kingstontoon

Oh yes, agree 100%. I was a little excited when this was all announced that at least I'd be able to purchase a decent craft ale on board, but with Old Speckled Hen, they've somehow managed to provide a worse offering (in my opinion) than Tribute which is available now.

Lioneye

Yes, BA Amex. What are you thinking?

Tim1975

with the food you are correct. But with respect to the drinks everyone is worse off. Even those who don't drink booze will end up paying a fiver more for two cups of tea that were previously in the fare. I think that they would have got away with it if they charged for food but had kept drinks (or even some drinks, free). As it stands there is now absolutely nothing to distinguish them from a LCC.

corporate-wage-slave

In which case I would go down the Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, for changing the terms of your service after booking. Amex should be less stressful than the MCOL process and hopefully the same outcome. Give them a call and discuss it with them.

subject2load

No 'personal precedent' but I would offer some advice, FWIW.

BA will stand their ground here, comforted by the feeling that they are fully covered by their published Terms & Conditions relating to Paid Seating :

"Paid seating will not be refunded if you cancel your flight, are involuntarily upgraded or are not suitable to sit in the seat type you have selected."


They also make reference to this in their 'Seating Refund Form' (which is to be used for claiming what they deem to be justified refunds for seat fees).

Worth remembering, however, that just because a commercial organisation includes certain T&C's in their dealings with customers does not automatically mean that such terms will be upheld by the Courts. Over the years, many rulings have been made - in all manner of business sectors - in favour of claimants where a Court takes the view that the Terms at issue are "unfair".

I'm no legal expert - but I understand that these sort of disputes were very often covered by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. This piece of legislation no longer exists BUT most (?) of its core principles survive in the newer Consumer Rights Act 2015, which is concerned with contract law in England.

Judges have been known to take some pleasure in exercising their discretion in making awards against large, high-profile organisations and thus in favour of a Joe Bloggs consumer (as it were !).

So ..... if you feel strongly enough, then perhaps worth telling BA that if they remain unwilling to refund the seat fees under your particular circumstances, then you will pursue legal avenues to recover your £72.

For their part, BA may choose to back down and thereby avoid the potential publicity surrounding the whole BoB background which gave rise to your cancellation in the first place.

orbitmic

very true, and people's reaction should certainly not be personal. However they certainly are not only the 'face of the company' as you rightly point out, but more importantly, a natural communication channel from passengers to HQ, and as such, I think that if you are indeed unhappy about the change, making sure that crew know politely but certainly is perfectly reasonable.

Calchas

Complain to Amex. They'll deal with it faster than a court.

BA6948

Of course. We can make our point whilst being polite.

I remember when OS and LX introduced BoB, some people got nasty with FAs. And in the end things got reversed.

rossmacd

This is what I, unfortunately, expect to happen.

subject2load

+ 1

After all, we know that BA are big fans of (selective) customer feedback. And - in many cases - the best way for customers to provide it is by expressing one's views whilst actually onboard a flight.

BA were really, really keen to tell us that BoB itself was introduced entirely as a result of feedback : Our customers are telling us that they're less than happy with the current F & B offerings in ET cabins, and would dearly love to see 'improved choice & quality'.


There was of course the minor issue of BA omitting the fact that customers did not go on to say that they would prefer to pay for their refreshments.

I'll go out on a limb here with a prediction (a wild & crazy one, I know.....) : no matter how many people tell CC that they are unhappy with these changes, it somehow won't feature* in any of BA's future pronouncements.

*Or - should I say - it won't for as long as the current regime remains in place.

flashware

Which one - people being nasty or things being reversed?

rossmacd

Check my quote - people being nasty/aggressive towards the CC. Which, I am sure you agree, is not acceptable behaviour.

flashware

Absolutely, hence the "". I did notice the shortened quote after I posted but couldn't really be bothered to change my post.

ahmetdouas

If I remember correctly LX only introduced BOB as Swissair had gone bankrupt and they were losing a lot of money in the first years of their operation and that it was temporary?

At least that was what i was told when I took LX in 2005 and asked the flight attendant = )

Either case BOB was removed once LX returned to profitability after being taken over by LH group.

God help us if BA is not profitable anymore!

kanderson1965

Like when they finally realise that they cannot operate the same business model as Norwegen?