[SimonS1]

@AOTG – ok if you want to play on words, no I don’t think it’s a “reasonable expectation” that BA should have staff on the Internet checking the traffic conditions and offering cheaper tickets in the event of problems. That isn’t the airline’s responsibility, and as you well know ticket desk staff at the airport don’t have that level of authority.

I do believe the OP was entitled to be treated with sympathy and respect but I don’t see why the airline should have offered a reduced fare.

Who knows what the right time for an airport departure is? I leave a sensible time plus contingency. However extra-ordinary events always occur which is why I have a travel policy that covers this. Additionally if you are the type who tends to cut it fine (I’m not, but my boss is) then flexible tickets also help.

As far as EK is concerned as a Skywards gold member I also travel “rather a lot”. Our opinions differ: many times they will be excellent, sometimes hopeless. I do prefer them to BA though.

[mickyboy]

it is tiresome and we have all missed flights often as a result of traffic but my view is you take it on the chin and move on. It isn’t Ba’s fault so why should they give you another seat? If that became policy I am sure the “traffic was bad” would become a frequent bleat from travelers who had decided to stay in bed with the comfort of knowing they could get on the nect flight for free. If you need that flexibility pay full fare.

[mickyboy]

it is tiresome and we have all missed flights often as a result of traffic but my view is you take it on the chin and move on. It isn’t Ba’s fault so why should they give you another seat? If that became policy I am sure the “traffic was bad” would become a frequent bleat from travelers who had decided to stay in bed with the comfort of knowing they could get on the nect flight for free. If you need that flexibility pay full fare.

[mickyboy]

it is tiresome and we have all missed flights often as a result of traffic but my view is you take it on the chin and move on. It isn’t Ba’s fault so why should they give you another seat? If that became policy I am sure the “traffic was bad” would become a frequent bleat from travelers who had decided to stay in bed with the comfort of knowing they could get on the next flight for free. If you need that flexibility pay full fare.

[AllOverTheGaff]

SimonS1 – 26/02/2015 09:40 GMT
no I don’t think it’s a “reasonable expectation” that BA should have staff on the Internet

Well, having “staff on the internet” amounts to the following: One page open, live, at all times indicating if there are severe problems on the M25 resulting in the road being closed for xx amount of hours. It is a very simply policy shift from the nations favourite airline, and one which would demonstrate a level of customer care to their loyal customers.

However, they hide behind their T&C’s and there’s a majority who say, “well, it says so in their T&C’s so it isn’t their fault”. The fact that these same airlines write these T&C’s to entirely suit themselves seems to make no difference to those of you who think the OP has no recourse.

In any other business, this is a recipe for disaster.

1) I have an 8:00pm dinner reservation with 3 of my friends at a nice restaurant, for reasons out-with my control I cannot make this and arrive at 21:15 to find that the table I had booked has gone. Maitre D informs me that yes indeed, he can accommodate me at another table, but the menu is now 4 times the price. I protest that he’s sold my previous table to someone else, but he insists that if I wish to eat, I am now paying £600.00 for a £150.00 set menu.

2) I arrive at the dentist to have a filling 25 minutes late due to an unwell child at home, my appointment is gone. Dentist tells me if I am prepared to wait 20 minutes in waiting room and read 3 year old What Car mags I can still get my treatment. Problem is, filling will now cost me £200.00 when it normally costs £50.00. Dentist then points to his T&C’s and explains that the sick child and waiting on the doctor is irrelevant to him.

3) I go to Murrayfield to watch Scotland v Italy this weekend, I get way too drunk the night before and have missed my early-morning train. Not to worry, I have “flexible” train tickets so can still make the second half. As I get to the turnstile, half-way through the game, the chap on the gate tells me that because I wasn’t there on time, I must now pay £320.00 to get in. He tells me that I should have bought a flexible ticket as I knew I was going out on Friday night, flexible ticket would have cost me £500.00

So, from the above – I’d not eat in the restaurant again, I’d change dentist and I’d never attend Murrayfield again instead I’d go to the away games, but of course, none of these businesses have written their T&C’s to shaft me as a consumer in the way the airline industry does.

If you believe that them offering such a minor concession to the OP is “out-with their remit”, it is sad to me that you are prepared to take this level of dismal service, it would appear that many people are accepting of same.

Good customer service is often delivered when there is an issue, when things go to plan there is rarely a need to interact with the airline, when they go awry, the airlines should be able to offer at least a basic level of customer care. In this case, I do not think it is a massive deal to the airline to offer another seat on another plane going to the same destination, clearly you and others on this thread do on the basis that it “says so in the T&C’s”, if the OP is a Gold member of the EC, surely a reasonable expectation, as a loyal and high-revenue yielding customer of theirs is that he/she is let off the hook once-in-a-while, but no. Airline kept his/her money from the seat he/she didn’t fly in, and then gouged him/her for another, I struggle to understand how people find that an acceptable business practice.

Oh, other than an acceptable business practice for an airline.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[MartynSinclair]

something similar.. on 2 or 3 occasions I have booked a pre pay rate at an SPG hotel and needed to change my plans..

thinking I had lost the payment… end of the day, my choice to which rate I take… hotel have refunded in full.

