CONFIRMED: Here are the passenger improvements coming to British Airways

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• Chris Green says:

  5 Feb5 February 17:36

  I am not that bothered about any of the above BUT they need to have a system were somebody actually answers the phone and it doesn’t take hours or even days of phoning to talk to someone if you have a problem or for that matter buy a ticket NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

  • swifty says:

    5 Feb5 February 21:51

    truth!

• Calz says:

  5 Feb5 February 18:05

  Improvements needed
  BA cancelled my flight and offered earlier one as alternative. As flying down from Edinburgh needed to now arrive night before to make new flight. Spoke to exec gold line and as BA cancelled, the agent said I could stay at hotel near Heathrow and claim as expenses and asked if acceptable. I agreed.
  Contact BA after returning and put in a claim for expenses. Email 4 days later telling me the agent gave me incorrect information and my only options were to cancel for refund or accept change to flight and pay for hotel out of own pocket so won’t pay expenses. agent shouldnt have given me that info and no expenses will be covered. That’s poor and misleading. Have to now take this further as that’s not acceptable. Have asked them to reconsider. If they don’t, what is my next option? Thinking formal complaint and then ombudsman?

  • meta says:

    5 Feb5 February 20:34

    You were given wrong information. Flight has been cancelled. Start a MCOL claim against BA. Send a letter before claim to BA’s legal department. Read up on UK261/EU261 rights on the forum here.

  • TimM says:

    6 Feb6 February 07:33

    I had exactly the same experience. Change of flight time requiring an overnight at Heathrow, told to claim afterwards, claim subsequently refused. Thankfully I had a record of the first ‘customer service’ agent telling me to claim and so was, eventually, refunded. The next time I will just arrive and tell them to find me a hotel & transport.

• Lady London says:

  5 Feb5 February 22:43

  This sort of rotten (and illegal) treatment by BA is a lot of why Sean Doyle standing up and promising poorer service than we had before and how long it’s going to take British Airways even to do that is just not impressing us.

  Since they are now not honouring what they said personally I would go back to travelling on the original day and consider telling BA (1) to connect me on another airline as close as ooss to original time f they cancelled their own flight (you have that right UK261 / EU261) or (if you can arrive later) if they refuse that (illegally, but they will refuse bur make the point by asking) then remind them you will be claiming all meals (£25pp no alcohol is fine at Heathrow) plus any overnight required at Heathrow Hotel etc as per duty of care EU261 / UK261. Doubtless all that will cost them more than the offer they made and are now trying to withdraw

  You didnt have to accept travelling earlier and you only were willing to accept the inconvenience based on hotel promised. But if they insist on withdrawing it then BA will sadly end up paying more.

  @meta I’ve got a nasty feeling EU261 doesn’t actually refer to a duty for the airline to pay for hotel if the passenger chooses an earlier flight. I think it just refers to that duty if the flight ends up being later. In this case the airline had offered though which is fair but threaten them politely with the above if they insist on reneging and follow @meta advice to get it.

  • Lady London says:

    5 Feb5 February 22:48

    …so if they won’t pay for night before hotel, under your EU261 / UK261 rights they will end up paying for 1 or more of : another airline’s flight, later hotel night instead of earlier, plus 1-3 full meals during waiting time. Likely to cost them more than just 1 earlier hotel night.

    • meta says:

      6 Feb6 February 00:23

      Just re-read OPs post, but I think you might be right @LadyLondon, he didn’t arrive later, but rather earlier. However, also it already happened and things are now limited in what OP can do.

      If UK was still in the EU, then the recent rulling on duty of care and cancellation for flights brought forward (treated as cancellation and full assitance under article 8&9 should be offered) would have applied.

      You could also put it the other way round, if the OP chose to travel the day after and not the day earlier then BA would be responsible for extra duty of care plus delay compensation. The OP therefore limited the damage caused by BA by flying a day earlier.

      I think the UK judges can still consult the new ECJ ruling on EU261 should they wish, so I’d put in a claim. BA might not want to test it in the UK. So a nicely written letter before action to the legal department mentioning briefly the new ruling could likely result in them agreeing to cover expenses without you having to fork out MCOL fee.

