Badenoch

It turns out the man across the aisle on my YYZ-LHR flight decided to help himself to an empty Club World seat. The cabin crew didn't notice until near the end of the flight, asked to see his boarding pass and the passenger eventually fessed up.

BA evidently doesn't take kindly to this behavior. The SD told the man that he had confessed to fraud and that he wasn't going to be on his connecting flight or on any BA flight in future unless he paid the additional cost of the ticket.

irishguy28

Just curious - how did they finally cop on?

It seems strange that it was not immediately spotted - so I'm wondering how it was finally discovered.

V10

It would be interesting to see if they actually follow through with that, given it took someone so long to notice.

I think they should though, the only way to deter chancers is to hit them with some pretty heavy sanctions.

techie

Regarding how he was spotted, I have a couple of theories: a) crew did a headcount or b) they looked at the map of assigned seats and noticed that someone was in a seat that was supposed to be empty. I am no legal eagle, but how does sneaking into a cabin different than the one booked amount to fraud? Also, I wonder if BA would also take a hard stance if a passenger from F/J was to go into PE/E (to spend time with friends/family).

Lioneye

The moral of this story is to eat your boarding pass upon take off and plead confusion when discovered.

An enormous passenger plonked himself across the aisle from me at the weekend and was promptly challenged by the correctly ticketed passenger when he arrived. The self-upgrader didn't have the decency to wait until after take-off!

irishguy28

Indeed - but why would they be doing a headcount - or consulting the seatmap - just before landing/so late in the flight? Surely the time to do so is closer to the start of the flight - so that such fraudulent behaviour can be corrected before the fraudster gets the benefit of almost an entire flight enjoying a seat they have not paid for.

It seems to me that some procedural breakdown occurred here. The staff apparently took a greater number of orders, and served a greater number of meals, than should have been expected on the flight. Should this not have been noticed at that stage?

Perhaps the MO on BA is to do a headcount right at the end, and then chase up the offender after the fact - but there are other tales on here of such self-upgraders being caught almost immediately.

Based on what has been said in this thread, the lesson to self-upgraders would be: Brazen it out, take a seat, order and enjoy the meal, have a snooze, but a couple of hours before landing, return to your assigned seat.

bafan

Good to hear. Fraud is fraud. I hope they do follow through with the threat...

techie

It is not clear from OP's post as to what stage the alleged imposter sneaked into CW. If anything, being present during meal service increases the risk of being spotted if the number of catered meals does not match the quantity of pax in the cabin.

chrismk

I thought they had a passenger print out to assist with meals?

irishguy28

True...

So to refine the rules for self-upgraders:

1) Wait until after the meal service has been completed [though you would really expect the crew to notice that a hither-to unoccupied seat has suddenly become occupied]
2) Return to your assigned seat 2 hours prior to landing

I hope the OP will return and let us know if the fraudster ate in CW! It is my impression that they may have done!

Ldnn1

If YYZ-LHR it may have been a sleeper service and he just went straight to sleep after take-off... no doubt having sneaking into CW dining in the lounge beforehand!

orbitmic

Poor attitude by the man AND poor attitude by the BA staff. The way to deal with those things is to 1) do the checks at the start of the flight, 2) confront any "trespasser" and send them back to their seats, 3) if it seems that this is not a genuine mistake but a real attempt to deceive, report to the hierarchy who should be the ones deciding what to do. It should simply not be up to the CSD to decide whether to phrase threats of ticket cancellation (which I am not sure would be legal in the first place).

Let me be clear - I have absolutely no sympathy for self-upgraders and am very happy for them to be discovered and prevented. But I like those things to be dealt with in a systematic and ordered way, and I think that the reaction of the crew was simply proportional to how humiliated they felt for not discovering the imposture when they should have.

BLHD

I agree with this.

With a proactive Flight Deck Crew I would assume there was a welcome committee for this customer, If only to take payment for services above those offered by the ticket he had purchased originally.

wanderingtheearth

I agree. I am not a UK lawyer, but I doubt this constituted "fraud" and such claims shouldn't be thrown around lightly. A more professional approach is preferable.

big_mac

It sounds to me like all boxes could be ticked.

Certainly some rail companies quite routinely prosecute people for self-upgrades.