Why I just lost £104 (and nearly £416) to BA’s stupid new baggage policy

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• Tracy says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:01

  We are going to SRI Lanka via Chennai in November. I used my Lloyd’s Avios Upgrade voucher to get to India and booked a separate revenue flight from there to Colombo on SRI Lanka Airlines as they are Oneworld. Now we have to collect our luggage we will have to buy visas. To make things worse as it’s a 16 Day trip we will need two transit visas each! Unless anyone knows a way around this?

  • Genghis says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:06

    Only one person collects the bags?

    • Tracy says:

      22 Mar22 March 10:58

      I hadn’t thought of that. It might help and I’ll just have to pay for one lot of Visas. Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:43

    SriLankan, on the way back, may let you off and check through. There is zero chance of BA doing this outbound though.

    • Tracy says:

      22 Mar22 March 11:00

      The trouble is Rob, I can’t take a chance of not getting a visa in case SRI Lankan won’t check the luggage through. I don’t know what would happen then.

  • Nick says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:52

    I flew to Sri Lanka with my 89 year old Mother for Christmas last year. Like Tracy I had booked a CW return to Chennai with BA using 241 and then onward flight with Sri Lankan also as an Avios redemption. This was booked in January 2016 so before the luggage rules changed. When the rules changed I phoned BA and explained that my Mother can’t walk very far and was booked for wheelchair assistance and it would be extremely stressful if we had to collect bags and recheck in. I was told that the check-in supervisor has the authority to override the rule in exceptional circumstances but they could not guarantee it would be overruled. I could not take the risk of the bags not being checked through and having no transit visa so we both had to apply for and buy a double entry transit visa which require an in person visit to the visa application centre near Paddington in London. (Tracy – after spending an age on the consular service hotline at premium rate price they confirmed we could each get one double entry transit visa. However note that the required photos are not standard U.K. Passport size and they reject the application if the photos are not the exact irregular size specified on the form – they have a man with a ruler at the reception desk who checks this and when I was there was turning away numerous people to go to a photo resizing place about 20 min walk away) . At First Class Check-In at LHR I explained the problem, my previous phone conversation and asked for the supervisor. The rather unfriendly lady then disappeared for 5 minutes and came back and said she had spoken to the supervisor and that the luggage could not be checked through in any event due to security restrictions at Chennai and that it was out of BAs hands. This was a lie as the immigration officer in Chennai later told us we should not passing through immigration twice and that our airline should have checked the bags straight through. At Chennai the process of clearing immigration collecting luggage and and transferring along a long bumpy road in the Indian heat with my mother in wheelchair and the porter taking a devious route so he could get outside of CCTV range to demand tips (not permitted for disabled assistance porters) was horrendous. It was so stressful for her that at one point I wondered whether Mr Cruz might have the first death on his hands as a result on this ludicrous policy.

    The return leg seemed to start well and Sri Lankan checked the bags right through to London. We were clearing immigration in Chennai anyway as I had booked rooms in Hilton hotel due to the long overnight transit time and we just had our hand baggage with us. At crack of dawn the next morning when we reached security, we were intercepted and taken to one side and told there was a problem. We were then escorted to BA check-in area where we were told BA had intercepted our bags as they do not accept checked through bags on two separate bookings. We were then made to wait for about an hour before our bags arrived at the BA check-in desk – the check-in staff were getting really worried as they thought we might miss the flight. Eventually bags arrived and we were rushed through immigration and security with my Mother in her wheelchair and onto the plane where we were suddenly given substitute boarding passes in the rear of the two CW cabins and told it was because my originally allocated seat’s entertainment system was not working. During the flight I walked up to the forward cabin and my original seat which I had booked months before to find it occupied with someone happily watching a movie – so another BA lie.

    It made for very stressful travel – and you have to question whether BA properly think through the ramifications of some of their policies or just don’t care if their customers are inconvenienced. I’m a BA Gold Executive member and it doesn’t make me feel very valued.

    • Arun T says:

      22 Mar22 March 09:18

      That sounds horrible! Surely in situations as per the above, it would make more sense for BA (cost wise) to just check the bags through, let alone making it easier for you.

      • AndyF says:

        22 Mar22 March 10:23

        BA is a disgrace.

    • Tracy says:

      22 Mar22 March 11:08

      Thanks for sharing your experience even though it is not a good one. I don’t think I can get a double entry visa as this has to be used within 15 days and we are going for 16 days. I really wish I had done this differently now but I will lose the upgrade voucher if I change it. I like the idea of one of us dealing with the luggage (my husband of course!!). Can anyone anticipate any problems doing this – one staying airside?

      • Scallder says:

        22 Mar22 March 13:06

        Tracy – you need to be careful with the baggage allowances as if only one of you goes landside, I’m not sure they would let your husband check luggage for you on your ticket without you being there?

        • Tracy says:

          22 Mar22 March 13:14

          Good point. Something else to think about. Thank you.

    • Ro says:

      22 Mar22 March 22:14

      Of all the BA horror stories we get to read about regularly… this is one of the worst…. have you been able to get any compensation?

      • the real harry1 says:

        22 Mar22 March 22:18

        I think when they stole my free booze & food on RFS flights was slightly worse

• JamesW says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:04

  BA have become thieves, not just a LCC.

• Anna says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:13

  Yet again BA making life difficult for its customers who have to connect from regional airports. As well as the stupid baggage rules it seems that if you are booking a CE or CW flight with a connection, you either have to book your connecting leg in that class (so paying more money and/or avios) or book the two legs separately – which will cause you to fall foul of the new baggage rules. I’m starting to think this may be more than a coincidence!

