LCY8737

Just received the following email from BA. Subject: "Important information about your BAXXXX flight". So basically they don't know what is going to happen and don't expect me to do anything. So what's the point in emailing me, especially with a subject that indicates it is urgent?We would like to share some important information with you about your flight.

Due to adverse weather conditions and planned industrial action by French Air Traffic Control, which is expected to affect flights in and around French airspace, we are expecting disruption to our domestic and European flying programme. As such, your flight may be subject to a delay. Please be assured that our teams will be working to minimise any disruption to our services, and we would like to apologise in advance if your journey is affected.

As we will be working to achieve an on-time departure, please arrive at the airport in time for your flight�s scheduled departure time and monitor the airport information screens or ba.com/travel/flightstatus for the latest information on your flight.

If you have an onward connection as part of a through ticketed journey and are at risk of missing your next flight, please be assured our teams will be looking to rebook you on the next available service.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, we look forward to welcoming you on board.

British Airways Customer Service

babats

It may be 'pointless' to you but not to all the other recipients of a similar communication.

FlyerTalker39574

They�re placating in case of a delay over 3 hours and compensation claims.

navylad

I find such an email really useful, I would make plans I�m vas�s of a delay and will also have my expectations suitable set. What�s the alternative, you get to the airport and find a delay- it�s caused by an air traffic strike that BA have known about for days, are you saying you wouldn�t be annoyed that you hadn�t been informed about the potential delay?

Misco60

To be fair, I think the title of the email gives the impression that there is important information about that specific flight, which is not the case. It might be better to have a more generic (and less urgent-sounding) title. There is also no indication within the body of the message regarding the period for which this advisory applies. It would be useful to say we are expecting disruption to our domestic and European flying programme on Sunday, 9 February 2020.

But BA doesn't generally take much care to get the tone and content of its communications right. Just look at that irritating "upgrade for less" email, which just takes you to a generic page with no indication of which particular flight they are inviting you to upgrade.

corporate-wage-slave

I'm on Flyertalk so I hope to know about these things in advance, but here's the rub: the first I knew about specific event (which is for today) was reading the OP's whinge. It's to do with the Pension Reforms in France.There also fog in London today apparently, so big problems at the moment, particularly around southern England, west and south France.

So if I had received this and I had a time dependent meeting, this would have helped me to start mitigating it, advising others that I may be late for example.

Tafflyer

I think many of us have been complaining for years about too little information from BA concerning our flight operations. This may not be a perfect communication and certainly poses more questions for a specific flight than giving dependable information, but it is certainly a good step forward and BA should be supported in that.

Globaliser

The subject line doesn't say that it's urgent, only that it's important. And if you didn't already know about it, the information that there is a real chance of disruption to your journey is important - or, at least, most people would regard it as important.

There'd be more cause for complaint from a passenger if the first that they knew about the possibility of disruption was when their flight got cancelled.

LCY8737

This email is just noise: The flight may be delayed, or it may not. The French may be to blame, or the fog. Or there may be nothing to blame anybody for. Do show up at the airport as if we had never sent the email in the first place. There is zero actionable content in this email.

As my old boss used to say: if you have nothing to say, keep your mouth shut.

dsf

There may not be a delay to your departure, but there may be a delay to your arrival. As others have pointed out, it's at your destination that action may be required.

Sam Bee

I got an e-mail on Monday from the Executive Club offering a 5,000 Avios Bonus for a new BritishAirways American Express� Credit Card.

Sadly it's for my 7 year old daughter! Considering they have her passport details with d.o.b logged, I was very surprised to receive such a kind offer....

Now that's a pointless communication. I'd see yours as REALLY helpful, especially considering the amount of day trips I take with BA. Any delay (normally fog in Berlin...) renders most of the trips pointless.

trains

It seems a very useful e-mail to me, indeed, I received a similar message a few days ago due to fog at Heathrow on an inbound from Warsaw which said that the flight may or may not be delayed. The e-mail made no difference to me, but there were a group of Americans who were worried about making a connection at Heathrow. It transpired there was a delay and they were armed with a list of alternative flights they could request and they made plans on how they could get a car back to their home. I have no idea whether they made their connection, but it allowed them to make plans and they seemed quite appreciative of the warning. If I had a connection, or a business meeting, I'd absolutely want to be told there was an increased chance that my flight would be delayed.

babats

So why didn't you practice what you preach and not post this?

LCY8737

I see BA apologisms is in full swing again. I'm off back to the real world.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Globaliser

That is so far from the truth. There may be lots of people who'll be able to take some precautionary action against the increased risks that they will be delayed or disrupted. Meetings could get rescheduled, family and friends may start planning more flexibly so that the passenger can be met whenever it is that they do arrive, and so on. Be prepared, and all that.

Just because there is no action that you personally need to take as a result of this email doesn't mean that nobody else has any action to take either. Your circumstances are not shared by everyone else on the flight.