British Airways - not impressed
Discussion
So, there we were on Thursday night having just driven up, 5 of us settling in nicely at The Copthorne Hotel at Gatwick about to enjoy a few drinks and an overpriced meal when the Mrs receives an out-of-the-blue text from BA saying that our Friday morning flight to Malaga had been cancelled.
Cue one very hurried call to BA and we're advised that French air-traffic has meant the flight has been pulled and the soonest they could now fly us out would be Sunday night, which might even be pushed back to Monday morning.
Give EasyJet a quick call and ask whether their flights were suffering the same disruption - nope, not aware of any issues to Spain. Exactly the same with RyanAir.
Mrs calls BA back and questions the ATC angle, gets revised answer - actually, it's because we don't have availability of planes. FFS.
I'm already on the laptop by now and have managed to book 5 seats on the early Friday flight to Malaga out of Southampton - far better for us, because that's where we live.
Re-load the bags in the car and re-visit the M25 & A3 (again).
Pretty hacked off with BA, to be fair - not so much because of the cancelled flights (meh, these things happen and we still arrived on time, and now I'm typing this post from the patio of a stunning villa on the outskirts of Mijas, the sun is shining and the views over the Costa del Sol are magnificent), but because of the manner it which it was announced (by text) and the fact they then proceeded to lie about the reasons.
I know BA is not the flagship it once was (I tend to avoid their long haul flights these days), but have things really slipped so badly for 'the world's favourite airline' that this is how they are now behaving ?
Cue one very hurried call to BA and we're advised that French air-traffic has meant the flight has been pulled and the soonest they could now fly us out would be Sunday night, which might even be pushed back to Monday morning.
Give EasyJet a quick call and ask whether their flights were suffering the same disruption - nope, not aware of any issues to Spain. Exactly the same with RyanAir.
Mrs calls BA back and questions the ATC angle, gets revised answer - actually, it's because we don't have availability of planes. FFS.
I'm already on the laptop by now and have managed to book 5 seats on the early Friday flight to Malaga out of Southampton - far better for us, because that's where we live.
Re-load the bags in the car and re-visit the M25 & A3 (again).
Pretty hacked off with BA, to be fair - not so much because of the cancelled flights (meh, these things happen and we still arrived on time, and now I'm typing this post from the patio of a stunning villa on the outskirts of Mijas, the sun is shining and the views over the Costa del Sol are magnificent), but because of the manner it which it was announced (by text) and the fact they then proceeded to lie about the reasons.
I know BA is not the flagship it once was (I tend to avoid their long haul flights these days), but have things really slipped so badly for 'the world's favourite airline' that this is how they are now behaving ?
Make sure you make a claim for the five of you under EUR261.
This will help:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-exe...
This will help:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-exe...
On a recent multi-stop trip from Manchester direct to Chicago and then onwards to various other US cities, the only part that went wrong was the single BA leg which was a shuttle from LHR to MAN.
The worst thing was the attitude of the BA staff I spoke to - they absolutely couldn't have given a toss.
The worst thing was the attitude of the BA staff I spoke to - they absolutely couldn't have given a toss.
We've gone from a family of BA stalwarts at home to not using them if at all possible in the space of 5 years.
Worse still at work 3 of us were executive gold card holders, I'm now bronze but have an Emirates gold card as do 3 others and one platinum.
As mentioned they really are winning the race to the bottom on service and experience. Somehow they are not the cheapest though!!
Worse still at work 3 of us were executive gold card holders, I'm now bronze but have an Emirates gold card as do 3 others and one platinum.
As mentioned they really are winning the race to the bottom on service and experience. Somehow they are not the cheapest though!!
recordman said:
Make sure you make a claim for the five of you under EUR261.
This will help:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-exe...
Cheers for that, was aware there some form of compensation regulation which covers this sort of issue - will have a look at taking things further when we get back to Blighty.This will help:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-exe...
Sheepshanks said:
The worst thing was the attitude of the BA staff I spoke to - they absolutely couldn't have given a toss.
Agreed - their 'solution' to us being delayed for 3 days was that we should simply go home, move the villa booking, the hire cars, the return dates to work, etc.Very poor.
I've flown 42 long haul (over 6 hours) sectors since January. Each sector has been in either business or first class, so I guess we must have spent about $70k + in airline fees in the first half of this year alone. My travel plans for the second half are just firming up and it's going to be just as hectic.
