bakera

Well, the other half and I finally took our first trip in NCW on our return trip from NAS. Note that this was a paid trip, out of my own pocket - not a business expense.

After completing the meal service everyone started reclining their seats into the flat bed position order to get a good nights sleep (after all this is the major reason that we paid the premium price to receive). When I tried to recline my seat it stopped 1/2 way and would not go anything like flat bed.

After a while I asked one of the cabin crew to assist, after a few minutes trying to recline the seat with the control pattern she told me "never mind, we'll recline it manually". Over 30 minutes passed whilst 4 members of the cabin crew attempted to recline the seat, sometimes with 2 or 3 of them at a time pushing/pulling the seat.

Of course this was very disruptive to all the other passengers around us, so the cabin crew appologises and said that there was nothing else they could do- so I had to sit upright all night, getting little (if any) sleep. At the end of the flight I was given a 'comment card' to complete.

Should I expect any form of compensation for this? I did not complete the comment card, but completed the on-line comments form instead. How long should I wait for a response.

In my opinion this was the equivelent of being downgraded to WT+, so I should be entitled to the same form of compensation as if I had have been downgraded - do you agree!

To make matters worse, it looked like the Club World cabin was not full, and (I believe) they brought 2 passengers forward from WT+ before we took off. If this had not have happened I would have been ableto switch seats.

TIA.

Andy.

Filthy Monkey

I think the very least you can expect is enough miles for a MFU...

yyzlhr

I think so to, 10-20K in miles or £200 in BA travel shop vouchers.... let us know!!!

Raffles

Don't waste your time with the complaints card - although you should post it off anyway. Write a letter to Customer Relations, address on website, saying exactly what you have said above.

A slug of BA Miles will be forthcoming, although probably not enough to make up for the inconvenience (25k sounds about right, worth about £250-300 in practice). You might want to go for some cash / vouchers as well.

Gardyloo

This has happened to us twice, last time on the marathon CPT-LHR seg.

"Sorry, sir, but we can't access the control panel as the other passenger has reclined his seat and his footrest is blocking the panel cover. Perhaps we can re-seat you... er, never mind."

This was during the Great Katering Krisis of 2005, and IIRC my compensation was a deli box with a Goo Sandwich.

I have also had flaccid trays, psychotic IFE wands, and other irritants in ONCW. Better than down the back, though.

bakera

The price for NCW was £300 per person for a one-way upgrade over WT+ Surely I should get at least this back in compensation.

The address on the website is exactly the same as that pre-printed on the comment card. Are you saying that I should write a personal letter rather than simply completing the card?

Thanks again,

Andy.

Teece

And how many palm trees, sorry, miles etc did you get in c**pensation?

Prospero

If I had experienced say, broken IFE, inedible food or any human inconsistencies I would let it pass. The seat however is a fundamental component of the class of service and definitely warrants a letter to Customer Relations.

I would personally write a concise note explaining that the seat malfunctioned and no alternative seats were available. The nature of the malfunction prevented the seat from reclining and your ability to sleep during the flight.

Seats do malfunction without warning from time to time so I would expect BA to have a procedure for compensation.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Gardyloo

Not a BAEC member (AA) so nothing. But nothing requested. I don't like full recline in the pods anyway - too short and narrow at the shoulder.

Swanhunter

I've been very lucky (so far) and other than the aforementioned flacid tables never had a hardware problem in NCW. First on the other hand...my missus has a talent for frying the seats and has done so twice on a grand total of about 20 sectors.

ant_west

I got 10,000 miles for semi-broken IFE flying NCW to JFK back in October - the remote was broken so I couldn't change channel, could only use the touch screen controls (ie change volume/brightness or switch to the map).

I sent an email using the ba.com website form and received the compensatory miles within a day! (though this was on the tail-end of the catering chaos that saw BA giving out extra miles with gusto for the slightest complaints - a situation I was happy to take advantage of )

Given that level, I'd push for at least 30k for a broken seat on an overnight!

Kibison

I always check my seat to see if it reclines and the IFE for proper audio/video as soon as I board the aircraft. If there is a problem, then the FA can get someone from maintenance on board to fix the problem before the door closes. I have had seats and IFE malfunction several times in F but not in NCW.

Globaliser

After a scare on my last CW sector, I think I'm going to adopt this practice, too.

Fortunately, my seat was just a bit sticky when engaging the motors, and a bit of pushing while pressing the button soon got it moving again.

Imperial Special

This is sound advice. Write a letter.

Jimmie76

When in a full OCW cabin from BOS (the whole family having been up***ded for reasons that escape me now), my brother ended up seated in a seat with broken IFE. Several FAs tried in vain and, having removed some large parts of the seat to get at the wires, gave up it was bust. The CSD came back through the curtain and was appraised of the situation. He said that they normally offered a bottle of champagne as compensation, but Dad made it clear he wasn't happy about that (possibly due to the fact a 13 year old wasn't a suitable recipient of champers, although he certainly would be ).

By this point, possibly knowing something better was in the offing (although he seemed pretty animated about getting the bubbly) he said that he only wanted to watch the films, and looked really dissapointed. He was then told that the CSD will let him into F to watch the films (also had to behave), but he had to be back in his seat for landing. He finished his meal, dissapeared through the curtain and we saw him again 20 mins before landing. Not a BAEC member he didn't need/want any miles in compensation but I often wonder what he would have got.

The comment cards do work in my experience, the more serious the problem the greater the level of compensation.