BA Again!!

[GLOC]

Got up at 06:00 to drive down to LGW for a flight to Salzburg to take the kids skiing. Needless to say the snow was a little surprise and we got through security no problems despite being there 60mins before departure. However, the check-in board never moved and at 11:30, 30 mins after planned departure, the flight was notified as cancelled.

Went through and got our bags back to find a queue of around 200 people waiting to rebook their flights. Tried the numbers that BA were handing out and they were engaged, funny old thing, so tried an old number and got through.

No flights today but we could be booked on the same flight number the following day which wouldn't be too much of an issue as I had built a day flex in Salzburg anyway. Went ahead and booked on the flights and then started looking for a hotel. BA wouldn't pay for accomodation as the cancellation was due to weather and not technical issues. Booked in the Best Western (where I am at the moment) and then tried to check in. Had some issues and thought we would have a couple of hours sleep as it was getting little emotional at this stage! Woke up, tried to check in and noticed that despite the flight having the same number, it was 16:05 departure instead of 11:00. Why didn't woman at BA tell me this, we could have gone home if that was the case rather than spend a day and half in a hotel. In addition, when I rebooked the flights, BA had issued tickets for me and my girlfriend but not the kids who were travelling on my booking reference. They were still on the 06 Apr 11:00 flight!!

Knobs!!

So, we have the fun of staying in a Best Western, paying lots for not too great food, trying to entertain the kids before getting a flight tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to ring the transfer company in Salzburg to let them know of the delay and hope they can cope; it does mean that we won't get to the resort until late which is going to be great with my 5yr old and 8yr old.

Anyway, just a quick rant!! The funny thing is when I spoke to BA and finally got things resolved, they asked if I would like a customer satisfaction form to be sent through. "Oh Yes!" I replied. We have been making notes for the insurance claims and the snotty letter which will be making its way to BA Customer Services on our return.

And relax!

[teddybeardiver]

Seems that they are getting a reputation

[Peter M]

I've been in Heathrow since 11.30 am and i havent seen snow, not on runway or aircraft. Been booked on three flights and none went got shifted to another airline for tomorrow.

Terminal 5 is the pits and most BA staff are not exactly helpful.

[Dave Crampton]

Its times like these I'm glad I plumb for a Holiday in the UK. I can drive there, no probs with lingo (unless its Scotland) or some over zealous checkin/Security staff at the airport. Good luck with your travel plans. Dave C

[ratcliffe]

Originally Posted by Peter M

Terminal 5 is the pits and most BA staff are not exactly helpful.

I would imagine that the staff have just had enough by now, trying to cover the company's inadeqacies all the time for the last 10 days or so!

[Scuby]

It's worth realising that most of the problems with T5 aren't anything to do with BA - they're as much the victim as the passengers. The only reason they haven't turned around and publically said "actually, it's BAA and a number of contractors who have screwed up" is because they need those others to get everything working. Once it does all work i'd expect BA to get a lot more shirty with BAA and reveal the cause of all the problems (of which there were several).

While BA won't cover you for delays / cancellations caused by weather, decent travel insurance will. That's nothing unique to BA, the same rules apply to every airline in the UK (and possibly Europe, can't remember if they're EU rules...).

Obviously not a perfect company, not telling you the flight was at a different time and not transferring all the passengers to the new flight were mistakes. But they've been slated in the press recently and the vast majority of it is nothing to do with BA.

In the end, they are using baggage systems provided for them by BAA, another contractor provides the ground handling staff, another contractor provides the computers, and BAA is responsible for keeping the runways open - and even they can't control the weather!

David

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by teddybeardiver

Seems that they are getting a reputation

...

Getting??? They have been crap for years and years. This, please remember, is the company that hacked into Virgin's computer and tried to persuade customers to rebook with them and cancel the Virgin flights. Despite this criminal activity their chairman was bigged up by the government and the company held up as a shining example of privatisation.

BAA too, as pointed out above, are a shower and have tried to use their connections to override the environmental and social issues of airport expansion while at the same time clinging to their privileged position with a lack of real competition.

You would be unwise to expect decent service from either company any time soon.


Chris

[GLOC]

I am at LGW so the baggage issues weren't a problem for us.

The most annoying part was the fact they omitted to say that the flight the following day with the same flight number had a different flight time (delayed by 5 hours in addition to our 24 delay).

The hotel we will be claiming back from insurance so again it wasn't a dig at BA.

I have probably spent 2.5 hours on the phone yesterday chasing around trying to get things sorted including calls to the US because the UK lines were full (I guess). If I hadn't had my laptop with me, I would have been really p1ssed off if we had gone to LGW this morning at 09:00 to check-in for the 11:00 flight to find out that it actually didn't leave until 16:05!

The problems are aggravated by the fact that we have a 5yr and 8yr old in tow, nothing to do with BA, but doesn't make our lives any easier!!

PS I have been dealing with BA for more than 4 years and haven't had an issue before but have had 2 in 2 weeks. Maybe I have been lucky and my odds are coming in.

Regards

[hebails]

small consolation for you Gareth but when BA messed me around (bumped me off flights and generally treated me badly) I wrote a letter to them and in return I got a 400 quid flight voucher from them.
They are pretty good at sorting out mistakes after the fact (just not when they happen it seems)
Hope all works out for you.
Paul

[Spacehopper]

I have to say that I've been flying with BA for years, long haul, and european flights and never had a problem (but their in-flight entertainment system is crap). Recently I have been flying Virgin but only because BA didn't fly to Shanghai. Haven't had a problem with Virgin either but the quality of the food could be better.

Gareth