Yes I have status with SPG and yes their Customer Service, to me, is fantastic..

[AllOverTheGaff]

MartynSinclair – 26/02/2015 11:04 GMT
thinking I had lost the payment… end of the day, my choice to which rate I take… hotel have refunded in full.

I had the same thing with Hotel.com, I called their Gold members line on a non-refundable hotel booking (well in excess of £2000.00) and was told, only because of my Gold status, and as a thank you for my loyal custom, that they would cancel the booking and offer a full refund. They made it clear this was a one-off and all that jazz….

I’ve since recommended Hotels.com to two of my colleagues who use them all the time as I do, they too are now at Gold level.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[CathayLoyalist2]

I think on a different post someone made the observation that BA could tell approx. 40,000 passengers to get lost before it felt the negative effect of that decision. Yes a brands real values are truly held up to scrutiny when things do go wrong and apart from airlines banks and Telco’s are as bad. Sure a company/any company can stand behind their T&C’s and for some ‘complaints’ do so legitimately. Then again what is the short term cost ( gouge the customer) v the long term gain ( ongoing loyalty). It is also down to the level of empowerment given to staff to resolve a problem on the front line and the quality of the service staff you hire. BA seems to provide zero empowerment hence no need to hire quality staff. The starting point of this thread was about an expectation of support not any refunds. I wonder if some of the comments from people on this thread reflects their own companies adopt the same stance as BA and other airlines. Isn’t it nice when someone who could stand behind their T&C’s has access to a database and makes ‘a call’ to ensure they don’t lose a loyal customer. Invariably it isn’t what is said that counts but the way it is said and/or handled. I’ve been the recipient over the years of many acts of kindness and those brands have kept my support not to mention constant recommendations to friends.

[Speedbird_ABZ]

I’ve been looking at an EZY flight up from Gatwick later in the year. I’m ‘connecting’ from a BA flight from Genoa (part of a cruise package) and the connection is tight – about 2 hours. I notice that on EZY you can pay a £6 insurance premium for a missed flight and they will put you on the next one. Pardon me if everyone knows this, but I thought that was a great idea. I may make the connection, but if not then I won’t have to stress too much or to buy a new ticket. Seems fair to me?

[KarlMarx]

easyJet are more customer friendly that BA in some ways, such as this one.

[openfly]

@Speedbird-ABZ

Seems a good deal….but surely you only get on the next flight if there are seats available. I can’t imagine that Easy are going to bump someone to accommodate you.

[TominScotland]

Speedbird_ABZ – certainly is a great idea and one which works with LCCs because they only offer the one price for a specific flight at any given time. With BA (and other legacy carriers) you have the choice to buy restricted or varying degrees of flexibility in ticketing for any flight – if they sold the insurance, nobody in their right mind would buy the higher priced tickets. So I would not see this as a matter of customer friendly or not, KarlMarx, rather a reflection of the reality of pricing adopted by most legacy carriers.

[FirstClassWannabe]

AllOverTheGaff -re T&Cs, fantastic. What a brilliant way of explaining it.

FaroFlyer – BA price leisure routes the same as a loco so a return is more expensive than a one way. If it was a business route such as LHR/MAD than yes, I would have booked a return.

How easy it is for people to say oh well you should have booked a fully flexible. As per my previous post, how many of you, given the choice and paying for it yourself, would book a cheap one way at £150 or a fully flex at north of £500?

I thought I had plenty of time even allowing for a delay on the motorway. This Road Traffic Collision was major and involved 40 vehicles and we were stuck there for almost 2 hours and then moved slowly when we got going again.

Not sure how many times I have to say it to some but I did NOT ask for a refund and nor did I expect or have any right to one. I did NOT blame BA for this delay and stated this in my original post. AOTG says it like it is “Airline kept his money from the seat he didn’t fly in, and then gouged him for another, I struggle to understand how people find that an acceptable business practice.” Spot on.

The main complaint was the lack of support at LHR. The agent wasn’ t rude but certainly didn’ t assist me as he should have done. Being told to go to LGW and sort it out myself is very poor customer service.

To any users new to this post, please don’ t bother to say how wrong I am or I have no right to complain – I get it!

[canucklad]

Another consideration we seem to have forgotten about……

It does seem a relationship that is weighed one way……If I’m booked on a flight and paid £500 for that seat, but then get refused boarding because I check-in last and the airline has overbooked the flight and filled my seat with somebody else, and I find a seat on the next flight on the internet for £120 should they recompense the difference.

[SimonS1]

AOTG – the examples that you give are fixed price commodities. Prices of things on the menu, rugby tickets etc don’t change price depending on when you buy them. As you know airline tickets are not the same, there is a complicated pricing algorithm which will always lead to you paying more if you book at the last minute when other carriers have sold out.

Secondly you could join the rugby game halfway through, whereas your flight would clearly have gone.

I suppose next you will be saying the rugby ticket office should have had a member of staff on the Internet checking to see if there was a traffic accident en route and offering anyone turning up late a cheap ticket to the next international?

[Author]

Posts