Yeh! BA coughed up! Well, some of it.

Guest · 23 Feb 18, 08:01 PM

Those of you who followed my trip report on Barcelona back in January will know that it had a "sting in the tail". I won't go into depth here as you can read the saga here:

https://DIBB.in/13051802

Well, 5 weeks later and we had heard nothing about our claim for the overnight hotel expense and the travel home the following morning. I rang their Customer Services at Uxbridge and after quite a wrangle of what we were claiming we were told they would cover the Gatwick Express travel but would not pay for the hotel. Now I want to reiterate that we were told that BA would be available to assist with our onward travel to Heathrow - our original airport of departure. Believe me, we searched for BA staff but none were to be found. it was midnight - last Gatwick Express to London Victoria had gone. So had the last LGW to LHR coach. Seems BA were happy for us to sleep on the Terminal floor. After I pressed the point about the time of day and the fact we were now some 7 hours behind schedule they said we should have got a taxi to Heathrow and claimed for the bill. I argued that a taxi would have been some �60 or more. The hotel was �85. They were quibbling over �25. But they weren't having it.
So I hit their Facebook page - did you know they remove critical comment on their page? Various groups have set up their own pages so BA can't do this. I blasted them and informed them I would be going to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution for a ruling. Seems BA don't negotiate with the Civil Aviation Authority Dispute team - I wonder why? I was also planning a letter direct to Willy Walsh - the CEO. If all else failed I would have taken it to the small claims court just to get justice.

Today we receive an email and "after due consideration" they have agreed to pay the �85 for the hotel and �38 for the Gatwick Express. That's all we asked.

However, one item remains. We were involuntarily downgraded from Business to Economy and we are due a refund for that.
Did you know the scales?

For short-haul flights of less than 1,500km, you will receive 30% of the price of the flight.
For medium-haul flights of 1,500km � 3,500km, or flights within the EU of more than 1,500km, you will receive 50% of the price of the flight.
For long haul flights of more than 3,500km, you will receive 75% of the price of the flight.

We will come under the first category.

This is supposed to be sorted in 7 days. As I said it's now 5 weeks.

I will never accept a downgrade voluntariiy or involuntarily ever again. Next time it will be - when you have seats in the class I booked then I'll travel. Quite happy to extend my holiday a day or two.

Whilst my barbs are aimed at BA you should be aware that this farce can happen with any airline. They have us stitched up like kippers.

Re the 7 hour delay we can't claim for that as BA used the old "Adverse weather" get out card. That's why I want to find what flights were cancelled at Heathrow on Jan 21st as I'm not aware of any other airline doing so.

happytraveller · 23 Feb 18, 08:17 PM

Geoff I'm glad you got something although you deserved more. I too had the pleasure of being at the mercy of BA staff in Abu Dhabi in October and wasn't treated much better in all honesty. I didn't get anything as they used the 'it's not our fault get out clause. For us, as we got to fly Etihad instead, we were not too angry, but it was a horrendous situation at the time as we didn't know when we would get home . I totally agree though, that these things can and do happen on any airline. I'm due to fly with Emirates and Aeroflot and looking at their facebook pages says it all.

Here's to future happier journeys

Scotty · 23 Feb 18, 08:20 PM

Geoff, fight the adverse weather. I still have not managed to locate where I got the info for ours but we have been reimbursed our costs for getting home, even though we chose not to stay in a hotel and be flown home. We got the train. Other flights were leaving, BA cancelled everything.

Gryff · 23 Feb 18, 08:23 PM

Great news and we've stayed out at BAs expense till they could fly us home business

Bellasmummy · 23 Feb 18, 08:26 PM

Glad you have some of the issues resolved. They don�t make it easy do they!

We were caught up in their fiasco last year and had a battle getting back what we were due.

I think it took 6 weeks, nothing for over 5 weeks then dh started commenting on Twitter. Every post they made he relied regarding their awful service and then seemed to start a wave of others he�d come across on twitter having the same issue. For a few days every single BA tweet was followed with a torrent of abuse! Surprisingly after less than a week he got a phone call and they had decided to expedite our claim. They even agreed to reimburse the phone charger I�d had to buy at the airport.

The power of social media for complaints by far supersedes any other way of dealing with a lot of companies. Sad that it has to be like that though!

Pumpkin Pie · 23 Feb 18, 08:31 PM

I won't bother going into our saga with BA but suffice to say we have never used them since 2007. We got compensation without a fight but I vote with my feet and will never use that company again unless I have no other choice and even then I would think twice.

I agree other companies can be just as bad but for us any bad experience has been with BA. I have witnessed shocking customer service to fellow passengers by BA staff - nothing to do with us but I won't give them a chance to speak to me like that.

Melvin Pearce · 23 Feb 18, 08:32 PM

So pleased you got some of your money back, Geoff.

Hope the next message will say you have more with the flight issue.

Lesley and Melvin

Guest · 23 Feb 18, 09:27 PM

Just hate how everything is stacked in their favour. Where is the Customer Service in all of this?

