Compensation for mistake with special meal
Mar 17, 2018, 5:00 am
#91
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW London
Programs: BAEC Silver; Hilton Diamond;a miscellany of other hotel non-statuses
Posts: 3,607
It's great that you work for a company that offers generous / perhaps excessive compensation. I hope they treat employees equally well - it's a rare thing these days. If they do that just because they're altruistic even better. If they do it as a way of balancing costs against retaining valuable customers then that's what BA do as well, and all indications are they don't value the type of customer that expects c.Ł200 compensation for a missed meal. As you point out re your prior IFE experience it sets expectations, and they will probably fall apart on one or both sides at some point. You are ahead at the moment, and have perhaps learned something about BA from everyone pointing that out. You almost seem to have had your cake and eaten it, although it wasn't the special cake you hoped for
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Mar 17, 2018, 5:03 am
#92
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW London
Programs: BAEC Silver; Hilton Diamond;a miscellany of other hotel non-statuses
Posts: 3,607
@Can I help you and other BA folk: Is there no discretion to use vegetarian items (assuming they're there 
) from the BoB stock similar to when xUP passengers are too late to have a CE meal loaded?
) from the BoB stock similar to when xUP passengers are too late to have a CE meal loaded?
Last edited by EsherFlyer; Mar 17, 2018 at 5:16 am
Mar 17, 2018, 5:08 am
#93
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW London
Programs: BAEC Silver; Hilton Diamond;a miscellany of other hotel non-statuses
Posts: 3,607
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Mar 17, 2018, 5:19 am
#94
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
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@Can I help you and other BA folk: Is there no discretion to use vegetarian items (assuming they're there ) from the BoB stock similar to when xUP passengers are too late to have a CE meal loaded?
) from the BoB stock similar to when xUP passengers are too late to have a CE meal loaded?
Mar 17, 2018, 5:22 am
#95
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW London
Programs: BAEC Silver; Hilton Diamond;a miscellany of other hotel non-statuses
Posts: 3,607
Mar 17, 2018, 6:22 am
#97
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,683
I’m just not sure that the special meal not being loaded is compensation worthy. I’m not sure I’m right. If it’s a full on allergy then yes perhaps, but certainly not for religious or ethical reasons. But then I wonder if I’m devaluing mental aspects over physical ones. It’s bloody complex this business.
Mar 17, 2018, 9:28 am
#98
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: TK E+
Posts: 398
The EU hasn't ruled that any compensation is due if you don't get your first choice of food. And it's not as if you had nothing whatsoever to eat anyway, plus the crew would have worked something out if you hadn't been able to eat at least something from the meal that you were given.
You've been given compensation that is way in excess of what BA would normally give you. The value of the Avios you've been given is probably somewhere around $100 (it's almost certainly in the $70-$140 bracket). It is beyond almost all of us to see how you think that you have not yet been properly compensated for what happened. Not getting your first choice of airline food is probably worth no more than a tenth of that.
If you are serially disappointed by the compensation offered by different airlines, then it may be your expectations that need to be reset.
You've been given compensation that is way in excess of what BA would normally give you. The value of the Avios you've been given is probably somewhere around $100 (it's almost certainly in the $70-$140 bracket). It is beyond almost all of us to see how you think that you have not yet been properly compensated for what happened. Not getting your first choice of airline food is probably worth no more than a tenth of that.
If you are serially disappointed by the compensation offered by different airlines, then it may be your expectations that need to be reset.
My point is that it makes no sense to consider what BA "normally" gives as the reference point for what is fair. It should be the other way around.
Think about it this way: before 2005 anyone could say that expecting comp for a 4 hour delay is unreasonable, or that more than Eur50 is "greedy" because BA normally gives at most 2,000 avios as comp for such delay, etc. Yet once EC261 came into effect, Eur600 became the standard for what is fair. Since nothing changed in how such delays actually impact people, this means that Eur600 should be seen as fair also for the time prior to the regulation.
In the same way, consider that it's only due to competing priorities and/or pressure to minimize new regulation and/or relatively low frequency of missed-meal issues, that there is (as of yet) no EU regulation for compensation amounts of such incidents. This does NOT mean that whatever BA normally gives is remotely close to what otherwise would have been ruled as fair and enforced.
The arguments some make here about "you ate something so why should you get any comp" are just ridiculous. If you bought a J ticket but was then downgraded to Y, would it make sense for you to hear "hey, they got you from point A to point B on time, and they arranged for you an alternate seat which you tolerated, so just be content with an apology and be grateful if they gave you a few measly avios" ?
