British Airways is Going Down

4/12/2010

BRITISH AIRWAYS IS GOING DOWN. Part 1.
So, I happen to be a Silver Card Executive Club frequent flier and I can say that up until last year, British Airways was my number 1 air carrier. What happened last year? you might ask. I was flying back to the USA from my Christmas vacation and I had a rude air hostess dump my breakfast in front of me without a napkin, without a tray, without the jam that usually comes with it, pretty much like prison food. I asked why there was no tray and other stuff; and instead of her to give me a reasonable answer like... we ran out, and then apologize... no, instead she says "we always serve it like that" with an attitude. Now I may be 23 years young but I have been flying BA for a good 10+ years now? and some stupid air hostess can't just DECIDE to get cute with me saying we always serve it like that. The best part is that I decided to look over the divider of my business class seat and noticed that the guy NEXT TO ME had his tray and jam and everything, like it was supposed to be; and as far as I could see, most if not all the people who had breakfast had had it served the correct way. And so of course I go to the front to complain and not only did none of the other air hosts/hostesses care to ameliorate the slight caused me by the idiot air hostess but they all said. oh just fill out a questionnaire, like that was going to fix my ruined breakfast. And so I go back to my seat, starving but unwilling to eat the slop that was dumped in front of me; and then the idiot hostess comes back with a tray and an attitude; slapping the tray in front of me and putting all the breakfast stuff on it. When I didn't say anything she sarcastically said "you're welcome" and walked away. And this is just part one
BRITISH AIRWAYS IS GOING DOWN PART 2
So my mother comes into town in New York City and decides that she would like to extend her stay and therefore change her flight. Again my mother is a Gold Card Executive Club frequent FIRST CLASS flier. I called on Friday to have the flight changed to Monday, which was all well and good. And then it turns out my mother had actually meant to go on Tuesday. I then call again to change the flight… and I had the unfortunate displeasure of getting on the phone with… an idiot. How did I come to this conclusion? You might ask. Here is how: now, I have been changing my flight over the phone for a good six years, which is how long its been since I’ve been in college and prone to extending my stay for a variety of reasons, so trust me I have lots of experience with the customer service department. I have so much experience that I know that if you get an idiot on the phone, you just hang up and dial again and you will probably get a thinking human being who knows how to do his or her job. In this instance I call on Monday to change my mom’s flight again, and some idiot tells me that it can't be done, even though I had already had someone change my flight once before on the previous Friday (Even though I have been changing my flight every few months for the past 6 years). I tell her she is of course wrong and ask if there is a manager I can speak with? And so she goes to call a manager. From the minute the manager comes on the phone she is already defensive, telling me some rubbish about this not being able to be done, even though AGAIN I had performed this impossible function just the previous Friday. And so after trying to explain to her how this cannot possibly be correct, and only ending up frustrated (because it is always frustrating to try to reason with an idiot) I tell her she should consider another profession and get off the phone. I call again to attempt to reach a thinking human being, preferably someone with a bachelor’s degree and social skills, the only problem this time is that I find that the idiot woman, who could barely speak unadulterated English, had put NOTES on the account, so that once the next person picked up the phone, she read the notes and started spewing the same rubbish. All the identifying information they wanted, I gave, and yet they still gave me a difficult time. Eventually, after much discussion, the customer service representative admits that the only way it could be done is as a courtesy. A courtesy. Is that not the definition of customer service? I gave up. So my mother got on the phone and had to BEG for a good 20 minutes for this MAGICAL courtesy; the courtesy of which had come so easily for 6 years, but now in the hands of an idiot had become something to beg for. A Gold Card, Frequent Flier, First-Class ticket holder had to get on the phone with a demonstratedly intellectually sub-par human being, and beg for the courtesy of changing her flight. That my friends, is the new British Airways Customer Service for you! Woo Hoo!
BRITISH AIRWAYS GO AWAY
I have at least two more similar customer service flop stories with regard to British Airways, so the best advice I can give: SAY NO TO BRITISH AIRWAYS! Why? Because BRITISH AIRWAYS IS GOING DOWN. They are no longer the best and their service is rubbish. Apparently they cannot hire suitably qualified people to carry out what should be their ideal of customer service excellence. If you’re used to first-class service you may be better off trying Virgin Airways, which has a lounge that surpasses anything BA has ever had the ability to think of (I have been to BA lounges in three continents, several times and over several years, so would I know). If you are not a part of the Executive Club, you must ask yourself, if they can treat their highest paying customers like this, how much worse would they treat someone who bought a standard Economy class ticket, someone who may not fly often? For questions and comments relating to the aforementioned please feel free to contact me at chiomzonline@gmail.com. Bad customer service, even once, is unacceptable. Four times? Then they should consider doing us all a favor and going out of business.

British Airways has morphed into an Indian Bazaar

3/12/2010

I have been flying BA for 22 years almost exclusively. I don't like change but given my last 2 experiences, I have decided to use my airmiles and then never fly BA again.

Last week, I booked BA for Dubai-Denver flight in June. The flight was $400 more than KLM or AA but also more convenient. yesterday, I had to change my dates. BA online facility doesn't work so I phoned. It took an hour to make the change. The customer support representative tried to convince me that in addition to paying a $150 cancellation fee, the new flight was more expensive. But, I checked online as he spoke and found that this flight was $80 cheaper (BA will not refund the lower fare unlike other airlines). It took 20 minutes of arguing for the Rep to realize that I knew what the fare was. He then tried to charge me an extra $60 because I used the phone rather than the internet when BA's online system does not work. Talk about an Indian Bazaar.

In January, my flight from Dubai to Boston was cancelled. No phone call. No notice on website which I checked before heading out. Worse, only 2 BA staff where available to reroute a totally booked 777! It took hours and even then my flight the next day was not properly booked and I was almost bounced off the flight. I sent BA my taxi receipts for cancellation 10 weeks ago. So far I have received a 2-page letter promising the money. AA paid a lost baggage claim within 4 weeks.

I phoned London to complain about all this and was told, 'sorry but ...!'.

BA Online booking inconvenience and Customer Service

3/5/2010 Harmondsworth, West Drayton, Middlesex, England

In August 2009, being faced with a travel emergency, I had to hastily and at the absolute last moment make a round trip booking from Boston to Cape Town via London. Since I have been a loyal British Airways customer and executive club member for over 25 years, I turned to their website and bought the very expensive $2.300 round trip. I was confident that the airline would look after me as they always have done in the past. Even though I had to make this booking as quickly as possible, I carefully read and reviewed all of the steps of the online process. In the past I have been able to make changes for a nominal fee or even cancel my booking if needed. Once I had paid, I felt confident that all would be well. On my return home to Portland, Maine, I logged on to BA.com as usual, accessed my booking and attempted to make the changes to my dates that were now necessary. All the choices were grayed out and unavailable. I contacted BA in the U.S. by phone and was told that I was not allowed to make any changes online and would have to drive to Boston to make the changes in person at Logan International Airport. I drove the two and a half hours to Boston and presented myself to their customer service agent. He informed me that any change or future changes would incur a fee of $270. Although courteous, he could not give me more information on my booking and why BA would not allow me to make changes online apart from some confusing explanation about credit card fraud in South Africa… I hold a Visa card and U.S. bank account and made my original booking in the U.S. Unfortunately I had to pay the $275 along with the extra costs of having to drive to Boston.

