theultimateflyer

Me too!

Silver Fox

Not a problem for me if people want to create threads on it. No-one makes me read them, some are interesting, some aren't. That's t'interweb for you.

Concerto

I'd rather keep discussions about this sort of thing alive. One day it will happen to me and I will be grateful for the advice that I will be able to find here. Meantime, I read about other people's experiences. Maybe it could be focused into one or two threads about that subject.

User Name

This. BA's cutbacks have eroded goodwill that might have otherwise been higher among some travelers, so it's no wonder that people want to feel they've had full utility from the features/services remaining.

Fitch

In any realtionship, when the parties are broadly equal in power and treat each other with respect, trust goes both ways and most issues can be dealt with fairly and amicably.

This is how I feel about me and BA 25 years ago.

When the parties are unequal, and the powerful one abuses its position, the weaker one will feel its trust betrayed and will seek to defend itself by all means possible.

This is how I feel about me and BA today.

I simply don't trust them to treat me with respect. So when things go wrong, it's straight to the contract...

Claiming compensation is an outcome of BA's unreasonable behaviour, not some moral failure by the wronged party !

kingsroadgal

So agree with you. We have been let down by the regulating agencies. We, as consumers, have to fully pay and then be bound by a labyrinthine contract of carriage, which gives largely the airlines an "out" no matter what their failings...with a few exceptions...thank you for EU Rule 261!! Recently having to wait over two months for a simple refund on a fare that even BA couldn't figure out, even though it's their fare, pointed up to me again how ridiculous this system is. Someone needs to hold the airlines' feet to the fire. If it is not going to be the regulators, then the internet will serve as an imperfect way of doing that for the time being.

HIDDY

I agree, the customer should always be compensated when the service provider hasn't delivered what they were contracted to do.
However....my comment was aimed at the chisellers.

ttama

Speaking for myself, the internet sometimes feels to me like the only way of highlighting poor customer service. Some companies are great at resolving issues, but some are very very bad. I've rarely had bad service from BA, and have sometimes had excellent service. But I'm aware that it's very hard to communicate with BA; there are long waits to talk to a real person on the phone, and they haven't introduced any other real alternatives (unlike most other companies). They're making vast profits but it seems, from reading here, that when BA fail to live up to reasonable expectations they try very hard to wriggle out of their obligations.

If I spend thousands of pounds on flights that, to me, are an important part of my travel experience, I expect to end up feeling satisfied. I expect any problems to be rectified as quickly and graciously as possible.

I appreciate that these days many companies have decided to go along the route of "if you don't like it, take your business elsewhere", and BA appear to be heading that way too. But most of us would like them to be an excellent airline. How do you propose we get our message across to companies that we dearly want to remain loyal to, when they start making it harder for us to want to use them? Compensation doesn't cost them much, compared to the profits they're making, but increased demands might make them stop and think.

Quarky Quark

Each time there is a service failure BA lose the opportunity to cement their relationship with the customer. It's quite worrying that in a lot of instances they could provide a decent service recovery without incurring much, if any cost.
An anecdotal example; I had booked a tour at a US attraction recently, but when I turned up the tour had left and I found they had mistakenly booked me for the following day and had given me incorrect advice on when to be there.
They acknowledged all of this, came back and offered me a slightly different tour, a touch more expensive, along with a meal voucher and a snack voucher. I didn't ask for any of that, but they sorted it all out and I came away thrilled and ready to sing their praises.
Can anyone honestly say given a recent contact with BA CS they have had the same outcome? I'm not including CC in this, who to me are BA's greatest asset, and who BA seem to be in a hurry to 'enhance' along with the onboard service.

PETER01

Just my own little 2c worth and I can see where you might be coming from and sometimes it may seem that way but I'd respectfully disagree that it's in nearly every thread although there have been lots of sometimes justifiable moans recently.

I just had a look at the first 50 odd thread titles and there really isn't that many I think in the big scale of things. It also depends on how and what is written in the thread types you refer to.

If it's "Britair are rubbish, CX, VS etc are better, I spend xy amount each year, DTKWIA (They!) then I switch off as some are pure rants.

I also don't think we should ban the C word, just my own personal view. Why?

Many a time posters come on here and if they don't know how things work they can be given a plethora of advice and the likes of the wonderful EU 261 thread by corporate-wage-slave can answer many questions or they can be given guidance etc.

As for service failure compensations they do seem to vary but it seems that BA are most definitely cutting back on Avios Compensation recently. Compensation settlements can also give readers of this board what to perhaps expect but each case/complaint sometimes has it's own unique set of circumstances so I'd rather keep the topic alive.

choosethedrew

No. BA's marketing is heading off into the stratosphere whilst the actual product is cut to the bone, meaning expectations versus reality are on an ever diverging path. Of course, BA doesn't dare market cleanliness, as that should be a given, but on both that and the hyperbolically-advertised product I will continue to use complaints and compensation requests as the only formal way to register my protest.

elitetraveler

Don't read the threads that bother you, and understand that in an Internet community even if the threads you don't like appeal or are helpful to 10 percent or 20 percent or 5 percent of that community, and fall within the TOS of that community, then there is no reason to try and stifle or ban the thoughts of others.

If the threads you refer to get 0 replies, they eventually will go away or lessen, because the OPs won't have received any engagement or feedback.

BotB

Ban the 'cloud' word? Never!

On a serious note, plenty of threads with compensation in them which I generally just don't look at, however, occasionally there is a really good question and bit of advice that does come along that provides some useful new (to me at least) info for future IRROPS situations we may all find ourselves in so I'm in favour of just letting them be and moving on to things that do interest you. These things go in swings and roundabouts anyway and we'll soon have a new flavour of the month anyway with the background level of such queries that are always here (rightfully so as a source of info and help where warranted IMO).

I believe that we can collectively change what is talked about by being more active and simply posting about those topics that interest us personally and which hopefully provide more bandwidth and diverse aspects of the BAEC / BA world...

kanderson1965

I don't think the OP needs to worry, as compensation will end up being enhanced; post Brexit, EU261 will no longer apply to UK departures which are approximately 50% of BA flights.

MADPhil

To be even more annoying they actually write something on the lines of "we hope you will be daft enough to continue flying with us."