Brat1

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with BA, or any other airline for that matter.

We booked our flights to the UK, online, in June 2011. No problems with the booking and got our e-ticket confirmation through, the only subsequent e-mails from BA being a slight change to our flight times on the outward journey. Flights home went very uneventfully and we assumed everything would run smoothly on the way home.

New Years Day, we were at my parents having a lovely lunch, and I asked my dad if I could go online to check us in for the next days flights. When I logged in to our booking, it came up that it was unavailable.... to cut a long story short, I eventually decided I had no choice but to call the help desk. They must have been on a skeleton staff as it took 6 times to even get through without being cut off and then we got through to the agent. Basically, his explanation was that our flight had been cancelled?!?!? The flight we were supposed to be on from Glasgow to London was not even flying the next day. Apparently, if they think you don't have enough time to get to your connecting flight, they will send you an email and if you don't respond, they just cancel your flight or flights?!?!? We never got any email, so then we had to sit on the phone for over 1hr 15mins, while this guy tried to get us on another flight. So we ended up leaving 2hrs 30mins later than scheduled, on a BA flight, had to change terminals at Heathrow, which we were trying to avoid, to get on an American Airlines flight our to JFK, which didn't get us in to JFK until around 8.45pm which meant we got home after midnight, and the kids and hubby were working the following morning.

Has anyone else experienced something similar, and should I complain, is it worth the hassle??

Bob

Not heard of that before..but doesn't mean much.

Always worth a whinge, but probably won't do anything, but might get lucky

Jan Alaska

Thanks for the heads up I was just checking BA for a flights .. prices seem ok maybe I should make sure I have more than 2 hours between connecting flights ?

Hovik

You got off easy. Last summer the family was flying back to the US TRF-AMS-SEA. We were bringing a cat in cabin ( was denied previously due to f.up by KLM/Delta ). Getting the cat confirmed took no less than 10 calls to KLM and Delta this time.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:45am. 10pm the night before, I checked my email, and saw our flights had been rescheduled ( first leg cancelled ). The family had been split up, and routed to flights not even supporting a cat in cabin. I tried the European number to KLM/Delta, but they had no clue how to resolve the mess. After ~2hours on the phone with a US Delta representative, we were able to get on the same flights, and had the cat confirmed ( TRF-AMS-DET-SEA).

When we got to TRF the day after, our infant was missing a ticket on the first leg ( we were also booked on multiple overlapping flights in the system ). We spent a total 1h45min cheking in for the first leg, and were told to get new boarding passes in AMS, and our 3 year old was put on the waiting list for AMS-DET. Due to the rescheduling we had only 50min in AMS. Not much when arriving on a smaller plane, having to take the bus to the terminal.

When arriving at AMS we went straight to the gate, and were able to get new boarding passes there. Our 3 year old was taken off the waiting list, and issued a seat ( how they figured a 3 year old would be able take a later flight is beyond me ).

With 2 small kids and a cat, we had a lot of hand luggage. Being the last on board the AMS-DET flight I had some problems storing it all, and was told by the flight attendant; "Next time you shouldn't be so late at the gate". I was able to keep my calm, and swore never to fly KLM or Delta again.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, but included a lot of running. Got home at 2am, and back at work by 10am.

tonrob

I choose a 2 hours as an absolute minimum regardless of airline. Most delays are outside the airline's controls, and as a regular visitor to Flyertalk there are genuine horror stories regarding every airline - so I wouldn't make BA as an airline specifically a factor in your decision.

tonrob

That sounds shit - did they say how far in advance they 'sent' you this e-mail?

Are you a BA frequent flyer member? They might chuck you a few thousand miles for a well-worded complaint. As a benchmark, they give out 5,000 miles if you're in economy and your in-flight entertainment system doesn't work.

Sarah

Yeah something similar happened to me with Virgin who canceled our flights from London to Manchester last year. We'd just flown in from NY so we had no idea they were canceled until we arrived at Heathrow. It left us stranded and cost us over $200 in trains and taxis to get to my parents house (an hour north of Manchester) . Not to mention we had all our luggage to carry with us, no British money, it was freezing cold weather and I was pregnant at the time. A horrible experience. Virgin never offered us any compensation and when I asked for it they sent me a check for $42....yeah thanks very much.
Since all the airlines got into major financial difficulties they've all gone downhill, I read recently that despite the fact that the average western traveler is getting larger, they're making economy seats smaller as well as cutting back on food served etc.

coastieexpat

I fly with BA quite a bit and so far it has been pretty smooth sailing/flying. I am surprised they would let you book the flight in the first place if the connection was not possible.

I was trying to leave Manchester the other day on my return trip to San Francisco, the high winds caused a lot of delays and rather than fly all over the place on various carriers i opted to leave the next day.

To cut a long story short I received an upgrade to First class which was lovely. I have a hard time faulting BA. I'm not singing there praises, I just think there is a whole lot worse out there.

Glad you are home safe and sound.

Perhaps a flight/airline forum would be a good Idea for BE, especially as for the most part we are all going to the same destination.

I nominate Tonrob to start it off, as he truly is a genius when it comes to getting the most for your money.

