qwest01

Last night two friends were booked in F on the BA26 from HKG to LHR but were bumped at the down town bag drop even though they had checked in online. They were bumped onto a CX flight which left late nearly 3 hours later than their scheduled BA flight. Whilst BA did get them seats in CX F they were considerably inconvenienced. Now the BA 26 is a very new A380 and the reason given of both their seats being broken just smells to me. No way of telling what the truth really is but two broken seats out of 14 in F on a nearly new plane seems suspect to me. I smell an over booking situation here. Of course if anyone here was on the BA26 out of HKG at 23:30 on 23rd feb and there were two empty seats in F then perhaps they wuld let us know.

Falcs

*Waits for the barrage of posts from people who will say CX F is superior to BA F*

qwest01

Yes they did like the CX F suites - but since they did not board until 02:00 ish in HKG having been messed around for 2+ hours by BA trying to find them another fight home. By which time they were knackered and all they wanted was some sleep, so no enjoying the excellent CX F service. Also they arrived back into T3 not T5 where their taxi service was waiting for their original flight since they had been unable to get a message to the taxi driver. Not that it was BA's fault on that point but reorganising the taxi after arriving at a different terminal 3 hours late was yet more hassle.

Falcs

Well, if it was a broken seat I assume a 3 hour delay would be preferable to a seat that didn't recline on an overnight flight, or an involuntary downgrade...

Anyway even if it was an overbooking and if they had provided the same solution there isn't actually any difference is there? (Compensation wise)

Genius1

I thought the OP was standing outside the T5 Galleries Club South kitchen judging by the title.

qwest01

No, but just a friend of a couple of elderly pax who now wonder if this is how BA treat F pax on a regular basis. Once you get into more advance years - 2am departures really are not funny.

LTN Phobia

If the seats were broken, even if people were sitting in them, it does not mean they were fit for customers. They may have been broken and staff may be seated there despite their being broken, while the customers were sent to another carrier.

Another possibility is that the seats may not have been 'broken' as such. On a recent flight I was on, two seats in CW were unserviceable due to biological contamination. They were fully functional but could not be used for potential health reasons.

Both broken seat issues and decontamination of seats are harder to achieve at outposts than at LHR so it's entirely possible. I have experienced broken seats on flights and they can't be so unusual.

Of course it's possible that it was overbooked but perhaps less likely to be overbooked by two?

Remember that it costs BA money to rebook people on another carrier, so they would not be doing so very lightly.

Some people perhaps prefer to imagine ulterior motives or "inappropriate causes" in what some companies do, but quite often the reasons for bumps are probably quite genuine.

irmster

there have been some issues with broken seats on the A380. There were 3 out of service on my flight to LAX over xmas.

Speedbird876

I think I read on here that First isn't usually overbooked. Someone said by one passenger at most.

Could they have refused the offer of CX or did they accept it? Was there any choice involved?

Flying Doctor

I can see your point but I suspect something was wrong with the seats.
For nearly all routes F is only usually oversold by 1 seat so 2 would be exceptional.
Putting you into CX F will have cost BA so there will be a good reason.
I suspect BA thought that this was better than downgrading you to J.
F often flies full from HKG and the word on the street is that the A380 to HKG is doing very well and is often filling up days in advance so unlikely that there would be spare seats to be honest.....
If you left at 2am from HKG then that's a delayed flight as the last flight with CX departs around 01:25 if I recall to arrive at T3 around 06:30......

FD.

Lioneye

Fantastic action in effecting Plan B by BA.

Your friends should be eternally grateful they were found a comparable product at zero notice.

Impressive.

BAAZ

the mind boggles, and the imagination runs riot...

Often1

This thread is based on not one single fact and involves BA acting contrary to its own financial interest. It is also possible that someone slipped the BA manager a huge "tip" or that aliens from Mars took over the seats in question. But, it is unlikely and the more likely reason is exactly what BA said.

The service recovery is better than the alternative, namely a DG to CW or worse and a three-hour delay, despite being an annoyance for many, is reasonable under the circumstances.

Why not title the thread, "Martians took my friends' seats"

HIDDY

Yes so much in demand yet BA can always rely on CX not being able to sell all their seats in F when they need to re-book passengers.

PUCCI GALORE

Heads I win, tails you lose could be an alternative title. Indeed, it sounds more like hearsay and gossip to me. Had BA not taken this alleged action - can you imagine the thread? Bumped to J, Bumped off the aircraft, F is overbooked (funny how everybody appears to fly F these days - no one with whom I am personally acquainted actually does but that's by the by). So if as you say all this happened, then it would appear that BA did the right thing and booked them with an excellent airline(so I read here)

I really do think that they are d*mned when they do and d*mned when they don't)