acireale - 04/01/2012 17:19 GMT
I am a loyal BA Customer who has been either Silver or Gold for the last 10 years.
I travelled in BA Club World with an infant from London to Phoenix and pre-booked myself on seat 20D in order to be next to a cot. As I checked in I was told that there was another infant in the seat next to it and therefore both infants would need to share the cot during the 11 hours flight... Since I fly this route very often and I know the cabin layout I pointed out that there was another cot in club world in the upper deck and requested that myself and my infant or the other infant were moved there since it did not make sense to have 2 infants sharing a cot.
I was told that BA could not move people around and that I should deal with the issue myself when on the plane. I raised this issue with the Customer service in the Heathrow lounge and was again told there was nothing BA could do. I find it unacceptable that BA was not willing to accommodate this simple request especially from a loyal Customer. While the infant does not have an allocated seat, I still pay for his ticket and I believe that the minimum it deserves on a long flight is a cot especially when one is available.
Am I right in being upset about this issue and am I entitled to any compensation from BA?
Was the cot space on the upper deck already taken? If so, then there is little that could have been done, whereas if the seat in relation to that cot space had been free, it would have been reasonable for one of the two passengers with infants to have been accomodated there [there may of course have been another passenger who pre-booked that particualr seat, but this doesn't tend to be bookable until about 72 hours prior to the flight time]
acireale - 04/01/2012 18:00 GMT
Apparently it was taken by 1 passenger travelling alone but he did not have an infant. Allegedly BA did not want to ask that passenger to move to another seat (even if there was another seat available in the upper deck, futher from the cot)
Travellator - 04/01/2012 18:21 GMT
Would have been unreasonable for BA to ask a PAX to move to another seat if none available on the upper deck. Also non Silver/Gold travellers pay up to £ 100 to pre book upper deck seats.
However if you pay for the infant BA should have sorted this out pre flight.
acireale - 04/01/2012 21:07 GMT
I obviously paid for the infant and had booked a cot seat 4 months in advance, I think BA should keep the cot seats reserved for the infants
flier74 - 04/01/2012 21:46 GMT
I understand your frustration Acireale and it is not nice to not have a cot for your baby on a flight, however obviously someone else booked 20E or 20F to use the cot too. They are the seats to be booked if you want to use the cot. I believe BA will try and accomodate all infants at a bassinet position. Like it seems in your case more infants than cot positions travel in the cabin, that happens frequently. In this case there always be someone left out like it happened to you.
As someone elöse pointed out the Upper deck is a premium area and only Silver&>Gold Card holders can prebook those seats or people would pay the money to sit there so you can't really expect someone to move to a seat downstairs to accomodate an infant.
I probably still would move as I dont pay for the seats (Gold Card) and am happy to help people out, but others won't do that.
BA and other airlines reluctantly move their Passengers, quite rightly, as their top tier Customers choose their seats for a reason, unless it is operationally necessary.
You are right, you pre booked the cot position but so did the other people probably, so next time, my advice is to choose the seats right opposite the cot so no one else can get in.
But as I said sometimes, more infants travel that cot seats ar eavailable and thats not the airlines' fault to be fair
1. Why didn't you book the seat opposite the cot instead of next to it?
2. Do BA charge for the cot seats, if not, why not?
3. I think it is wrong to ask someone to move from whatever seat, especially if they have pre booked & had to pay a fee for reserving that seat
4. If someone voluntarily offers to move, that is something else.
Sorry to sound harsh, but we all have favorite seats, but don't get to use them all the time.
The other option of course to ensure space, is to purchase a seat for your baby rather than having "it" sat on your knee.
acireale - 04/01/2012 22:41 GMT
I see all your points guys but as I said there was a spare seat in the upper deck so it would have been enough to ask the one guy sitting in the cot seat in the upper deck to move to the other upper deck seat. I cannot see someone being upset with that even if they paid for their seat.
To save me looking, which is the seat in question on the upper deck. Please tell me 60B!!!!
acireale - 04/01/2012 22:47 GMT
64B
Despite my earlier comments, you very nearly got my full and complete support.
Seriously acireale, I do not think that any pax on the upper deck would willingly swop with a seat on the lower deck. I may be wrong, but I serioulsy think you would have to "encourage" that passenger to swop.
Well at least I know which seats to avoid now!
BA should not allow these seats to be reserved unless you are with an infant, or, like Swiss, let you book them on the condition that if a pax with infant needs it, you will move.
I'm not sure how big these cots are, but I would not relish my baby (thankfully all grown up now) sharing a bed with some strangers child.
Finally, I think you're right to be upset but I don't think any compensation should be paid.
acireale - 05/01/2012 04:22 GMT
I like the Swiss approach.
The cots barely fit one infant so definitely no chance of 2 being there together.
Travellator - 05/01/2012 06:17 GMT
Cot Seat Upper Deck ? Dont think so - only position would be in front of row 60 at forward bulkhead. Also the child would have to be carried up the stairs and on H&S groundsdont this this would be allowed.
Maybe wrong on my behalf - seen loads of children on upper deck but in their own seats.
Irons80 - 05/01/2012 08:27 GMT
I have been asked to move from Upper deck (64A) to accomodate an infant, so I definitely think they can be up there... I reluctantly agreed to move (crew told me I didn't have to if I didn't want to) and got 14k instead in an empty cabin, so it wasn't too bad.
I think the issue is that upper deck passengers don't want babies disturbing them (rightly or wrongly), so maybe crew don't want to ask.
Alternatively, maybe they did ask the passenger and they simply refused, but they didn't want you to know?
I have never seen a baby on the upper deck and would be quite disappointed to find one. The upper deck is usually a lot more peaceful and therefore I think it should remain this way.
Stowage222 - 05/01/2012 09:00 GMT
The cot table is indeed at the rear of the U/D cabin in front of 64B but like many here I have never seen it used for babies. However, I don't think there is an H&S issue with a baby travelling up there.
SimonS1 - 05/01/2012 10:43 GMT
To be fair to BA it is a bit of a job to balance the needs of all passengers. If I had paid up to £100 to book a seat on the upper deck on top of a premium fare I certainly wouldn't be shifting.
acireale - 05/01/2012 18:47 GMT
BAtraveller2, you don't want an infant on the UD but don't you think that 2 infants next to each other is much worse for the passenger on the lower deck since they keep waking each other up (not to mention the infants themselves). Most of the infants I see typically sleep through a long haul flight as long as they are in a cot
acireale, I sympathise with your plight! I am crew for BA and there is an infant seat on the upperdeck, 64A on the rear bulkhead by the stairs. I havent ever seen it being used, not sure why, as we do allow children upstairs. I will always try and accomodate people travelling with infants and have moved many people over the years, but unfortunately, I cannot force people to move, and have to make it as favourable as possible for them, you never said how old your child is, one solution would have been to ask a person travelling alone in your vicinity to move upstairs,( empty seats permitting of course), leaving your infant with a club seat (obviously just for the cruise if they are sleeping),I have seen this happen before, but there isnt always someone travelling alone, and there are not always empyy seats, most pax on their own seated near an infant would jump at the chance of sitting upstairs! I do often get complaints from pax being seated next to babies, but in my experience about 80% of babies are rather well behaved and never make a sound! Travelling with children can be very stressful and Im sorry you didnt get your bassinet or britax child seat, unfortunately on some flights we have so many babies and not enough bassinet positions.