I have since contacted BA customer service politely inquiring about this booking and explaining all the difficulties I have experienced. After I had written several detailed emails to them, they have simply dismissed my concerns and stated that in their opinion, the matter is now closed. The reply to my email did not even contain the representative’s last name. This behavior is impertinent, discourteous and underhanded. I have supported this company for so many years and it is very sad that it has sunk to such depths. Their staff is obviously not trained sufficiently and seem uninterested in both their job and their customers. After so many years as a loyal customer I am utterly disappointed. What BA probably fails to understand is that it is their loyal customers who keep them in business. I will never fly BA again and from now on offer my business to companies who know how to treat their customers in all aspects. Etihad Airways and Emirates will now be my airlines of choice to and from Africa.

British Airways Can't Handle The Luggage

1/17/2010

Just returned from a business trip to London, after much delay in actually getting BA to transport me back home I am much dismayed at the fact that my 1 checked bag has somehow been transported to another dimension.

Contacting a person regarding this matter has proven nearly impossible and now I'm succumbing to the notion that not only will I never see my bag/belongings again, but will also not be reimbursed for all the items that I was forced to stuff in my bag due to the hyper security and draconian carry on rules (for a half empty plane mind you).

Most airlines have at least one phone number that you can call to reach a human regarding matters other than making or changing a booking, BA has it wired perfect to rebuff all other communication attempts.

After a simple "google" of BA and lost luggage I now know that it was really a grand mistake on my part to entrust them with my "stuff" at all vis-a-vis checking a bag.

To be honest I wonder now if they ransack the carry-on bags whence everyone falls asleep on long flights. Scary proposition, I think I'll try Virgin next time.

BA really is just a bunch of bull$hit when it comes to matters of customer service.

Thanks, but not thanks...

Rude Attendents

12/8/2009

My fiance and I have used BA for quite a while now and were always quite happy with their service. However, on my fiance's last flight to Britain, he was treated with no respect. He asked one of the male flight attendents for a drink and the attendents response was, "What... are your legs broken?" like he was supposed to know where he could go and get one. We did not even know that you could get up and get a drink. The attendents were never the most "happy" looking people in the world but we were always taken care of during our long flights. I was just disappointed, considering that we have spent thousands of dollars with them since his family lives in England.

Refund Policy

10/21/2009

I recently canceled flight plans for my parents due to unforseen circumstances prior to their travel dates. I was told I needed to contact "Customer Relations" regarding cancellations via fax. I faxed the requested proof of hospitalization only to discover I was given the wrong fax number a couple of weeks later. I received mail from BA to provide the same documents to another fax number.
There are no phone numbers to call to make inquiries or chech on status of your case. The process is too rigid and convoluted with unnecessary procedures. All I need is for them to cancel and refund my money. I have flown with this establishment for years and I know 20 more close relatives that would normally fly BA.
Going forward, I will do everything to make sure they don't get any business from the people I know from Europe, Africa, America, Asia.
Booking airline tickets through BA online service is a joke and a scam!!!

Lost Baggage

9/7/2009

My baggage was delayed by BA over 3 weeks ago. Till this date I have received no compensation from them. Not even a single call expressing their apology or assuring me of the fact that I am entitled to compensation and will be duly provided that.

Their lack of professionalism is despicable. They do not reply to mails or receive calls. Infact, their customer relations office in New York doesn't even have a telephone number at which I can call.

It is my sincere advise to people to never travel by BA. They are unprofessional and completely oblivious to their customer's grievances.

they have lost my luggage. And they take no responsibility for that.

Why I will never travel British Airways again and neither should you

8/2/2009


If you want to get a taste of snobbish third class service, you should definitely give British Airways a shot. Moreover, if you have been inconvenienced and want compensation, BA takes its incompetence to an entirely new level. Unfortunately, my loss was their gain and I wish I had sued them.

All you folks out there - With so many choices available why in the world would you ever choose to use this 'piece of crap' airlines. I hope you learn from my experience and never fly BA again.

If I only knew that BA was as bad as it is!!!!

7/28/2009

My 11 year old daughter and I were about to take a world winf trip to Greece. As I began looking into flights, I found direct flights from New York to Athens (6hrs) for around 750.00US. British Airways pop-ups were offering this great World Class serice called Premium World Class. It was 1600.00US and was one stop in London. We boarded the plane in Boston and sat on the runway for 2 1/2 hours because bags for the next flight were intermingled with our flight. They had to go through every bag and remove the next flight bags. This delay caused us to miss our connection in London. On the flight I was told by a flight attendant that we were automaticaly booked on a flight that left 30 minutes after we landed, so we better hurry. We rushed like mad dogs. The transfer desk laughed at me when I told them we were on a flight, and said that this flight was already overbooked. After arguing with
Riaz Malik, Sr Attendant on Duty, we were put on an Olympic Air flight 7.5 hours later.
British Air is the worst.

Dodging Complaints

7/14/2009 London

My son and daughter were recently booked on a flight from London Heathrow to Jeddah on the 20 June. The flight was delayed and they were given boarding crads that clearly stated the new gate closing time was 2130hrs. When they arrived at the gate at 2120Hrs they were told that the gate was closed and their bags were being unloaded and they could not board, consequently missiong the flight.

I subsequently wrote to BA regarding this matter as I had personally purchased the tickets in Saudi Arabia for my son and daughter and they were booked in under my BA Frequent Flyer Family membership number.

The reply I received from BA Customer Relations was, to quote:

"I'm afraid as per the Data Protection Act 1998, we cannot discuss passenger's issue with any third party - this includes family members/friends"

This appears to be totally avoiding the issue and hiding behind some sort of legislation more aligned to polotics than a commercial business.

Hardly surprising less people are now flying BA if this is the level of Customer service

I was being a trooper and then got kicked when I was down.

