[Inquisitive]

I was BA gold once but do not travel with BA anymore.
Agree that hard product in business class is poor compared to competition and food is so so, but that is similar to many second grade airlines.
BA is not a top class airline, so this type of things will happen time to time. What is the big deal.
Need to remember that millions are travelling with BA – although most of them are due to corporate discounts in business class – but I believe BA will neither change nor will go down as a company.

[RatherwalkthanBA]

There bigger carriers that have failed….and if you read airlinequality about recent experiences, good reviews are very thin on the ground! sad but true BA has gone to the dogs!

[DavidArnold]

[quote quote=871545]

capetonianm wrote:

This is because Alex Cruz is a ‘pesetero’ and thinks of nothing except the bottom line.

A myopic, stupid, and unsustainable attitude.

Another rational, well thought out and helpful comment about business travel[/quote]

I agree with you FaroFlyer in that certain individuals have again come onto this great BT forum and use forceful and nasty comments which push people away from this website. I agree with the way BA have been slated for the way they have done things regarding the fares that people would rightfully believe were a bargain. But l fly BA in Club or First becuase they are a darned sight cheaper than others flying routes for me personally which are to the Middle East. I am BA Gold and enjoy the service and the staff looking after me from the Lounge to the Aircraft and yes l have had I different service but l make it known to the Purser either during the flight or Customer Services afterwards. There are plenty of good BA reviews and some bad which are matched with all airlines. The old and well used answer is if you do not like BA use another airline. Please remember for the small number who make snide comments on here there are many who simply do not bother to comment.

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=871546]FF : Feel free to make all the sarcastic remarks (= thinly disguised personal attack) you want.

This is a business travel forum and many of the comments on it relate to the poor service delivery and low and still declining standards of one of the UK’s main carriers used by business travellers. Much of this can be attributed to Cruz’s poor management and penny-pinching. That you disagree and choose to defend BA is your right, but you would seem to be in a minority.[/quote]

Capetonian, I am not sure how you assume that I defend BA. If you look back at this thread I was 4th to post, immediately after you, that I felt that BA were wrong. How is that defending BA?

[capetonianm]

FF : I took your remark as sarcasm, forgive me if I got that wrong, and by implication, as a criticism of my posting and therefore an implicit defence of BA. I suppose this is one of the problems with forum postings, things are prone to misinterpretation.

As for saying that BA were wrong (in this instance), it would be very hard to defend their actions in this case.

DavidArnold :

certain individuals have again come onto this great BT forum and use forceful and nasty comments which push people away from this website.

Obviously that is aimed at (inter alia) me, I’m sorry if my ‘forceful and nasty’ way of expressing myself doesn’t sit well with you but I don’t, and won’t, mince my words, and I think you are being over-sensitive.

[FDOS_UK]

Faro Flyer/David Arnold

If you disagree with the content of a post, please will you use the ‘report’ button, so that BT can assess whether you have a point?

That is the way BT has asked people to respond.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=871565]FF : I took your remark as sarcasm, forgive me if I got that wrong, and by implication, as a criticism of my posting and therefore an implicit defence of BA. I suppose this is one of the problems with forum postings, things are prone to misinterpretation.

As for saying that BA were wrong (in this instance), it would be very hard to defend their actions in this case.

DavidArnold :

certain individuals have again come onto this great BT forum and use forceful and nasty comments which push people away from this website.

Obviously that is aimed at (inter alia) me, I’m sorry if my ‘forceful and nasty’ way of expressing myself doesn’t sit well with you but I don’t, and won’t, mince my words, and I think you are being over-sensitive.[/quote]

capetonianm

I thought your comment, whilst strongly stated, was a reasonable personal opinion given your view of the airline. Nothing offensive in there, whatsoever.

[capetonianm]

The old and well used answer is if you do not like BA use another airline. Please remember for the small number who make snide comments on here there are many who simply do not bother to comment.

If you live in the UK it is hard to avoid BA entirely, and even I use them sometimes if cheap enough or if logistics make it a better choice than any other. Using them, however rarely, gives me the right to comment from first hand experience, something I would not do for, e.g. Ryanair, as I won’t fly on the latter. Even if those comments are considered ‘snide’ by the easily offended, so be it.

The ‘use another airline’ is a pretty crass argument, rather like ‘if you don’t like it here go back where you came from’ and holds no water.

[DavidArnold]

[quote quote=871571]

The old and well used answer is if you do not like BA use another airline. Please remember for the small number who make snide comments on here there are many who simply do not bother to comment.

If you live in the UK it is hard to avoid BA entirely, and even I use them sometimes if cheap enough or if logistics make it a better choice than any other. Using them, however rarely, gives me the right to comment from first hand experience, something I would not do for, e.g. Ryanair, as I won’t fly on the latter. Even if those comments are considered ‘snide’ by the easily offended, so be it.

The ‘use another airline’ is a pretty crass argument, rather like ‘if you don’t like it here go back where you came from’ and holds no water.[/quote]

I disagree with you in that here in the U.K. there are choice to make and that if not BA you have other airlines to choose from where worldwide or domestic. How can it be crass and are you simply to offended yourself along with a few who simply like nothing but to hear the sound of their own typed inarticulate voices!!! Your last sentence again tries to provoke a response which to some would also be offensive but l shall stick to my thought in that if l did not like an airline l would not use it and make sure that they were aware of why that is the case.

