More evidence of British Airways prioritising Avios bookings for downgrades?

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• Amtexfly says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:34

  It’s a disgusting business practise to sell a product (2-4-1) and a have a rewards system that for most people will mean filtering funds that could otherwise be used for cash back only to treat these people like a second class citizen.

  Changes and delays are common place in all forms of travel but leaving it until the last possible moment so that a customer has almost no way of making alternative arrangements is totally unacceptable.

  In the relatively short amount of time I’ve been an Avios/BAEC collector I have nothing but praise for the programmes but these stories have made me think that you cannot be sure where you’re going to sit until your bum is on the seat. This needs to be sorted.

• Will says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:43

  Let’s be balanced about how we look at this.
  There will always be a situation where the cabin is full (other flights cancelled etc) and overbooked and I can sympathise with the concept of bumping down redemptions ahead of cash tickets for commercial reasons.

  What really needs clarification is the compensation for that downgrade. In the instance of a companion ticket I think it should be treated as though the avios had actually been used when offering compensation and then the system seems much fairer.

  • Liz says:

    25 Feb25 February 10:21

    It does not seem to bother them that they are actively splitting up 2 people who are booked together before even asking / compensating a solo traveller. I would be more angry at being split up on a long haul flight than being given no compensation – although I would be angry about that too.

    • Caro says:

      25 Feb25 February 14:14

      I thought the whole point of 2 4 1 is you have to be in the same cabin? Talk about bend the rules to suit yourself!

• Kathy H says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:45

  I will watch this article with interest – I only hope that on the affected flights there were no staff members travelling on their “Confirmed” tickets who were not downgraded first.

  • Phil G says:

    25 Feb25 February 09:53

    We lost our quiet seats in long haul Club to BA staff and got moved next to the galley, where we got no sleep due to the noise.

• Phil G says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:51

  I have just sent this email to alex.cruz@ba.com (the chief exec).

  Good Morning

  We have been a loyal BA customers since 2010 when Virgin service standards started to drop. Exec account number xxxxx
  We both collect Avios through BA and Oneworld flights, and through the BA Amex Premier card.
  Recently we have been hearing stories of Avios flights redemptions in premium cabins (and those using the 2-4-1 vouchers) being targeted first for downgrades when you over sell the cabin.
  If this is true then can you please provide me with your policy on who is targeted, and in which order when this happens.

  Kind Regards

• Jon says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:52

  Making me a bit nervous as I’m about to use half of a 2-4-1 to book a leg of our honeymoon flights in F!

  However, just a thought here – since their logic is to prioritise redemptions for downgrade first, isn’t it more likely that 2-4-1’s would be the victims of this since there’s two pax on the same PNR both on a redemption booking? (allowing BA to accomplish their downgrade goal with only impacting one set of pax)

  I’d be curious to hear DPs of someone booking two pax together, without the 2-4-1, and hearing if they’ve been downgraded.

• Nigel says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:57

  It’s particularly galling for them to imply that avios redemptions have lower value when BA offer to sell you Avios for cash at pretty high price/point (which often only sometimes makes marginal sense if you were able to use them with a 241)…

• Phil G says:

  25 Feb25 February 10:04

  I have just sent this via internal email on the Amex website. I hope others will also do the same.

  We collect avios to use for flight redemptions and use the 2-4-1 voucher when we earn them, as you and BA advertise.

  We have recently heard stories of British Airways targeting passengers who booked this way in premium cabins, being targeted first for downgrades, when they oversell the cabin. With compensation based on the avios and not the actual cash price of the seat.(the second person’s avios is zero when using the 2-4-1 voucher)
  This practice is making us and many other people who do the same, re-consider the value of using your cards to collect avios for flights, and earn the 2-4-1 voucher by hitting a spending target.
  If this is the case then can you please provide me with American Express’s thoughts on this and wether the card’s benefits would provide proper compensation i.e not receiving the service I purchased using the card.

  • mark2 says:

    25 Feb25 February 10:22

    Remember that that will go to a call centre in India who will not have a clue what you are talking about. It might get passed on to someone in Brighton.
    I have a case open about non payment of triple MR points for an Amex Travel booking which has come up on the statement as someone else (presumably an intermediary). I have sent all of the documentation with American Express Travel all over it and they tell me it will take 7-10 days for someone to consider it.
    I am going to write to Brighton about that and I will include a separate letter on this matter. I think a mention of the ASA (not a threat) never goes amiss

    • Mister T says:

      25 Feb25 February 11:18

      Thinking about this from a personal perspective, but I only really got into the whole AVIOS points collection on the recommendation of a frequent BA traveller and the attractive offer of free upgrades and the free 2-4-1 voucher (which isn’t actually free).

      Now, I guess my c/c provider is the entity that lured me into spending thousands of £s to get a voucher, so would it be feasible to put pressure on c/c AMEX providers to compensate customers who are affected by these awful downgrades? For example, if a downgrade was forced on passengers, then the c/c companies could offer to credit people’s airmiles accounts with the equivalent cost value in AVIOS points. This would make up for the disappointment on the day of travel, but would be a better outcome overall compared to the current situation.

      Again, I’m a novice at this so please don’t be too harsh on me if my contributions are poorly informed.

• Anon says:

  25 Feb25 February 10:06

  Thanks for the moral support folks, glad to report the hassle created by BA is melting away, like Genghis says Ill focus my time on enjoying being here, hopefully our missing bag will get here tomorrow and BA will realise its important for us all to give a positive resolution.

  Meanwhile the staff here at the Conrad have been superb, even the Director of Operations and Director of Guest Rooms came to meet us in person, welcomed us back and even carried our bags off the seaplane for us, total respect for them mucking in with the rest of the staff and giving us such fantastic treatment.

  Already been snorkelling on the house reef, Titan Triggerfish and huge Stingray spotted in first 15mins at the drop off, this reminds me why I wanted to comeback after being here just 2 years ago. Heading off for the complimentary afternoon tea and happy hour shortly. 🙂

  • Anna says:

    25 Feb25 February 10:54

    Fantastic. It’s 8 degrees here and I’m just off to work! Enjoy, I have fond memories of standing in the shallows with baby reef sharks swimming past!

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