5/18/2009 London

Yesterday my husband and I were booked for the last flight of the day from London to Zurich, where we live right now. We blew it and were a few minutes too late for the security cut off time limit, 35 minutes before departure. We were disappointed but we knew that there was nothing anyone could do at that point. We realized the 66gbp and time spent getting out to Heathrow was a waste and that we'd be paying for another night at our hotel, and we quickly learned that we'd be paying for full fare new flights for the next morning. As my husband paid for the new flights, I turned away and had a little moment of checking in with myself and was pleased that I wasn't getting too emotional about the whole mess. Quite a lot of money wasted but we were all right. As we were leaving, I said "thank you" to a staff member who had led us over to a desk to be helped. He quickly stepped in front of me and all of the sudden I was being told that I was too intoxicated to fly! I was shocked. I hadn't been drinking and I wasn't even boarding a plane. I had been sucking on strong cough drops as I am fighting the end of a chest cold, so best I can tell he smelled the Strepsils and thought it was the smell of alcohol. I took it like a slap in the face and walked away, but decided to go back and speak to him from the heart. I told him what he did was very unhelpful and unneeded as I hadn't been drinking and didn't even have a flight to try to board! He was defensive and unapologetic. I understand that he's probably been yelled at too many times but I was just trying to speak to him human to human. I left so disgusted that I had given the company so much of my money. It's sad.

Mugged Of 250 Euros For Being 15 Minutes Late And Not My Fault!

3/31/2009

My one and only experience with them sucked. I went on a trip to Dusseldorf in February with 4 friends, one of whom was a BA employee, and a friend of a friend. It was he that booked this 3 day trip. On the third day my four friends left for the airport before me having not given me any flight details. I followed on the next train and discovered I had missed my flight by 15 minutes. I was then told I had to pay a further 250 euros to get home! Ok fine, I understand the policy about last minute bookings but had the BA employee I was travelling with bothered to give me my return flight details I would not have missed my flight. I was already stressed and amazed that 4 "friends" would abandon me in a foreign country. What if didn't have a card on me, how would I have got home? Would they have cared?

On my return I contacted customer relations, who were quite understanding and forwarded my claim to BA Refunds. BA refunds however, just completely ignored me. Eventually I got a reply which said the flight was not refundable because I hadn't missed it! My point was that I shouldn't have had to pay for it the first place, to which they said it was not their problem. I then relayed this back to Customer Relations, who I have been told, do have the authority to pay a "goodwill gesture" but after two weeks now, I have still had no reply.
The long and the short of it is this:

1. The BA employee I was with should not have left me in a foreign country to find my way home.

2. BA are taking the mickey charging me 250 euros for a single flight back to Heathrow, a completely unnecessary charge in my eyes.

3. Customer relations and the refunds department are not worth the time of day.

They absolutely have no time for us, the customers. You are left with the feeling they hope after time you will just go away.

Well I won't!! Hence I will post this tale on every forum I can find.
My case reference with customer relations is 7270723

Chris Smedley

Customer Humiliation at Check-in

2/8/2009 Zurich

I was next to a British Airways check-in at Zurich airport when I overheard the conversation between the BA check-in staff and a passenger. The passenger had not printed out her e-ticket, but had a printout of her flight details, and the staff member, loudly so others could hear, said to her that "it's people like you that cause airport delays". The customer responded by saying that on the BA website it stated that it was not necessary to print out the e-ticket. The staff member than asked for the flight number. The passenger responded I'm not sure but it should be in this printout. The response was "I don't have time to be reading your piece of paper".

In the end, after a few more words were exchanged, the passenger received her ticket and with a nice fake smile got a "have a nice flight". I don't fly BA but I couldn't believe how the BA staff treat some of their passengers. Hopefully its only one bad apple.

Still Waiting...

2/3/2009

I'm still waiting to hear back from BA customer services after a logged complaint 3 months ago. I even had a follow up survey email asking how satisfied I was with the handling of my complaint, so I'm guessing their systems have crashed and they've lost the records.

My questions were two fold:

1) Having flown back with BA from HK to London, I noticed that Virgin flights were much cheaper, and a large proportion of the difference in costs came in the "taxes and fees", where BA was much more expensive. I wanted to know what exactly I got extra in terms of fees through BA that Virgin didn't offer.

2) Secondly, I have a BA exec club membership and associated AMEX card. I have no problem at a with Amex, however when I try to book a BA flight with my BA Amex card, I have to pay a credit card subsidy. Seems crazy, right? And following up from what another reviewer said, I have many BA miles and they are next to useless. Don't think I'll be continuing with my exec club membership.

I have to say, however, I've always had a good experience flying with BA.

Just Needlessly Lost $400

1/18/2009 Huntington Station NY

The funny thing about this review is that my flight is 2 months from now.

I changed my flight on their website and was charged $98. No big deal. However, my old departure time was still showing up (didn't change my return flight) on the site. My girlfriend called (I was at work) and they said they needed my credit card info to take the old departure off of my itinerary, that way they don't go WTF when they see it. Whatever. I call them tonight when I get back, and I'm told that they want an additional $300 for me to confirm the seat that they were already holding for me on the new departure.

Their reasoning? What I changed it to won't show up on my ticket unless I pony up the cash (because they were only holding the seat, it isn't confirmed even though that's what it says on their website), and obviously if it isn't on my ticket then it's not what I'm doing. Are you serious? All I'm trying to do is visit the love of my life in London when I'm on spring break, and you're going to make me cough up $400 combined to move up my departing flight by 2 days? I have half a mind to call the Better Business Bureau on them, and the other half tells me to go to JFK Airport and chew out whoever is unlucky enough to be standing at the check-in when I'm ready to fly over there.

I will never use BA again (just like Southwest, but that's another story for another time) and I urge everyone else to do the same.

Ticket Exchange A Joke With British Airways

1/16/2009

Yet another complaint about exchanging tickets. We purchased full fare exchangeable tickets because we knew there was a chance that our dates might change. We were assured by an agent that we would only be responsible for a change fee or could even (as the web site had stated), receive a credit voucher for the purchase price). However when I tried to change the dates, I was told that those dates weren't available and that the voucher program was no longer offered. When I replied that the voucher was still listed on the web site as an option, I was told it was an error on the site. So we tried to change the dates, but could find nothing available. Brief, we ended up up-grading to the laughable "economy plus" to use our full price tickets. (I ate with my tray on my lap because the table was broken.

When I mentioned it to the hostess, she said, "Yes, we know. It is broken", and then walked away. lol) Over $5000 to fly from France to the States for 8 days. What a waste.

After months of trying to follow up with BA, we did get a $75 voucher for a future flight.

Not likely. I would rather chew off an arm then fly with BA again.

Rubbish Service From An Arrogant Airline

1/13/2009

I have to say that I have never been as disappointed in an airline as I am right now with British Airways (the British part being an insult to the brits I have to say).

