MKGibson

Hi there

I was on a 12 hour flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong with nothing other than the Movie channel working on the inflight entertainment. (Movies were either not worth watching or I had seen them before). The staff onboard did a reset 4 times but it did not solve the issue. The senior cabin member brought me forms to complete so that he could process compensation. Seemingly the reset that they do on the ground at the change of a month had not been done and the cabin staff felt I and the person beside me had genuine cause for compensation since we had no suitable choices on the entertainment service and commiserated with us that we had to endure 12 hours with nothing.

Long story short - never heard from BA customer service so I contacted them via their webmail to submit a complaint. Took a while to get a reply but during that time I kept calling the number on their website to be met with "all the lines are busy please call again" Cost a fortune in international calls. They finally communicated via email and they offered £20! I didn't think this was suitable compensation considering the phone call costs and sitting 12 hours looking at a blank screen and the fact that the cabin staff advised me that I was due compensation for the issue.

The last transmission from BA was that "I take it or leave it".

Is this the standard of customer service from BA?

rossmacd

Unfortunately, yes.

BA are really not in a generous mood at the moment, and it is really pissing customers off.

I'd suggest to move on, and next time fly a different (read: better) carrier. I can give you plenty recommendations.

pomkiwi

I think it is now becoming the stanadard - and in my expereience not just with BA. Encounters with CS in both QR and EK in the last year (not complaints and not seeking any compensation) have been met with barely disguised indifference. I do wonder if the mismatch between expectation (often fuelled by the airlines) and reality together with the ease of complaining has lead to a degree of burnout in those who actualy have to deal with unhappy customers.

fransknorge

This.

Since your experience with BA is not up to your expectations (and if the same scenario would happen to me, I would certainly would not be happy about it either), vote with your feet and choose another carrier.
If you usually fly Y or PE, VS and CX are as good as BA.
If you are found in J or F, go for CX.

UKtravelbear

You were able to watch movies but chose not to because they were not to your taste? I understand that but how on earth are BA responsible for your taste in movies?

They simply cannot cater for everyone.

£20 is pretty standard compo for a completely not working IFE.

As for the cost of phone calls there are alternatives such as skype.

Quarky Quark

Welcome to the forum MKGibson. As others have pointed out, and you are now experiencing, BA customer service is not about service recovery any more. They are very tightly clamping down on any recompense via Avios or with money.

If you read other posts on the forum, you will see a general trend where the response to an incident usually leaves the sender of the complaint with higher blood pressure than the complaint itself.

Despite it not being right or a good outcome, it may serve you better to draw a line under this and plan any future travel you do accordingly. The phrase banging your head against a brick wall is a good illustration of the general perception of BA customer service at the present moment

1010101

Yes, it is the standard. For years there was no consistency in what was offered, now there is consistency but its basically being consistent in telling you where to go.

Vote with your feet. I cant fathom why anyone with a choice would fly BA to somewhere like Hong Kong.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk MKGibson, welcome to the BA forum. We like to see new people join us here, so I would very much encourage you to continue participation.

Though it would have been better if you had been offered the compensation on board (via the senior crew member's iPad) or immediately thereafter, to the best of my knowledge this sort of compensation level - for a partially working IFE - was never that generous. I'm surprised it wasn't offered in Avios form, unless perhaps you are a member of another frequent flyer programme - since the equivalent version in Avios is often slightly more useful overall.

Having said that, IFE failure is scarcely unique to BA so on long flights, having a backup IFE of your own is always a good idea. And I certainly wouldn't advocate spending significant telephony costs trying to contact BA, either use Skype or leave it until you get home. BA's contact centres are not generously staffed so it may take a while to get through, particularly if there is any disruption going on in the network.

If you feel very strongly about it there are several alternative remedies to pursue BA. You could initiate MCOL (Money Claim Online) small claims court proceedings. You could also go the CEDR route - an arbitration process. Or you could consider using a Section 75 claim if you paid for your ticket via a UK credit card. And there may be other routes too. None of this is guaranteed to get you more compensation, but these processes are open to you.

stevie

Just fly VS or CX next time. BA do not give a damn these days.

Peter M

Dear MKGibson welcome to Flyertalk, congratulations on making your first post, and please don't be shy about making further contributions.

Inflight Entertainment Systems (IFES) have become a necessary part of a good inflight experience and you have sympathy about enduring a long haul flight without a fully functioning IFES. 20 quid is laughable compensation, but seems to have become the standard. You had 12 hours of tedium that is time you won't be getting back, and no amount of compensation can fix that, even if the compensation could make you feel less annoyed about it.

Frustratingly, a recurring problem on all BA longhaul aircraft from the newest A380 to the oldest 747 in all classes is a faulty IFES, which does not work as it was intended too and has to be reset once or more times inflight. So your faulty IFES was not an unusual problem on a BA flight. Savvy flyers have come to expect a problem with IFES on all airlines and will load movies in their iPads or computers and bring adequate reading materials to occupy their time. Very frequent flyers will have already exhausted all the movies and programs on the IFES before the month end, when some new programs get added, and so they have to bring onboard materials for their own amusement or work to fill the time.

To be fair to the well educated, as you appear to be, movies, shows and games are a complete mind-numbing waste of time.

The blame is squarely on BA for their faulty IFES, but Flyertalkers have to develop a lot of self-sufficiency in anticipating problems (Brexit, Trump, Flight disruptions, faulty IFES etc.) and creating our own contingency solutions (keeping calm and bringing our own entertainment or work with us, etc) to make flying a less harsh existence.

vibguy

People flying BA get what BA is providing today, an inferior product. Complaints are not handled well. There is enough evidence of this on FT, social media, press, fellow traveler reports.... So look for better options. For HKG (and the complete Far East and Australia) this is really a not an issue. Almost all alternatives are better than BA. Informed people still travelling BA should not complain, they basically get what they asked for.

South London Bon Viveur

Price and flight times. Although CX offers a better product, the prices I have encountered have been pretty eye watering.

TabTraveller

If exeu there are often nicely priced options from AMS or MXP on CX.

:D!

I think £20 is suitable compensation for the issue the OP experienced.

On my past 4 long-haul flights I found none of the movies offered by the IFE appealing. I didn't fancy anything else on the IFE either. So I just continued reading one of the books I carry around on my ipad (also useful when waiting for trains or buses...)

Not trying to give BA ideas but if you had to pay to use the IFE, I wonder how many people would take it up

vibguy

Interesting concept. How much for :
- no meal left in F : £10? the meal is anyway of mediocre quality and I bring my own sandwiches
- broken seat (not fully flat) : £5? in fully flat position the bed is not comfortable anyway
- cancelled or delayed flight: nothing? if you take another carrier the same could have happened and anyway people have books to read to kill the time
- downgrade : nothing? other airlines are worse than BA at that.