Mr Tom Morrow · 23 Feb 18, 09:31 PM

Geoff. This is the UK! Customer service is pretty poor. However well done on your first stage of the battle and keep at them for what you are due.

mickey house · 24 Feb 18, 09:02 AM

Well done for getting this far. We had issues with BA on our September last year trip and they really messed things up. I put a post on here how I just couldn't even get to speak to anyone in BA customer services, and after dozens of calls I eventually got someone, but I thought they were very tight with what they offered me (Ebenezer Scrooge would have been proud of them).

It's not surprising that BA's ranking has dropped so low.

23 Feb 18, 08:01 PM	#1
	23 Feb 18, 08:01 PM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	Yeh! BA coughed up! Well, some of it. Those of you who followed my trip report on Barcelona back in January will know that it had a "sting in the tail". I won't go into depth here as you can read the saga here: https://DIBB.in/13051802 Well, 5 weeks later and we had heard nothing about our claim for the overnight hotel expense and the travel home the following morning. I rang their Customer Services at Uxbridge and after quite a wrangle of what we were claiming we were told they would cover the Gatwick Express travel but would not pay for the hotel. Now I want to reiterate that we were told that BA would be available to assist with our onward travel to Heathrow - our original airport of departure. Believe me, we searched for BA staff but none were to be found. it was midnight - last Gatwick Express to London Victoria had gone. So had the last LGW to LHR coach. Seems BA were happy for us to sleep on the Terminal floor. After I pressed the point about the time of day and the fact we were now some 7 hours behind schedule they said we should have got a taxi to Heathrow and claimed for the bill. I argued that a taxi would have been some �60 or more. The hotel was �85. They were quibbling over �25. But they weren't having it. So I hit their Facebook page - did you know they remove critical comment on their page? Various groups have set up their own pages so BA can't do this. I blasted them and informed them I would be going to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution for a ruling. Seems BA don't negotiate with the Civil Aviation Authority Dispute team - I wonder why? I was also planning a letter direct to Willy Walsh - the CEO. If all else failed I would have taken it to the small claims court just to get justice. Today we receive an email and "after due consideration" they have agreed to pay the �85 for the hotel and �38 for the Gatwick Express. That's all we asked. However, one item remains. We were involuntarily downgraded from Business to Economy and we are due a refund for that. Did you know the scales? For short-haul flights of less than 1,500km, you will receive 30% of the price of the flight. For medium-haul flights of 1,500km � 3,500km, or flights within the EU of more than 1,500km, you will receive 50% of the price of the flight. For long haul flights of more than 3,500km, you will receive 75% of the price of the flight. We will come under the first category. This is supposed to be sorted in 7 days. As I said it's now 5 weeks. I will never accept a downgrade voluntariiy or involuntarily ever again. Next time it will be - when you have seats in the class I booked then I'll travel. Quite happy to extend my holiday a day or two. Whilst my barbs are aimed at BA you should be aware that this farce can happen with any airline. They have us stitched up like kippers. Re the 7 hour delay we can't claim for that as BA used the old "Adverse weather" get out card. That's why I want to find what flights were cancelled at Heathrow on Jan 21st as I'm not aware of any other airline doing so.

23 Feb 18, 08:17 PM	#2
	23 Feb 18, 08:17 PM happytraveller Imagineer
happytraveller Imagineer Join Date: Feb 04	Geoff I'm glad you got something although you deserved more. I too had the pleasure of being at the mercy of BA staff in Abu Dhabi in October and wasn't treated much better in all honesty. I didn't get anything as they used the 'it's not our fault get out clause. For us, as we got to fly Etihad instead, we were not too angry, but it was a horrendous situation at the time as we didn't know when we would get home . I totally agree though, that these things can and do happen on any airline. I'm due to fly with Emirates and Aeroflot and looking at their facebook pages says it all. Here's to future happier journeys

23 Feb 18, 08:32 PM	#7
	23 Feb 18, 08:32 PM Melvin Pearce Imagineer
Melvin Pearce Imagineer Click to See My Villa! Join Date: Feb 09 Melvin Pearce's Reviews Restaurant Reviews: 5	So pleased you got some of your money back, Geoff. Hope the next message will say you have more with the flight issue. Lesley and Melvin __________________

23 Feb 18, 09:27 PM	#8
	23 Feb 18, 09:27 PM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	Just hate how everything is stacked in their favour. Where is the Customer Service in all of this?

23 Feb 18, 09:31 PM	#9
	23 Feb 18, 09:31 PM Mr Tom Morrow Imagineer
Mr Tom Morrow Imagineer Join Date: Jul 14 Location: The Tiki Room. theDIBB Guidebook Pages Created: 3	Geoff. This is the UK! Customer service is pretty poor. However well done on your first stage of the battle and keep at them for what you are due. __________________ "PAGING MR MORROW, MR TOM MORROW..." ''I drink Wine and know things'' DVC Owners at SSR since 2003. Multiple annual visits to America since 1976

24 Feb 18, 09:02 AM	#10
	24 Feb 18, 09:02 AM mickey house Imagineer
mickey house Imagineer Join Date: Sep 06	Well done for getting this far. We had issues with BA on our September last year trip and they really messed things up. I put a post on here how I just couldn't even get to speak to anyone in BA customer services, and after dozens of calls I eventually got someone, but I thought they were very tight with what they offered me (Ebenezer Scrooge would have been proud of them). It's not surprising that BA's ranking has dropped so low.