EXCLUSIVE: Here are the British Airways plans for new service improvements in 2022

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• r* says:

  3 Feb3 February 15:44

  Thing is, this is the airline that not only actively removed the ability to get a refund online while making it impossible to get through to the call centers and then actively disabled a workaround to get a refund online.

  Those acts were dispicable.

  • TimM says:

    3 Feb3 February 15:52

    Agreed. I still have a FTV that I know will take me a day off on the telephone to use. No business should be allowed to operate like that. Accepting a FTV was an act of generosity on my part that was not in any way reciprocated.

    • VerdantBacon says:

      3 Feb3 February 17:06

      YMMV but I’ve called BA 3 times in the last week, on the BAEC “if you’re overseas” line and gotten through right away. The first time I was actually caught off guard and didnt have my BAEC number or booking reference ready as I was planning to do it while on hold.
      I called right at 8am on that number and have had no problems at all, I thought it might have been from the service improvements to the contact centers that they mentioned in an email last week

  • Richie says:

    3 Feb3 February 16:58

    ….and are such actions in contravention of the Consumer Rights Act 2015?

  • Gavin454 says:

    3 Feb3 February 17:05

    Exactly. They are yet to put back the functionality that existed for years before the pandemic (refunds calculated online and processed instantly). Promising that “ba.com will be improved to allow more customers to amend their reservations without calling” doesn’t even seem to suggest they are going to return online refund functionality. BA’s 24 hour refund policy used to be a great benefit, but is now almost useless if you don’t want to waste a couple of hours trying to get through to the call centre in order to action it.

    • Lady London says:

      3 Feb3 February 22:17

      This. This what you’re saying, Gavin, as we know BA disabled existing longstanding functionality to submit refund requests that was functioning.

      The fact that the Chief of BA is now standing up and saying it’s going to take so much time to put back this functionality that is doubtless still there, they just disabled it, makes anything else BA is saying will take time, less believable.

      • meta says:

        3 Feb3 February 23:14

        It happened overnight last time. I am sure they can switch it back again overnight.

• DoogieDoo says:

  3 Feb3 February 15:51

  Laughable really if this is the best they can come up with. Ensuring there’s enough food and drink on board – woopdidoo!!

  Sounds to me like an exercise in rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. I’m burning my Avios off and my revenue spend will be going elsewhere.

  • chris says:

    3 Feb3 February 17:35

    As an airline its better to think that they are rearranging the armchairs on the Hindenburg.

• Chris Rout says:

  3 Feb3 February 16:41

  I won’t be holding my breath on this one. Once the Avios / Vouchers are used, we are off to another air line company.
  The demise of BA is amazing. The company once had a marketing slogan stating “ The world’s favourite airline” with which stating it’s the worst airline company ranked down with Ryan air.

• Youllnever says:

  3 Feb3 February 16:59

  Nothing about overhauling the BA lounges, which is in a sad state.

  • Mike says:

    3 Feb3 February 17:40

    Lounges, what lounges. He says with MAN being his local airport.

    • NorthernLass says:

      3 Feb3 February 17:52

      Lol – I’m not even going to bother on my next BA flight – going to have a leisurely and far superior breakfast at the Hilton Doubletree instead!

  • Andrew J says:

    3 Feb3 February 19:23

    Someone on here said they enjoyed 5 hours in Galleries Club at T5 the other day – which was a certainly a sentence I was surprised to read. Can’t imagine anything worse than spending even half an hour in a Galleries Club lounge.

    • Aston100 says:

      3 Feb3 February 21:55

      T5b was a good experience in December.
      When was the last time you went into that one?

      • secretsquirrel says:

        4 Feb4 February 05:50

        T5B definitely the only BA T5 lounge we would ever go in now.
        A delayed flight meant it was busier than normal last weeks but after that it was a relaxing atmosphere.

    • Track says:

      4 Feb4 February 01:57

      Galleries South T5 are actually pleasant.

      Not crowded and cooked food brought to the table. However, pre-pandemic it was a zoo with hardly anywhere to sit.

      Once numbers are back, the lounge staff will not be able to cope and food orders start to take 40 mins if the system is kept.

    • yorkshireRich says:

      4 Feb4 February 05:26

      That was me. At varying times there was literally me and the wife in.
      We did then go to galleries south and was pleased I had read the reviews on here beforehand and chose the lounge at 5B.

  • ChrisC says:

    3 Feb3 February 19:25

    LHR was done in around 2019/20

    LGW was a brand new space when there opened in 2017 (or was it 18)

    And off the top of my head EDI was refurbished as well.

    • bonvoy_traveller says:

      4 Feb4 February 00:30

      Heathrow has never had a lounge refurbishment since T5 opened in 2008 apart from some new carpet here and there.

      When T5 opened they actually had some nice furniture but as that became worn out it’s just been replaced by bland chairs.

      Heathrow T5 lounges are in dire need of a full shutdown for a complete revamp.

      • ChrisC says:

        4 Feb4 February 01:12

        Not true. It has.

        • Rich says:

          4 Feb4 February 08:38

          Perhaps you are thinking of the Concorde Room which had a spruce up, but nothing more.

• Steve Chambers says:

  3 Feb3 February 18:45

  I wish they’d go back to a trolley service in Club World. The 2019 service took an age with crew running backwards and forwards to the galley with every item of the meal/drink. I know they are trying for a restaurant vibe but it doesn’t work on an aircraft with passengers wanting a drink sooner than 40 minutes after take-off and a lie-down before nearly three hours have passed.

• 1ATL says:

  3 Feb3 February 19:13

  “Ensuring there’s enough food and drink loaded for everyone” screams the eptimome of luxury….. call me old fashioned but this should surely be considered a basic requirement?

• David says:

  3 Feb3 February 21:29

  I’m looking forward to the “plant-based menu” for a real luxurious lounge experience 😋

• David says:

  3 Feb3 February 22:38

  They need to get lounge back open at MAN and reintroduce a northern network option rather than total shuttles. The old GB airways was the perfect model imo

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