help if it may make a difference, e.g. with Special Services at the gateway. I am not sure it helps much since I can easily outpace most of these agents, and unlike the OP I don't mind a bit of T5 jogging once in a while. If the delay is hopeless then this doesn't happen, you may as well negotiate with Flight Connections anyway since every situation/outcome is different.
2) If short haul to short haul delay, no they generally don't help in the same way, but when rebooking then normally you're on the next plane, GGL or not, and it's no big deal having to wait once in a while.
3) They tend to react after something has happened, rather than before - so not so hot on preventative action, which is what I think your story relates. Given the huge range of "what ifs" I am not sure that can be improved on.
4) In some situations tickets get automatically rebooked due to a delayed flight, though I don't think that us unique to GGL or necessarily desireable. KLM keep doing this to me and I only find out when I show up at the gate of the booked flight only to discover than KLM has unilaterally offloaded me.

In terms of the GGL hotline not helping you mid flight, there are all sorts of reasons why they won't be able to help, they are effectively a glorified ticket desk and some 24 hours before flying they lose most of their abilities to change a ticket since control passes out of their hands. Sure they can make calls to operations, but I can see why they invited you to contact Customer Service at the airport given the complications of baggage and colleagues.

itsmeitisss

The thing is that a high value customer's perception of BA isn't limited to long haul or to short haul but everything. I frankly don't much care about the difference I fly a mixture of long and short haul and I won't differentiate and I don't believe that BA should either. A high value customer is a high value customer no matter how far he/she is flying and should be looked after equally. I have 6 business class return tickets held to PEk for next month and while I'm not a huge customer I frequently book 6x J tickets to and from NA or Asia.

I firmly believe in prevention being better than cure and it would be great if GGL members could be spared the queue at FCC plus the uncertainty. If I could have had it on one ticket I would have done. But that wasn't possible. I'd bet that LH hon and CX platinum would have had their flight changed in the circumstances. As a high spender with BA ( and it's me that foots the bill 80% of the time) I dont think that I was asking for anything unreasonable today and to be told that I 'was on my own' in other words they told me that if I missed the flight then tough, was very disappointing.

I also think that BA lacks ambition and opportunism. My colleague is silver and they wouldn't even consider looking at helping him. I know strictly they don't have to but bearing in mind that he was travelling with GGL it would have been a way of 'delighting' two customers in one go. And this is the crux of BA's problem on delivering a premium service. They never seem to aim to exceed expectations.

That's the difference between a good and a great airline. BA will never be truly great until it regularly exceeds its customers expectations. I'm not looking for a regular bending of a rule for no good reason. I'm looking for a little flexibility when I've allowed enough time - hell, these were flights I booked through GGL. To me, 'To fly, To serve" is not a promise but a gimmicky advertising slogan.

Today is a shining example of why I pack my bags full (within allowed limits) and don't check bags in if travelling less than 7 days.

BAHumbug

I think the fundamental problem is that BA as a company have an attitude of 'well, that'll do'.

The problem is that it WON'T do. I've consistently had better treatment from CX and JL than I would ever get from BA. Frankly, I've had better treatment from MA on more than one occasion.

I don't know what the problem is with BA. It's not a staff issue per se, as they do have enough staff who do seem to genuinely want to help customers out. I suspect it's that most British of problems, not wanting to empower frontline staff to actually do the right thing for fear of managers suddenly finding themselves without a job to do...

BAH

itsmeitisss

Hammer. Nail. You just hit it. Particularly that first sentence as that's what I've been feeling about BA for a while. They seem to want to be marked B- all the time.

KenJohn

It depends a lot on who you get on the phone. There was an incredibly helpful senior person on the Gold line who went above and beyond the rules and undid something another customer service person did while I was in a panic when I missed a connection due to an AA delay.

I wonder if at busy times, Gold and GGL lines go to regular line and the level of flexibility goes out the window. I had this experience once when I rang the Gold line too early and was routed to a regular phone line. I could tell immediately given the person at the other end of the phone was rather clueless.

It is the old mantra here - remain calm, putting the phone down and ringing up again hoping you will get someone else. Very easily said but difficult to remember in a stressed/chaotic situation and panic bells start to ring.

eae

The only real benefit of GGL seems to be the increased CIV score (which is great and has secured me a number of op-ups) and the fact that there is generally no wait when calling. It really seems like the GGL line just jumps to the front of the regular gold line though as I've never gotten any special recognition or assistance during my four years as a guest list member.

G-BOAC

Alas it does in the US. In the UK it's a dedicated team.

HIDDY

I've looked extensively on the EC site yet I don't see anything about the GGL. They tell you all about the benefits to be had when reaching a certain amount of tier points but they never seem to mention anything about becoming a GGL.

Why all the cloak and dagger?

Herman ze German

this is were my internl Alarm Bell went off. If you were on seperate tickets I can totally understand what happened, as otherwise people probably would make up friends just to be able to change tickets witout paying for a flexible one. I do believe that BA sometimes is flexible for GGL but this is not a given benefit and therefore can not be expected under all circumstances

Good question, I don't understand why GGL and the Premier Level are not listed on BA's Website with a full List of Benefits

corporate-wage-slave

Well Premier is by invitation, so there's no point advertising it on a website. Premiers get a info pack, email, a phone call and a dedicated phone line to ensure they know how things work (and I guess it's mainly the PAs job to sort this out anyway).

GGL and CR card are not levels in their own rights, in my opinion, they are additional aspects of what is fundamentally a gold card. Now that logic is falling down now that they are issuing amended cards to GGL, but until recently it was quite tricky to work out whether you were GGL or Gold, unless you paid attention to your email, or squinted down one side of the BAEC webpage. And if you are travelling at GGL level you don't half get a lot of emails from BA. There are other benefits of Gold, such as GUF2, and my perception is that until recently that GGL was just an extra benefit within Gold.