British Airways strike: the cancelled flights which are not actually cancelled

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• Chrisasaurus says:

  25 Aug25 August 08:30

  Not to be that guy but there is an argument for not having your children’s names on their bags, same argument for not putting dogs names on collars…

• Rob says:

  25 Aug25 August 08:44

  Code works fine. I just tried if again on both a personalised and non-personalised one and it took £5 off. BANKHOLIDAY20 all capitals.

• Derek Scott says:

  25 Aug25 August 08:55

  From a PR perspective, I think BA would have wished their Centenary was a different year. Sure, their come up with a new Club Suite, new aircraft, new food and service tweaks, and retro painted aircraft.

  What the public will remember is IT issues, disorganised disaster recovery, strikes, and botched strike planning management.

  Happy Birthday? Meh!

  • Jack says:

    25 Aug25 August 09:05

    Totally agree!

  • Doug M says:

    25 Aug25 August 09:37

    The thing is the screw-ups are becoming an annual event. They need to address the IT issues, because that just piles on the misery. Strike is what it is, but the cancellation emails for flights not cancelled is very very poor.

• Neil Thompson says:

  25 Aug25 August 09:34

  I wonder how they decide who gets the birthday points. I flew with them yesterday and received the hard chocolate. It’s my birthday today but no points 🙁

  • Ian says:

    25 Aug25 August 09:36

    Happy birthday 🙂

  • AJA says:

    25 Aug25 August 09:53

    Happy Birthday to you. You should receive a notification in your BAEC account if you receive the 9000 Avios as a birthday present. (Based on experiences of others on FlyerTalk).

    https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1984196-ba-s-birthday-2.html

    • Lady London says:

      25 Aug25 August 11:02

      Can I change my birthday please ?

      • AJA says:

        25 Aug25 August 14:24

        I don’t see why not, follow the Queen’s example and have two, your actual birthday and an official one. 🙂

• Ian says:

  25 Aug25 August 09:35

  Once upon a time, people understood that the words ‘liar’ or ‘lying’ are powerful words with very specific and profound meanings for an individual or organisation. These days of course, they’re banded around on the back of anyone’s conspiracy theory or when something happens that disrupts or which doesn’t match someone’s personal point of view of how things should be. There is plenty that BA can be criticised for in this. But they haven’t ‘lied’ to anyone. They’re guilty of making IT mistakes – which, undoubtedly, have had serious implications for some people – and they’re guilty of not having the right checks and balances in place to avoid those mistakes. But it’s utterly ridiculous to accuse them of a ploy to deliberately send out emails saying that flights are cancelled when they are not. All the sound and fury from the perpetually disgruntled is really irritating now.

  • Doug M says:

    25 Aug25 August 09:39

    I agree. But what they do to put right the consequences of their mistake is how they should be judged.

    • Lady London says:

      25 Aug25 August 11:05

      Don’t worry IME if they do have to pay out anyone for the cost of the non-recoverable costs they had to pay out due to BA’s notice of cancellation (negligent) , such as non-reimbursable hotel costs, non-refundable travel and local excursion costs, extra cost of higher replacement air fare on another airline, etc., you can be sure British Airways would try their hardest, short of court, to pay out only if they also got a gagging order (and IME it would be a fight to recover all such costs from them).

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    25 Aug25 August 09:47

    Agree, frustration has got the better of a number of posters who have degenerated into hyperbole and fantasy

    Of course that same behaviour will get you to be leader of a western country, so….

  • TripRep says:

    25 Aug25 August 10:02

    Disagree

    BA Customer Services knowingly spread inaccurate falsehoods regarding their liability for compensation under EU261 laws, especially for downgrades.

    Deliberate misinformation constitutes as lying.

    So yeah, Happy Meh Birthday

    • Chabuddy geezy says:

      25 Aug25 August 12:38

      I agree with trip rep. Other examples would include their lack of transparency over recent other IT failures.
      They also spread misinformation about the pay of mixed fleet cabin crew when they went on strike.
      BA also likes to present service cuts like buy on board as enhancements that customers asked for. Alex Cruz said buy on board was a huge success despite a lack of training for staff and constantly running out of food. He later back peddled on this when it was met with incredulity from customers.
      The management of BA have created a culture of misinformation, it’s not surprising customers are refusing to give them the benefit of the doubt again.

      • Anna says:

        25 Aug25 August 13:22

        Also trying to fob me off by telling me my 5 hour delay in June was not due to a technical issue with the aircraft! I agree that sending emails in error is incompetence rather than dishonesty, but some BA staff are clearly trained to lie in order to avoid their responsibilities on occasion, e.g. “Your flight was delayed due to a problem with the jet bridge”, “We don’t re-route people on different airlines”, “You are not entitled to change mpensation on this occasion”, and my personal favourite (not), “That is not possible” (in response to a request for something which is actually perfectly possible).