• Phil says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:22

  We all sound surprised that BA want the rules to make as much money as they can. Even when they get caught rigging prices & collusion.
  My policy now is to only use them if I have to until I all my avios are redeemed, and use Qatar.

  • BA Sucks says:

    22 Mar22 March 09:53

    This has been my strategy. After being BA Gold for 8 years, since last August, all I’ve been doing is burning through my stockpile of Avios points. RFS in Europe; Cathay, JAL, and domestic AA – where good value can still be had. I’ve given my revenue bookings to KLM instead. Although still not sure whether OneWorld or SkyTeam is the better option.

• Peter says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:22

  BA and other carriers conveniently changed the surcharge reference from ‘fuel’ to ‘carrier’ so that when the fuel price dropped they didn’t have to reduce the surcharge. They could easily absorb these surcharges into the fare but don’t because it would mean redemption tickets would become a lot cheaper!

• Michael_S says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:25

  Rob, can you request an interview with cruz? Clearly a lot to discuss. Not sure these guys follow this site or FT

  • Rob says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:45

    I have been invited to an event with Cruz but I am in Hong Kong. Anika is going instead. I have been told that Cruz is being kept away from the media at the moment though (have you seen him recently?).

  • Nick says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:51

    Have you heard Alex cruz speak or read what he says? There would be very little point, he is vapid and out of touch. Just look at some of the guff be comes out with, and ask yourself ‘could I imagine David brent saying this?’. Mistake of the month; we are not a low cost airline (but cutting costs is in our dna); I interrupt meetings and cancel them if I think they are pointless (against a backdrop of BA errors and service failures). And i am fairly sure that his boasting about bypassing procedure to recruit someone is a plan appropriated directly from the brent book of management. And why are they now charging for the drinks cart on-board? Because ‘customers asked for it!’ of course they did, Mr trump. He thinks he is doing a great job – although the fact he is not getting a bonus would suggest some grown ups believe otherwise.

    In any case you are only going to get BA-speak from him. I really don’t see the point – actions shown louder than words and the customer experience has declined markedly since he arrived.

    • Nick Anon says:

      22 Mar22 March 09:02

      I actually don’t want to say this for risk of tempting fate but…
      It is natural progression that constant cost-cutting will eventually end up with safety measures being cut. I’m sure that safety is effectively ‘ring-fenced’ and out of reach of Donald Cruz, but I am absolutely sure he has tried.
      Just got my first 241, I will use it, then actively avoid BA.
      I doubt Cruz bothers to read this or FT, or even cares what we think, but other management do, and they will be itching to get his job……

• Clare says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:32

  I got stung for that for a flight later this year – BA saw fit to charge me a fuel surcharge connecting OFF a Qatar flight in CPH on to BA back to LHR. £50. It was pay that, or have to wait round for six hours CPH.

  Surely this is theft?

  • Polly says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:50

    Clare, we too were facing a long wait at OSL off a QR HKT flight, they refused to change our avios J 241 to an earlier flight, l had forgotten the rule within 24 hrs no avios changes. They wouldn’t budge. So checked on line, and found loads of RFS seats in Y to Lhr, just booked 2 and were in the lounge ten minutes later. Def worth forfeiting those later J seats. When l was on to the call centre, it was a Sunday, they wanted a cancellation fee, no return of avios etc, and the BA chap, to give him credit said it was cheaper and better for us to just buy new Y RFS seats, which we did. Bet they sold our J seats later for about 400£ pp. l saw the price on line. Unreal thievery.

    • John says:

      22 Mar22 March 08:16

      It is hardly thievery when it is in the terms and conditions that you agreed to but forgot.

      Also, your situation has nothing to do with BA imposing extra surcharges on connecting itineraries, but with the refund rules of Avios tickets. While it turned out that you could have actually waited until you got back to OSL before booking your return to London, you could also have booked both the earlier and later flights in Y, for roughly the same price as a single J ticket.

      Why should BA be responsible for rebooking you on a 2-hour flight if QR’s 12 hour flights are delayed? I think the £50 that Clare paid is a fair amount for insurance against QR delays, although it isn’t marketed as such.

      If Waitrose charges £2.50 for a sandwich and £1 for a drink but you have to pick them up from separate aisles, whereas they bundle up both next to the tills for £4 and clearly advertise that it could also be 50p cheaper, is this also theft?

      • Polly says:

        22 Mar22 March 10:16

        John,
        I am not saying BA should have changed us, l only asked as a possibility, perhaps as long standing silver members that they might oblige! Not unheard of but, obviously in current conditions they don’t want to show such care. In CPH they suddenly bent the rules one time as they had a school party, so we were changed to suit them! So it does happen. Actually, we were offering first in person, then on the phone, to change to Y seats! We didn’t even ask for J seats, none left! We are very easy going folks and would happily accommodate people, like Anon had to do on his recent J trip. They would have subsequently sold these J seats for a very nice profit, am sure. So win win for BA. Yes you are correct, hindsight is a great thing, we could easily have bought two sets of Y seats, but again, l feel that’s selfish if someone else was in the same sit as us, they might need to be able access them. But of course there are solutions. My only point was customer service and care, it would have been a nice gesture, is all!
        You appear strangely critical….

• Neil says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:39

  Worth remembering that not all O/W carriers are imposing this rule:

  In Feb I flew HKT to KUL on one ticket with Malaysian airlines, then 6 hours later on separate ticket KUL to LHR with BA. In HKT they were more than happy to check our bags through all the way, but was I was expecting them to say no. Just a lucky day?

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