[LuganoPirate]

Yes BigDog, communication, something so many airlines fail miserably to do. Why not tell passengers what’s going on. Better to hear cancelled till the later flight or even till tomorrow. At least you know what’s happening and can deal with it. For instance if told immediately perhaps Judy would have taken the train to Milan and flown from there, but at least she could make the choices.

[canucklad]

I’m in the LP camp here….

And I don’t understand these apologists for BA, because it’s an outstation that uses an Outsource company…

My company uses OSP’s and if they don’tb perform to he same level as us, then their contract is simply not renewed!

Although after saying that I do have lower service expectations at EDI than at T5 for that very reason.

[judynagy]

Two thoughts: I paid a fortune for these tix because they had to be rebooked. I had to push everything forward a month, so paid a change fee plus a huge amount for the new fare … probably $500 each, I couldn’t bear to look at my credit card statement. So many details to unscrew. I knew that the agents were contracted out but BA had my money, so I expected them to take care of me. I’m glad some of you “got it” .. had we stood around at the gate, we would have slept in Bologna.. I’ll never understand how airlines manage their business, and this non-communication is a huge problem. Now that some time has passed, I realize that I just wanted some sympathy from BT people, and I thank you for it.

[judynagy]

Two thoughts: I paid a fortune for these tix because they had to be rebooked. I had to push everything forward a month, so paid a change fee plus a huge amount for the new fare … probably $500 each, I couldn’t bear to look at my credit card statement. So many details to unscrew. I knew that the agents were contracted out but BA had my money, so I expected them to take care of me. I’m glad some of you “got it” .. had we stood around at the gate, we would have slept in Bologna.. I’ll never understand how airlines manage their business, and this non-communication is a huge problem. Now that some time has passed, I realize that I just wanted some sympathy from BT people, and I thank you for it.

[AnthonyDunn]

To respond to the original question: because BA offers a reasonable service at a reasonable price. I have only once had an issue with misrouted luggage (well before fully computerised baggage systems) and I have otherwise only ever experienced entirely satisfactory on the ground and in the air service. There is also one other consideration: some years ago I stupidly ate off a street vendors stall in Egypt (Doh!!) and, with (what I subsequently learnt) was a dose of shigella dysenteriae, I got to see two sets of sights from Luxor northwards to Cairo. Whereas my ticket was not a flexible one, BA bent over backwards to enable me to get on a plane back home fast. If anyone here is in need of a crash diet, try dysentery – you can pretty much see the weight falling off, or is it “out” of you? That act bought a lot of customer loyalty here. It is also the case that BA C/C do not go in for the fawning obsequiousness that some on BT seem to like but I personally loath.

Beyond that, as SimonS1 has pointed out, most carriers (this is even more true of the LCCs than the legacy carriers) do not have their own ground staff any more and rely instead upon ground handling companies because the number of flights does not justify having their own stand-alone ground operation. The interoperability and liaison with these third parties is nowhere near as close as with their own ground handling operations and, frankly, many agency ground handlers give every impression, in my experience, of being almost completely indifferent: your airline is not their direct employer, so why bother?

Canucklad: how many airports on the continent allow competing ground handling agents? As often as not, it’s an airport operator monopoly. A reflection of the fact that a single European market in services remains incomplete.

We also experienced the longest ever wait for baggage at BLQ; it must have been lunchtime.

[SimonS1]

Thing is Judy it’s the classic scenario which we see all the time on their airlines and the trains. When things go wrong the managers hide, communications are hopeless and the front line staff are left to bear the brunt. BA are as good/bad as other airlines in this respect.

I doubt the staff you encountered had any clue what was going on. They are likely agency staff who didn’t have a scooby whether the plane was to be fixed by 2pm, 4pm, next month or next year. At that level they are just acting to orders. I’m sure they were doing their best in the situation.

You have sympathy from many of us but the minute you take the law into your hands by jamming doors open, pushing into the line etc you lose the moral high ground and just wind everyone else up. Sadly the only option is to do what I did on Weds in Geneva ie line up and wait your turn.

Frustrating that you had paid a lot of money, then again it wasn’t the airline’s fault you had to change your agenda either.

[capetonianm]

BA’s handling agents were not competent or adequately resourced to handle a relatively minor delay at an outstation. That is a pretty poor indictment but not a reason to attempt to trash the airline itself.

The postings by ‘ImissConcorde – 23/05/2013 15:02 GMT’ and ‘SimonS1 – 24/05/2013 12:23 GMT’ have said more or less what I would have said, only a lot more pleasantly. My thought on reading the original posting was that you are every airline’s idea of a nightmare passenger, the type who makes a difficult situation worse.

But then I suppose if you really are more important, and if your time is more valuable, than anyone else who was on the flight perhaps you are entitled to behave like that. Only you would know. I have my own view on that.

[MartynSinclair]

very nice email from BAEC this morning.

Awarded 15,000 avios for a lack of water on a recent flight into LHR. Superb result, especially as it was the CSD who initiated the complaint on behalf of the whole aircraft!

Covers my Frankfurt and Berlin trips next week.

[SwissExPat]

I also had the water problem last month out of LCY on BA1 to JFK.

Something to do with contamination of the supply at LCY.

Initially we were told that the toilets were out if service between LCY and the stop in SNN.

Then just before the doors closed, a ground handler got on board with a dozen large bottles of highland spring water and the toilet embargo was lifted.

Really enjoyed the LCY to JFK service. Had a great chat with the Captain during the flight who stepped into the galley for a cuppa and a chat with a few PAX.

[TominScotland]

swindoneric – you are 100% correct about the Servisair lounge in Glasgow which does little credit to EK or, indeed, to KLM who also use it. Biscuits, cheese, crisps and cereal in the morning about sums it up. The ex-BMI Lounge is now a great BA facility, good layout and excellent cold food. This space would not have worked for EK in any case as it is much too far from the gate that they use.

[alistairNicoll]

the acid test of any service company is how they respond when things (as they will) go wrong.

I do not fly BA

[Author]

Posts