An airline that does you the favor, considers itself to be so profitable that it ignores customer contact in reference to fully paid upgrades and doesn't bother to phone you back, why? because they are clearly too good for the likes of their customers, which I am more than sure they are losing by the second.

I spent 4 weeks on the phone to BA trying to request an upgrade for my return journey, I was belittled on the phone and patronized and treated like a nuisance caller and after 4 weeks of continuous phone calls re this very expensive upgrade, they never bothered to call me back.

I am disgusted with BA and will never buy a ticket from them again. Heres to many flights in the future with Singapore airlines, more expensive but worth every penny!

Wish I'd Known About This Site Before Wasting $3000

11/21/2008 Denver CO

Well, at least we know we're not alone! Repeated phone calls and emails to BA have yielded no responses, but apparently that's standard operating procedure at BA.

We'd booked travel Denver to Chennai, India and had to change our plans due to a parent's illness. After being assured twice by BA customer service agents on the phone that we could simply pay $200 change fees and re-route our travel, we were then told (when we tried to re-book) that the ratings department would need 48 hours to get back to us with the new ticket cost. Three days later when we called back we were told that our tickets were "non-reroutable" and thus useless!.

Needless to say, no information about "non-reroutable" tickets appears anywhere on the BA web site or on our e-tickets, and the fact that we had to change plans due to illness also counts for nothing. In the end, all we could recoup was the taxes we paid, and they even took $20 out of that for "service" - something that simply does not exist at British Airways.

Never, ever fly them!

Customer Relations Does Not Exist At British Airways

11/9/2008

I have emailed several times, faxed twice, left telephone messages, and sent snailmail to the U.S. and U.K. head offices of British Airways, and all of them were totally ignored. I have therefore determined that Customer Relations is a fiction BA has created to minimally satisfy regulators--if regulators of any kind actually exist for this airline.

BA's policy is to charge passengers as much as possible as often as possible and give as little as possible in return. One example: You have to pay for your ticket without being able to reserve a specific seat until 24 hours before the flight. And if a window or aisle seat isn't available, even one minute after the cutoff time, then screw you, passenger.

British Airways will do nothing to help you. You have to travel in the middle of a row or you forfeit every cent you paid for your ticket. No wonder this airline's profits plunged recently.

Violation of U.S. Dept. of Justice Disability Rights Laws under the Air Carrier Access Act and Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2006 of th

9/26/2008 London, England

I am a disabled person and I have always flown with British Airways when travelling to Europe. Their service had been exemplary until this year.

Only two days into my holiday in Oxford, UK, I fell and broke my hip. The accident occurred on 21 July 2008 and I had to be hospitalized for 15 days to get my hip repaired and get me back in a condition to travel home.

My cousin who is also my care giver when I travel called British Airways immediately to transfer our return tickets as due to my hospitalization we would not be able to travel on our original return date of 24 July 2008.

She got a note from the doctors stateing that I was unable to travel and recommending a return date of 4 August 2008. She told them I was being released on 2 August 2008 and would need to return to the US by 4 August 2008 as I have several heart and diabetes medications and I would only have 48 hours worth of medication when released from the hospital. They refused to transfer the original ticket unless we could fly after 28 August 2008 (4 weeks later).

So now we are out of medicine, out of money and have no place to turn and since they would not honor our original tickets to return home in order to do so we had to purchase two new coach tickets $1,400 each. She purchased these tickets one week prior to the flight to be sure we had them for our return.

As I am disabled with a bad heart and diabetes, my care giver cousin always arranges for a wheelchair as I can no longer walk the long distances at the airport to get to the gates. She has done this for the past 4 years. She once again called and requested a wheelchair to take me to the plane but when we arrived at Heathrow, Terminal 4, we were told she would have to take the doctor's note into the airport and go to the ticket desk to get the wheelchair.

Meanwhile I am standing on the drop off zone right next to the construction going on. I have a four legged metal walker which they issued me on release at the hospital. I am 10 days post surgery on having my hip replaced and am in terrible pain but there is nowhere to sit and wait so I am standing next to the luggage cart our taxi driver had brought us when the driver has to leave and I am there waiting for her to get the wheelchair.

Inside the airport terminal she was having a problem getting assistance for me. My doctors had written a medical release so she not only had documentation as to the need but she had arranged for this service at the time of ticket purchase. still they would not bring a wheelchair unless she saw the British Airways ticket agent.

While she was going through this, an elderly priest that was also travelling with a handicapped person, saw me and asked if he walked along side me and held me up do I think I could walk into the terminal to try to get help. It was a very slow, very long and extremely painful walk but as I had been standing in the parking area for a lengthy period of time I agreed and we walked slowly together into the terminal.

When I arrived inside the terminal, the fellow that was following my cousin with the wheelchair trying to get approval from the ticket agent saw me and immediately put me in the chair. He took me to the ticket desk where my cousin was arguing about something with the ticket agent.

As we neared the ticket agent I finally could hear what was going on. The ticket agent was denying me access to the airplane even though I had a valid ticket and assigned seat. She insisted that I buy a Business Class ticket at an additional $6,000. I lost it and started crying. Both I and my cousin told her we did not have $6,000. We had already spent everything we had to pay for additional hotel nights and transportation while I was in the hospital. When she uttered her response "Well you better start calling your friends and family because your not getting on the plane without this upgrade." it was with so much venom that you would think I had done something to her just by existing.

After a half hour of begging her supervisor to come talk to us (which he/she never did) we used her credit card to purchase the ticket. Since they do not allow walkers or wheelchairs on the plane (only in the luggage compartment), I am now unable to walk or stand without assistance. They had told my cousin that she could not come to see me in Business Class "UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES". As she is my care giver, I was unable to leave my seat to do as the doctor's ordered and "mobilize" which meant I couldn't even go to the bathroom.

When we finally landed 8.5 hours later and everyone else had deplaned, she was allowed to come to my assistance to get off the plane and into a wheelchair waiting at the door of the plane at the airport (the wheelchairs do not fit in the aisles of the plane). Upon standing, urine started leaking out of me because my bladder was so full from not being able to go to the bathroom. My medications were out of wack as she was unable to visit me and help me get them from the overhead where they were stored.

I am now so completed humiliated and ill that when my daughter met us at the airport she cried. It wasn't until I got into my home with the assistance of my daughter and husband and told them the entire story that they became angry at my treatment at the hands of British Airways and their representatives.

Because of this, my daughter did some research online and found out that British Airways has violated the law under the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Disability Rights Laws under the Air Carrier Access Act of the U.S. Department of Transportation, 14 CFR Part 382, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel, Subpart C, Section 382.31 and Section 382.37 as well as Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council of 5 July 2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air, Article 3 and Annex II, paragraphs 4-6.

