h15t0r1an

Perhaps this is an old fashioned thought but I'd be very interested to know if women travelling alone are more likely to meet an unjustified denial of service or access.

mrow

Couldn't agree more.

I was fully expecting to be given the run around (hence my posting on FT to see how others would approach raising this with BA) and if I'm honest we contacted Customer Services purely so we could raise a case that we could refer to when dealing with some of the contacts within BA suggested on this forum.

The reality has been far better than my expectation and Customer Services have gone away and done some legwork to understand what should have happened and have then provided a very swift response which addressed our questions and concerns directly and with pretty good accuracy.

I think the response from BA goes some way to showing that the staff member my other half had the problem with is in the minority within BA. Often in this forum it's possible to get the impression that BA is a faceless organisation that doesn't care about Customer Service standards. My other half's initially negative experience would add weight to this school of thought, but the way in which Customer Services and BA staffers on this forum have jumped in to deal with things so promptly and professionally show that this simply isn't the case.

The bit that really impressed me was the way the response from Customer Services (and indeed Nicci on this forum) acknowledges that there was a mistake and offers a voucher as an apology. Nowhere are the words goodwill gesture mentioned. Whilst a small thing, in my mind this is significant:

• Apology = BA admitting that something wrong happened
  
• Goodwill Gesture = BA squirming out of admitting that something wrong happened

^ and kudos to BA for the apology as part of service recovery effort...this is what my other half wanted to see and this is what she got. Sure the £100.00 will be nice when we next book flights though

Overall the service recover has been first rate and has seriously repaired my other half's perception of BA in this regard.

PotNoodle

A voucher? Hardly going the extra mile are they. I suppose you are lucky, the only reason they gave it you is because BA don't want the negative publicity that has been caused by complaining on the internet.

Who is Frank Van De Post any road?

mrow

Frank van der Post is MD for Brand and Customer Experience at BA.

As I've not had time the only substantive contact we've had with BA so far has been the single call and follow up email to Customer Services. Now I am back we will respond to the BA FT contacts that have been in touch and will also forward a summary on to Frank van der Post.

With respect to the Customer Services response, we didn't ask for nor expect any form of Avois or financial compensation so in my view the £100 voucher was a nice gesture.

Given the level of our contact with BA over this matter, my view is that Customer Services have responded brilliantly (and very quickly). Within one day of us contacting them we had a response that fully addressed all of our requests. I expected to get a cut and paste response and wait weeks for a human to actually read and understand what we were saying. Our experience was of a real human being who listened, asked what we wanted, said what she would do and delivered on what she said.

Can't ask for anything more really (other than perhaps for lounge access to be granted when it should be, thus negating the whole need for a complaint )

randomflyer

I can only speak for one--myself. And nope, it has not. But then I've been in business since leaving college in some demanding roles; and traveled on BA and its predecessor brand since the early 70s. Being distressed while negotiating the confusions of a lounge entry would rate way down there. YMMV.

Have never once encountered any perceived or demonstrated differences in travel due to gender....(in western countries anyway). However, in middle eastern countries, sometimes a different situation, one just has to cope and accept the cultural variations

If a woman acts professionally and has a "no crying in any circumstances" rule, in other words play by mens' rules, it goes smoothly. And the only "man" in the world I'd ever call for back up in a situation would be...my lawyer. And only if special branch were hauling me away in handcuffs. :-)

mayodave

Nicci

On a positive note I hope at the same time my comments about the great team in T3 F lounge last Friday were given the praise they deserve.

zrs70

I'm actually annoyed by the response. How does it help future people in the same situation? The issue has nothing to do with elite status. It has to do with class of service flown.

mrow

We are following this up with BA to confirm it was class of service and not status based access that caused the issue.

srbrenna

Hi k_getchell

I agree with zrs70. If your other half had been trying to enter based on status then there would have been no problem. We have never had a thread complaining that someone showed their shiny card and were refused access. The issue here is that, yet again, someone has been wrongly refused access to the lounges based on class of service. In your post and the other highlighted in this thread we can see that, despite assurances from Nicci, staff on the lounge desks clearly don't know the rules.

In your case your o/h has been both severely embarrassed and upset by BA when she has done nothing wrong. She was also threatened. While BA have made a gesture, that is all it is. Personally I think they need to do more. Including actually doing something about this as it has been going on far too long.

The honourable gentleman BahrainLad has been most succinct when he said

Seachain

Had to smile at that memory as similar happened with us:me, mrs and the 'kids' but obviously a family of 4 returning from holiday arriving to the same front-desk ambush that "...only 1 guest is allowed". (bit like asking you to choose which is your favourite!) we spun the moment for longer than we should have (but, hey, you got to use the moment!), but we all looked at each other and asked each other, "so, who's bringing in a guest?". then all 4 Gold cards get presented! priceless moment and sadly, only a one off year likely to never to be repeated but it was a memorable one!

aren't pre-conceptions a wonderful booby trap?

henry999

Wonderful story, Seachain. Thanks so much for sharing it. Bloody dragons get the blow-back for a change; love it.

cheers,

Henry

PJSMITH0

First of all I'm glad that the matter was resolved. When you employ so any people in a customer focused industry, no matter how good your training is some will let you down. In these circumstances it's the speed and how you deal with the incident that matters and BA have clearly demonstrated that they are listening. I only switched to BA this year from VS but so far I have been extremely impressed with BA.

On the other point of female travellers I remember a couple of years ago flying UC with VS when a flight attendant was extremely rude to my better half as she was talking to our daughter during the safety video. Oh boy you don't tell my wife to shush and watch the video. She immediately pointed out that at least 10 business men were reading the papers and that she had not said anything to them. THE FSM upon hearing this commotion immediately apologised.

Whilst I accept she probably should have watching the video which we knew word if word, but the point she made was valid. The flight attendant would never have spoken to business man like that

LTN Phobia

I haven't seen anyone reading newspapers/magazines etc during safety video/demo being told off but I have seen a plenty of businessmen being told off for talking to each other. The point being that it affects others around them as it can make it harder for others to hear the video/demo, unlike someone reading a newspaper etc.

Speedbird279

I have to agree with what zrs70 posted. While it was good of BA to deal with the issue as quickly as they did, this wasn't a compliant about a status passenger been refused lounge access. This is a class of service issue. I would have been a little annoyed at the reply from BA, as it sounds like BA haven't fully listened to what the OP was actually complaining about, which is someone been refused lounge access based on class of travel.

cazoz

Late to this party, but I think the response is less than satisfactory.

- Nicci didn't pick up that it wasn't the OP but his wife.
- BA Customer Services didn't pick up that it related to the class of inbound flight, not status.
- And the person at T5 was clearly horrendous, and frankly should face a disciplinary conversation.

All elements shoddy/sloppy.

Worst is the response. Here's £100 to shut up. Well, rather than throwing money at people, allude to how this might be improved in future as it doesn't seem to be an isolated problem?

Retraining? Reissued guidelines? Some collateral at lounge entrances, perhaps with green ticks confirming who is allowed in? And possibly a more personalised apology.

Why address a major problem company-wide when you can chuck £100 at it, and people come away pleased with the result!

Thank Jeebus for the internet that we have boards and information sharing like this. Beforehand, nobody would have known and it could easily be paid off without any public relations drama. BA/'Nicci' on this board only jumped in as it was a PR danger, not because they want to actually address the key, recurrent issue for good.

Rubbish.