British Airways – incompetence from end to end

[Mick S]

Are all the airlines really this bad, or is it just British Airways?

Bearing in mind this itinerary had already been disrupted (BA294 being changed to Air Belgium, and no first class offering) and involved a fair amount of admin getting this re-arranged.

On Friday I was due to fly on BA296, Chicago to Heathrow, then Heathrow to Manchester on Saturday afternoon. Dropped off the rental car at the drop-off point at around 5.00pm and then jumped onto the monorail system to take me to the terminal. Quick check of the phone and noticed an email from BA at 4.58pm to inform me that my flight had been cancelled and I had been rebooked onto BA294 the following day. Initial though was I had nowhere to stop.

As I was already on the way to the terminal I decided to go to check-in to see what was going on. Lots of people already in the line, and a sign on the check-in desk to advise that BA296 check-in would begin at 6.00pm (9.15pm flight). Other people in the line had not received an email, so I decided to call British Airways whilst in the line, I wasnt sure what was going on at this point. Call was answered pretty quicky, but the agent was clueless, and didnt know what wasa going on. I was put on hold for a while, at which point the check-in desk had opened.

The agent at the desk had a look at the booking, said everything was ok and it was probably an IT error which produced the email at 4.58pm. Checked-in baggage was tagged up and off it went. Then the agent put her head in her hands and said she had made an error and noticed what the problem was. The reason I had the cancellation email was due to the connecting London to Manchester being cancelled and literally no other connecting flights to Manchester that day.

I explained I would take BA296 as planned, I really need to keep my times and dates on track as I had committments for Sunday 16th, I also didnt want the added aggravation of being put up in a hotel and then having to come back to the airport the day after. If neccessary I would end my journey at the Heathrow and make my own way home. Either way, my bag needed retireving from the conveyor belt system before anything else could be done – I would need it for either the emergency hotel or BA296. After several calls from the agent to various people my bag reappared at the check-in desk around 30 minutes later. The agent had to retrieve it herself.

So, back to the position I was in at the start. I explained I wanted to take this flight as it was still operating. The agent spoke to a manager in an office behind the check-in desk, after more conversations between the manager, the agent and myself I was advised that BA would arrange train tickets from London to Manchester and I could collect these from the customer services desk at Terminal 5. She even advised what train times were available and the tickets would be “business” on the train. It was now 7.30pm, I had been at the check-in desk for a long time but now it was time to relax. No fast-track security, long queues, but I did make it to the lounge to grab a drink and try to relax for a few minutes. Due to inclement weather the flight was actually delayed. This 9.15pm flight didnt actually leave until 11:48pm and landed at Heathow at 12.51, although the doors didnt open until 1.00pm.

Off to baggage reclaim, after considertable time it was clear my bag wasnt going to appear although I knew it was at a T5 thanks to the air tags. Off to the customer service desk near carousel 8 and waited in the the first class/business queue which was understaffed and going slower than the economy queue. It was confirmed my bags were in T5 but the agent in Chicago had checked them to Manchester on the rearranged flight which she hadn’t advised me about. My understanding was that I was collecting my bag at T5, then collect my train tickets from the desk, and off I go. The agent had even told me all the notes about the train ticket were on my booking, so I’ve no idea what she was thinking when she decided to check my bags to Manchester. My bag needed to reclaimed from wherever it was being stored, and would turn up at carousel 11 in around 60 minutes. In the meantime the desk were then looking into the train ticket situation.

The desk agent advised that BA dont sort out train tickets. I mentioned to them that notes were on the booking and all this had been sorted out in Chicago. Blank looks, confusion, phone calls etc and then I’m told that BA do actually sort out train tickets but not to Manchester. (I think it was Edinburgh and Leeds only). I needed to arrange these myself and put in a claim online for reimbursement.

I was reunited with bag at 3.25pm. With some drinks/food vouchers I went off the shops to grab a few items and work out my journey home. I took the underground, and then caught a train home from cental London, I was back home at 8.00pm. Totally fatigued I just went to bed.

Since getting into Avios and points collecting I’ve not flown long haul with any other airline so I’ve no recent experience with what other airlines are like right now, I can only talk about BA. In my opinion, with the exception of the cabin crew the entire operation (IT systems, schedulers, agents on the phone, desk agents, check-in staff) is an absolute shambles. They have brought a new level of incompetence to the travel experience. Everyone seems clueless, everyone needs to speak to someone else, everyone has different ideas on what is correct. No one seems to be able to get the task done correctly in a timely manner.

