[andrew.gill]

The Independent are reporting

British Airways will meet all claims for compensation stipulated by EU rules for cancelled or heavily delayed flights, after the systems failure at the weekend disrupted travel for thousands of passengers, the airline has told The Independent. The airline has also softened its stance on refusing to cover the cost of flights on alternative airlines for passengers who used their initiative to escape the chaos at Heathrow and Gatwick.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-flights-ba-it-system-outage-delays-compensation-airline-covers-cost-claims-eu-rules-a7763886.html

[Eastbourneguy]

Thanks Andrew, I did see that earlier…looks like someone needs to tell BA customer relations

[Charles-P]

On Belgian TV news this morning they were reporting that BA will be paying “full compensation” as required by EU law. They also raised the issue of what happens after the Brexit, will the same rules apply ? The general feeling seemed to be like all questions related to Brexit, “We have not got a clue and we don’t think the British government has either. ”

As an aside it is really quite disheartening to see the amount of ridicule the UK is now getting within mainland Europe because of the car crash the Brexit process has become. I was talking to some Spanish over the weekend who all felt comfortable mocking Britain and the British, something that would not have happened a few years ago

[FDOS_UK]

Interesting response.

EC261/2004 Article 5.3 states

An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

The words in bold will challenge BA, if they are seeking a reason not to pay compensation for cancellation.

It could make for a very interesting class action, if they do decide not to pay.

[Tom Otley]

Unfortunate timing…

Digital in his DNA: Alex Cruz, British Airways

British Airways CEO Alex Cruz says he is preparing the airline for disruptive innovation, no matter where or how that originates. Graham Newton reports

[Charles-P]

British Airways CEO Alex Cruz says he is preparing the airline for disruptive innovation

Post of the day !

[Edski777]

No matter what happened last weekend Mr Cruz will most likely prepare the airline for innovation that makes the organization more lean than it already is. It will take organizational complexity out of BA, but also will most likely enhance the reliance on complex IT systems.
Customers and suppliers will most likely be pushed onto the Internet even more to deal with the airline. Face to face contact with BA will be minimized to on-board personnel as much as possible.
Employees will be squeezed out as much as possible in order to generate higher and higher shareholder value at the IAG level.
The same will probably be true for all the other labels like Vueling, Iberia, Aer Lingus, etc.

You just have to read some books on an MBA level study and business process innovation and figure out what is to come.

[AnthonyDunn]

Was I hallucinating and imagining things this morning when I heard reports that the IAG board of directors (only one of whom claims any IT industry experience in their online CVs) are now demanding answers and explanations?

But I await with baited breath to see just what further disruptive innovation Cruz can now deliver to BA.

[capetonianm]

Maybe they should start by trying to get their main operation running properly, and to restore customer confidence, instead of launching LCCs with silly names out of BCN and trying to compete with existing operations which will clearly make a better job of it. It may turn out to be another ‘GO’ fiasco.

[AnthonyDunn]

Except that (BA’s) GoFly was anything but a fiasco. As LCCs went, it was one of the best at its launch – and that’s why Easyjet was delighted to snap it up when BA decided to sell. Yet another in a litany of half-baked, ill-considered decisions at BA’s board level, presumably in deference to the teenage scribblers in the investment analyst community. So, they ended up having to reinvent the wheel and buy-in an external solution to the LCC challenge: Vueling and its CEO…. Doh!

[Reeferman]

So finally Wee Willy has put his head above the parapet (will refrain from the obvious joke) and said Cruz has done a great job and he doubted anyone could have done better. Given it was a fiasco and PR disaster from start to finish, that is a truly amazing comment – probably meant as a message to the Board which is considering an outside review.
Meantime, still no answers to the key questions but, like others, I won’t hold my breath.

[capetonianm]

AnthonyDunn, I expressed myself badly and thank you for clarifying that, you are right, I meant that the fiasco was letting it GO (!) BA’s loss was EZY’s gain and one from which I benefit almost weekly.

Wee Willy has put his head above the parapet (will refrain from the obvious joke) and said Cruz has done a great job

Perhaps he could have said ‘nobody could have done a better job’, which would have been closer to the truth.

Yesterday I entertained to tea two little girls (aged 4 and 6) whose Daddy is a Captain with BA so they know a little about what’s happened. The 6 year old said to me : “I don’t understand how something important that runs on electricity can’t have batteries to keep it going when the real electricity goes off like it does when there’s a thunderstorm.”. Out of the mouths of babes!

[openfly]

British Airways employees are dismissed if they bring the company into disrepute. It’s in their contracts.
Obviously it’s not in the CEOs contract. Food for thought.

[JJames3]

Modified computing laws for when dealing with any client….

First law of computing, ‘Garbage in, garbage out’
Second law, avoid Schrödinger’s cat. ‘Always, always take backups’
Third law, ‘Disaster recovery plan in place.’
DOH!!

Common sense, not rocket science

I cannot forsee any justifiable defense for this fiasco

[canucklad]

Interesting interview with Cruz.
Generally the trouble with CEO interviews is that in many ways it’s an exercise in juggling a double edged sword.
If the top dog believes his words might be read by his employees he’ll tend to temper his messages into an ambiguous mish mash of rhetoric that says not much at all.
If their entirely forthright they risk alienating the most important people in the organization.
In this instance, it falls short of real substance, but I’ll guarantee you if you’re a BA employee, there’s probably enough data for you to read between the lines and speculate about your future working conditions.
I.E : Short haul cabin crew, I suspect you’ll soon be cleaning cabins between flights!

@ FDOS, regarding the Cardiff question, It was the aviation expert I listened too, on Radio Scotland earlier in the week. Tata apparently set up 2 different data centres in south Wales. Thanks Ahmad for clarifying

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