simonsmith

There are knock on effects of this plan though . We recently flew back from Nice . The flight was full and they simply could not accommodate all the hand luggage . We eventually left late because of this as the hold had to be reopened for a load more hand baggage to be put in .

orbitmic

From post 2, it was rightly pointed that the HAL limitations interact with others. In post 2, mention of how Schipol and German ATC issues compound effects, in post 3, of mass cancellations and mass delays due not to HAL but to missing pilots and missing gate agents.

This is not "BAshing", this is just the reality of HAL's request simply being one ingredient in a cocktail in which "grains of sands" in the system become particularly hard to manage by actors who have become fragile in terms of available workforce to the point of not being very resilient, and to very real and very current limitations to what BA can cope with for the same reason.

There was no request for cancellations or delays from HAL yesterday, they occurred in some cases due to external factors, and in others due to BA's own staffing issues.

corporate-wage-slave

Just a quick look at EuroControl's sitrep for today. The first item relates to the firefighters for AdP being on strike. A few moderate delays in ATC isn't unusual at this time of year, so they should be priced in. But overall it's a somewhat yucky day to be fllying, it's probably not going to be pretty in LHR around 16:00 hrs when everything comes together.

==
General information concerning the weather forecast:

A strong trough over West Europe will support thunderstorm activity over most of the domain with 3 high risk areas, surrounded by medium and lower risk areas.
The first area is expected from 12Z (Very likely CLST FL400) over E Bosnia and Herzegovina, and W Serbia, with a lower risk area (ISOL FL380) reaching over Greece.
The second (and the biggest) area will reach peak activity after 15Z (Very likely CLST FL400) over E France, Switzerland, and W Germany. This convection will likely persist throughout the night and move NE.
The third focal area is over Poland, developing in the afternoon to HIGH RISK (CLST/WSPR up to FL430) and moving N.
Some MEDIUM risk CLST (FL240) thunderstorm activity is also possible in S UK in the afternoon, but convection should be predominantly low topped and ISOL over this area.

Regulation with reduce capacity are expected resulting in high delays.

Aerodromes
LFPG (Paris- Charles de Gaule)
Arrivals regulated due to Fireman strike.
High delays this morning.

LGMK (Mykonos)
Arrival regulated due to ATC Equipment (Frequency problems)
Moderate delays.

LLBG ( Ben Gurion)
Arrival via KONFO regulated due to ATC Capacity
Moderate delays.


Airspace
EDUU (Karlsruhe)
Several sectors regulated due to ATC Capacity, Staffing.
Moderate to high delays.

EDWW (Bremen)
Mark and Mueritz combined sector regulated due to Airspace Management.
High delays.

EPWW (Warsaw)
Several sectors regulated due to Ukrainian crisis.
Moderate to high delays.

LDZO (Croatia)
Several sectors regulated due to ATC capacity.
Moderate to high delays.

LHCC (Hungary)
Several sectors regulated due to ATC capacity..
Moderate delays.

LFFF (Paris)
Seine approach sectors regulated due to ATC staffing.
High delays.

LFRR (Brest)
Nantes approach regulated due to ATC Capacity.
High delays.

LKAA (Prague)
Several sectors regulated due to Weather (CB) and new system implementation.
High delays.

13901

But from post 4 onwards..

I'm not disputing anything in your list, merely pointing out how the thread derailed soon after it got started.

hungry

I need a separate suitcase just for booze alone I bring back from Spain (supermarkets/wine shops, not duty free)

dobba

I'm not an expert on this so asking those of you that are.

Would my cancellation today come under 261 rules? (Assuming it's just one of the ones BA opted to cancel due to HAL issues)

My take is that they were asked to cancel, they didnt necessarily have to and presumably these flights werent just picked at random and were targeted for whatever reasons, therefore although the initial issue may have been HALm the decision to cancel any flight is with BA.

corporate-wage-slave

It's not black / white, you would have to delve into the details. To give an extreme example, let's say BA cancelled the only service today to KLX when they could have combined 2 domestic services leaving close together. BA decided it was less work for BA to cancel KLX. Then KLX customers would have a claim in my view. But if BA managed the domestic shuffle so that perhaps a lot of people were all delayed 2 hours, so ineligible for EC261, is that a better outcome? By EC261 it is a better outcome. If BA ignored HAL then it isn't as though the problem goes away.