S Folinsky

Back in 2007 we had booked a frequent flier trip with an "open jaw" of LAX to HRH to Berlin Tegel and return from Prague to LHR to LAX. Subsequently we were invited to an event in New York scheduled on the very day were going to be en route back to the US. With a lots of telephone calls and a few extra $$ we changed lost the "open jaw" and the return became from Tegel to LHR to JFK with a 36 hour layover to depart via EWR to LAX via American Airlines. We received electronic confirmation. We carried paper printout and a thumbdrive copy. [These days I also have a G-mail account -- can be accessed from everywhere. Still take the printout and thumbdrive].

[We had planned to do one way train via Dresden to Prague. Having to return to Berlin, it was cheaper to rent a car than round-trip train for two. Alamo/National upgraded us to a diesel on site with no extra charge].

Well, when we went to print-out the Boarding Passes at our hotel in Berlin, it would only print out my boarding in Berlin, but not LHR nor EWR and would not print out anything for my spouse. We arrived at Tegel -- they still showed her former itinerary for her. However, given the documentation in hand, they put us on the plane to HRH with instructions to clear it up at the help desk at HRH [we had a four hour layover].

Well, BA help desk at HRH stated they needed to contact Frequent Flier desk in Florida and the time difference made that impossible. Finally, they said they would board us only for the LHR JFK leg and we would have to take care of EWR-LAX when we got to NYC.

JFK BA desk was of no help since it was in the late evening. However, we were more relaxed since we were, at least, back in-country. The AA people at EWR were just fine -- the plane was only at 60% capacity in any case.

That experience broke us of BA. We stopped using the BA affiliate credit card.

tonrob

Surely this is a very responsible and public spirited move by the airlines!

S Folinsky

Forgot to mention a trip to the UK over New Years at the end of 1998. FWIW, if one is traveling during the Christmas season there is one day when not many people are not traveling -- Christmas day.

At the time, BA had two daily LAX-LHR flights -- I believe about two hours apart. When we got to LAX, we discovered that our flight [the earlier one] and everyone on our flight would be on the second flight. The problem was that BA normally used 747-400's on the route and the substitution plane was a 747-200 with no upper deck. So BOTH flights had to be re-ticketed for seating. We also missed our connection up to Edinburgh so got in four hours later there.

OK, stuff happens. In September 2004, we flew from LAX to LHR. Check-in went swimmingly. We boarded right on time. Unfortunately, the plane had a slight mechanical problem with the air conditioning. It took them 90 minutes to effectuate the repairs. Did I mention that LA was in a heat wave and the outdoor temperature was 95 degrees F? [BTW, LAX is right on the coast and is generally cooler than most of LA]. I've been in cooler saunas.

The flight I mentioned in my prior post was "three strikes and you are out."

BTW, in my long haul trans-Pacific flights, Korean Air and China Air were just fine. On trans-Atlantic flights Air France to Paris was just fine. Delta to Milan and Air Canada to Ben Gurion were just fine.

BA sucks.

Brat1

This was the first time we'd done long haul with BA, because we'd become members of the Executive Club with our Chase credit card. I think it's the same old story that once you have a not too nice experience with a carrier, it kind of puts you off.

My whole gripe was that when it was booked online, it let you book it no problem. If there is a minimum connection time, it should highlight it when you try and tie up your flights and not allow you to complete the booking. And thanks for that info Tonrob, because we were in the seats with the wee TV's that go in to the arm of the chair on the way over to JFK and mine was held together with tape, so I spent the whole flight holding it up, but apart from that, the flights over were fine. I've sent them a complaint, but won't hold my breath on getting anywhere, and just need to put it down to one of those things that's sent to try us......

digbydog

Well let me share our happy story about airlines.

On 12/17 we went to Newark to fly out to Honolulu for our Christmas holidays. Flight was over booked and they asked for volunteers to take the next flight and were offering $800 per person. We are a family of five and took the offer which came out to $4,000 plus $180 to spend in the airport plus hotels for night which we declined. As we live not far from EWR and we have our own place in Hawaii it was a no brainer.

Fast forward to January 2nd. Same thing in Honolulu and they are asking for volunteers again. This time it is only $700 per ticket and I am on it again. Another $3500 plus they offer us $300 for food and free hotels in Waikiki beach for the night. We took the hotels this time as it was fun stay somewhere different and not bother opening up the house just for one night.

So that's a total of $7500 in free flights for this year and the sweetest part of the whole thing is that we are on free mileage tickets to start with. You have to love Continental.... no wonder the airlines are losing money.....

Aloha

Brat1

WOW!!!! That was a fantastic Christmas present, and it still defies me, how they can overbook...... but glad it went in your favour, maybe some of your luck will rub off on me this year

GeoffM

Even in biz on BA it's service with a snarl. I tried to get miles flown on LAN credited to my BA Exec Club account. Took them 7 months and several faxes and letters to get it done. When I eventually got a statement they'd duly added the miles... and taken them straight off again for failing to use them in time. But you wouldn't credit me them so I couldn't use them grr (Might have been tier points rather than miles)

It was my favourite airline for years; it's only because I haven't had the opportunity lately that I haven't used them. Several upgrades, free lounge entries without upgrades, generous bumping options, and generally "good flights" with them.

Mind you, I've been upgraded for free on half of my Gulf Air flights (ok, 2 out of 4). Twice nothing is still nothing... and Bahrain airport isn't a fun place to spend 7 hours waiting for a 2.5 hour connection, upgrades or not.