Add on a donestic connection and the rate of itinerary breakdown/disruption/total chaos doubles. This is my 2nd long haul flight of the year, of the four legs travelled three of these have had major issues. I’ve been a solo traveller on both these occassions.

Next month we fly from Manchester to Heathrow, then Gatwick to Punta Cana. This is our family summer holiday and I’m dreading what BA have in store for us. Solo stress to a degree is manageable but it’s something I don’t like to share with the family.

I’m actually considering cancelling and just taking the £35 per person cancellation fees – I’m not sure I can actually be bothered with it all. The last 36 hours or so have aged me several years. I think I’m done with BA now – I’m on the 2 year break from AMEX just now so I have no vouchers to use – I think I’ll just use up the Avios with other arlines now.

[Richie]

If I get any short notice change/cancellation advice from BA or any airline, I always check other sources to find out what really is going on. Flightradar24 is very useful for this. When you get a clearer picture you can request what you want and go from there.
BA will always be like this, their IT is poor and won’t be fixed anytime soon.

[dougzz99]

Couple of things. Firstly for long haul try other airlines, you’ll have mixed results but at least your know what’s out there. Secondly, and I hope you take this in the way it’s intended, that really wasn’t that bad for the way things are now. That sort of chaotic and random customer service is normal in almost all industries now, and if that stresses you beyond a certain point, you either have to learn to be more relaxed, stop flying, or find an airline that consistently gives better results, good luck with that.

As you have to connect anyway you have some options avoiding BA, as you mentioned Chicago I’ll assume primarily USA. I think Virgin fly MAN to Atlanta, and then take a domestic connection from there on Delta to just about anywhere. Flights to AMS and then KLM, CDG and AF, or Frankfurt and LH. Another option is Dublin, with the advantage of Pre-Clearance and many US options from there. On short haul in my limited experience outside of London BA are noticeable absent in anything other than flights to London, so you’ll get better results with Easyjet for example, and pay for the things you like in regard baggage, seats, boarding. I use BA/AA more than any other airline, crediting to BAEC, but that’s the game in London.

Lastly if you found the crew an exception to the general indifference of BA, you possibly got lucky there, they’re really nothing special these days, with lots of inexperienced members, and nothing like pre-pandemic.

[Anna]

It is exhausting and frustrating when something like this happens, but it doesn’t mean your LGW flights will necessarily be disrupted (I think I would drive to LGW the day before rather than risking MAN-LHR disruption which is a very real possibility – are you doing the whole thing on the same day?)

There is good evidence (including IM own E), that BA will pay for a taxi between LHR and MAN in the event of a domestic cancellation, so it’s something to factor in when formulating a Plan B!

[JDB]

While I am sympathetic to your awful journey and BA made a number of mistakes, I’m afraid you didn’t help yourself. Once you get a cancellation email, it’s important to gather all the relevant facts before discussing options with BA, so you could for instance quickly have ascertained the long haul flight was not cancelled. After all the initial problems at check-in, when the agent retrieved and then ? retagged your bags, I think most people would watch the agent and the tags like a hawk and check the receipts were correct and showed only LHR. Third, I wouldn’t rely on a BA ageht in London, let alone a distant outstation to arrange my train tickets such that you have no real knowledge and would inevitably have to queue to collect them with a minimal prospect of finding them.

On that basis, I wouldn’t rush to cancel a BA trip.

[Richie]

If you can find a good alternative holiday non-stop from MANchester, I’d cancel.

[Chris R]

We had a similar experience when booked on LAS-LHR-EDI. Two days before we were due to set off on the outbound we got an email to say our flight from LHR to EDI was cancelled. A few calls to BA later and we ended up with two extra nights in Vegas with a hotel change (just in case BA didn’t pay up).
First night in the second hotel and we got another email to say flight home had been cancelled and we’d need to spend another night again (3rd extra night) and the whole trip had been downgraded from CW/CE to economy.
After a few stressful calls, checking our booking online (when I could get Wi-Fi) and paying a further $500 for a short notice extra night, I noticed that actually the LAS-LHR flight was operating as normal and we could simply switch to a later LHR-EDI option.
We obviously chose this, but begs the question as to why BA IT would default us to a 24 hour delay and downgrade instead of a 2-3 hour delayed connection? Surely the compensation cost difference is huge for them!