So she wrote a letter to British Airways customer service (you can't call them as they do not allow you to talk to any of their customer service representatives)
and they responded with a refund of the $1,400 as they agree they should have transferred the ticket but they would not refund the additional $6,000 they charged for making me sit in Business Class as I had sat in the seat.

I call this a hostage situation. My life depended on my returning home to my doctors and getting my medications. They held me at the airport until I tallied up with another $6,000 even though I had a valid ticket to fly coach and my care giver had our seats assigned next to each other so she could assist me on the flight home.

Considering they forced me to purchase a total of three sets of tickets to fly home when the original should have been sufficient, I feel they owe me a refund on the additional $6,000 whether or not I rode in the seat as it was not my choice to do so.

All I can say is don't fly British Airways. Any company that has to sequester their "customer service" so as not to allow the customer to have their say is telling you that as a customer you are not important enough to be heard.

Rose Sweet

Flat Out Lies - Why Even Bother Having A "Customer Relations" Department?

7/8/2008 Washington DC

We flew home from LHR to IAD and arrived to find out our luggage had not made the flight. How did we find this out? Only by waiting @ the baggage carousel for over 30 minutes, finally being told by IAD staff that there were no more bags from our flight & to go see BA staff. The BA staff told us we would have our bags within 24 hours. While giving the BA staff extensive detail of our bags, I noticed the BA staff @ LHR had tagged both my bag and my mother's under just my name. There was no way to tell which bag ID # was for which bag, so no possible way to tell them which bag to deliver to me & which to deliver to my mother! Since we were told we would have our bags within 24 hours, my mother changed her plans to travel home to southwest VA that night to wait for her bag.

FIVE days later (after numerous attempts to speak to an actual person or deal with BA's USELESS baggage tracking system)our bags were delivered to my office, meaning I had to meet my mother 1/2 way to get her her bag! At IAD we were told to hold on to receipts of items purchased to replace what we needed from bags. SIX weeks later, I have received what appears to be BA's final answer to my customer service reference #. They will be doing NOTHING! No compensation, no refunds for items purchased..NOTHING! My favorite part of all of this nonsense is every e-mail I receive ends with "We hope this does not deter you from flying with BA in the future." Are they SERIOUS!!

The flat-out lies we were told and all the misinformation we were given - it's astonishing that they feel I, as a customer, was "served" anything more than a bunch of bull!

Please Do Not Fly British Airways. Read The Reviews From Others. Save Yourself

6/12/2008 IAD MD

I will never fly BA anymore. The customer service is horrible, terrible, and absolutely unreasonable. I sent email over 5 months without result. Do not bother with Economy Premium. You pay for to be a fool.

Word of caution – Never believe they have the best fare, and do not believe they will match. (Just plain lie).

You can’t even choose your seat ahead of time, only 24 hours before flight time. And no good seat left by the time you have your chance.

Please stay away.

Never Ever Again

6/8/2008

British Airways loses all of my luggage then blames me. Thats the extent of their customer service.

On May 25th, BA loses my entire parties (3 persons) luggage at Heathrow airport on a flight from Vancouver via London to Lusaka (Zambia). Upon arrival at Lusaka Airport, customer service immediately begins telling customers that luggage has been lost at Heathrow and hands out papers to fill out. No claims numbers are given, only a request for contact information. We are told that the luggage will arrive in 2 days. The luggage never arrived and still hasn't as of today. Upon contacting BA customer service in 3 cities (Lusaka, Johannesburg, and London), we are given the run around including searching airports. The BA office at Lusaka airport does not allow us in their office because (as quoted by the Manager of the BA office), they do not help with baggage and only sales. The London based customer service explains to me that the lost luggage is my fault and that there are thousand of bags they would have to search through in order to help me. As I explained to them, I was about to enter Kruger National Park. Shopping malls don't exist and I need all my luggage due to the area that I was entering. They refused to help.

I have now arrived home and continue to get the run around from BA customer service with no signs of them returning my luggage. I am a frequent flier and I will be advising that my Company does not use BA any longer as this is the 5th instance of lost luggage by an employee of my Company.

Terminal 5, lost bags and rude & unhelpful staff

4/13/2008

I flew out of terminal 5 on 12th April (business class to Stuttgart). None of the information screens in the business lounge worked and the staff seemed uninterested in helping. When I got to the gate the flight was delayed and delayed. When I finally arrived at Stuttgart I find that BA has 'lost' my baggage. The BA staff at Stuttgart were, at best, unhelpful and gave no guidance on what I should do or where I replacement clothes, toiletries etc at 8pm on a Saturday night. They promised me that the bags would arrive on the next flight - 3 flights later still no bags!!

If you can get through to ANYBODY at BA (after 1/2 on hold) they are clueless and cannot help, they just fob you off.

In summary - avoid T5 - the baggage system is STILL not working and many of the staff still are not sure about anything.

The BA baggage tracking is a joke, you get put through to a 3rd party website which tells you to call BA for more information.

You will wait for a LONG time to get through to BA, when you do the staff will be unable to help, they don't know much and they haven't the authority to do anything anyway.

Avoid BA, it lacks leadership at all levels and they make no help to support premium customers.

What customer service? Or, how BA lost 23 bags...

3/24/2008 NJ

I am a teacher who was sponsoring a tour group to Italy from NJ from 14 March to 21 March 2008. The plane ride to Heathrow (where we had our first transfer) was unbearably hot--for six and a half hours. Upon arriving in Milan, we discovered that five of our group's bags had not arrived. The people at the customer service desk seemed to think this was not that big of a deal. Four of the suitcases arrived at our hotel in Venice within two days; however, one suitcase was still on its own mini-vacation. The final suitcase arrived in Rome literally as we were piling on a bus to go to the airport to return to NJ.

In the Rome airport, the BA customer service representatives were incredibly rude and refused to print the boarding passes for our transfer flight--instead giving us only the passes from Rome to Heathrow, saying we would have to once again stand on line in Heathrow even though our layover was only 1 1/2 hours. The flight left Rome 1/2 hour late. We asked again at the desk of the gate if there was anyway for us to get our boarding passes for the transfer and were told no. Once on the plane, we spoke to a flight attendant who told us we absolutely should have had the passes printed and who called ahead to Heathrow to ask that they do so.

Of course, we landed late in Heathrow. A bus was waiting for us on the tarmac and took us across the airport where we then had to run (following a BA rep) through security again. We made it to the plane for our transfer for last call. The plane smelled horribly--like gas or fuel, the flight attendants said that was normal.

