[Cheeryguy]

The airline may have cocked up big time, however they were upfront about their mistake. They didn’t attempt fraud. Switching your boarding card on the jetway, knowing full well the circumstances is a tantamout to that. You got caught and then threw a wobbly.
You lucked out that the door had been closed.
Just accept that you got what you wanted by deceptive means.
Put this situation into another non airline environment, maybe your own business…….then see how you would feel about it.

[FDOS_UK]

Cheeryguy – 15/01/2016 18:12 GMT

Another way of looking at it is that the airline made a promise, then reneged on it and the OP did what he had to do to get what he had been promised.

[SwissExPat]

Actually @CheeryGuy…. They were Not.

Nobody from the Airline came to me and said “We have made a mistake…. we upgraded you (as evidenced with the new boarding card)… and now have decided to reverse this….. We are very sorry!’

I was in the lounge for 50 mins and they could have put a call out for me to come to the desk etc to address the situation. They must have a record of the boarding card they issued me. How did their system not catch that 2 cards had been issued for the same seat in J?

@ Rferguson,, I agree and that is what did happen.. I said I would be disappointed, they were hesitant, I suggest I’d complain via a letter and the Purser said to sit in the last row of J… She actually said that it looked like a ‘Computer glitch”

It would have been interesting if my new J seat had not been occupied. I’d have expected some enquiry as soon as the meal service started. However with the correct boarding card….. it might have been a difficult one to solve?

Anyway, It looks like we all got there in the end and I am looking forward to doing the same journey again next week, with BA. (will be hopeful of another upgrade!)

[icenspice]

I am with you here SwissExPat.

Clearly it was BA’s fault, although I find it strange you were upgraded when checking in online.

I found myself in a similar position on an AA flight from Lima to London. After a 24-hour delay I was upgraded to Business on the MIA-LHR sector. When I got to Miami, the check-in lady ripped up my boarding pass and said ‘Do you know how much this ticket costs?’

I stood my ground, but it wasn’t until I got to the gate that I knew for sure I was flying Biz. So, muchas gracias to lovely lady in Lima.

Sometimes it pays to wave your arms!

[EU_Flyer]

“Another way of looking at it is that the airline made a promise, then reneged on it and the OP did what he had to do to get what he had been promised”

Actually no. The airline didn’t make a promise. They switched the passenger’s seat for operational reasons and then switched it back to the product he actually purchased. Annoying? yes Bad luck? yes. A promise to provide a product that hasn’t been paid for? No.

For goodness sake, the way some people are carrying on here – it’s as if an upgrade is something they’re universally entitled to!

Perhaps in circumstances where an originally allocated/chosen exit row seat is lost following the seat switches, there may be an argument that some service recovery is needed (esp where that exit seat has been paid for or specifically chosen), but otherwise – accept that you have to fly the class you purchased.

Free upgrades are are a (lovely) FF perk but not an entitlement and airlines (incl. their staff) are not obliged to hand them out unless they have to.

[FDOS_UK]

Alex_Fly – 15/01/2016 19:28 GMT

The airline issued a boarding pass for a higher class (most reasonable people would consider that a promise), it doesn’t get much clearer than that.

They then changed it (must reasonable people would consider that the airline reneged.)

This would not be covered as a downgrade under EC261, but to a reaonable person it clearly is a downgrade.

As TimFitgeraldTC wrote earlier, SwissExPat could have cancelled arrangements due to the upgrade and then been unable to reinstate them.

For goodness sake, the way some people are carrying on here – it’s as though airlines exist in a different universe with different moral rules.

Having been messed about the way he was, I don’t blame SwissExPat for trying to get what he had been promised and I do have to support IcenSpice’s assertion that sometimes it pays t wave your arms.

I have walked off a shorthaul aircraft that was substituted for a long haul, when I wanted to sleep on a flat bed and insisted (and got) a re-routing on another airline – was I enttitled to this? No idea, but I made a fuss and got it.

