GavB

As a relatively new GGL member I experienced my first IRROP since attaining this status on a delayed BA flight from Shanghai. The delay meant I missed my connection to Manchester and also missed the last flight of the day.
I was always under the impression that one of the key benefits of GGL was access to the dedicated phone line during IRROPS.
When I called them, all the agent could do was 'hold' me on a flight to Manchester the following morning - she advised I would have to attend flight connections to confirm the flight and also to have my through checked baggage rerouted on the new flight.
When I asked if I could arrange my own hotel and claim she told me twice she could not make any comment and I would have to speak with flight connections as they controlled hotel allocation
at Heathrow.
I would appreciate advice from any experienced GGL members for future use as I certainly was not impressed with the GGL handling of this misconnection. Was I just unlucky or is this the expected service from the GGL team?

orbitmic

I'm a relatively recent GGL member too so someone might contradict me, but I think that the answer you got was the correct one.

Basically, GGL line is a special section of the reservation + executive club lines, not of airport counters, so things like hotel accommodation would indeed not be within their realm.

Conversely, they are competent in case of advanced ticket issues (flight cancelled or schedule change) and can help you then, but in the case of on the day IRROPS, airport counters have more latitude than anyone else. For instance, an airport counter would have the capacity (with the support of the station manager) to put a pax badly affected by IRROP on a non-BA non-OW flight. I do not think that the GGL would have that capacity if there has not been a specific BA instruction to allow so.

Often1

IROPS handling for adjustments is handled locally. That goes for locating your bags, duty of care (hotels) and the like.

The value is that while others are standing in line worried that there won't be space for them, you have a reservation on hold and thus, it's just time to get the ticket reissued.

While the local issues such as luggage and hotel are sensibly handled locally, if an agent is able to "hold" a seat and thus remove it from inventory for others, that agent ought to be able to confirm it. Would not have mattered here because you had other needs in the nature of duty of care.

Frequent_Flyer1

Why was it necessary to stand again in a line and wait at flight connections to confirm the flight? During my last IRROP I phoned the GGL and asked them to re-book and confirm me straight away as the waiting at flight connections could be quite a lenghty one. Could this has something to do with hand luggage vs. checked luggage (as in the OP's case)?

And IMHO GGL should be about saving me time and hassle - and even the LH/LX SEN line would be able to achieve this little task immediately.

And with regards to the hotel, I once asked them and the answer was that they can't allocate rooms. So I don't even bother in a case like this, I organize it on my own and claim the expenses afterwards (but I always try to keep the costs in line). Yes, I do know it's not the "clean & proper" way, but it saves time and - worst case - there is still my travel insurance to take care of it. But so far that hasn't been necessary.

orbitmic

Well, it's up to you. Legally, under EC261/2004, this is not what you are supposed to do and so technically, BA could play hard balls and deny (which would not be unfair because it says that the airline provides the room and of course they would get a much better negotiated rate than what you will get by booking a last minute room yourself).

Are they likely to want to upset a GGL customer if you have been reasonable? Probably not in my opinion. On their records, however, it will be considered a gesture of good will on their part (with reason) which thus means that you might not get good will on something else.

Frequent_Flyer1

Yes, you're absolutely right and I definitely take it as a gesture of goodwill. This is really worthwile to point out! ^ However, on the other hand, some BA ground staff have advised me of doing specifically this in the last years when I was standing in line as they weren't able to help all passengers at once. Secondly, depending on the wait it could be that the rooms at my usual choice of hotels (like Sofitel, Hilton T5, etc.) are gone.

I think the key point is being reasonable, for e.g. why should I claim dinner from BA when I wouldn't have one under regular circumstances? So if I'm taken care of I won't seek any other form of compensation from customer services but I would definitely complain loudly if for a simple IRROPS I had to stand in-line for 1-2 hours in todays time just for a simple rebooking/accomodation arrangement (especially as a GGL). IMHO they can't have it both ways, either take care of the situation in a proper timeframe (and we all know that this is not the strength of BA) or accept the client solution.

I have to say that my last IRROP was when the whole BA operation did come to a hold at LHR, so the lines very enormous. During a small, isolated IRROP I have no problem at all going to the relevant service desks as this usually means no or only short queues.

Anonba

Sometimes in this case the airport keep control of check in status thus in the contact centre we are unable to offload passengers which we would need to do to reissue.

orbitmic

I couldn't agree more.

In particular, one thing that I really think is poorly organised by BA is that there is absolutely no priority service (for people entitled to priority service through phone line, check in, boarding, etc) in the IRROPS processing at most airport. At one point I gave the example of a long IRROP I suffered in Berlin last year where because we were in the lounge when it was announced, all "premium" passengers (business class, BAEC GGL, G, S, OW E and S, etc) were handled last and after the longest queue.

So by the time we were considered, many of us could not even be accommodated on the same day even though most statusless passengers had been accommodated on an LH flight roughly at the same time as their original departure!

Even AF-KL is much better and always have a Skypriority line in such cases, and to me, the no1 point of status is to get the best possible arrangement in the case of IRROPS which invariably happen to me from time to time (I fly 200+ flights/year so it is perfectly normal that "some" will go wrong and I accept that) but BA are comparatively the least good at providing that to me despite GGL status, which I find disappointing.

Sure, some people will say that I am spoilt and why should my case matter more than that of a person flying only once in Y, but the truth of the matter is that to me, this is precisely what status should all be about - getting the best arrangement that the airline is willing to offer when travel incidents which are not the responsibility of the passenger happen.

So to clarify, while I was stressing out the "risk" - mostly because you never know how other people would interpret things otherwise when they bump into this thread in a few months - I can only restate that I completely agree with your approach and would do the exact same myself when the line for hotel would mean that I would have to waste hours in a queue. If it is a few people, of course, I'll wait. I would add for the sake of comparison that I have never had to do this with AF or KL precisely because of the priority line at most airport counters for eligible passengers while in BA's case, most airports do not offer that.

lorcancoyle

Only had one experience of IRROPS since getting GGL - LCY-GLA flight went tech. I was on a flex ticket anyway, but called GGL line who put me on the flight 90 mins later. Was much faster than colleagues who had to call corp TA, and even though I was told that I might need to get physical boarding pass as app might not refresh etc. that all worked fine. Appreciate I may have been helped by underlying ticket type.

I am taking CWLCY in a few weeks, probably highest likelihood of IRROPS (followed by my multi-stop return from west coast (SAN-LAX-NYC-LHR-DUB) - may get better sense after that!

GavB

Thanks for all the comments some good discussion around what to do in certain situations

Traveloguy

You post however has nothing to do with IRROPS. Your fare allows changes without any complications so a phone agent can always assist.

The problem is when people are left stranded and have tickets which ordinarily are non-flexible. In these situations the airport usually only has the authority to intervene (at least this is the way BA works anyhow - I've found other carriers more accommodating in such situations and telephone agents can help).

littlefish

Interesting insight, this thread.
I had always thought (assumed?) GGL would ensure materially better IRROPS handling. Seems its not quite as simple as that .

Digging back into previous threads it does appear the Priority Assistance line itself offers some help ... and is valued for what they can do.
The weakness, it appears to me, is the Priority Assistance line can only do so much. At which point the GGL traveller effectively takes their chances with the rest of us.
CWS did an excellent self-help post which pointed to some workarounds he has developed.
Is there really no GGL 'help' queue or desk in T5?