Upon landing in JFK we discovered that none of the bags for our group of 23 had made the trip with us and were all still in Heathrow. The BA rep said this was NORMAL because Heathrow requires that all bags be x-rayed again. Well, if this is the case why schedule flights with layover times that do not allow for security checks? We were promised our bags would be delivered to our homes the next day by dinner time. The next day came and went. The website tracking service was no help, nor was the automated phone tracking service. Finally, on Easter Sunday (the third day) a rep called to say he was on his way and I had to wait for him to arrive with my bag--which could be up to six hours. So, that was the second day I had to put my life on hold--as did our entire group waiting for BA.

I've sent email complaints to BA but don't expect to hear back from them, as they don't seem at all to care about their passengers.

I will say this, I refuse to fly BA ever again. I've been flying internationally for over twenty years and have never experienced such horrific service. I sponsor two overseas trips per year with group sizes averaging twenty or more people. I will no longer be using BA for any of these trips and will be letting everyone I encounter know of the horrible service provided by this airline.

Customer Service, Flight Changes, Customer Service

1/12/2008 Stockholm

I flew from Canada direct flight to Sweden as a student on August on a 1 year open ticket. At the time of booking the ticket they informed me that they only have return flights for up to 6 months after the booking date and that I would have to call them again to change the flight which I thought was entirely reasonable. In fact Up to departure I was able to change my flight details online. Once I left Canada the problems began. I had updated my address on their system to the one where I would be staying in Stockholm, big mistake! After doing that I was no longer able to make changes to the flight at all and worse yet, the online system won't let me change my address details back to my Canadian information. On top of this the assistance you get from customer service over email is pathetic. They never do anything to answer your question and tell you to contact the service centre in your area.

Do they realize that your not able to call their Swedish service center over mobile phone for some stupid reason? what kind of company would block mobile phones from their service centers!!

I sent a fax to them updating my details back to the Canadian ones and its been a week and still no change.

On top of this, I am not able to adjust my return left of my flight to Canada to another date from the one that was booked when I departed. The idiot customer service gives me a US based long distance number (read, not the toll free one) to call to change my flight details and politely informs me that there might be additional charges for changing my flight.

The people at British airways are idiots and I would be quite interested in filing a claim against them in court for all the time and stress they have caused me.

In two months of back and fourth email, nothing has changed or been fixed. Im a student, I have to spend time on my studies, I don't have time to dick around with an airline.

British Airways enter money extortion business

12/10/2007 Boston MA

Buyer beware! British Airways is now officially in the business of extorting money from unsuspecting travelers.

I have been a British Airways Executive club member for over 5 years now and it (used to be!) was my carrier of choice - NOT ANYMORE!

My wife and kids are traveling to India - BOS-CCU via Heathrow along with my sister in law. They had no problem boarding a BA flight from BOSTON to LHR and LHR to CCU. On return travel, the incompetent ground staff at CCU barred them boarding the flight demanding to see their transit visa for UK!

Huh!? Transit visa to sit in terminal 4 at LHR for 6 hours with no need to go through immigration? How come this was not needed when traveling to India?

At any rate, they did not get on their scheduled flight and after a herculean effort and some very helpful individuals at the British High Commission in CCU, they procured the transit visas at the cost of approx $100 each.

Now comes the fun part, BA "obliged" us with seats on the next flight out after a lot of complaining when the seats were clearly available, and now want $200 per ticket as the ticket was changed.

No amount of speaking to any of the reps, either in India or in USA yielded any results and all I got was some extremely rude customer reps - Michelle, Ruthie, Alan and finally Mrs. Patterson from the Executive club service. All I heard from them was that the passenger is responsible for the travel documentation. Really!? Then why did their staff in Boston not ask for the transit visa prior to boarding the out bound flight?

I am so disgusted that I cannot even think straight. Needless to say that I am canceling my Executive club membership as well as returning the British Airways VISA card I have.

My suggestion to any one wanting to travel by BA is to think again and reconsider some other carrier. As there are only a couple of carriers to Calcutta, I am sure I will take the other one and only if caught between a rock and a hard place will I even consider stepping foot into this extortionist organization.

I am seriously considering taking this matter to the authorities that regulate airline industry.

Empty Bag comes out on conveyor belt

11/21/2007 Philadelphia PA

I have had the worst experience with BA and will never use them again. I hope this deters others.

I flew from London to Philadelphia in early July 2007. My husband and I had 4 bags, of which one was missing and a second came out empty! We filled a claim for the missing bag (along with about 20 other people) and were told we could not claim the empty bag because we had the bag. I would have to take this up with customer service.

I called customer service and was told to fax a list of items in my bag to a number. I compiled the items, was contacted via email by customer service and have ended in a back and forth for over 4 months now with no compensation. They asked for receipts and I provided what I had. A camera and Ipod were among the items and I was told that these should have been in my carry on, so I would not be compensated. I explained that they both had dead batteries after 10 days of traveling, which is why they were checked. They do not care. The last correspondence asked for the claim number for the claim I filed in Philadelphia. When I responded that a BA employee told me I could not file one, I was told I would receive nothing.

The attitude I have received and lack of customer service is ridiculous. It is a shame because the flight was nice. I will never give BA a cent and will do my best to make sure others do not patronize them either.

Terrible Customer Service

10/12/2007

I flew with my wife from Calcutta to London Heathrow.

We were delayed for more than 4 hours in CCU, not because of the airport's lack of infrastructure but because of BA's poor check in systems. Passengers on an Emirates flight leaving at the same time had no such problems.

Anyway, most of the passengers on our flight missed their connecting flight and were subject to the nightmare that is Heathrow.

I complained to BA on my eventual arrival at my destination. I promptly received an automatic message with a "Case Number", following which I have not heard anything. Its been 3 months!

Letter to Mr. Walsh

7/12/2007 ORD WI

I have tried everything possible. This is just one more way to get BA to do something

Dear Mr. Walsh

Firstly, I am sorry that I have to escalate this to you. However, I am left with no choice. I have tried everything possible to seek help from your staff worldwide but have reached a dead end at each stage. Let me give you a background of the problem.

My Mother-in-law aged 75 travelled from Bangalore (BLR) to Chicago (ORD). At least was to reach Chicago which did not happen. I booked her on BA thinking that an airline of your repute will ensure a comfortable and safe journey which did not happen.

Her flight BA0118 from Bangalore was delayed. At Bangalore they told her that she would be rerouted through New York (JFK) and onward to Chicago by AA. However, this did not happen. On arrival at JFK she was told that there is no booking for her onward journey to Chicago and after haggling a lot put up in a hotel (Holiday Inn) with an assurance that she will fly the next day ie. 27th June to Chicago. On 27th, at the airport she was told that her ticket is a stand-by ticket and that they cannot assure her a seat on any day!. So she was left all alone in the airport with no accommodation, baggage, food or cash. Finally, I had a make a new booking for her to fly from New York to Chicago. To top all this her Baggage is yet to be traced. For your information she cannot speak English so you can imagine the trauma she and the family went through. BA did not even bother to give her $1 for a coffee and instead the New York Police picked her up etc etc. I am sure this will make an interesting story in the press.

