Help with BA complaint

[wdw1991]

Asking for advice not to be bashed. We had a fly drive with BA in October LGW-MCO. Flight out was brilliant couldn’t fault it. Flight home was dreadful. It was our first time travelling with a child. Our daughter was 11months. At the gate it was a free for all, you couldn’t hear any announcements the boarding process was really stressful. We went and asked if we would be invited to board as we had an infant they told me it was down to the manager today. We eventually started to see families boarding so went and asked again was told families are being called by name, so we waited and were never called when normal boarding began. When we eventually got on we weren’t given a lap belt for my daughter until we had already started moving and then was only given one when I asked! The infant seat they put up for us was absolutely filthy and there was no way I was going to put my baby in there. We had our call button on for over 3 hours to have them come and take it down. Nobody came...what if someone was having a medical emergency, choking or something and nobody bothered coming. It was really appalling service I think when you’ve paid a substantial amount of money.

After emailing I was given some avios points as a gesture of goodwill it was just a generated response so I sent another email and was then called by a customer service member who has sent a £200 voucher. I did say I wasn’t happy with the voucher as I have no use for it, that trip was our honeymoon and we doubt we will be going on another big holiday anytime soon. They’ve told me if I’m not happy there’s nothing more they can do. It just annoys me that they agreed I shouldn’t have had that experience but are not willing to refund some of the money we paid but instead happy to give a voucher because this means il spend more money with them?! They’ve told me to take my complaint to CEDR...I’m guess I will probably be wasting my time if I do this? I’m not sure I’m not one to usually complain!

[Saratoska]

Never flown BA so all I can add is the boarding bit. We require assistance (son broke his neck playing rugby) for boarding and when coming home each and every year preboarding is a free for all, its awful and very stressful

we always fly TUI and they are great but unfortunately its the ground staff that control boarding so I would assume BA will be the same

doesnt excuse your next part re BA

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. Not great service I must say.

However whats done is done and I suppose the question to be asked is if it's worth losing heart muscle over. I would let it go now personally but that's just me.

[YorkshireT]

Seems you got 200? I’ve travelled with 11 month olds myself and can’t recall any special boarding treatment etc. Dirty seat- did infant have its own seat? We always got a Sky cot at that age? Is that what you are referring to as the seat? When you say call button on for 3 hours to take down? Were the air crew not walking past and you couldn’t speak to them?
The £200 and Avios seems pretty decent but I’m not sure we have got enough detail.

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

Seems you got 200? I’ve travelled with 11 month olds myself and can’t recall any special boarding treatment etc. Dirty seat- did infant have its own seat? We always got a Sky cot at that age? Is that what you are referring to as the seat? When you say call button on for 3 hours to take down? Were the air crew not walking past and you couldn’t speak to them?
The £200 and Avios seems pretty decent but I’m not sure we have got enough detail.

See more...

BA do sky cots and also a type of seat think a very basic infant seat I’m assuming it’s one of those .

[daytonababe]

Regarding the lap belt for the infant , some airlines don’t supply them at all .. we’ve done 9’flights in a year with AA and they don’t issue them ..

3 hrs and no one walked past I find that hard to believe , but could you not have walked to the galley and asked a crew member to remove it ? It’s not usually hard to find crew on a plane , it’s always a free for all though no matter who we’ve flown with .

Boarding seems to be hit and miss .. most times we’ve been able to board first but a few occasions we haven’t .. and whilst it’s nice to get on first on the flip side it’s less time to have them seated I suppose


Tbh i points and a voucher is pretty generous .

Personally none of the issues seem that huge ( to me ) .

[Eccle]

What outcome do you want as a result of your complaint? An apology, a review of their policies?

For me the bigger concerns would be failure to give out the infant belt and the dirty seat, so I would want reassurance that they were reviewing how they monitored that all necessary belts had been given out, and checks that seats were cleaned properly. If you are going any further I would focus on those two points. The priority boarding is nice to have but not necessarily a guarantee, and if crew had missed seeing a call light I would stop one who was passing or look for someone in the galley if necessary.

[duchy]

To be honest the level of compensation appears fair but clearly you don’t think so.
What do you feel would be fair compensation for your issues... or to put it another way what do you hope to achieve ?

[sunseeker]

Think you have done fairly well to be honest. Customer service in the USA is really good, except at airports where we as a family have come to expect poor service. I don't think I would go any further with this, put it down to experience and don't let it cloud your memories.

Dave

[duchy]

I always think I won’t use avios at a lower level but do collect them. Presumably you’ve claimed them for your flights already.
Last year I had to fly to Ireland for a family emergency on a bank holiday even Ryanair wanted £250 one way to Dublin , my meagre stash of avios got me a business class seat to Dublin for £40 instead (I flew back with aer lingus in economy for £29) .
They can be a lot more useful than you’d first think .