Disappointing experience with BA

I have been a supporter of BA for many years but a recent experience may change that. I booked a flight to Alicante via Madrid and I was on my way to Heathrow but there was a major accident on the M40 and we were stuck there for almost 2 hours, thus by the time I got to LHR I missed my flight, having arrived 10 minutes before take off. I went to the ticketing desk but they said they could not get me to MAD to make a connection. I mentioned that there was a direct flight to ALC from LGW and was told the best thing I could do was to go to Gatwick and sort it out, even with another carrier! I really expected a little more support and assistance than that.

I had not choice but to pay the rip off £25 to National Express and go to Gatwick. The agent at BA was very sympathetic and said the only seat available was £458 (660,00 eur) and I had little choice but to pay it. This is an exorbitant amount to pay for a leisure route purchased 2 hours before take off, and the seat would have been empty otherwise. I am not looking for sympathy as know I would not get it, but if I had been with Easyjet I would have paid £65 and gone on the next available flight. I know this was not BA’ s fault and knew I would have to pay something but surely a lower charge would have been appropriate. I realise the amount I had to pay may not seem much to some on here but to me it is a substantial amount.

I contacted BA afterwards but the responses I received were appalling. It appeared they had hardly read the complaint and just offered me 10,000 Avios. I had to keep going back repeating the same thing. They said there were extra admin fees when amending my ticket to which I replied I had not amended it but missed the flight and had to buy a new one. Next they were sorry they could not let me board my original flight when I had even asked to as I knew I had missed it.

Finally they said if someone misses a flight there are extra overheads and admin fees and in order to absorb these I was correctly charged for the fare difference plus overheads and admin fees. This is absolute rubbish, there were no extra costs on the flight I missed and I bought a new flight so where do the extra costs come from?

I have always enjoyed travelling with BA and think the service on board is generally very good, but this experience leaves me with a bad impression.

Am I right to complain or should I just accept it?

Frustrating that you missed the flight, there is nothing worse than being stuck helpless in traffic.

I can understand that you needed to buy a new ticket, and it’s unfortunate that last minute tickets are generally expensive as the airline know they have you over a barrel. Have you checked your travel insurance? Some policies have clauses that cover delays on the way to the airport.

What really winds people up though is the way BA employ half wits who don’t read complaints properly and try to fob you off with ridiculous standard replies that bear no relation to the points raised. Ultimately all you can do is vote with your feet in future and find another carrier.

No esselle it is not and I stated exactly that in my post, you are as bad as BA Customer Relations, try reading my post correctly!

I think the fare I had to pay for the new flight was extortionate for such a route and expected a little bit more support from them, that’s all.

SimonS1 – Yes I am trying to claim but will have to wait and see.

One Friday afternoon a couple of years back, I got onto the anti-clockwise M25 from the A217 just as a lorry went through the central reservation between Reigate and Merstham, blocking both carriageways completely and seriously injuring the driver and passengers of an oncoming vehicle.

The anti-clockwise carriageway was shut for something like 36 hours owing to the accident investigation and resurfacing required through diesel leakage. Together with many others, I was stationary on the M25 – between the A217 and the Reigate exit for over four hours. By the time the police got around to clearing traffic from the motorway and I made it to LGW, the flight had departed. My wife, who had been travelling there by train from central London was there ahead of time and managed to deal directly with BA ground staff.

The outcome was that we were rebooked for the following morning (there were no other flights to either VCE or VRN that evening) and we were lucky to get to BLQ instead. Very fortunately, my mother lives in Pound Hill, a couple of miles to the south, and we had an unplanned overnight stay with her. Notwithstanding that our inability to fly that evening was not our fault, it was not BA’s either. In order to get a flight the following morning we had to pay a rebooking fee and likewise for our car hire with Avis. Similarly, we missed one night’s stay in Verona that we had already booked and paid for. At no point did it occur to me that BA should offer us anything in particular and we did not even imagine to ask for some Avios. Neither did we feel put out by BA nor did we have any kind of unpleasant taste in our mouth: we were just delighted to be able to get to Verona by Saturday lunchtime.

As was somewhat forcefully put to me by others on BT, my getting to the airport on time was my responsibility and not BA’s. BA’s contract with me commenced when I arrived (in due time) at the departure airport and was completed upon safe arrival at the other end. As was also pointed out to me, if there is any claim to be made, it is against a travel insurance policy – and see whether the insurers will accept the cost of missing a flight owing to a blocked motorway.

I have learned the hard way always to assume that the worst will happen when travelling on the M25, to allow at least double the time required, to check repeatedly what the traffic is like before joining – and to enjoy the lounges when I make it in plenty of time. Should I turn up on the day of a flight without a ticket, I would expect to pay through the nose. The entire airline pricing system is designed around predictable traffic that books long before on non-transferable tickets paying less than the “on the spur of the moment” last minute traffic that will pay a considerable premium for the privilege.

If there was any unpleasant taste in my mouth, it was toward the driver and/or the operator of the HGV that crashed. I tried to get their details with a view to making a claim but the Surrey Police and the Highways Agency refused to provide them.

One last thought: if you were late to get to Euston station owing to a traffic snarl-up and you missed your pre-booked train and had to get a last minute ticket at the stipulated cost, would you be feeling irked towards Virgin trains?

mkcol74 – Thank you, that’s all I was asking for, some advice from business travellers with more experience than myself. All I was expecting from them was support, nothing else. I did not ask for or want any Avios, By support I mean giving me the chance to travel on that empty seat but not charging so much. There was no flexibility involved, what changes would I make in 2 hours?

HarryMonk – Do you not think I tried that? I did check what else was available and there was nothing. Norwegian and Easyjet were full!

AnthonyDunn – I totally agree, getting to the airport was my responsibility and once again nothing was BA’ s fault. My complaint was the lack of support from BA. Being told to go to Gatwick and try and sort it out is far from the support I expected. I do not feel at all irked towards BA in respect of having to purchase a new ticket, I missed my flight and that was indirectly my fault. I feel irked by the amount I had to pay for a route that is generally available for -100 quid. Please see my remark in my original post about Easyjet. The fare I paid for economy was more than Club Europe goes for, would you not feel a little annoyed at this?

Please note all I was asking for was advice. I do NOT blame BA for this and have already stated that.

I think the lesson on this one is – make sure you buy the correct ticket when you initially book your flight.

Restricted tickets with strict rules on cancellations and changes are exactly that. The rules are really plainly laid out on ba.com each time you purchase a ticket. The days when BA would turn a blind eye or be flexible are pretty much gone – afterall pretty much EVERYONE that arrives at the airport late and misses their flight will come up with a ‘it wasn’t my fault’ line.

If you ARE on a restricted ticket that does not allow changes then you can not really expect BA to just charge you the difference between two fares because your ticket is not flexible. If you miss your flight your original ticket is null and void.

It is really horrible when you miss a flight due to no fault of your own. I had this last year when I stupidly booked two separate flights thinking I had plenty of time for the BA/AA connection. Storm in Buffalo, flight delayed hours and hours. missed the last BA JFK-LHR flight. I was really peeved but could only try and learn a lesson out of it.

The one issue which stands out here and is the responsibility of BA is to stop sending irrelevant standard replies to complaints which they have been doing for many many years. I suspect they have a complaints management system where the respondent inputs a few key words and out pops standard letter number 56 which apologises for the poor catering on board when you were complaining about your luggage being mislaid