      Failing that, I’d try and claim on S75 via credit card that you paid the ticket with. You can argue that their cancellation and bringing flight forward has caused you financial damage purely under consumer rights and as they are jointly liable, you are asking them to pay up as BA refuses.

  • TimM says:

    6 Feb6 February 07:43

    BA’s line was that they had given me more than two weeks notice, offered an earlier connecting flight (not later) and I could take a partial refund, only for the leg that had changed!

    • meta says:

      6 Feb6 February 08:38

      There is no such thing legally. Duty of care applies regardless when the cancellation/changr occured.

• gordon chalker says:

  6 Feb6 February 06:04

  Maybe the the staffing levels have already been increased at BA. As I had a positive test for covid 2 days ago and had to cancel a 2-4-1 voucher for a CW flight to Las on 09/02/22 Submitted online and received a future travel voucher within an hour (it said within 7 days) with a future expiration date of 30/09/23. Happy as original 2-4-1 voucher was expiring in June this year. Thanks rob burgess for you email and help with this. Much appreciated.

• Stuart Andrews says:

  6 Feb6 February 07:55

  The sad reality is that BA plays casually with its cancellation policy, and seems to think nothing of advertising flights and then cancelling just outside of the 14 day compensatory period. Alternatives seem rarely suitable for business traveller or commuter, but by the time of cancellation, the cost of other carriers has increased, . This has happened all four times I’ve booked on the LHR-BRU route (Sunday). I’ve now permanently switched my loyalty to Brussels airlines and Eurostar

  • Lady London says:

    6 Feb6 February 22:14

    @Stuart Andrews even if they cancel before the 14day window this just avoids compo it does not avoid duty of care. Duty of care means they have to provide or pay your chosen replacement flight regardless of any increase for flight cost in the market. Can be your choice of next available flight on any airline or your choice of any later date. No cost to you. You get to choose they don’t. That’s the law.

    You have 6 years to claim but best to do so as soon as you realise you can.

• Mary Rogers says:

  6 Feb6 February 13:50

  In my experience mobility assistance at terminal 5 Heathrow is absolutely appalling. Booking a wheelchair in advance is obviously necessary, but availabilty is minimal. Also last time I had to use the “service” was told by the woman “assisting” me that she could not take me to aircraft door, as she had sunburn on her legs and it was against health and safety rules. So was left at top of tunnel to virtually crawl down tunnel with hand luggage. If they offer the service, which they do, then they should appreciate people who need this service should be looked after properly. They have after all paid for their ticket, the same as everyone else. I have put in a written complaint everytime and never had the courtesy of a reply or comment. Am having to travel again soon and will be requesting the service as walking very difficult. Not looking forward to the experience. My departure airport, Larnaca, give absolute superb mobility assisstance. Can’t fault it.

• Marco Biagini says:

  6 Feb6 February 19:02

  This is just another publicity stunt, and I believe it when I see it. Their call-centers are useless, as many have stated. Their service in Business and First is appalling, especially on the A380; some FA’s barely have pubic hairs; I know it’s some form of mixed old and brand new crew members, but the implementation is awful. Then there is Heathrow; while I realize that BA has probably not much to say on how the airport is run, it’s every time a nightmare. While flying BA with several stops and transferring, barley any problems at any other Airport; Heathrow is at level 100, and they will confiscate items that were no issue at any other Airport. Then everything flying through LHR is more expensive than any different route you can take. At this point, good customer service is a thing of the past and we just have to deal with idiots and incompetent managers that are clueless about how Airline Ops work. Unfortunately, I have so many Avois points that I booked a Trip to Switzerland and South Africa for later this year.

• John says:

  6 Feb6 February 21:37

  BA8488 from AGP to LCY. Diverted to Gatwick despite planes before and after getting to LCY fine. 1 hour to disembark, let alone clear immigration/baggage claim, and no real advice of how to claim transport costs home. Not enough meals for Club Europe during the flight, either. Asked for crisps instead, and told they had 1 bag (which had Coca Cola spilled all over it).
  Guess they can add “arriving at intended destination” as a future service improvement…

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