British Airways call centres to remain in-house following staffing changes

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• Geoff says:

  30 Mar30 March 08:30

  OT re the ever-controversial e-Rewards. My account no longer works. I have read about them having purges of allegedly ‘undesirable’ accounts previously so wasn’t totally surprised. BUT I also notice that BAEC and Avios are no longer listed as reward partners on their web site.
  So 3 possibilities:
  (1) IT Glitch
  (2) I’ve been purged
  (3) They’ve dropped BA and Avios (Iberia plus still listed but AFAIK you have to be invited).
  Anyone else noticed any of this?

  • Ade says:

    30 Mar30 March 08:41

    It was working ok last night, finished a couple of surveys and redeemed 2,000/6,500 avios, direct to an avios account

  • Hugh says:

    30 Mar30 March 08:43

    I have just logged in on the back of reading your comment and my account all looks fine and redemption centre suggests I can still get Avios.

  • mark2 says:

    30 Mar30 March 08:47

    Agree that E-Rewards is very annoying. I used to think that it was better than Rewards for Thoughts because you still get some points if you do not qualify. Recently, however, this happens rarely which I think is the survey owners gaming the system by returning different codes rather than E-Rewards, but a complaint fell on deaf ears.
    I have still got Avios and BAEC listed although they have changed the system again and now only allow credit to an account (any account) once per 60 days.

    • ankomonkey says:

      30 Mar30 March 15:29

      They’re both owned by the same people now.

  • David says:

    30 Mar30 March 08:53

    Hi – avios, BAEC and Iberia still options for me. Have struggled slightly in the last couple of months to do enough to get the 15k points/month I need to guarantee my £5k avios/month haul, but appears to be picking up again.

  • Geoff says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:34

    Thanks all – looks like I’ve been purged.

• Lax says:

  30 Mar30 March 08:49

  So just to confirm, if we have an existing United flight, we can go online or call them and ask for the flight to be credited to our Avios account (I think that the number is the same as a Aer Lingus account)

  • Rob says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:09

    An avios.com account number, yes.

    • Kathy says:

      30 Mar30 March 12:24

      Just don’t expect anything to credit any time soon! I credited a NY return on United to Aer Lingus last August and nothing has turned up yet.

• damian says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:03

  not a totally related Q but pls can anyone help (I can’t find a clear answer elsewhere here or on the BA site):

  What’s the cheapest option for having a flexible tkt to Europe? Going non-refundable with a budget airline is not for me as tickets are > £100, would it be better paying the Avios re-booking fee on rewards Flight?

  I thought it may be using Avios reward flight and then cancelling / rescheduling with a notice >24hrs, but:

  I can’t work out the charges (unclear) on BA site (for a Blue BA status)- if I cancel or change the 13,000 Avios tkts online more than 24hr prior to departure, do they charge me £15 + £35 fees and (refund / re-book Avios) or not? Is that per booking or per tkt (I’ll be booking for two passengers)?

  thanks a lot!

  • Rob says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:08

    It is £35 per person OR the taxes paid, whichever is lower. This means, for a one way, you actually only pay £17.50 per person as that is the RFS tax figure.

    Booking a few Avios tickets for consecutive days is probably cheaper than booking a changeable flight.

    • damian says:

      30 Mar30 March 10:33

      thanks!

• pblondon says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:24

  I am in the Conrad now.. as a Diamond member they upgraded my room to Exec. and offered me the 31st floor.
  Great service, same drinks and a bit more food.
  The decor is very conservitive and reminds me of an older Marriott!
  I also have access to new 4th floor lounge sion to be refurbed.
  They tell me if I do not book an Executive room or above in future I will not get to the 31st floor.
  I will still get 4th floor lounge and posdibly room upgrade.
  Good thing is a 6pm check out for a 10.30pm departure London.
  For this reason I would book again.
  Note, I tried for late checkout at different hotels.. eg. Parkroyal on Pikering- 2pm with Club room for members -Lounge to 6pm access to pool etc
  Swissotel Stamford- Pay for exec room plus half the rate to stay to 7pm
  Carlton – pay for club plus room + half room rate- stay until 7pm but the guy on reception offered me 10pm
  as he was being nice.
  Needless to say I stayed at the Conrad for tha last night.
  I also asked the Hilton and the receptionist there trained at the Conrad- he knew they would do 6pm
  if they could.
  Hilton – stay until 2-possibly 4 but no lounge from start if afternoon
  tea.
  I obviously had too much time on my hands!
  Hope this helps.

