bealine

Hey - don't shoot the messenger!

I'm just pointing out the reasons why BA staff feel the way they do about "awards" and "redemptions".

Now, I know how this frequent flyer business works and, through making some good friends on this forum, I also understand how One World awards convert into cash for BA. However, many of my colleagues don't and still percieve the "award" as a freebie - especially as our business travellers seldom use an award ticket on business - it's nearly always on holiday when they turn up with the entire family on separate bookings which causes a nightmare for the ground staff!

Standing where I do, I can understand very clearly both viewpoints!

The problem lies in the fact that British airways has never clearly indicated to the customer-facing staff how cash is generated from award tickets or the value of Frequent Flyer business!

Smirnoff

And why might that be?

Because they weren't able to pre-assign seats together?

And why might that be?

Because of the seating policy?

Or why else might that be?

Because the seat shifters moved in and scattered the family travelling in F or J on "freebies" around the cabin.

virtualtroy

Quite. I suspect there are quite a few revenue-generating aspects of the business which BA doesn't expose its customer-facing staff to, in the interests of keeping wages down.

marbles dad

The issue of upgraded tickets and award tickets in premium cabins and whether or not there is any discriminatory attitude on the part of the cabin crew has been a frequent topic on many of these forums , and now finally the cat is out of the bag, at least on BA. And we didn't have to coax very much to find out. IMO, an attitude like this should be reported to management by any crewmember with any bit of sense. In fact, i intend to ask the CSD next time i'm in first or nCW on an upgrade or an award ticket if there is any problem with any of the cabin crew giving me the appropriate service since I'm on an award ticket, and I have heard rumors BA cabin crew dont care to have award travellers in their caBIN particularly from airlines other than BA.
I am not understanding the 'two points of view" about this. this is customer service ,pure and simple.

Swanhunter

However, as has been discussed at length on other threads i am not aware of anyone reporting inferior treatment onboard when on an award. IIRC, the crew have no way of knowing who the award is through.

You - rightly - are complaining about not being able to get your AA number in the res, but to blow this up to cover all of BA is a bit unfair.

Have you tried calling again to see if someone will change it for you?

CheVive

I think it is perfectly reasonable to have one's status on another OW airline recognized on BA, even if one holds a BA card. If anything, it only proves that one is loyal to the OW alliance -- I can't imagine someone without an EC membership would hesitate to put his AA, QF, etc. card # in on a BA flight. Is an AA+BA ff inferior to an AA only ff?

I personally find the lack of intra-OW (particularly BA-AA) account recognition frustrating. For the last year I was an AA plat flying BA almost exclusively on fully flexible tickets from MOW-LHR, yet almost never was able to get my AA # w/ status to be printed on the boarding pass. The result was rude interrogations at BA lounges for trying to get in as a non-elite when flying Y out of T1. (I find the need to show a card to enter lounges ridiculous for those of us that have to live in 3rd world countries -- I don't think I've actually ever received an elite card in the mail in the last 5 years from ANY airline, and yes, I did earn the status). Incidentally, the DME non-BA staff (provided by Istlain, I believe) manning the BA lounge entrance were infinetly more polite and helpful in verifying my OW elite status than BA staff at LHR.

Marbles, as another poster suggested, unfortunately with OW, the best policy is that if at first one does not succeed, try, try, again...