LondSE1

Last night at Gatwick I was booked on to the BA8036 to Barcelona, which was actually the VY7821 (Vueling Airlines). I had paid for premium check in and seat 1F, on arrival my partner and I were told that the flight was over sold by 24 passengers, I was on seat 32C and my partner was off loaded. No apology given. We were both given boarding cards told to go to the gate when called and if there are no shows we may get two seats. The 21-05 flight was delayed, the gate staff were rude and no one apologised for the chaos of irate passengers being off loaded, the manager [redacted] was aggressive and angry with customers with constant threats, [redacted] who was wearing a BA badge removed it, she was rude and no smile or apology. We were hoarded in to a small area which was hot, passengers and children wanted a toilet were were not allowed to leave. Passengers asked for water and were refused. This was cruelty that would get you arrested we were animals.
The flight did leave after a two hour 45 minutes delay and I never got a seat having paid for premium and row 1. The airline did not offer refreshments. new flights ( one customer said his flight had been delayed the day before and he wasn't given a seat). I spoke with the airport police about the situation and the rudeness of the staff, the manger [redacted] went home with out sorting the remaining passengers out!
[The policeman] was a star so helpful and managed to get the airline to offer hotels. When I came to get my hotel [redacted] said "I am not serving you, why don't you get your policeman friend to sort you out", which I did back on the phone, the airline staff refused to speak to the police, what a shambles, no customer service, no concerns for passengers waiting over 3 and half hours in a confined area. Ultimate cruelty. The Gatwick Police did say complain and put on social media which I am doing. As I had a BA booking I contacted BA and asked to be booked on BA.
BA must not be associated with this airline, the trauma, threats and rudeness will result in litigation.
Never fly Vueling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

krispy84

It sounds like a very poor experience, sorry you had to endure it.

The problem here is really with Vueling rather than BA, IMHO. The app and website do make it clear when a flight is being operated by another carrier (having just booked one myself 2 days ago).

chriswiles

Yep, definitely need to look out for this as an Iberia flight in CE isn't as good as BA and Vueling 1F means nothing special at all.

corporate-wage-slave

On one level this has very little to do with BA. However I have a feeling that the ground agent is GGS, which is 100% BA owned. That said, ground agents can only work within the tools given to them, so if VY have oversold and there are no other services then the ground agents are placed in an impossible situation.

Hopefully this never happens again. But the advice I would offer in this situation relates to whether there is an irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between passenger and airline/ground agent? If so, just get out of the situation and create your own remedies. By all means reach out on this forum at the time, since there is usually someone experienced in this area online. Once you are at breakdown point and in particular if you have reasonable concerns that your Right to Care and Right to Rebooking aren't being upheld, you can sort yourself out and send the bills to Vueling. I really don't see much point in getting into a slanging match with staff who really can't do very much. Yes apologies would help massively, but they are probably as fed up as you are about being on the front line of this.

NWIFlyer

As the experience has little or nothing to do with BA, we'll move this to a more appropriate forum.

/mod

Mod hat off: the OP may wish to avail himself of the provisions for denied boarding/delay and Duty of Care in EC261. That is the legal framework that will succeed, not some spurious attempt to litigate for rudeness.

SK AAR

Sorry to hear about the problems, but at least your partner got a seat on the flight (?) and you made it together to BCN albeit with a delay.

Getting the information that the flight was overbooked by 24 and was going to be significantly delayed at night, I would have volunteered to travel the following day (provided that VY pay for for hotel and VDB compensation).

pmarrsouth

Humans are animals

craigthemif

Try to put yourself in the shoes of those trying to deal with this.

A way oversold flight, through no fault of their own --> a huge amount of stress. The LCC has provided few tools to deal with it --> reminding them what a lousy job they have. Then somebody unhappy goes and gets the police involved.

Most of us, trained in customer service or not, would have a very hard time being civil - assuming we don´t just meltdown.

By all means avoid Vueling and other LCCs in the future. And if something similar happens, proactively offer to be bumped, make your own alternative arrangements and send the bills to the airline (via MCOL if necessary)

RRROOO

Yes---!!! I too would have opted to wait until the next day. I don't do well in stressful situations. Need to leave and come back.

LondSE1

They never provided a hotel, 3 of us(2 other passengers) got a taxi now 1-30 in the morning to Heathrow as Vueling did not offer another flight and when I checked there were no seats available for Friday 19th August. There were train and tube strikes so it was a difficult day. Apologises, water and toilet access would have helped. Just kinder communication and consideration.
As I had a BA flight booking ( though operated on Vueling) they did book me on a BA flight out of Heathrow. When I phoned Vueling in Barcelona they did not understand why passengers who had paid premium prices and booked seats were not given priority. They said that passengers who had booked under the cheapest fairs went but didn’t understand why the Gatwick staff didn’t prioritise passengers who had paid for seats and premium check in. I must admit I don’t go on LCCs usually and the intimation and lack of respect with children and elderly deprived of water and toilets was shocking. The police did arrange for toilet access and were excellent. So well done Gatwick Police force for your kindness.

LondSE1

Also, as the say “ a complaining customer is your best customer as they are informing you how to improve”