I have tried my best to seek help from your staff. Your system of seeking help is one of the most difficult I have come across. I cannot get a single mail id, phone or address to speak to anyone and each one points to someone else.

Please could you intervene and find her baggage and compensate/refund me for atleast the extra ticket that I purchased for her to finally reach Chicago.

I am sincerely hoping that I will not meet a dead end with this mail leaving me with no option but seek legal help.

Regards

Shocking Customer Service

5/30/2006

I am a regular traveller to the US on business and have split my travels between BA and Continental.

As a Director of the company I work for I have the privelage of flying Club/Business class which helps me carry out work whilst in the sky and arrive refreshed ready for a days work.

I find Continental superb, their business first cabin, service and approach is by far the best I have experienced to the US, BA, well they just live off their name and dont really give a damn, let me enlighten you on the last couple of trips I have had with BA.

I flew from LGW to Houston on business, the flight was delayed, nothing new there, because the cabin services director was not happy with the standard of cleanliness that the contract company had undertaken, once we were onboard I was not happy with the second lot of cleaning they had accried out which included gravy still on my club world seat due to a spillage from the previous passanger. As the aircraft was full they could only offer me a seat in economy and, no, they couldnt put a word in re compensation! I noticed that the flight had a first class section on it and asked if I could have a seat up front as it looked like no-one was in it, they said no, it was the flight crew rest area! GREAT, flight crew get first class beds & seats and the fact I paid £3800 return means I sit in economy! GREAT!!

I was offered another alternative, put a spare blanket on the seat and sleep ontop of it, I too that option but only because I had to, the crux of a long story is that I was awarded 5,000 BA miles as compensation, not even enought for a one waf economy domestic flight and I only got that after writing to Willie Wlash the Chief Executive.

The second is more disturbing, I booked to fly from Inverness to Gatwick and then onto Orlando with my wife and son, my son was celebrating his 11th Brithday, and we were all flying Club as a treat, I had paid over £1000 for my sons seat, used 100,000 airmiles for my own seat and used a BA Amex voucher which I had received after spending £17,500 on my card for my wife, we also paid for our regional flights and taxes which came to £600.

Our outbound from Inverness went tech, a common fault that BA have never managed to fix due to the age of the BAE 146 aircraft they use, in fact they had to call in another airline to service the route for 3 months last year as the aircraft was tech.

Our flight was delayed from Inverness for 2 hours, which ment we would only have 45 minutes to catch our connection, BA Inverness told us they had already informed Gatwich and we WOULD make our connection.

Imagine how annoyed I was when we got to the gate 15 minutes prior to the Orlando flight taking off to be told that the Captain had offloaded us.

We were routed via Atlanta and then had a 6 hour wait for a connecting flight to Orlando which resulted in us arriving 9 hours later, totally stressed and very annoyed.

BA's response to my complaint - 5,000 airmiles.

I have complained to Willie Walsh again and havent received a reply, I have now switched my credit card and no longer use BA, there service, customer care and general lack of enthusiasm for a customer is so bad.

There cabins are now old, dirty and behind the market leaders, have a look at Emirates first class, it is mind blowing and a hell of a lot better than BA's first class and cheaper than BA's club world.

BA may well be making money but there reputation will/is catching up with them and it wont belong before they suffer.

British Airways - How can they expect to have customers without service?

3/11/2006

Please tell me if i am over reacting - at the start of this debacle 2 months ago i just wanted an apology & assurance, now i am insulted & forced to change airlines as being igored is a constant reminder......

Dear Madam / Sir,

My partner & I were returning from a week’s vacation in Tenerife Saturday night & had such an affronting experience, we felt it right that we bring it to your attention.

We were booked on the 20.20 flight from TFS to LGW. My better half was connecting to MAN & myself DAL via IAH.

At 16.00 I called the airport to check the flight departure time & they told me that the flight was delayed approx 1 hour. As an earlier flight on BA was scheduled, I asked if we could change bookings to avoid missing my am connection to Texas if the delay proved longer than expected but was informed that the earlier flight was fully booked. I offered to pay to upgrade to club or 1st but again, no seats were available. Fair enough – the early bird gets the worm. But when I called at 6pm our flight was now scheduled to leave 2 hours late. To be safe I double checked by calling the UK BA desk & as the actual plane had yet not left Gatwick on it’s 4 hour plus trip to TFS & would need an hours turnaround time on arrival, the time delay would have to be in excess of the latest 2 hour quote. At 19.00 I called back just to make sure that we did not need to check in until 1 hour prior to the now updated 23.20 departure & thank heavens I did, as they told me only when prompted, that check-in was closing in 50 mins. Scot & I left for the airport immediately & after a 20 min queue successfully checked in with minutes to spare for a 3 1/2 hour further forced wait in the airport! On the bright side, the check in lady managed to get my other half & me two seats together. Again I tried to pay or use miles to upgrade to club or 1st given the increasing hardship of the trip but the flight had none so unfortunately this also meant no lounge access to lessen the blow on the other end.

Though the flight was now 3+ hours delayed, no inconvenience or dining vouchers were offered. We solaced ourselves with the fact that we would get a warm meal when we boarded our BA plane which has always in my experience been worth waiting for. But no, not this time. Not only was the plane the exact opposite that I expect from BA, an XL 737cramped bus with wings, but the only entrée offered was pork – not a Jewish preference – never before have I taken a trip where pork was the only option! So a 4 hour trip with a meal had now become a 10 hour one with an angry tummy to say the least. And lucky us, another rapidly approaching leg to go with an ever diminishing gap between.

But still we were trying to look on the bright side – The Corpse’s Bride was the movie. But it begun with no offer of headphones & after the stewards had started handing them out 15 mins into the movie, what was the point? Not that they actually ever got round to offering us any! And to add to the blackening mood the back row seat I was assigned dripped a smelly liquid substance on my head the whole trip. Condensation would have been more bearable but this had a nasty odor that I carried on my head & shirt the next 15+ hours of my journey.

The flight was originally due to land at 00.30 & as my connection was not until 9.30, I had reserved a room at the Renaissance Gatwick a month prior for a few hours good rest before my 7.30am check in to the States. But now with a predicted 4:00 arrival, after collecting bags & taking a taxi as the shuttle does not operate 24 hours, the 120 pound room rate would now cost 130 pounds for an hours sleep! But we had missed the cancellation time at 16.00 due to an impossible quoted arrival time at LGW from BA so pay we must. Though the flight made up 45 mins in the air, after having to shuttle from the south terminal to the north & wait for baggage (the shortest wait for luggage was 45 mins after landing), We checked into our 130 pound room at 5.30am, for ones hours sleep before the 2nd leg began.

