[SimonS1]

[quote quote=954544]

SimonS1 wrote:

in an industrial dispute there are two sides

Wrong – there are 3 sides. The employers have their side, the employees have their side, but the consumers are the ones that suffer the fall out and financial consequences.

My insurance broker suggests travel insurance is just about the medical cover – anything else is limited and quite frankly under valued in terms of coverage. There is also the argument, why should an insurance company pick up the cost of an industrial dispute.[/quote]

Well consumers are not party to the dispute. They may be affected, but there are only two sides at the negotiating table.

It sounds to me that your insurer is on the back foot if he is claiming it is just about medical cover. All I can say is that travelling 3 weeks in 5 for business I make absolutely certain the levels the cover provided are sufficient for any disruption along the route and for repatriation. Strikes are specifically covered, and I am entitled to abandon the journey if required as a cancellation.

[anyonebutba]

[quote quote=954493]

frustratedflyer wrote:

some people including me had received emails in error and my flight was actually running!

My daughter work for Club Med and has spent most of the day sorting out the latest BA screw-up, including, yes, people who had been told their flights were cancelled when they weren’t.

My experience (I’m BA Gold, by the way):

Flying out to AMS on 31 August, then in CW to JNB via LHR for a very, very nice holiday. Couple of nights in decent hotels, three nights in a safari lodge, four in another, then home on 10 September, arrive LHR 11 September, hop back over to AMS, day and a night there, back and all over on 12 September.

10 September flight has been killed. I received the email while I was, in a supreme irony, in the BA lounge in ORD last night.

Quandary – do I take the risk of flying out and hoping the strike will not happen, do I cancel everything, or do I try and arrange different flights. Unsurprisingly, everything is booked and it looks like the earliest flights we can out of JNB, in J or F, are from 14 September.

CluB Med daughter gets on the case and announces she can get three seats in J our of JNB on the September 11. I note that BA says if manage to rebook on a later flight, they’ll pay whatever the extra cost is.

The three one-way flights are £9,983. It’s worth pointing out that the original return flights from AMS, with car hire thrown in, were 5,459 euros.

Well, BA says it’ll pay the extra, so I waved the Amex and grabbed them.It means our AMS connection and stay blows out, and I booked the hotel as non-refundable (of course!) but we can live with that and claim off the insurance.

I assume that if the strike doesn’t happen, then we revert to the original.

If anyone from BA is reading this, I promise you this: if there is even the slightest attempt to avoid recompensing me for this colossal spend, I will open the gates of Hell.[/quote]

OK Sorry to advise you but you seem to have not booked new BA flights? why did you not exchange your original ticket? BA is NOT liable for new flights you have booked outside the original booking, if they are J refund them as they are not liable to pay. and rebook the new dates in your original PNR tickets can then be exchanged for free. they will not pay for any new arrangements you made, the guidelines are quite specific at batraveltrade.com you can rebook but you MUST use the original e ticket…new bookings made outside of strike affecting reservations do not apply.

[Henryp1]

Unfortunately the 27th is one of our flight days, but to be on the safe side, I will have the flights changed to another carrier on Tuesday. Just to be sure that there are no unexpected travel interruptions. If the strike gets cancelled at least we will know where we are. But it’s pretty awful for some as seen in the news.

[TiredOldHack2]

And, oh joy, BA has told me I’m ten grand down because I should have rebooked the entire package (it counted as a holiday as car hire was included). Does anyone have a suggestion?

[TiredOldHack2]

Yep, I’m screwed. Travel insurance time.

[Cedric_Statherby]

[quote quote=954609]Does anyone have a suggestion?[/quote]

1. You could try suing BA claiming misleading information (actually, lack of any information). A good lawyer will give you a fun few hours in court but I suspect you would end up a further ten grand down.

2. You could then try writing to the Prime Minister to say that the law protecting those involved in disputes from the legal consequences of their actions is not fit for purpose and to demand he take action. That probably won’t work either, though if you throw in a few Latin quotes and words like “spiffing” you might get a personal reply.

3. You could then make a mental note never to fly BA again unless they are totally unavoidable (and even then, try alternatives like the train). Unlike (1) and (2) this will work. It will make you feel happier and give you no more BA-induced heartache.

