[Anonymous]

[stuartv]

Flew BA economy from T5 to JFK on Saturday and in the lounge was made aware of a £179 upgrade to WT+. Payment taken but when they came to move my seat I was told that because I’d ordered a special meal an upgrade was impossible. A manager was called to refund the £179 and explained that owing to the new catering provider and BA’s policy not to over cater, anyone with a special meal request could no longer upgrade, even if, as a Silver card holder I was next on the comp list. I removed my special meal for the return leg when I landed at JFK and the upgrade for the return at the same price was offered and taken.

[Irons80]

As far as I have been made aware, if you have special meal preference on your profile, you are never given an upgrade, as the special meals are different in different classes and are often specially ordered. They will not as a policy serve special meals that aren’t from the class of travel your are in. As an example, if you are in WT+ with a kosher meal, because the kosher meal is an economy meal, they won’t upgrade you to CW as they won’t serve a non-CW meal in CW.

[brummiedj]

I am a BA passenger services agent. I can confirm that you will not get an upgrade if you have booked a special meal. Even if we are overbooked we will upgrade other passengers as your meal can only be served in the class that it is intended for.

Often if its just a vegetarian meal and we know the flight is overbooked, we may tell the passenger that if we remove the special meal from the profile we can then classify them as suitable for upgrade. Besides CW always has vegetarian meals available. Any other special meal however is a no go.

And whoever told it was a new policy is lying…it’s been like that since I started with BA in 2004!

[tiggerbrown]

That rational is stupendously crazy – why remove an option from a customer without offering them it in the first place, that option being “have your economy meal in your upgraded class”.

[Danwolf]

My father found out the inflexibility of meals and upgrading last month (albeit a slight side-step from the core question here). He was originally on a United flight from the US to Continental Europe, which got cancelled. His travel agent managed to get him a BA WT (or maybe it was WT+) seat to LHR. He was initially offered an upgrade to CW by the check-in staff, but then the manager came and told him that he couldn’t upgrade because they didn’t have enough CW meals on the plane. My father tried to argue that he didn’t want the meal (just the lie flat bed) and was happy to go without. They refused to budge.

I understand the policy, but what doesn’t entirely make sense is its inflexibility. Am I right in thinking there is no requirement for any airline to serve food, thereby this is more a rule than a legal requirement to serve food?

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

mmmmm…..

A contract exists upon offer, acceptance and consideration.

Offer was made, accepted and consideration received, sounds like possible breach of contract to me, unless there is some get out clause in their standard T&Cs.

stuartv, did they ask you to sign anything other than a credit card slip?

Londonlad was making a spirited defence of BA on another thread recently, here is an example of why a number of pssangers find BA very difficult to deal with and not customer centric.

[stuartv]

I was going to be moved from my front row economy seat 33D to a WT+ seat in row 31, two rows ahead of my original position on the plane. I suggested that in fact nobody would need to receive my meal, the number of passengers and their requirements were not changing, just moving 10 feet. It was explained to me that even if I’d wanted to pay to upgrade to Club, this would not now be possible because I’d ordered a special meal.

[VintageKrug]

This approach to special meals is not restricted to BA; most airlines apply such a policy.

If you want to be in the running for an upgrade, don’t order a special meal.

Simples.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Vintage Krug

I see quite a difference from an involup being declined and money being taken on the promise of an enhanced product, then that product being refused.

Surely the airline took ownership of the meal situation on accepting the consideration?

[VintageKrug]

Probably a vast conspiracy perpetuated by the elitist British Imperialists to keep Coeliacs out of First.

*cue Star Wars theme*

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

stuartv

I have looked at the EU261/2004 regs and found the following…

“Upgrading and downgrading

If an air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, the passenger must be reimbursed within seven days, as follows:

30% of the price of the ticket for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less;
50% of the price of the ticket for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, except flights between the Member States and the French overseas departments, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres;
75% of the price of the ticket for all other flights, including flights between the Member States and the French overseas departments.
“

Given that you paid for the upgrade and were entitled to WT+, I might be inclined to claim 75% of the cost of the sector, including the upgrade cost from BA and see what response you get. No doubt you would have to deduct the refund from your claim.

I can’t see anything about upgrades in the general regulations that gives them a let out.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“Probably a vast conspiracy perpetuated by the elitist British Imperialists to keep Coeliacs out of First.”

And the above is the typical VK b*llocks when he is stuffed and cannot think of a sensible counter argument.

[Danwolf]

The policy makes sense, it’s common sense why they have this in place.

Perhaps as a compromise to anybody who orders special meal in one cabin, then wishes to upgrade at the gate/check-in, is that they have to accept the special meal from the lower cabin? This is not optimal, but it may be a better alternative than the ‘we can’t upgrade you because you ordered a special meal’ response.

[brummiedj]

You say you were told about the offer in the lounge? Well, no disrespect but the majority of the ‘dinosaurs’ at BA only work in the lounge…in fact they make sure they swap with other staff to stay there, and their concept of customer service is a little lacking to say the least. They should have informed you of the situation and offered to remove the special meal option (if it was not a deal breaker for you). Although I find it odd as you were moving up from WT to WT+ which is catered the same…although now we are offering choices from the CW menu, which may have been the reason. However, it should never have got to the stage where a DM had to be called and you were refunded. Sorry to say but laziness by the lounge dragon! Apologies!

[Author]

Posts