        • Anna says:

          25 Aug25 August 13:24

          “Compensation”, even! My iPad has a mind of its own.

        • Shoestring says:

          25 Aug25 August 13:28

          you can be sure there are plenty of charts in the BA compo office detailing what % of compo claims have been dismissed without payment this month etc

          ‘And star employee of the month in August was Josh, who managed to knock back 93.5% of compo claims and came up with some novel BS procrastination for reply #1 that has been adopted as a template by the whole team’

• Andy says:

  25 Aug25 August 09:44

  OT – I’ve got an Amex Platinum which I know is good for car hire benefits. I am a non driver but going on holiday with a family member who will be hiring a car for us for a couple of days. I’m guessing the answer is now but is there anyway I can book or use my car hire status benefits/platinum insurance for the car hire?

  • Harry T says:

    25 Aug25 August 11:31

    The driver won’t be covered by the car hire insurance that comes with Platinum unless they are the primary card holder or a platinum supplementary card holder. And their name will need to be on the rental agreement, if they are a platinum/supp platinum card holder.

    As to status benefits, I am unsure. Usually the person booking is a driver.

    • Genghis says:

      25 Aug25 August 15:16

      I suggest having a look at the policy (Harry T included).

      “These benefits apply to drivers named on the rental agreement which You are named on, subject to a maximum of 5 drivers.“

      Where “you” means the “insured” and

      “Insured” means (i) Cardmembers and their Families, (ii) Supplementary Cardmembers and their Families and (iii) grandchildren of the Cardmember or a Supplementary Cardmember who are under the age of 25 and travelling with anyone insured under the Card Account.”

      • bsuije says:

        25 Aug25 August 22:19

        That does imply, however, that Andy will have to hire the car and a second driver will then need to be added (or the main driver is the family member and Andy is second driver – same result). That often carries a premium, though there are some ways to get around that. I cannot remember off the top of my head whether the Hertz status that you get with Plat gives a free second driver? BA status (all or just Gold/Silver?) gets you a free second driver when you hire with Avis through avisba.com.

        • Genghis says:

          26 Aug26 August 07:01

          Only one of the “insured” needs to hire the car, not necessarily the OP himself. We don’t know who the family member is or whether they are indeed “insured”.

      • Harry T says:

        25 Aug25 August 22:37

        Thanks, I stand corrected.

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        26 Aug26 August 14:48

        But if th OP doesn’t drive I fail to see how he will be named on the rental?

        My emphasis, your quote genghis:

        “These benefits apply to drivers named on the rental agreement **which You are named on**, subject to a maximum of 5 drivers.“

        • sean says:

          26 Aug26 August 15:24

          Where “you” means the “insured” and

          “Insured” means (i) Cardmembers and their Families, (ii) Supplementary Cardmembers and their Families and (iii) grandchildren of the Cardmember or a Supplementary Cardmember who are under the age of 25 and travelling with anyone insured under the Card Account.”

          Understand that bit as well!

        • Genghis says:

          26 Aug26 August 17:03

          Some people… no wonder all of the questions on here to do with insurance when people can’t even read basic agreements.

        • Genghis says:

          26 Aug26 August 17:07

          To explain further, OP doesn’t need to drive if you read the agreement properly. If he is the main card holder, hmay have given a supp to his brother and the brother’s son aged 19 can be a named driver and be covered.

• MW says:

  25 Aug25 August 10:19

  Their handling of this is shambolic. I’m one of those flying on the 11th and got a cancellation message. Looked at the options online and the red flight made me suspicious because it did not appear cancelled despite the email. Tried calling BA Bronze line and could not get through.

  Checked other flight options for contingency and sure enough the flight is still going but at 3 times the price. Figured it must still be going so left it at that. Later yesterday got an email about error.

  IT issues are ongoing but how they handle them abs make whole customers who cancelled and rebooked elsewhere will be how they get judged. In wondering if they did it accidentally intentionally to free up space on the first day after strike but may be I’m too cynical.

• Fc99 says:

  25 Aug25 August 10:27

  Their penny pinching approach to their IT systems is clearly still going well.

  • Si says:

    25 Aug25 August 10:41

    That not Rupee pinching??

    • Dev says:

      25 Aug25 August 12:08

      Given that the rupee is getting stronger to the failing pound, I believe it would be more appropriate to call it penny pinching. The rupee and the denizens of the country that has the currency are benefiting from the smartly turned out incompetence of the Walsh Cruz Model!

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