I've actively avoided travelling with BA, as I find their customer service to be pretty diabolical and the quality of the offering to be very weak compared to their rivals.
Whenever I fly to Asia Pacific or Africa, I always choose Emirates, whenever I fly to North America, I choose Air Canada or United and Latin America, I choose Avianca.
BA really can't compete against the best carriers now
I've actively avoided travelling with BA, as I find their customer service to be pretty diabolical and the quality of the offering to be very weak compared to their rivals.
Whenever I fly to Asia Pacific or Africa, I always choose Emirates, whenever I fly to North America, I choose Air Canada or United and Latin America, I choose Avianca.
BA really can't compete against the best carriers now
Leaving aside the way it was handled, it's quite possible the two people who gave you differing reasons for the cancellation were both being honest with you - ATC problems in France mean aircraft/crews end up out of position and therefore they're unavailable for the next flights they're supposed to be working, even though those flights (and any similar ones operated by other carriers) wouldn't be directly affected by French ATC...
Got a few flights with them over the next couple of weeks so will see how my experience with them is.
My personal experience is that their crew have upped their game over the last year or so. Had a couple of poor crews but by & large they have been excellent & accommodating, doing the extra bit. Had one potential disaster with a Christmas Eve LH flight home cancelled after boarding. But the staff even at the outstation, got me sorted on on my way with Turkish within a couple of hours.
My personal experience is that their crew have upped their game over the last year or so. Had a couple of poor crews but by & large they have been excellent & accommodating, doing the extra bit. Had one potential disaster with a Christmas Eve LH flight home cancelled after boarding. But the staff even at the outstation, got me sorted on on my way with Turkish within a couple of hours.
I flew BA for the first time a couple of months ago. Cattle class on a 777-300 to Tokyo.
Horrendous.
Around 25% of all entertainment systems broke after watching one film / programme and there was no way to get them working again. The media 'box' encroaches on leg room and the seat pitch is so tight, the seat in front nearly touches your nose when reclined.
Staff were snooty, with one in particular refusing to take a couple of steps back with her trolley, instead making half a dozen customers squeeze back into their seats so she could (slowly) make her way past, serving every row on the way.
Worst was a 4 hour delay on the return flight - but they still wanted us to check in on time - colleagues on a later Air Japan flight not only beat us back to Heathrow, they also got an extra 4 hours sleep!
Horrendous.
Around 25% of all entertainment systems broke after watching one film / programme and there was no way to get them working again. The media 'box' encroaches on leg room and the seat pitch is so tight, the seat in front nearly touches your nose when reclined.
Staff were snooty, with one in particular refusing to take a couple of steps back with her trolley, instead making half a dozen customers squeeze back into their seats so she could (slowly) make her way past, serving every row on the way.
Worst was a 4 hour delay on the return flight - but they still wanted us to check in on time - colleagues on a later Air Japan flight not only beat us back to Heathrow, they also got an extra 4 hours sleep!
I don't think BA really compete with airlines like Emirates but I use them quite a lot in all classes especially when going west. In economy the food is dire, the leg room is low cost carrier bad, in business I've never had a problem but the seats themselves aren't a patch on the likes of Emirates and Etihad business.
The options heading west are limited though. AA/United/Virgin/Delta all much of a muchness in my book. At least with BA I get to use T5 at Heathrow (most of the time)
The options heading west are limited though. AA/United/Virgin/Delta all much of a muchness in my book. At least with BA I get to use T5 at Heathrow (most of the time)
The best thing about ba is T5 and the lounges, I've been dropped from gold to silver this year as I've started using other carriers instead. As already said they are miles behind the likes of Etihad once in the plane, I've found the aircrew on ba to be in the main indifferent to the customers. I fly to Muscat quite regularly and Oman air business class is not far short of ba first, I've since discovered that a lot of time their first can be had cheaper than their business, win win.
Edited by HarryW on Saturday 2nd July 21:01
Another BA avoider here. Emirates business class knocks BA business class right out the park and is often cheaper.
Someone above made a point about the staff. In terms of attitude you'd struggle to think they are of the same species as the Emirates crews, let alone the same job.
The only business class I've flown worse than BA is Air Canada. That was more like a CIA extradition flight than business class. Avoid like the plague.
Someone above made a point about the staff. In terms of attitude you'd struggle to think they are of the same species as the Emirates crews, let alone the same job.
The only business class I've flown worse than BA is Air Canada. That was more like a CIA extradition flight than business class. Avoid like the plague.
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