Schultzois

As the ticket was purchased from AA (and the premium product flown was with AA), I would be inclined to be quite direct with AA concerning the matter, even though it is BA who has let the passenger down in this case.

Namely, a significant part of the value of a long-haul J ticket is the lounge access it entitles, and the passenger was wrongly denied that on this trip. I would not simply be "reporting" this to AA as the OP says, but asking them for some of the fare refunded as the service promised when paying for a J ticket was not delivered. As the OP (AA Ex Plt) and his wife (AA Gold) seem to be quite good customers of AA, perhaps someone at AA just might agree and be the one to chase down BA over having mistreated their premium customers so seriously.

I certainly know that if I were one of the executives at AA involved in the AA/BA/IB transatlantic partnership, and I heard of this happening, I'd be steaming. Failures like this really undermine the whole partnership.

All that said, what OP has done so far sounds quite appropriate (and perhaps more likely to reach an outcome). But the fact that the money went from OP to AA (and apparently does quite a lot judging by the OP's status with AA) is what made me think their involvement here just might raise it to an appropriate level in BA.

El Puerco Volante

Or maybe our levels of tolerance are slightly different. Some people do enjoy being abused and treated badly,I even heard there is a name for that...
Nothing wrong with that,please continue to enjoy
I, and every other person who travelled with me trough LHR on BA, have had the same experience - mostly ignorant, full of themselves and unfriendly staff. There is a helpful one on occasion, but this is a rare thing. The OP's wife experience just confirms that.

Regards,

El Puerco Volante

layz

Ryanair passenger?

stifle

The problem is that the sort of person who does not wish to comply with lounge access rules is also very often...
...misinformed about data protection laws. The Data Protection Act 1998 does not apply to data you retain for social, personal, or domestic purposes, nor does it mean you need someone's consent to keep or retain their data for other purposes (you just have to fulfill one of a long list of options).

I agree that taking a photograph would have been likely to get matters escalated further and perhaps end up with the passenger getting offloaded.

If a subordinate of mine was established to have called a customer a pain in the arse, they would be very likely to be calling the Jobcentre in the near future.

Jennyjo

No, contrary to your charmless suggestion, I don't get off on being abused and treated badly. Furthermore, I note that the OP agrees with me that in his experience, BA staff generally are polite and helpful.

If you and every other person travelling with you through LHR on BA have had consistently bad experiences with ignorant and unhelpful BA staff you have either been exceptionally unlucky or, more probably, you're getting back what you give out. Try treating people with a bit of respect - you'll be surprised how helpful and courteous they can be.

BizFlyin

Your veiled insults aside, the measure of a good customer facing employee is their ability to deal with difficult passengers with grace and without getting their feathers ruffled.

It doesn't matter at all if people are being disrespectful, the sort of behavior that is discussed on this thread (and in many on this forum) should never been seen from a BA/BAA employee ever, under any circumstances.

Jennyjo

I agree that a good employee should deal with difficult passengers with grace. I was making no veiled insults - merely pointing out that a consistent pattern of rudeness and ignorance from BA staff suggests a pattern of behaviour eliciting such responses - if indeed the claim by that poster to being consistently badly treated is true.

I agree too with that the behaviour under discussion with the OP is completely unacceptable, and is highly offensive. I was side-tracked by someone else's unhelpful generalisation that BA staff tend to be ignorant, unhelpful and "up themselves".

BA Executive Club

Dear all

I wanted to confirm that we did get it wrong this time and the OP should have been allowed to access the lounge. I am extremely sorry about this and we have been in touch with the airport management team to bring this to their attention as soon as possible.

Warm regards

Nicci

indianwells

I can accept most things as I am extremely easy going and most likely would shrug and go and find a bar or restaurant in the terminal. It takes an awful lot to make me react but being called a "pain in the ar*e" would most definitely have been the tipping point for me.

Wozza2404

They can call me what they like. I'd have happily let her call the police, airport security or even the A Team if she so desired. I'd have made quite the little show.

If this had happened to my wife, however, I'd be furious beyond measure.

There's an entire thread dedicated to this issue (refused entry on domestic connection when arriving in J/CE), and I think it's p*ss poor of BA for this to be such a regular occurrence.

fripperies

Me too. I'm pretty easy going but if someone said that to me as a customer I'd want their scalp. But it's so outrageous it almost defies belief. Telling a customer they're becoming a nuisance would be indefensible but "pain in the arse"? She would have to be certifiable. OP - but did the agent actually use the expression "pain in the arse" or were you paraphrasing the gist? I'm not questioning the substance of your report, still less trying to defend the lounge agent's behaviour, but my mind is boggling so please satisfy my curiosity.

Good thread. This is such an egregious case that it should make BA address the training issue more seriously. Nicci's response shows it has registered.

T8191

Nice feedback, and thank you Nicci.

At an admin level, this subject really needs someone who can speak and write English to communicate the rules cogently on BA.com and to staff.

If anyone can speak and write cogently these days ... That may be the biggest challenge

Cap'n Benj

Please feedback on what they say!

Is there an official copy of the lounge access rules anywhere?

CatchThePigeon

Does anyone with time on their hands - and with the necessary knowledge - fancy doing a first draft for BA to use on their website and guidance notes for lounge staff.

Even better if anyone within BA fancies doing it I'm sure your colleagues and numerous customers would be very grateful.

dubbin

This really isn't how multi-billion dollar organisations work