In the end my journey from TFS to DAL took 25 hours. (Continental was the 2nd leg & it was uneventful & perfect thank goodness) but without the much valued nights sleep, dinner & piece of mind that is granted from booking with what is meant to be the best. It would have been a different story if the following service issues were not forced upon us:

The delay time given was inaccurate & the BA staff knew so. If the plane has not left the UK & was not scheduled to do so until 6pm, how could it possibly return from TFS-LGW prior to 11pm? (The plane actually left at 6.19pm) If the staff had been informed or cared to be so, we could at least not have thrown 130 pounds out of the window on top of the nightmare forced wait at Tenerife South Airport & the service that followed.
Check in by 7.50pm for a flight now scheduled for 3 ½ + hours later? This is terrible customer service. Why not keep some check-in attendants on & not make a plane full of customers tired, sore & grumpy? Surely they have to be at the boarding gate on departure anyway? And not telling the customer that check in would be closed at 7.50pm regardless of when the plane would leave – possibly disastrous!
Not providing any inconvenience or dining vouchers for a 3 ½ delay? And then only offering a pork sausage meal on board = tired, hungry & discriminatory to a significant subset of the population. This added insult to injury.
I book BA for the comfort & reliability it offers me – but there was next to no comfort, no sleep, no options & no customer service to mention. The plane was old & cramped with overhead bins duct taped down & the dripping was the closest to Chinese torture I ever want to get. You advertise your high standards & you make a commitment in doing so.

Although Scot & I are British citizens by birth, we work out of the States where most of our travel occurs. Combined we fly 200 times + a year. BA was in my opinion the BEST European airline but in all the flights we have taken in the last year, this was the poorest & most disappointing. We have taken the time to let you know where we think you dropped the ball & in return would like to hear from you. Time & ease are our most valued commodities & hence why we do not fly charter. The experience we got on January 7th was below our lowest expectations of any scheduled airline or for that matter charter. It was a nightmare that erased the tranquility of the vacation.

Finally, this is the first letter of complaint that we have ever sent to an airline. Given our travel schedule, hopefully this will further validate our unhappiness & help bring your bar back to where it once was. And in time with your assurance, maybe we will fly BA again.

Yours sincerely & wearily, Sarah Slomovic

Finally, if you are reviewing this email within 24 hours as you claim - how come you have not called, emailed or written 50+ days after my 1st complaint. NOTHING no one word from my weekly email & letter contacts. Don't insult me further - take out the patronizing lies:

"This is an automated message to confirm receipt of your email to British Airways Customer Relations.
Your email is important to us and we will reply to you as soon as possible. While you are waiting for your reply, it is not necessary to re-send your email or send a follow-up communication.
We are responding to emails in the order in which they are received. Our normal business hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 6:30pm. Any emails received outside of these hours will be reviewed the following working day.

Regards,
British Airways Customer Relations"

THIS IS THE UPTEENTH TIME I HAVE EMAILED OR WRITTEN & NO RESPONSE FROM YOU IN 8 WEEKS (EVERY WEEK BY EMAIL & MAIL SINCE 1/7/6). I AM DISGUSTED & NO LONGER FEEL AS FORGIVING ABOUT THE SITUATION. IF I DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU FOR AN AWFUL TRIP & WASTING MY TIME I WILL GO TO EVERY WEBSITE, FORUM. TRIP ADVISOR & PUBLICATION ABOUT YOUR LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. HOW COULD YOU CARE SO LITTLE ABOUT THE HANDS THAT FEED YOU? I ALSO WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU HAVE THE DECENCY TO RESPOND & EXPLAIN!

Could do a lot better

4/2/2005 London

BA is a nicer airlines to fly on than American airlines, but they need better communications. Beginning with their website which is impossible. It can't handle the traffic that it has and it's hard to manuever (if you ever get on). While their "products" - hotels, tickets, etc. are a good deal, they, again, do not give you enough information about each. Further, when we went to redeem our vouchers in London, Picadilly was foggy about what they were supposed to do, at first telling us they didn't redeem the vouchers for tours, etc.

BA moves complaints response overseas and results suffer

7/8/2004

Customer service is very important to me. Obviously it is not for BA.

I redeemed my miles for a ticket from London to Frankfurt and then I flew Lufthansa business class to Havana. In Cuba I tried to find a BA a representative office. No airline could help with BA’s tickets. I called BA in the US and they refused to help as I was in Cuba. So, I logged on to the BA web site which was down and then I could not access it as they encryption level was too high for Cuba as it is for some other “developing Countries.”

On returning to Frankfurt, none of the BA staff knew how to change my redemption ticket. They did not have a telephone number for the UK. I called on my mobile and I was on hold for 5 minutes, transferred to Sales, then to Customer Service, back to Executive Club and then back to sales.

I emailed a complaint to BA. They have farmed out email Tier One complaints to India which has resulted in poor or little or no response, standardised "we are sorry" replies. They lost my complaint on two occasions.

After complaining and demanding a response, I received from Allison McGibbon, Customer Relations

I have certainly looked again at what happened and taken into account
everything you have told us, but I’m afraid there is nothing I can add. I have apologised for your disappointment with the service you received

No explanation of why BA Frankfurt could not help, no apologies for having to speak to three different BA departments, no apology for my complaint being lost, twice, or no explanation of why their was no email response.

Thank you BA, you were the world’s favourite.

Unhappy With Quality of Service

11/27/2001

I recently used a significant amount of Hilton Honors reward points to travel to Europe on your airline. I booked my travel over a month in advance of my date of departure (11/16/01), but as of 11/12/01 I still had not received my tickets. I contacted customer service, and was told that I would receive my tickets via FedEx within 24 hours. Two days later, I still had not received my tickets, so I called customer service again. I was told that someone forgot to send out my tickets, and that they would be FedExed to me the next day (the day before my travel). The tickets arrived while I was at work, and due to the fact that I aws flying out the next day, I was forced to leave an important meeting early to retrieve the tickets from the FedEx office, which was an hour drive in each direction. Once I was actually on the plane, I was treated quite rudely by the head attendant on the flight. When I informed him that I was an American and would require the corresponding customs form, he said 'Congratulations on being an American. Who would have thought there'd be an American on a flight into America?' He then asked everyone else around me if they were American as well.

To help keep me as a potential future customer, I would like the following:

This was my first time flying on British Airways, and to be quite frank, it was not a pleasant experience at all. Barring some sort of reasonable compensation, I would not fly on your airline again, nor would I recommend that any of my friends or business associates use your company.

At the very least I would like a response from your company regarding this incident. Thank you for your time.