MrMutton

You say that but...

Last week I flew MAN-PHL on AA in Y as part of a CPH-LHR-MAN-PHL-LAS-JFK-LHR-CPH ticket that cost me £280 and 30k Avios (not the best use but I had plenty and was going for cheap!) My IFE didn't work so I emailed them from the plane using the free WiFi. Within 24hrs I got an email apologising and the promise of a $200 transportation voucher - which duly arrived today, a week after the email.

BA would take a week to reply in the first place and
tell me there is nothing they can do. Now, I probably won't use the voucher, but the amount and speed of reply makes me feel like AA care about my issue, which BA don't do.

stevie

CX recently ex China-HK on a one hour flight, fruit plates not loaded, I was informed in the lounge, and then on board profuse apologies and $US200 travel vouchers handed to me there and then. The main hot meal and ice cream was very good also.

BERbound

On point 2 - i didnt think BA systems allowed you to book two seats on the same flight in the same name. Im sure I've read on here that BA systems would auto cancel one of the bookings (im
assuming OP bought the two tickets for the same flight).

KARFA

They do allow this, there is no pro-active auto cancelling. The only problem is if you get to the flight and you are still on twice, I think at that stage problems may occur especially if you check in twice.

Often1

One can quibble about whether the GBP 40 is adequate for a malfunctioning IFE, but the other two issues simply do not rise to a remote level of customer service complaint.

Perhaps the 40 ought to be 50 or even 60, but it's an IFE and BA has consciously taken a hard stance on minor issues.

The failure to cancel a ticket is simple. There is nothing to review. It isn't a customer service issue. I don't know of a carrier that would treat this differently.

The refinement of the OPUP upgrade system brings BA into line with other carriers. They are not a perk of status, but rather when one is a necessity better to use them to build future business than simply give them away to no future benefit. BA's antiquated IT systems did not permit this in the past. Now, they do.

JAXBA

Quote:

Originally Posted by sl1ppy

On that basis (i.e. comparison to what you would pay on the ground), would you pay more than £40 for any of the constituent parts, the poor quality meal, the very narrow,half a single, bed ...etc

Most of what you're paying for is transportation. I get your point, and if you got a hotel room like that you'd rightly question the price! But the hotel room (even with a complimentary 'gourmet' microwave meal) doesn't get you from one place to another... We're really paying for safe, semi-comfortable transport, with some added amenities. If one or more of the amenities isn't available though, that shouldn't ruin the journey...

Cap'n Benj

Excelent service obviously but also one of the reasons no doubt they're not performing that well financially!

so3003

The actual issue here IMHO is the OP has presumably had numerous small issues over time and that's primed him/her to be very sensitive now to things that could be forgiven when they arise as part of an otherwise good travel experience. When mrs-so3003 and I flew with QF (domestic business) and their in-flight QStreaming didn't function on my devices it was a minor niggle in an otherwise great travel experience hence it wasn't a problem, but if that happened in the setting of multiple other annoyances I can imagine it feeling like a much more significant issue. Also presume OP was unable to use personal devices on a DXB-LHR because of the recent rule change about travelling with electronic devices.

For what it's worth I've been a BA Gold for years (as has mrs-so3003) and neither of us has ever had an op-up or otherwise sat in a higher cabin than booked.

And as a final point BA aren't alone in having pathetic service recovery - I consider LX to have one of the best products in the sky, but in my experience they are entirely unable / unwilling to deal with any service failings eg broken business seat, missing luggage in F etc etc. Much as it can sometimes feel BA are 'targeting' you for poor service I think it's just a reflection of what their industry feels it can get away with.

strichener

I would approach BA on point 2 and claim "obvious mistake"

stevie

Valid point, however I am not a shareholder in any airline and really do not give a damn how they perform financially. If CX goes bust I will just move onto the next best choice.

If BA goes bust I would not shed a tear either.

Rexy52

I'd question the logic of that. Why give away an upgrade to someone who may never be able to afford a Bus Class ticket in the future, rather than a regular flier who may start choosing other OneWorld airlines (especially when they offer better hard and soft products)?

It's not even a great incentive to get frequent fliers from other airlines to use BA more regularly if they know that their chances of upgrades will drop when they become frequent BA customers.

corporate-wage-slave

This forum is filled with people (and their spouses!) who having tried a higher cabin once will not readily return to WT.

T8191

Indeed! And also those who had recently dipped a toe back into the cold pool of ET travel, and are unlikely to bother doing it again

drvannostren

The second situation is all on you, not to pile on as others have said the same, but the fact of the matter is, you should've realized right after you booked it. I'm not sure who's policy it is, but when you book in Air Canada's website, you've got 24 hours to cancel free of charge full refund. I'm not sure if that would also apply to a booking that's <24 hours out, it probably wouldn't, but you should probably have a series of emails from BA bookings in your inbox, which would lead you to see that you already had this booked. Also, with whatever this app is that you're using, once you entered the flight into your app (immediately, if you're anything like me) you would've likely seen right away the mistake. Alternatively if you're looking to place the blame elsewhere, why didn't the app alert you?

That being said, I do understand your point "I'm a loyal customer who spends $____ every year, Gold status, at the very least, can you not realize that while the mistake was my own, my number was attached to both bookings, the system would do well to alert someone, and I'm not even looking for a refund, maybe just a travel credit in the same amount, since I'm going to use it within 3-4 weeks anyway".

The first one, I'm on your side, I'm sorry but 40 pounds for 7 hours? Going to see a movie in London cost me around 16 pounds IIRC, that's about 4 hours for 40 pounds, the offer should've been a nice round 100. Or perhaps a rebooking? I've gotten a 10% off code from AC for a flight from YYZ-BOS with no IFE. Now that 10% might never get used, but if it were to get used I could likely make it worth more than 40$ and that was for a flight that's just over an hour.

Calum

Not to go OT but is there really much of a difference between ET and CE? I quite like the bacon rolls and I haven't sat next to someone in the last 20 flights