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Why would the handling agent’s system have a different baggage allowance detailed?
You’d have to ask the airline that. It can only be because of an IT error and an obvious reason I can think of is because my Bronze number was applied to the FFN field against my name during the booking. At some point, this overwrote in their system the luggage allowance stated during the booking emanating from the Silver status of the lead passenger (and subsequently printed on the e-ticket) and downgraded me to the standard Bronze allowance which is no more than a Blue or someone with no BAC or other OW membership status at all, i.e. 1 x 23kg. If the FFN field had been left empty, I suspect there would have been no issue and check in staff would have seen the same allowance as the one on the e-ticket, but this is pure conjecture on my part while trying to understand what went wrong.
The FF status of other passengers on the booking is supposed to be irrelevant as the baggage allowance arises from the status of the lead passenger and generates the allowance printed on the e-ticket. To draw an analogy, the situation is exactly the same as if you had booked a ticket with checked baggage included and when you get to the check in desk they tell you you’re on an HBO fare. You show them the e-ticket the shows your luggage allowance in black and white and they don’t want to know because their computer says otherwise, they insist you’re flying HBO and you’re done over for the airport cost of checking in a bag.
I’ll give them another week and then I’m sending the LBA threatening MCOL. I’ll be happy to present my case to a County Court judge if the airline is dim enough to allow it to get that far.
They almost certainly don’t, but the OP is referring to what he can see on the e-ticket confirmation not the e-ticket itself which is why I was suggesting he really needs to get hold of that if intending to pursue the matter.
Please clarify what you think I’m missing. After booking, BA sent the lead passenger an e-ticket with a ticket number starting with 125. The e-ticket states that this is the ticket and no paper documents will be sent. I’ve never received anything other than this document when I’ve booked a BA flight.
@Londonsteve – I would try an email to Sean Doyle at this stage. Someone on his support team will read it, and you stand a chance of getting a proper response. I think his current address is seanl.doyle@ba.com It keeps getting changed. His team obviously get fed up having to triage all the complaints.
@Londonsteve – BA operates on a piece system so that fact that the weight of two items was under the allowance for one is not relevant. The weight at 32kg also derives from your travelling companion’s silver status, not your ticket which is the obstacle to the claim.
The e-ticket stated 2 items of checked luggage at up to 32kg each. I had 2 items weighing 31 kg each. The fact that this allowance stems from the fact that the lead passenger had Silver status does not erode the fact that I had a contract with BA to carry luggage up to the allowance stated on the e-ticket, it is not ex-gratia on their part like lounge access when you’re flying on an Economy ticket. It’s up to the airline what luggage allowance they offer, they were transparent as to this allowance at the time of booking and we accepted this by booking the flight. Had the allowance been lower, we wouldn’t have booked the flight to start with.
Is it fact that the lead pax’s status is added to other pax on the booking. Asking as I am thinking of the Royal Jordanian status match and assumed I would need to buy 2 x status matches. ( its for RUBY a free checked bag on AA flights. Thanks
Is it fact that the lead pax’s status is added to other pax on the booking. Asking as I am thinking of the Royal Jordanian status match and assumed I would need to buy 2 x status matches. ( its for RUBY a free checked bag on AA flights. Thanks
It’s a specific benefit on BA that when at least one passenger is BA silver or higher, everyone on the booking gets a higher luggage allowance. Status itself is not “added” or transferred to anyone.
@Londonsteve – when you say “the e-ticket stated 2 items of checked luggage at up to 32kg each” I think you are referring to the e-ticket receipt (for both of you) rather than the e-ticket itself which is individual to you and exclusively what the agent at BUD works from.
There is a clear distinction between the baggage allowance which your ticket and status permit and any allowance to which you might nominally be entitled by piggybacking on the status of another. At MCOL these sort of niceties really matter. You are essentially suing BA for the non contractual baggage allowance of another; that’s a tall order!
You won’t get to present your case to a county court judge as almost all aviation cases are now heard on the papers.
There is a clear distinction between the baggage allowance which your ticket and status permit and any allowance to which you might nominally be entitled by piggybacking on the status of another. At MCOL these sort of niceties really matter. You are essentially suing BA for the non contractual baggage allowance of another; that’s a tall order!
If I log in to MMB in order to procure the e-ticket pertaining to me, it says I cannot log in as all the flights have been flown. This is potentially earth shattering stuff, that we cannot rely on the e-ticket receipt and in fact need to interrogate the e-ticket pertaining to each passenger to avail ourselves of accurate information. If this is BA’s position, I struggle to see how this would stand up in court as BA is required to engage in responsible commercial practices which include informing future passengers of anything important pertaining to their flight which would include the route, flight times and luggage allowance. To 99.99% of passengers, the information contained in the e-ticket receipt is gospel, I’ve never heard of someone going into MMB to separately download their e-ticket in case it shows a different luggage allowance to the one on the e-ticket receipt.
Regarding the aspect of contractual entitlement, we’ll have to agree to disagree. Once a booking confirmation is issued with a 125 ticket number, the contract has come into being. I’d love to receive a judgement that states that I, a passenger with a valid ticket, didn’t have a contract with the airline and therefore the case is struck out. What would prevent them denying me travel on the basis that I’ve no contract with the airline, even though my ticket is paid for and ticketed? The media would have an absolute field day, much to BA’s discredit.
Furthermore, if your legal reasoning is in fact correct, surely the easy option is to get the lead passenger to sue. There’s one easy way of finding out and that’s to take it to MCOL at a cost of £35, an amount of money I’d be happy to lose at this point. The claim is no way vexatious and nor would I act unreasonably at any point, therefore I cannot expect an award for expenses against me and, naturally, I would robustly challenge any attempt to do so.
@Londonsteve – there is a difference between your ticket and the baggage allowance that attaches to it, and in this case the baggage allowance potentially extended to you by another party’s status.
I think you may be under some misapprehension as to how these MCOL cases go. It really doesn’t feel like an appropriate use of the court’s very stretched resources. CEDR would seem a more suitable forum if they would accept the case.
The claim isn’t vexatious as such but it’s moving in that direction and I think it’s easy to imagine a district judge wondering why on earth this case is before him. I really would try to resolve with BA.
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