BA British Airways - or perhaps that should be FA

[exile]

Oh how the mighty have sunk to to the depths of the mire

Copy to;
seanl.doyle@ba.com

The UK flag carrier should be the bastion of which we UK national should be proud.

My OH's experience says otherwise.

On 30/3 she flew from France to her UK destination via Heathrow. Unfortunately on that day the IT systems suffered what can best be described as a meltdown and her arrival in Scotland was delayed more than 6 hours. You might be mistaken for thinking that recompense for this would be automatic but oh no, you have to make an individual claim. It should be open and shut but in fact is open and something else that share a lot of letters with shut. Confirmation of the claim which cannot be disputed on 8/4. Today one week later- no response beyond acknowledgement.

But worse, the return. With flights full, OH was encouraged to put her hand baggage into the hold. Six hour layover in Heathrow but such is life. Boarding on time. The plane set back and then the captain said there were some problems with the hold baggage. Problems? You better believe it. The plane set off one hour delayed. Arrived nearly one hour delayed. Not one single item of hold baggage had been loaded for any passenger from any starting location. The plane arrived about 1 hour late (no compensation) but by the time all of the passengers had recorded their undelivered baggage my OH exited baggage (not) reclaim. we were two and a half hours later than expected. So arriving at home at around 4 am. {I as chauffeur have no claim against Bu@@er All BA for short. But believe me I have suffered from their ineptitude.}
Worse, although the baggage has now arrived in Lyon today and handed over to Chronopost, we all know that means delivery on Tuesday at best. This means the frock she bought for the Easter Lunch will not arrive in time.

We could of course take half a day tomorrow and drive to Lyon to source a very expensive replacement with the possibility that BA (AKA SFA) would contest the costs. I don't have the time nor the resources for a 400km round trip, toll charges, parking etc..

There is no recompense that BA can now offer for the disappointment. The organisation of their operations leaves open questions into their competence to run a safe operation. It seems to be driven by minimising their exposure to claim which they delay in paying.

[Pathca]

I’ve flown Cheap n Cheerful,Charter,National airlines
Only one has ever ,misplaced my bags

[niemeyjt]

I guess since retiring you have not had to travel that much.

If you had, you would have known BA stands for Bl00dy Awful and is absolutely the last airline you should ever consider, maybe apart from Aeroflot.

I am not sure whether BA still offshores their IT - whatever they do it is a recurring problem.

Maybe I am lucky in that I have a choice of better airlines where I have recently lived and worked?

As for baggage, on the one occasion Heathrow put mine on the wrong plane it was hand-delivered by a man in a little white van the next day.

As for compo, I think they are still being investigated over the way they handled Covid refunds.

Sad, for what was once "the world's favourite airline".

[exile]

You are right about the reduced travel. After travelling around 2 return flights on average per week for 52 weeks per year* and fairly few of those with few B all. I have retired,

* It was fun when those folk doing "a how much do you travel (through our airport) survey asked me how often do you travel? " I don't think they ever believed me. He cannot possibly mean 104 returns per year - Oh yes he can.

Sadly there are few sensible alternatives for OH unless/until Flybe really set up a network

[niemeyjt]

Where is the ultimate destination? Do you need to hub on Heathrow?

[exile]

GLA
No, Heathrow is not essential. Amsterdam or Paris work (but not on cost) KLM/AF.
Last time I looked, Lufthansa could offer a connection via Frankfurt and Copenhagen - crazy price

Easyjet go somewhere close but on a twice per week basis and then add in luggage, getting to and from the airport and onward travel and a headline price looks a bit less appealing.

I have no problem with BA if they deliver as promised but they don't.

[niemeyjt]

Can you get to Geneva (I presume you currently fly from Lyon)?

Playing around it looks like Swiss are 2/3rd price of BA via Frankfurt.

And as a bonus you get a free mini chocolate bar!!!

[rabbit]

It reminds me of a BA flight to Helsinki. My bags went to Frankfurt. I then used the local carrier to fly to Stockholm, but still no bags. They disappeared into Finnair.
I finally arrived home at 1 am and there was a BA van on my drive delivering my bags

[exile]

Geneva is of course a possibility although it looks like all flights go via Frankfurt with no significant advantage* but Marseilles is actually easier to get to as an alternative to Lyon but we are stuck with the same choice of airlines as from Lyon.

* and of course we can fly from Lyon via Frankfurt (but without the chocolate bar).

[Pathca]

Have you looked at Manchester?