SonTech

The news media will always blame the airline's and say they let to many people go. Lots of people working in the airline industry took up other jobs when they where furloughed and then they got used to the more sociable hours so decided not to back to working in the airline industry. Changes to the rules regarding security clearance have not helped one bit either.
​​​​​

Bohinjska Bistrica

BA did let a lot of people go, though. They went through a redundancy process.

As a result, BA has cancelled a lot of flights over the past year as the staff to operate them are not available. This is well known and it makes the airline look shambolic; when you get to this point you get repeatedly kicked and any nuance that it might be the fault of someone else is lost.

subject2load

Whilst I do not necessarily share your sense of bafflement that EasyJet are ‘much better’ than BA in terms of reaction to disruption / cancellation, I cannot claim any (recent) EZY first-hand experience, For a good number of folk it’s apparently not as baffling as you deem it to be, but of course everyone has his / her own perspective.

And do you really, really, know that BA will “get you to your destination” …… ? More particularly, what might be the definition of ‘ultimately’ …? ….. later the same day, the same week ……? or within a month or so ….? How much time & personal effort might you need to summon up in order to get to your destination, and how sure can you be that you will always be willingly helped in that effort by BA call centre staff - as opposed to sometimes being actively obstructed by them ?

Presumably you have never been in a situation of being denied an entirely legitimate request to be re-booked with an alternative carrier after BA have cancelled their own flight to, say, Tokyo ? You have presumably never been told (categorically, by two different BA agents) that “No, we cannot book you with JAL” And when calmly reminded - by a mere customer, no less - that the very JAL flight in question actually shows as available for booking on ba.com, those same BA agents remain unmoved.

Well, I - and, I would suspect, many others - have been in that situation, and quite recently in fact. I consider it very wrong that BA management are seemingly unable / unwilling to direct their support agents to simply do the right thing in their day-to-day approach to requests by customers (any customer, regardless of status).

Some travellers (perhaps unaware of their legal rights ? ) might have accepted, whether willingly or reluctantly, the alleged ‘only option’ of a refund ; others (including myself) end up having to battle away, over a period of several days, until the correct solution is eventually offered …… in this case, a seat on the requested flight operated by JAL, which I now do have.

All that said, I agree 100% with your assessment as regards the ongoing impact of the cost-cutting Walsh-Cruz era, and the resultant damaging legacy.

jmd

I don’t disagree with anything you say, and I’m not defending any of the many issues with BA at the moment. I was just surprised by others upthread suggesting Easyjet as a preferable alternative in the current times. When they cancel a flight short notice at the airport, the most you can generally hope for is the app telling you that the next available Easyjet flight is in three days’ time. At that point your only hope is to pay for a new flight and hotel yourself and put in a claim to Easyjet which will never get paid. I have had lots of IRROPS in the last few months with BA, and actually what stands out for me is the many friendly and helpful BA staff (who have been treated shockingly by their employer) who have spent hours on the phone with me trying everything to get me to where I want to go.

IkarosBOS

And ‘the old BA’ isn’t even something we would have ever wanted back until recently.😂 Now we’d settle for anything that doesn’t get cancelled.

Above

Yes, this is absolutely correct. BA want to have the luggage in hold, as there is not enough space in the cabin and this causes delays. Last week on my flight back from Munich, they said only 50 pieces can be taken on board, the rest had to go in the hold. Strangely enough, they said if you don't volunteer and your bag can't be taken in the cabin, you would be charged to have it checked in. Sprint to have the bags checked in followed

Flying Doctor

Another way to do this is offer AirPortr for free - they collect from your door and this also means the bags are there hours before so loading can be more scheduled with the limited staff they have.
Just a thought - I have used and found it quite good...
FD.

Swanhunter

Quite scary that this is happening before the school holiday peak. July and August are going to be brutal.

The airline industry is showcasing now what retailers and consumer goods businesses learned in 2020. Just in case is much better than just enough.