[Cheeryguy]

I don’t believe that anyone thought BA were right in their actions.
It was the duplicity of the OP that gets my and others backs up.

[LuganoPirate]

To answer your question rferguson, it’s hard to say as long haul I’m fortunate to only book in the premium cabins. However, had I booked J, got upgraded to F then back down again I’d be pretty miffed. I’d make my feelings strongly felt but likely at the end resigned myself to my fate.

To further answer Simon and others, it’s the way it was handled after that’s causing the dissenting opinions. We all (almost) agree he should not have been d/g again. Personally I’d be embarrassed but I can understand what he did.

[rferguson]

– Canucklad
“And as I’ve said before,we in the UK truly suffer from a Tut and shrug shoulders accept our fate” mentality that suits corporations just fine.”

And this is precisely what I cannot understand! The OP literally walked away from the check in counter without putting his foot down with a new boarding pass. Should the correct course of action not have been to fight your corner there and then instead of proceeding straight to a dodgy practise?

I can’t see ONE part of the timeline where the OP said to a member of staff ‘hey…hold up a second. What do you mean i’ve been downgraded again? That is unacceptable’.

That’s where my problem lays. It’s all great people saying ‘oh play them at their own game, yes take back what’s owed to you etc etc’. But hey! Give them a CHANCE to let them know you are unhappy and for them to put it right.

I will use another analogy. I go to a supermarket. I see a pack of steak on the shelf with the price marked £9.97. When I get to the till i’m charged £14.27. I can see that with my own eyes. I shrug my shoulders, and pay it without standing my ground and saying ‘Hey – no way’. But then on my way out I decide to steal a bar of chocolate to ‘play them at their own game’. It’s not really the right way forward is it?

I’ve never been a BA apologist on here. It’s not an airline I would choose to fly generally and I think it’s premium cabins are outdated. But it does have a couple strengths apart from the usual wide network of direct flights blah blah blah. It has a consistency of (mediocre) hard product. And when things go wrong they tend to be more flexible that many other carriers i’ve experienced. A computer done something stupid. Whether it’s your bank, insurance company, credit card company….it happens. I think some people have an image that some Willie Walsh appointee is sitting in a back room somewhere monitoring screens rubbing his hands together and shrieking with glee that he can move the OP back to WTP and save money. Well….no. Because it wouldn’t save any money at the end of the day. There is an empty seat in Club anyway. So yes – something stupid a computer did. And something that should have been resolved on the ground. And that’s what I find sad. Had swissexpat asked to speak to a supervisor I think the first thing the supervisor would say is ‘oh yes that is odd’. And i’m 99% sure he would have walked away with a J boarding card.

[MrMichael]

A very excitable thread that I have kept out of so far. My take is this.

BA as a part of their business plan upgrade from time to time for operational reasons. I think that is a reasonable business plan. However when it started going pear shaped BA should have acted with more thought to the poor customer perception that was about to occur. When they then put SwissExPat back to WT+ they should have realised that they had already informed him of the upgrade, and that an element of disappointment was to occur. So for me the question is what they should have done. One poster who travels in premium cabins stated he felt his travel was devalued by upgrades, and I certainly see his point as no doubt do BA. However there are other ways to compensate for disappointment without going the whole hog and giving the pax the full monty. So maybe a bottle of complimentary champagne, an upgraded meal (j meal if available) within the cabin he had booked, or perhaps a fistful of Avios. Just chucking him back was not an option that would leave the customer with a great taste in his mouth.

We then come to SwissExPats actions. Sorry old chum, you were out of order. First there was the embarrassment for the passenger that was in his correct seat, that someone then declared was his. You had the audacity to demand of the crew a seat you knew was not actually yours. For the crew this was a difficult position with communications to the agents in the terminal now cut off, and you likely new that too. I think that was where you went wrong, lying to the crew to get something you then thought you had a right to….although the reality was you had no right. As other posters have said, SwissExPat should have explained to the crew what had occurred, pointed out his Silver status and his disappointment and then left it to crew endeavours to rectify his dissatisfaction. Throwing toys out of the window having lied about the situation is I am afraid rather bad form in my view.

[FDOS_UK]

There are two different schools of though on the thread, but it is good to see everyone being polite in disagreeing, something I would have thought impossible 2 years ago.

[FDOS_UK]

“I will use another analogy. I go to a supermarket. I see a pack of steak on the shelf with the price marked £9.97. When I get to the till i’m charged £14.27. I can see that with my own eyes. I shrug my shoulders, and pay it without standing my ground and saying ‘Hey – no way’. But then on my way out I decide to steal a bar of chocolate to ‘play them at their own game’. It’s not really the right way forward is it?”

Or you pay, go back and take a picture of the shelf item and then give trading standards a call, because the shop has just committed an offence.

Not a good analogy.

By the way, if you read the OP, SwissExpat did query the situation and was told he may end up in row 12, so the airline was aware that he was not happy, but the employee chose not to take charge and just slippery shouldered the problem down the line.

I side firmly with Canucklad’s view on this one.

[EU_Flyer]

FDOS_UK – 17/01/2016 14:58 GMT

“There are two different schools of though on the thread, but it is good to see everyone being polite in disagreeing, something I would have thought impossible 2 years ago”

Hear hear! Couldn’t agree more.

I have said enough on this topic so I’ll mostly shut up now. It has been very interesting, enlightening and – dare I day it – enjoyable reading all your posts.

Have a good week.

[FDOS_UK]

“I have said enough on this topic so I’ll mostly shut up now. It has been very interesting, enlightening and – dare I day it – enjoyable reading all your posts. “

+1, me too.

[aaaJB101]

I absolutely agree with this.

On a recent flight from Dubai to LHR via Virgin Atlantic, I was upgraded at the counter from Premium Economy to Upper Class, then downgraded at the gate back to Premium economy.

If they had left me alone I would have been very happy to have flown in PE. I have never flown Virgin since.

[Author]

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