Last edited by bamba70; Mar 17, 2018 at 9:33 am
Mar 17, 2018, 9:59 am
#99
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,428
Do you find vegetarians of the hippie kind or quasi kind more to your liking. If this need to hint that vegetarians are in some way less real dietary needs than others I don’t get it. I have a colleague that cannot eat meat, he’s so repulsed he’ll be sick within seconds, he was once served a pizza with hidden meat/fish and was sick dashing for the toilet despite spitting it out immediately. Interesting you mention gluten, I see many people eating bread and pastry having previously told me they were gluten intolerant, their choice, I don’t mind.
I’m just not sure that the special meal not being loaded is compensation worthy. I’m not sure I’m right. If it’s a full on allergy then yes perhaps, but certainly not for religious or ethical reasons. But then I wonder if I’m devaluing mental aspects over physical ones. It’s bloody complex this business.
My point is that there are serious conditions eg severe nut/gluten allergy, and choice things vegetarianism/kosher/muslim/lacto-ovo
Mar 17, 2018, 10:53 am
#100
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Glasgow, UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 627
My point is that it makes no sense to consider what BA "normally" gives as the reference point for what is fair. It should be the other way around.
Think about it this way: before 2005 anyone could say that expecting comp for a 4 hour delay is unreasonable, or that more than Eur50 is "greedy" because BA normally gives at most 2,000 avios as comp for such delay, etc. Yet once EC261 came into effect, Eur600 became the standard for what is fair. Since nothing changed in how such delays actually impact people, this means that Eur600 should be seen as fair also for the time prior to the regulation.
In the same way, consider that it's only due to competing priorities and/or pressure to minimize new regulation and/or relatively low frequency of missed-meal issues, that there is (as of yet) no EU regulation for compensation amounts of such incidents. This does NOT mean that whatever BA normally gives is remotely close to what otherwise would have been ruled as fair and enforced.
In the same way, consider that it's only due to competing priorities and/or pressure to minimize new regulation and/or relatively low frequency of missed-meal issues, that there is (as of yet) no EU regulation for compensation amounts of such incidents. This does NOT mean that whatever BA normally gives is remotely close to what otherwise would have been ruled as fair and enforced.
An even with EC261 - fairness is in the eye of the beholder. A WT passenger who experiences a 4 hour delay on a long-haul flight gets 600EUR - which can often mean a total refund (or more) of the return trip (I have been in exactly that situation). Whereas an F passenger with a delay a good deal longer still only receives 600EUR which could be a mere fraction of what they paid.
The arguments some make here about "you ate something so why should you get any comp" are just ridiculous. If you bought a J ticket but was then downgraded to Y, would it make sense for you to hear "hey, they got you from point A to point B on time, and they arranged for you an alternate seat which you tolerated, so just be content with an apology and be grateful if they gave you a few measly avios" ?
Mar 17, 2018, 11:00 am
#101
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,754
IFE out? That would piss me off a lot more than the wrong meal. Especially on a long flight. Honestly, you are milking it for all it's worth and are really sounding a little 'spoilt'. Sorry, but I have said it.
Mar 17, 2018, 2:55 pm
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
We are looking at you getting something of the order of $100 compensation for not getting your special meal, although still being able to eat (without even having to fall back on the next line of defence which was to ask the cabin crew to cobble together something from what they could find in all the cabins on the aircraft).
That is well in excess of what is fair compensation for the relatively small inconvenience which you suffered.
Mar 17, 2018, 6:23 pm
#104
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
The €600 is not really compensation for loss. It's intended as a disincentive for BA not to disadvantage passengers. You're comparing apples and oranges. You actually didn't lose out on anything. You got a meal. Not the meal you were expecting but you got fed. Would you expect a free meal in a restaurant on the next visit if they had run out of what you wanted? If you go to a michelin star restaurant and they run out of something but give you something else of equivalent quality, they aren't going to refund you at the same time as feeding you. That's not a reasonable expectation.
Mar 17, 2018, 6:38 pm
#105
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,832
More than 100 posts ago, the OP asked a simple question:
"Now I'm wondering - what is the chance of getting a significant additional compensation?"
Having received an overwhelming response, the OP doesn't like the answer. Just like OP's response to the substitute meal, he/she will never be satisfied. You can't always get what you want. (See Rolling Stones)
Don't ask ask a question if you will only accept one answer.
"Now I'm wondering - what is the chance of getting a significant additional compensation?"
Having received an overwhelming response, the OP doesn't like the answer. Just like OP's response to the substitute meal, he/she will never be satisfied. You can't always get what you want. (See Rolling Stones)
Don't ask ask a question if you will only accept one answer.