And funnily enough it will make BA happier too – for one can only assume from their actions that they would prefer not to have to deal with annoying people like customers ever again. It is the only logical explanation for how their management have behaved over the last 48 hours.

1 user thanked author for this post.

capetonianm

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=954554]OK Sorry to advise you but you seem to have not booked new BA flights? why did you not exchange your original ticket? BA is NOT liable for new flights you have booked outside the original booking, if they are J refund them as they are not liable to pay. and rebook the new dates in your original PNR tickets can then be exchanged for free. they will not pay for any new arrangements you made, the guidelines are quite specific at batraveltrade.com you can rebook but you MUST use the original e ticket…new bookings made outside of strike affecting reservations do not apply.[/quote]

In principle, yes, however it depends what traveller has been told. If CS have said they will pay then it will have been recorded and BA will be stuck.

[TiredOldHack2]

[quote quote=954639]why did you not exchange your original ticket?[/quote]

Why do you bloody think? Because we tried for two whole days to get through to BA and failed. We absolutely have to back in the UK on schedule. Acting independently, we were able to get tickets that got us back on the original date we intended to get back.

By the time we managed to get through to BA, all availability on the flight we managed to book had gone.

(Sorry, Simon – can’t delete this post so regard this reply as not directed at you!)

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=954609]And, oh joy, BA has told me I’m ten grand down because I should have rebooked the entire package (it counted as a holiday as car hire was included). Does anyone have a suggestion?[/quote]

First if BA told you they would cover the cost then ask them to review the call or you will see them in court.

Second your line of enquiry is your right to be rebooked “at the earliest opportunity”. Normally your option would be shown in MMB – was it? If they were offering you flights days away then they didn’t discharge their responsibility, however I doubt that £9000+ would be recoverable if flights were available for sub £5000. On the other hand if it’s BA then it is just internal accounting.

Third is insurance if you are covered.

By the way, a bit shabby that BA were selling tickets at premium pricing (i.e. twice the Emirates fare) while having passengers stranded. Draw that to the attention of any judge/arbitration as it shows the shabby organisation you are dealing with.

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=954485] However this is the race to the bottom and WW is determined to lead the way.

It’s been a while since I read that BA was in a race to the bottom. Thanks for making me chuckle. I guess that everybody’s view of the bottom is different, but I would have thought that being one of the most profitable airlines was not the worst position to be in. I have been reading / contributing to this forum for approaching 10 years, and the “race to the bottom” has been predicted since the beginning. So many airlines such as Alitalia & SAS are still racing to the top, and Monarch, Air Berlin, BMI etc. , already got there:-)

[BPP]

I too have had a series of e-mails from BA saying my flight with BA (would never do) arranged via Qatar Q-miles (not to my knowledge) LHR- BCN in September is cancelled, then not cancelled, then really cancelled!!
BPP

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=954664]

SimonS1 wrote:

However this is the race to the bottom and WW is determined to lead the way.

It’s been a while since I read that BA was in a race to the bottom. Thanks for making me chuckle. I guess that everybody’s view of the bottom is different, but I would have thought that being one of the most profitable airlines was not the worst position to be in. I have been reading / contributing to this forum for approaching 10 years, and the “race to the bottom” has been predicted since the beginning. So many airlines such as Alitalia & SAS are still racing to the top, and Monarch, Air Berlin, BMI etc. , already got there:-)[/quote]

Time will tell….Remember WW has made most of his more acquiring airlines and driving synergies. But cost cutting only goes so far, I don’t know of any other major carriers that have a data integrity disaster, two major IT issues and now strikes in the last couple of years.

Short term results, yes. Long term, we will see.

[PeterCoultas]

Looks as if when you want to go from London to the “provinces” (Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow etc) after your BA long haul flight the only option will be via Amsterdam (KLM), Paris (AF) or Frankfurt (LH) – forget HS2 as that will be cancelled pretty soon… SO WHY BOTHER FLYING BA ON THE LONG HAUL LEG….

[FaroFlyer]

This just appeared in Loyalty Lobby. Interesting if the rumour is true

Industry Rumor: Alex Cruz To Vacate British Airways CEO Position Following Latest Round Of Comedy Of Errors

[Swissdiver]

And on https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/is-alex-cruz-on-the-outs-at-british-airways.html

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