Airlines and rental car companies need ‘special treatment’ in my experience! Hotels are a different matter (perhaps because you will be staying for a number of days) and usually try to sort out any issues.

[Hermes1964]

Perhaps the best thing would be if the airlines made it clear that any operational upgrade could be reversed prior to departure so that expectations were managed. That would make it black and white.

[FDOS_UK]

Hermes1964 – 16/01/2016 09:06 GMT

An eminently sensible suggestion, apparently beyond the wit of airlines 😉

[MartynSinclair]

I would actually go a stage further – the airlines or even just the airline alliances (One World/Star etc) should issue a passenger charter promising to deliver exactly what the passenger had thought they had bought. Perhaps an ‘extension’ of EU 261………. to cover:

* passenger’s who are expecting one style of seat and are switched to another style

* passengers who are expecting a working IFE and find its not working on a long haul

* passengers who expect a certain standard of refreshment and find there is either none or reduced amounts

* passengers whose baggage goes missing

* passengers who have poor inflight cabin service

For too long Airlines are able to hide behind T & C’s and I repeat earlier comments (on different threads) there is no other product being sold, where the customer may not receive the actual product and service expected.

So SwissExpat – this has nothing to do with you “expecting an upgrade” – you were GIVEN an upgrade because as you say, the airline was able to create increased revenue through the reallocation of seats. Perhaps you should have asked for a share of the increased revenue as well as accepting the upgrade 🙂

[SimonS1]

@SwissExpat – I agree BA have not covered themselves in glory but your tone seems to have changed a bit. In the first post you were talking about your “usual hand waving and the amount of letters to be sent” which frankly sounded a bit arrogant. Now you say you “would be disappointed and would complain via letter” which is a bit more measured.

As far as the 2 boarding cards for the same seat is concerned it’s not that difficult to understand. They shifted you back to Y+ (hence the new boarding card you were given at the airport) and the J seat was re-allocated to another traveller. So there weren’t 2 people sat in the same seat. It only became complicated because you destroyed the most recent boarding pass they gave you and thus put the cabin crew in a difficult position.

FDOS – I get the point about walking off the substituted plane and making a fuss. Difference there is you didn’t get what you paid for. In this case the passenger paid for Y+ so I don’t see that yardstick applies.

Learning points on both sides I would say.

[CathayLoyalist2]

We all have a different take. The real issue to me having been downgraded would have been subsequently allocated a Y+ seat that was not the one I had originally booked. i.e.booked a window or aisle seat and found myself in a middle Y+ seat. Now that would have made a difference and I suggest some contributors might amend their views. Out of interest SwissExpat where did you fly from I.e what was the flying time? I apologise if I have missed that in an earlier comment.

[canucklad]

I’m going to be controversial here, and say that the pursuers handled the situation badly, and go further, they were put in a difficult position not by SwissExPat but by BA themselves.

The putting the customer first approach, would have been to immediately recognize the J boarding pass and find ,without fuss 12C.

But,they took the jobs worth,processes driven approach pushing SwissExPat into a corner. The response ,classically ,allowing his inner child to come to the forefront.

It’s indicative of companies to insist their employees follow computer led decisions,rather than common sense human decisions. . Ie bean counting !

[FDOS_UK]

SimonS1 – 16/01/2016 10:49 GMT

I wasn’t making a moral comparison between the two cases, just making the point that meekness is not always the way to go.

Having said that, I would not have been compensated under EC261 as the substitute aircraft also had a business class and would have had to take legal advice as to whether I could sue – basically a lot of hassle and expense (possibly not worth it) because the airline failed to deliver the right aircraft.

Much better to ‘wave your arms’ and get it sorted on the spot – and I don’t care if the cabin crew’s feelings get ruffled, as it did on Austrian.

[FDOS_UK]

canucklad – 16/01/2016 11:16 GMT

Excellent post and you make a very powerful point.

[CathayLoyalist2]

Canuckland, if any Business Class Seat was available then utilise it. Problem resolved in the bud before it started. Whatever happened to common sense?

[Author]

Posts