john11111111111

Hey, I'm a 800TP Eurocheat.

Couldn't they reduce the threshhold for this black card for us Euro residents? Maybe 900TP.

Swanhunter

Smirnoff, interesting tip on the email contact out of hours - thanks.

They were also very good at keeping me updated on my missing bag - and I suspect ensuring it got on... The other refreshing element is the willingness to 'try something', some proactive service. I wanted to use an Amex voucher for a rule breaking trip and they were prepared to ask and try. The answer was eventually no (which I had no problem with at all) but was then presented with the next best solution and was that OK?

The next test is going to be unpicking a major pickle with the posting of some flights to my account. I feel sorry for whoever gets that one!

The final benefit is psychological. There is somewhere there who wants to help, and will. Takes some of the stress away. Though several friends now think I have a magic wand and can't understand why flights are still delayed when I travel, Special Services don't meet me off the plane etc.

Fritz

My father passed away a few days back while I was travelling (as usual). The GGL team has been wonderful, sorting out flights for me, my partner, miscellaneous far flung family et cetera at pretty much zero notice and with negligible availabilty on the planes we wanted to take. Can't praise them enoiugh just now.

Rambuster

Glad to hear this service works as it should for very frequent fliers!
To be fair to BA, even though they have not introduced GGL in Germany yet, BA management do know who their very loyal customers are in mainland Europe and pass out their mobile numbers to some of us for emergencies and feedback on any problems.

DFB_london

To date, IMHO GGL have been excellent, and very helpful. Laura there is helpful beyond the call of duty, but there are others too of equal merit. Selfishly, I hope they stay small, and it is nt rolled out too much. Otherwise we get status inflation (and service dilution), just like everyone has a platinum credit card nowadays, it seems. The bigger GGL becomes, the more rule-set, diluted, and non-specialist it becomes, I suspect.

Overall, as someone heading to over 5,000 TPs this year, it nice to have something useful to aim for. As in our household we're both independently GGL members the extra silver card is pretty useless.

Frankly an equivalent from BAA would be useful (queue jump anyone?), especially as the press has been duped by BAA into thinking those extra security employees are 'real', rather than the yellow polo shirted YTS muppets. (If anyone from BAA reads this, I cancelled two trips last week as I could nt face T2 queues, yet again. The current bad press is spot on).
To date, GGL have been a real bonus. So far, so good, and well done BA.

Now, come on WW, please give BAA the kick up the a#*# they really need.

Smirnoff

deleted as requested

Land-of-Miles

Isn't there a real danger for BA in GGL as a concept? Firstly GGL isolates BA up to a point from the feedback from angry premium customers (via account managers, Corporate Customer feedback and the like) since GGL appears to be useful in smoothing out difficulties caused by poor BA operations/policies. This might work well in protecting revenue from the ultra-loyal customer base in the short term, but surely in the longer term the feedback from those same people (who presumably as ultra-loyalists would show considerable forebearance in the face of problems in any event) would be very valuable?

Secondly I just find it totally depressing to think that I would have to spend a considerable amount with BA over 3 years BEFORE I would receive the kind of service I would consider to be much more the norm with other carriers. Even then there is no guarantee since BA have not published entry or renewal criteria.

I have resolved to do the minimum I have to with BA to get Gold (i.e. move to Europe) and then look very carefully at other OW programmes for crediting all flights over the bare minimum. My aim would be Emarald with another OW member and then to drop BAEC altogether, this seems to be very much a 2 year plan thus far.

DFB_london

I can understand where you are coming from, but I think as a service for the loyal, or heavy use flyers, GGL is exactly what BA should be doing.

I challenge you to find - and name - another FFP with this kind of service (and employees with a sense of humour!), unless you go hon at LH, and you wont manage that on a staus match or euro-cheat! As SEN at LH, Gold at Virgin (but I'm dropping their shoddy, shambolic, late and dirty excuse for a premium service) and others, I can tell you BA GGL is the best, ...by far.

As for complaints, I totally disagree with you: recent experience of one in-flight catering issue got a rapid response and an inbound call from WW's office - and a contact number 'if ever it happens again'. From this the GGL people can prob figure out who I am. I think these complaints are handled with far greater gravitas. IMHO, the point is to ensure the complaint does nt repeat on anyone else, or myself. I dont care who it goes to (I'm not keeping score of which red tape was followed), as long as things 'happen'.

Again, well done to BA.

A GGL system that works, a superb new product in the CW seat (the z position works so well), a much improved F product.

As said before, please, please, please, can BA now tell BAA in no uncertain terms that it is the customer, and BAA is there to serve BA, not the other way around.

ZZ100

DFB_london - i can easily help you out with that silver card if it is something that is weighing you down

DFB_london

...and you too win the chance to watch hours of your life tick by in a BAA queue at LHR or LGW

frankvb

I do understand why BA wants to provide a better service to its most-spending members via the GGL. However the problem is that if you complain as a mere Gold (I wonder what happens to Silvers/Blues...), the only reply to valid complaints seems to be the standard email reply. In my opinion all (genuine) complaints should be dealt with, though I can understand that some priorisation of high-value customers should be there. So in that sense I agree with Land-of-Miles here - it seems that BA is imply ignoring all problems and complaints unless they come from a GGL member, and then instead of fixing the root cause they simply fix it for that particular person.

ZZ100

The service for a lucky blue like me is an email assuring me that i will be replied to withing 28 days


I have no idea what you mean but i expect it is funny so i will laugh haah

DFB_london

so to be fair, that does nt mean you downgrade the GGL complaint responses, but rather BA needs to up its game on the non-GGL complaint responses, from what you are suggesting.

Land-of-Miles

This is part of it, but the issue goes beyond the simple courtesy of responding to complaints. Anyone who has spent any time studying quality systems will know that root cause analysis and the correction of trends before they start to seriously impact upon a business absolutely depend upon effective complaint handling.

Good customer relations is not philanthropy it is the ruthless business of protecting future revenue (seemingly fine for GGL members, everyone else it seems can go s***w themselves) and maximising operational efficiency (something BA is incredibly bad at BTW).

Swanhunter

I disagree. My other very rarely travels for work on anything other that super cheap tickets (so no TP's there) and holidays are invariably miles funded. She might rack up a couple of hundred TP's from weekends away but certainly not enough for Silver. So, for some of us it is a reasonable benefit, especially given the work trips.