What can the British Airways ‘You First’ team do for you if you are booked in First Class?

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• daveinitalia says:

  18 Mar18 March 06:20

  “Much of the value used to be in booking spa treatments or cabanas in The Concorde Room lounges in London and New York, but these features no longer exist”

  I used a cabana last week! They became available again about a year or so ago. I don’t know if YouFirst can book these anymore, but they certainly let GGLs use them if they’re free on the day (they had a list of bookings so it must be possible to reserve them somehow).

  • VinZ says:

    18 Mar18 March 08:36

    I called the other day. They said you can’t prebook but cabanas are now first come first served.

• tontoro says:

  18 Mar18 March 07:11

  I’ve only called it once, at 4am, when my 9am flight to Houston was cancelled. It was diverted to a non UK call centre, but was picked up quickly and I was rebooked to my satisfaction within a few minutes.

• Rich says:

  18 Mar18 March 07:35

  I phoned them for the menu for my flight… I was super excited only to find out it had been replaced by “brunch “

  £5,000 for a waffle… no thanks BA.

  • C2K77 says:

    18 Mar18 March 08:09

    How long in advance was this? It may have changed since the penny dropped that the meal penny pinching “we” asked for apparently annoyed us all.

• C2K77 says:

  18 Mar18 March 08:07

  As with you @Rob I used them to book cabanas, advanced menus etc. whilst outside their purview ( not concierge agents) I did once call a couple months ahead of an F booking when I became aware BA were about to roll out their 100th anniversary amenity kits. Forget who was currently making them at that point or if they’re still the provider off the top of my head but SWMBO was a fan of the brand so I asked if there was anyway one could be squirrell’d away and given instead of the centenary one. Was told it was a very long shot and best not to expect it. But low and behold said branded bag was sat on her seat upon boarding.

  I think I lucked out & was pushing it a bit but I also think that if reasonable & practical then You First do proactively try to go the extra mile.

• Alex G says:

  18 Mar18 March 08:52

  I called them last year to amend an existing avios booking. The woman who answered asked me for the booking reference, and told me “I shouldn’t really do this cause you have called You First, but I will this time”. When she asked what change I wanted to make, I told her I wanted to move from J to F as Avis availability had opened up. She didn’t apologise but she sounded embarrassed. Not great customer service TBH.

  • John says:

    18 Mar18 March 09:35

    Perhaps you could have just directly stated you wanted to upgrade a redemption to F instead of making an ambiguous statement.

    • Alex G says:

      18 Mar18 March 10:28

      I could have done that. But I believed I was giving helpful information by stating the reason for my call, which was to amend an existing booking. I expected to be asked for my booking reference in return, which I was. The next logical step would have been to ask what the amendment was that I wanted to make. If at that stage it had transpired that I was not a First passenger, then the call handler could have pointed that out, or given me the appropriate number to call. She dealt with the situation poorly.

      Giving someone a long spiel when they answer the phone is not generally helpful Feeding them the information that they need when they need it usually works best.

      People in customer service should listen, not assume. And yes, like most people, I have worked in customer service.

      • Tom says:

        18 Mar18 March 13:30

        My take is that if you are not already in F then you cannot use that service.

      • Lady London says:

        18 Mar18 March 14:11

        I’d hsve opened with “I want to amend my bookng to First” as whether you’re entitled to call them is far more important than the function you wish to perform

        • Paul says:

          18 Mar18 March 15:28

          How about they simply say good morning /afternoon etc my name is, how can I assist you? The problem is they are so up themselves that the assume everyone is pulling a fast one.
          The assumptions BA staff still make about people is shocking

• cats_are_best says:

  18 Mar18 March 09:05

  About 4 months ago an F flight had a severe delay and other issues, I submitted the usual ba.com comp/complaint form.

  I was surprised to be called back to advise that they had received it, then another call a few days later to say statutory comp+some Avios were on the way, both paid/credited within a few days.

  No idea if it’s You First involved, but definitely a much faster/better response than when I have the same issue on J/CE flights… for the last one, eventually the comp was paid, but then weeks more elapsed with no sign of the Avios, only got them when I prodded BA.

• Mark says:

  18 Mar18 March 09:28

  The only time I used them was to request a LHR-JFK F menu last July. Requested via the online form a week in advance of the departure date. To this day I’m still waiting to receive it.

  • Tom says:

    18 Mar18 March 13:32

    Personally I would not tie up a help line just to ask for a menu.

• nectar collector says:

  18 Mar18 March 09:54

  Would definitely recommend using them for any First bookings that can’t be done easily on ba.com eg booking with a GUF. In my experience they really do know the ins and outs of this, including looking for rare availability on AA flights, booking straight into into First A class on unicorn routes like LHR-SYD with a 2 4 1 and a GUF etc

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