  • Cate ⛱️ says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:46

    Thank you pblondon. Useful to know.

• David S says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:25

  BA call centres are definitely behind the competitors. Last time I rang BA Gold line, it took them around 40 minutes to answer. American Airlines phone lines were answered within 4 minutes and Iberia the same and I think they are both 24 hours, unlike BA. Can’t see BA sorting it out anytime soon though.

  • Riku says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:45

    the lack of 24h service is very annoying. once I could not check in at Helsinki for a HEL-LHR flight because BA had messed up my reservation and I had a reservation but it was not ticketed. I could do nothing because check in at the airport isn’t run by BA itself and the call centre in UK was not open. I sat next to check in trying to find any open phone numbers until check in closed and the plane went without me. Once the call centre was open they rebooked me on the flight that evening and I claimed 400e denied boarding compensation.

    • sunguy says:

      30 Mar30 March 19:22

      Try using skype or Google hangouts to call the US BA number – 1-800-AIRWAYS – they will gladly help you out (usually!)….

  • AndyGWP says:

    31 Mar31 March 19:56

    Likewise, I had a big wait on Gold, and not the answer I wanted when I phoned up so hung up, dialled again… another big wait and same agent!! Hung up again and dialled Silver line… straight through (and the answer I wanted) 😉

• Lewis King says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:26

  OT; thread on FT showing most F availability has been wiped from 2019 onwards. A quick check and I can confirm lots of routes seem to have it missing. Bug or sign of things to come?

  • George says:

    30 Mar30 March 10:21

    BA? Matches my experience, been trying to pick up F from USA to UK and no matter where I originate I can’t find a single ticket in Feb/Mar 19

    • Stu N says:

      30 Mar30 March 10:53

      Was looking at flights to Far East for this sort of time next year and what there was in F has now vanished completely. Let’s hope it is a glitch and seats reappear.

      (There was decent availability around this time last year – just back from Hong Kong which we booked in April ‘18).

    • Leo says:

      30 Mar30 March 23:00

      Yep noticed same thing – I’ve looked for Asia and the US. Nothing in 2019 at all.

• Richard says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:36

  OT – I’m an Amex Plat holder looking to refer a friend for Gold. How many points will I get for referring them to Gold? The site suggests that I might get 18,000 for referring them for any card (other than a basic card), including Gold, BA, BA PP, SPG, etc… Is this really the case? It’s not how it was a year or so ago — you could only refer for other MR cards and the number of points you received depended on the card that they take out.

  • roberto says:

    30 Mar30 March 10:10

    Yes.. Currently 18k from a Plat to a Gold..

  • Olly says:

    30 Mar30 March 10:31

    I referred a friend who got Gold and received 18000 for having Platinum whereas when I had the Gold card it was only 9,000. I don’t think it matters what card the other person chooses, you still get 18,000 but I’m not 100% sure on that bit.

    • mark2 says:

      30 Mar30 March 11:20

      yes you get 18,000 for referring from Platinum (for five referrals).
      This does not seem sustainable to me, but I do hope it is sustained.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    30 Mar30 March 13:56

    I just referred myself for SPG and got 18k

• Dale says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:36

  I think the Hilton headline is a bit sensationalist, where’s any evidence that this is any change to the future of Hilton lounges, simply one instance where a property might have two lounges in future, but Diamond benefits will still be honoured.

  As a diamond earned the hard way, I think Hilton offers a great product and at a good price – Hiltons in London especially are generally very well priced against the opposition and many have decent lounges – I use Hilton Wembley a lot and for the extra 20 minutes on the Tube it can be half the price of a central location – with a great Exec lounge – albeit there are swathes of flats being built around Wembley Stadium that will ruin the view !!

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