truff

It’s funny how the smallest things finally break you. Having chosen my extra legroom seat using BAEC privileges for a euro traveller flight tomorrow, it was arbitrary changes by BA at check in to a middle seat with no extra leg room at check in with no warning or offer of alternative choice. It’s not a big thing but… it’s just so darn lacking in respect to someone they say is a valued customer. At least they should tell tell me you they would do this or provide an explanation. Anyway the BA Amex is being cancelled tomorrow and I’ll close the EC account - I’ll lose avios but I’m not retired so don’t have time to search for reward flights or take weird length holidays.

From now on I think I’ll be a loyal customer to the airlineS that offer decent prices, passable service and an ounce of respect. Bye bye BA!

KARFA

At least send the avios to a friend or family member before you lose them completely

Who are you thinking of going to instead in terms of airline and in terms of FFP?

mikeyfly

Presume BA changed the aircraft? What row were you moved from / to? Rather knee jerk reaction for a short haul seat swap. You can have a full time job and search for Reward flights

gcuk

Well that's one less person I'm competing with for the extra legroom seats

corporate-wage-slave

Yeah, these personal boycotts sound great at the time, but it's usually easier to read up on Curtain Roulette and invest in ExpertFlyer. In the meantime I guess it's Goodbye Cruel Airline.

navylad

Thanks for sharing, hope the rant was propotious.

Many prefer a more transactional based approach, but of course this does mean for many airlines now you won’t get good seats without paying more.

Wishing you luck and happy flighting.

rolandrat

EF is worth every penny, and Im just a leasure flyer - but the amount of times ive had alerts for plane changes and been able to grab the decent seats again, or when a row 1 comes free in CE etc makes it worth while to me.
As well as quickly being able to see how busy my flights are getting, or checking out seat plans before booking a flight, to make sure a pair is available for example.

T8191

Glad I’m not that sensitive. Oh, well, I’m sure BA will survive.

Sad to see people jumping ship, but it’s a personal decision that I inevitably respect.

erikh94

The same thing happened to me last weekend, except we were thrown from 6D, 6F (first row of ET, middle seat blocked) to 36B, 36C with 36A occupied Then a chat with gate agent got us 16B and 16C, not great as I ended up middle seat but at least it was exit row. Was really banking on the quick deplaning but oh well. Also same treatment in term of no communication whatsoever and we would have been probably informed at the gate hadn't I switched to travel mode and checked the seating plan while in the lounge.

Anyway, I felt really annoyed by that as well, especially given the atrocious change that they tried to push on us, with no consideration on better alternatives. On the other hand I understand that it's probably an automated not very smart bot, so... Anyway, I completely agree on the purely transactional nature of my relationship with BA, if I am annoyed I complain and hope for some from of compensation. I rarely get anything but I feel it's still the most efficient way of dealing with these problems. I could take my business away but I would lose out probably more than BA, at least in relative terms, and ultimately that would not offer me any chance of compensation for the event (and annoyance) anyway.

That's my (unsolicited) two cents on these cases

firstlight

I sypathise with the OP. I too suffered from plane change roulette this evening where my nice row 11A exit row seat turned out to be non exit row and someone had the temerity to be sat in the normally theoretical seating blocked 11b. Then the plane turned out to arrive at gate c61 so a long trek to passport control.

But in the end it was only a one hour 15 flight, the JAL lounge at FRA was a new experience, the view of Brussels and London from 31000 feet was lovely and we landed safely and on time. The tunnel was good exercise and my passport got me through the e-gates in seconds.

Flying more frequently than every other day at the moment I try not to let the little things annoy me any more. BA has its good points and its bad points - like all airlines.

carat22

Best way to approach it. 2 weeks ago I flew AA Austin to LHR, was downgraded from 1a without any reason, got put in the last row of business. Was then told we had run out of food, but I could pick whatever I wanted from economy. Obviously I wasn't happy, had a heated exchange......

Will I fly AA again, of course, these things happen. But each to their own I guess.

ISTFlyer

Does AA fly AUS-LHR? I haven't heard of such route and I can't see any information regarding American flying this route.
The only carriers that fly that route are BA and Virgin, AFAIK.

carat22

Apologies yes you’re right. My bad. I was in Austin, flew to DFW then LHR.

HIDDY

All the best OP.

I love BA but I've never been a slave to them....never understood why some people are.

cjb666

Wow. Drop the mic!