I do not like the Lufthansa Business Class worldwide seating but would not put up a hate campaign and the food offering )in European Business is meagre but again after informing them of what l do not fly them l now choose alternatives. And if notice the forum title such as “BA does not honour fare mistakes” the same people come on and bash BA completely. I have joined discussions sometimes where l feel that the haters have had a go at others who have offered a reply and used words to some that bully. The response afterwards is ” this is a forum and develop a hard skin”. Why!!! People like to converse without the fear of over-bearing individuals putting them down.

Each to their own and please enjoy the experience of travel and go with whom you like.

[EU_Flyer]

Under English law, Mistake is defined on the following basis (thanks to our friends at PLC)

A contract can be voided under common law rules for mistake in the following situations:

+ Common mistake (where the mistake is shared by both parties, is fundamental and directly affects the basic definition of what the parties are contracting for). The mistake will render the contract void if it robs it of all substance.

+ Mutual mistake (where the parties are at cross-purposes with one another). If, from the parties’ words and conduct, only one possible interpretation of what was agreed can be deduced, the contract will still be valid. Otherwise it will be void.

+ Unilateral mistake (where one party is mistaken and the other knows or ought to have known of the mistake). If the mistake relates to the fundamental nature of the offer the contract can be voided.

In the case of unilateral mistake, the key factor is whether the purchaser knew or ought to have known of the mistake. There is a lot that can be said about what a buyer ‘ought to know’. If, as others have already said, the fare was around around 50% of the usual fare, then it would difficult to establish that the purchaser ought to have known the fare was a mistake. Anything 55% off and over should ring alarm bells but again, it’s a matter of context. Was the airline running a sale at the time? Would such a fare be available on a LCC competitor? Should the purchaser know what the market fare levels are for that destination? Are they a frequent flyer who should know? There is an objective and subjective element to this. Lots of variables.

I can’t help but feel that all this negative PR is worth more $$$ than the losses on the fare. In my view, BA should honour the fares, make a big deal about it being a mistake but in the spirit of goodwill honouring it nevertheless and checking their processes to ensure such mistakes don’t happen again. By taking a legal approach they risk a judgment which is adverse to them, the bad publicity even if they win (greedy bastard airlines…) and a whole bunch of unhappy customers.

Unless the mistake will cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds, I’d just write it off.

After all, we all make mistakes 😉

[openfly]

Come on children behave yourselves….

[capetonianm]

DavidArnold :

I disagree with you in that here in the U.K. there are choice to make and that if not BA you have other airlines to choose from where worldwide or domestic.

Apart from BA, which carrier operates non-stop services between LHR and CPT daily throughout the year?

[DavidArnold]

British Airways now the only one after SAA pulled out but you can choose SAA via Joburg or a whole host of airliners via their own hubs. The BA service from CPT is a well used, very good service but as l have stated we all have a choice and use who we like. I am not being inflammatory but being British l enjoy my own country airline with the service they offer at a price l find reasonable after l look at other alternatives. Flying to the Gulf l prefer Etihad or Qatar when flying Business over BA but when price is an issue l fly BA as they are often cheaper. I pay for my own fares so my choice is my own.

[capetonianm]

British Airways now the only one after SAA pulled out but you can choose SAA via Joburg or a whole host of airliners via their own hubs. The BA service from CPT is a well used, very good service but as l have stated we all have a choice and use who we like

Exactly, but sometimes I prefer a nonstop flight and then there is no choice. I am quite aware that I can choose another carrier via its own hub, I’ve been around long enough to realise that, and more often than not I travel via, or from, AMS or ZRH which as far as I’m concerned are the only decent hubs with decent carriers. I have absolutely zero interest in travelling via the ME, IST, ADD, and so on.

The BA service is certainly well used given that it has no competition, they fill up to 4 flights a day to/from CPT in peak season, but in my view, to describe it as ‘very good’ is a stretch of the the imagination. I would describe it as adequate. The interior of those 747s, some up to 28 years old, is a disgrace.

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=871577]Under English law, Mistake is defined on the following basis (thanks to our friends at PLC)

A contract can be voided under common law rules for mistake in the following situations:

+ Unilateral mistake (where one party is mistaken and the other knows or ought to have known of the mistake). If the mistake relates to the fundamental nature of the offer the contract can be voided.

EUFlyer, As I said at the beginning of the Topic, BA should honour the mistake. The person/s who made the pricing error should be reprimanded. The person/s who decided to cancel the tickets and invoke such adverse publicity should be fired.

Back to the “when is a mistake not a mistake?”. Last week I needed to make a booking from Italy to Faro. As the flight landed at Lisbon at 7PM and the connecting flight was at 11PM I considered whether I should drive from LIS with a 1-way rental.
Price IT > LIS > FAO €228; price IT > LIS €188. As driving time is same from Seville or Lisbon to FAO I decided to check the price to SVQ which was €115. For fun I decided to check the prices from LIS to FAO and to SVQ. To FAO it was €63, including Airport €15 or to SVQ it was €92, including €15. I booked to SVQ and may miss my connecting flight.

Same time I looked at hiring a car 1-way from Lisbon to Faro and cheapest Econ was €140 on a major car hire direct site, which I booked. Decided next day (Monday) to see what the price was using a Car Trawler web site. It was €129 with a major car hire company, but it was same price whether Mini, Econ, Comp, Int or SUV. I started to book, then decided to check if I could cancel my original direct booking. I could, so I went back to the Car Trawler site, and it was back to normal with Mini €129 and SUV €220+. I checked again several times next day but could not repeat the same price for all. On Wednesday I wondered if it was a time of day question so went on at just before 6PM. It was “Happy Hour” as, once again, I could get SUV, or Comp, or Int, or Econ for Mini price. Was this a website mistake, or just an unpublished Happy Hour. Am I wrong to take advantage of Happy Hour prices?

[Author]

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