Deterioration in service at BA-MRU?
 

I wonder if other people have experienced the same apparent deterioration in service from BA-MRU.

Up until early April, e-mails had been answered promptly -- often within one business day. Since then I have found it very difficult to get any response at all. Despite four e-mails to them during late April and May requesting pricing of an AONE6 itinerary settled in late April, the last response received from them was April 27. I haven’t tried phoning yet.

Is it a coincidence that the service deterioration coincides closely with the imposition of their service charge (e.g., maybe they are trying to discourage RTW bookings)?

I don't know, but I'd say the mere fact that BA has been reported here to restrict A availability on MRU POS would suggest they were never that interested in the increased business anyway, even before the service charge..

Sadly, I concur. My current rate of response is 3:1 (me:them). However the booking is made, it's in MMB, I have a price and am basically good to go.

FWIW I'm dealing with a different BA person than I did earlier in the year.

I do sympathize with these small outstations that encounter sudden fame in the arcane world of RTWers. A couple of years ago my wife and I met with the lovely (and she was) Ulya at BA's IST CTO, who expressed fatigue with xONEx products gobbling up days and days at her office. And that was a BA office, not a GSA like MRU.

We must be patient with these folks; if history is any indicator, the "popularity" of MRU will be dust in the wind one of these days.

Hmm - even though it's a different airline, the staff at the AA GSA in CMB gave me a different impression. The agent I dealt with expressed great disappointment at the loss of DONE revenue caused by CX suspending CMB flights. He mentioned that his office gets lots of bookings from Australians and indicated that they greatly appreciate the increased revenue brought on by the popularity of CMB with RTWers.

I don't want to sound like a smart ... but doesn't too much work fall in the category of a nice prolem to have? I mean look at WAW, IST, CAI,... no fatigue there now but I wonder if they don't miss the bad old days when a lot of RTWers bothered them so much.

Someone mentioned here that BA in Mauritius was actually handled by a GSA, specifically IBL Travel. (I'd thought it was a BA-operated TravelShop until I read that.)

If IBL, it's probably just a personnel issue. A year ago I had some dealings with IBL (probably an office at arms-length from their BA GSA operation, if that's indeed true) and had an absolutely abyssmal time getting them to respond. I eventually got hooked up with that office's manager, who was as brilliant and helpful as his minions were dullards.

If that's the problem, the way to get around it is obviously to find that brilliant person. I can PM my contact to anyone who cares.

Well you are smart, aren't you? ;)

Sure, I agree at one level. However I confess I don't think BA gives much of a flying fox about it - remember they summarily closed the IST CTO and canned Ulya (and probably some coworkers) right in the middle of their 15 minutes of RTW fame. IIRC CAI was mainly a TA-driven operation, and BA in WAW were miserable to deal with and it was TAL Aviation (AA's GSA) that were easy. And we know about the BA RTW call cent(e)r(e) business in N. America. Common thread here....?

Yes, IBL. Am dealing with a supervisor at present, who has told me that she has not received a couple of my emails (which I re-sent and she received.) Maybe the problem is technical.

If one is starting out on a BA flight, such as at MRU, and one wants to purchase the ticket at MRU for price reasons, is it a requirement to do the initial routing and MRU-based pricing through BA?

Or could one do the routing and MRU-based pricing through another OW partner (say AA), and simply show up at MRU (the appropriate 21 days in advance) to purchase the ticket there, thus only dealing BA-MRU at that time? Just wondering if there are ways around working with BA-MRU if a problem, whether technical or otherwise, does seem to continue?

MRU working well for me. Emails normally in my inbox on arrival in office. Just set up another AONE4 for July 20 segment fully confirmed. Reply time usually one day(12hrs) or two days(36 hrs) but as other posters say reservation is in MMB. Service when you arrive in MRU is outstanding, they know you are coming, personal escort into VIP lounge. Remember TIA so just have a little patience or get AA RTW to do the PNR first

I don't know the OW rules as well, but *A RTW tickets have SITI (Sold Inside Ticketed Inside) rules that require you to have the ticket issued and purchased there or they charge you the greater of the price there and where it is actually sold. Canada is an exception for some Canadian rule -- you could buy it there and have it start anywhere at the price of there. If that sticks for OW then you could get a Canadian travel agent to do it for you and get the MLE price (you still have to start from MLE).

Many of the OW airlines have various rules of their own making (it's ManyWorlds, remember) and refuse to ticket an xONEx unless they are involved in carrying the passenger at the beginning. AA is a pleasant exception, but afaik isn't represented in Mauritius. IBL Travel as noted is GSA for BA and also for Cathay, but Cathay is one that is unwilling to ticket from such a station.

A previous theme for ex-CAI itins. RTWs are high-maintenance, I know a TA who, tix rules permitting, will issue on a SOTO basis (am sure many of you have similar contacts), but based on the level of maintenance he knows to be inevitable in most cases when issuing such tix, he levies a (fair and reasonable) fee to cover his services.

I can well understand a small outstation struggling with the demand of people zoning in on these fares and there's no reason why a carrier should up its staff complement if there's little or nothing in it for them. I'm sure the effects are as pronounced at a GSA.

If you do discover a deal, such as fares which are preferentially-priced from points of departure such as MRU, be prepared to invest the additional legwork. You may be flying a premium cabin, but it is for a fraction of the price.

Maybe they should give a discount based on the number of FT posts.

MRU is not particularly preferentially priced, btw. I'm the ultimate cheapskate, but my holiday time is valuable to me, and the extra few days it takes to originate in MRU (thin service, lousy connections) plus the cost in airfare and hotels has caused me to stick with places closer to civilization despite higher sticker prices. Different strokes ..., of course.

Too true. Even from as close as SAfrica MRU has so far proved too much trouble for me. Not that the local airlines were that helpful. :rolleyes:

I've had great service with MRU
 

Thay are a small office and very busy thanks to people like me re-routing concurrent AONE's from them and yes you do have to wait a but but for the difference in price I feel its well worth it. I'm on my third ticket with them and also use then to change other BA tickets for me as they are more efficient than BA elsewhere as I am a QFF hence have to hold for about 10mins to speak to anyone from BA

Where is the second cheapest place for Aone's at the moment?

For anyone calling into MRU for their next ticket not wanting a direct turnaround I have a taxi driver who picks me up. gets me locals rates at good hotels, picks up my tickets...he's the MRU concierge and very reasonable.