BA Customer Service Cannot Get Any Worse
 

After lack of travel due to illness. I finally returned to regain my status by using a BA credit card on BA.COM to purchase business transatlantic rtn. So far Ive had these issues in 2 days:
1. Does not reflect One world status (ba ‘not our issue call OneWorld’) there is no contacting OW…
2. Using ‘Chase10’ when buying ticket should have given me 10% off…it did not. Ba ‘try using it next time’…..(omg) or canx your ticket and rebook it but we will only give you $300 refund as it’s been 2 days…
3. Called to change one leg. Everything was the same time, date, connection, price..just wanted to change it so the LHR to PHL was with BA and not AA (I wanted to depart from term 5…BA: ‘well sure but there’s a price change’ Me: why? Your site is showing the exact same fare? BA: No I recalculated the trip and it will cost you another $9745.00 Me: I’m dumbfounded

Point here is there is no way to call a ‘reasonable’ office/dept its all these foreign call centers with zero room for common sense. Maybe BA figures customers will hang up in frustration and just give up and deal with it? I cannot! It’s the principle, how does BA rep tell someone they are going to pay $9k MORE for a flight that was under $3k just to change a terminal? (It would be a admin charge at most). BA not honoring the 10% by saying ‘you never used the code, it’s not automatic’ is BS! What happened to BA? I was so excited to be starting my journey with multiple flights this year but this has ruined any decent opinion I had of BA. The fact BA does not allow a way for patrons to elevate these issues is a serious indication of don’t give a sh*% prerogative.

Do you think customers will actually start going elsewhere? Or just deal with it because it’s less hassle than moving to another airline?

The promo code is ChaseBA10, not Chase10.

OK.
1) What isn't reflected? It sounds like you have frequent flyer status with one airline and you have a different frequent flyer number attached to the reservation? BA should be able to replace this, but I'm not sure why you didn't enter that in when you made the reservation.
2) Why didn't you address the 10% BA code issue within 24 hours of the flight? This isn't some new post-pandemic policy; you can only cancel a ticket within 24 hours of booking for a full refund. You didn't enter in the right code and didn't bother to look up the correct one. I'm not sure what you think BA was doing before the pandemic relative to now.
3) Is your ticket BA-plated? AA-plated? It's possible that you may not be able to switch the way you're suggesting as ticketed, but I would recommend you call back and try again.

BA's customer service is hardly legendary, but these seem like issues of your own doing.

We run various e-commerce websites where we issues coupons with partners to obtain discounts. The number of people who insert the wrong discount coupon, don't get the discount, but still pay full price, then complain after....then resort to sending 4 emails overnight with increasing angst with the last one asking for a full refund due to 'lack of response' (erm, we're asleep).

Clearly our fault. And our 'customer service' skills are lacking. This is the issue with online retailers offering sales 24/7. People now expect 24/7 instant replies. We regularly have people ordering on Christmas Day and then complaining on Christmas Day and think nothing of this behaviour, somehow assuming as a store is online, we sit waiting for their emails 24/7 at all times. Perplexing.

The T&Cs are also very clear that the discount will appear on the final payment page. I don't have this card, but it's that easy to find in the terms.

Getting to that point, having the offer not show up, and clicking to continue with payment anyway... is something else.

That said, the OP hasn't immediately responded to any of the replies, so I guess it swings both ways.

Sometimes we just need a good rant to get it off our chest!

Not one usually to jump to British Airways‘s defence – but I have just booked a Lufthansa business class ticket because it was £200 cheaper than the equivalent on BA. After that, Germany efficiency seems to fall down because it will not let me book a special meal, nor will it allow me simply to assign special assistance. For the letter I have to email a department which has an auto/reply saying they are very busy and will respond when they are able. Further – having bought the ticket online, the website would not allow me to select a seat even though it said free seat selection. At last I have managed to achieve this by using the app. I was expecting slightly more efficiency from a German-based airline. I take it all back about British Airways and its creaky systems. 😂

Add Air France to that list. Clunky? It made BA look so user friendly in comparison. That said, I was delighted aboard.

Sure, some of the complaints aren't well-founded, but a "contact oneworld" response is poor customer service.

I generally have decent experiences with BA's call centres for ticketing/reservations - I just wish more could be done online. The actual "Customer Relations" group however - dreadful. I had a downgrade it took them ten months to issue a partial refund for (pretty clearcut!), and I only got it sorted once I finally wrote BA's Chief Experience Officer: that should not have been necessary.

I think one important thing is also to remember that whenever we have status with any airline, we tend to get treated a hell of a lot better than when we don't even though we rarely realise it!

For instance, my experience on LH and even LX is also less than ideal, but the people I know who are HON swear that LX and LH work a charm for them compared to BA. Conversely, having high status with AF, I have not experienced the same issues as PUCCI. Indeed, in cases where, for instance, I have had flights cancelled, in recent times, I'd say that I have had far more effective and pro-active resolution by AF than BA even though my status with the latter is a little higher. By contrast, I have no doubt that without high status, people's experiences are a lot less rosy.

Not all customer service experiences are born equal. We can of course experience issues with any and every airline, but I think that by nature, far too often on FT, people tend to have the ultimately rare and privileged perspective of people who tend to have high status with the airline they discuss, and even disproportionately tend to travel in premium travel classes. Typically, the experience of the one off traveller is unlikely to resemble ours (and that of the one off long haul Y traveller even more so).

Having said that, to the OP, whatever you may think of your experience (and I am with others in thinking that your view of it somewhat underplays what could have been done differently on your own side), I can confirm that BA (and others)' customer service can get a lot worse than that indeed.

There is nothing to complain about here. You wanted to change your AA service out of T3 to a BA service out of T5. I understand where you're coming from with your frustration, but this is not an admin change at most, as you stated further down.

When searching for flights on the BA website, I will often see that some services are cheaper than others. At times, as you've found out, a service on AA at the same time as a BA flight to the same destination will be priced at a far cheaper rate. It also sometimes happens vice versa, where the BA flight will be much cheaper.

An admin change it is not, because each airline operates separately when it comes to revenue management and which fare buckets are available and at what price. Yes, they have a joint venture where they sell each others flights, but it does not mean, at all, that you can just switch flights on a whim. It's never been the case here and is not the case with any other airline either.

That being said, if you did see them on the website for the same price, then you should have cancelled within 24 hours and rebooked. Changes are often priced differently, as a lot depends on the fare rules.

To the uninitiated being quoted ludicrous (seemingly) prices for what seems like a simple change where the original fare is still available can be frustrating, so I have some sympathy, but the complexities of air fares and algorithms are significant and I am not sure that this is a customer service failing, rather a reflection of the weird and wacky world of fare buckets (which I don't understand at all, but there is a wealth of knowledge on here if the OP hangs around for an explanation).

I would count myself as more "critic" than "apologist" these days when it comes to BA, though I like to think I am balanced.

On customer service, I had to speak to both BA and CX recently to make alternative arrangements, and found BA far more helpful and user friendly. It is just one example, but apart form the long waits when calling (which is not good service) I have found BA's agents to be pretty helpful on the whole.

not much sympathy because as we are all aware-- a change of flight, even if same route etc but a different flight is just that--a completely different flight and the associated change fees associated with that.