inpd

Had a cancellation and wrote to complain since it was only 5 hours before the flight and had to scramble. I got this response. Is that all BA does now days? Issue a insincere canned response 2 weeks later?

"Thank you for your email dated 11 October 2014. I apologise for the delay in our response. I am sorry your flight to London Heathrow was cancelled.

We know how much cancellations can affect our customers and their plans, and we always try to minimise their inconvenience.

We recognise that the punctuality of our flights is extremely important to our customers and that you expect us to fly as scheduled. Although our punctuality is improving, we would never be complacent about it. An investigation is carried out into each cancellation and your experience shows us there is still work to be done.

We know we operate in a very competitive market and genuinely value the confidence and trust you place in us when you choose to travel with British Airways. Once again, I am sorry you have been so disappointed. I do hope that we can welcome you on board again soon.

Best regards"

HIDDY

I'd be more interested to know how they dealt with the cancellation?

pauldb

+1

Were you rebooked? The flip side of having time limits and compensation spelled out by EU261 is that if your rebooking means the stated limits you probably won't get any further compensation or meaningful apology. And, less correctly, if you do qualify for EU261 compensation but don't ask for it BA probably won't point you that way.

SteveF

You had to scramble for what? Did BA put you on an earlier flight or something?

nux

The cancellation was due to weather, and the OP knew this. Not really sure what extra information they wanted?

OP arrived at the airport and after supposedly being brushed off by the checkin staff they called AA (as they were on an AA ticket) and were re-routed.

See their previous thread:http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l-what-do.html
And similar thread in the AA section: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...iment-her.html

The OP was already planning "to scramble" to make the original flight, and not sure why a cancellation should change that: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...e-airport.html

orbitmic

Speaking to several people who have faced incidents of late, customer service is becoming really pathetic recently. I'm almost wondering if they might have annual quotas of compensation and have run out just like some gps tell you to have tea if you fall I'll after October not to be told off for over prescribing.

Often1

Delay compensation is binary under EC 261/2004. It either applies or it does not and if it applies, the amounts are fixed. There is nothing more to say.

If you want some personal outpouring of grief, you won't get it.

More personalized customer service tends to happen when there is something to be done. E.g., you broke your leg because BA left a banana peel on the floor. They can better train their staff and should tell you so. But, weather happens. What should BA do?

FlyIgglesFly

Five months it took me to get a response accepting my EU261 claim. Nothing. Zip. For five months. So for something which was outside of their control? Yep, this is all you'll get.

Passmethesickbag

So, the OP had a traumatic day but made it to their destination. In spite of this, letters of complaint were fired off to BA and to the Admirals Club. I would just have breathed a sigh of relief and let it go, but if the OP wants to document their unhappiness with specific members of staff, and thinks it makes a difference, fine. But I'm not sure what response the OP was expecting other than an insincere apology.

LondonAndy

It's not really binary though, is it? It increases depending on distance, so is some way proportionate to disruption. However, I take your point that if it is 3h 59m for long haul you get nothing and if it's 4h 01m you get the full amount.....

In terms of cancellations due to bad weather, it's a pain in the neck, but what can the airline (reasonably) do? However, if it's due to lack of crew / maintenance I have little sympathy with the airline....

inpd

I comprised a short but informative list of issues that needed to be addressed such as the BA staff at FRA refused to rebook me. I gave the person's name and all the relevant details.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if BA issues me a ticket and BA cancels a flight and then the BA agent refuses to rebook me, this is completely unacceptable and an egregious violation of service terms.

That I got back home with the help of AA is moot.

Passmethesickbag

So what kind of response were you actually expecting?

Bear96

Well, flights do cancel sometimes. That is the nature of air travel.

inpd

They didn't. The BA agent at FRA ignored me and called for the next passenger in the queue. Her explanation is that the first leg was on BA metal but the other two legs were on AA metal (but coded as BA code shares) so I should deal with AA.

This was a BA ticket not an AA ticket as he/she claims.

nux

Only you and the agent really know the exchange that occured, how long you spoke to them for and your claimed 'refusal to rebook'. Perhaps if you had persisted with that agent or spoken to another agent they would have rebooked you.

You chose to take matters into your own hands, call AA and get rebooked. If you had not done this I am certain that you would have been rebooked by BA.

Not every agent is perfect and you have every right to lodge a complaint if you do not think they provided good service. However I don't think you have any right to know the outcome of any possible action taken other than a 'Thankyou for your email we will look into it' reply.

Personally I would let it go and move on, I doubt you'll get a satisfactory reply from BA. At the end of the day, you were rebooked and made it home.