Anyway, we got us resolved, enjoyed our extra two nights and BA paid out within 7 days of returning home.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

I would not choose to take a family holiday which required a MAN-LHR then transit to LGW and a separate flight.

See if there’s a destination you fancy that is non-stop from MAN or LPL?

[Froggee]

That totally sucks. Flying just now sucks. I feel a massively elevated level of stress before flying en famille because flying sucks. By myself I’m fine but my wife switches off when with me (coz I’m logical and all over the logistics) so I end up being responsible for all four of us.

Having to connect also sucks so when you’re in the provinces, you generally have a choice (short haul) of point to point with a low cost carrier (which sucks) or connecting with BA (which sucks).

If you’re based near Manchester at least you have a reasonable selection of civilised point to point long haul options. That would almost be my starting point for where to go.

In terms of other airlines, they generally seem to be less of a dog’s dinner than BA operationally but when things go wrong they can be worse. And Heathrow/Gatwick have four advantages in a worst case scenario for me (1) I know my way around (2) I can always get back from there using ground transportation (3) most people speak good English (4) I know a fair few people in London well enough to ask for favours.

So although I suspect the chance of misconnects etc is higher with BA than it is with other carriers the trauma it would inflict on me is lower.

Sadly your story doesn’t stand out as being particularly bad despite being awful. As others have said you need to plan for things to go wrong and when they do, do the legwork yourself in terms of remedies. The last misconnect we had as a family, before speaking to Customer Services, I’d already discussed with my wife whether the preferred option was to make a dash to LCY for an earlier flight; spend the night at Heathrow; or get home at midnight (with two young kids).

This allows you to make the best of a rubbish situation.

But if you fly you will encounter rubbish situations and you need to accept this or not fly.

[dougzz99]

Froggee wrote:

.

But if you fly you will encounter rubbish situations and you need to accept this or not fly.

This.

[Alex G]

Always useful to have as much information as you can get before interacting with BA agents, and plan ahead.

I always use Flight Radar 24 when I am flying, to see what aircraft has been assigned to my flight and where it is currently. FR24 would have told you that your flight to LHR was operating.

[Lady London]

I would not have let the checkin agent retrieve my bag telling them I would sort it out in London or Man

[AJA]

That sounds stressful but is the norm these days with BA with any regional connections via LHR.

My advice in these situations is not to panic but to take a look at what options you have available before rushing into contacting the airline. You usually only get one bite of the cherry and it pays to look at things calmly. I think you jumped to conclusions re the cancellation of your ORD-LHR flight (understandable but incorrect).

As for the upcoming holiday if you don’t feel it’s worth the effort of travelling to LHR and then getting to LGW why don’t you just book any other airline from MAN. You could even fly Tui directly to PUJ. But there are plenty of other options avoiding LHR / LGW.

That said I don’t think PUJ is all that marvellous anyway so I’d consider going almost anywhere else. YMMV. I have the same thoughts about the USA – I think it’s over-priced and generally underwhelming and I avoid the country. I think a lot of people think the same given the current spate of tv adverts trying to encourage us to book holidays to the place.

I also don’t understand this obsession with sticking with BA if people think it’s as bad as they think it is.

[BJ]

Lady London wrote:

I would not have let the checkin agent retrieve my bag telling them I would sort it out in London or Man

I totally agree and, whilst not wanting to be unkind to the OP, I do feel that much of the faff here was caused by @Mick failing to do that. The original comments are clearly laced with frustration an annoyance; if this was also on display it was nevever going to help what might have already been a flustered check-in agent. All the other stuff mentioned (wet leases, cancellations, delays, weather, IT) are common to all airlines and not unique to BA whom I would be surptised if they were close to the worst in any category.

@Mick, I’ve just had four flights with Bangkok Airways this year. Two were cancelled costing me double the original travrl costs, one was subject to a 2h schedule change, and the fourth last week delighted with a nerve-jangling aborted landing in a thundedstorm. Sometimes, we’ve just got to go with the flow, play the hand we are dealt as best we can without causing ourselves undue stress, and sometimes stuff happens too that we just have to laugh-off and put down to experienve. Travel’s more than a bit messy these days as tge industry emerges from the pandemic but over the long term on all airlines things go as they should most of the time.

[memesweeper]

Alex G wrote:

Always useful to have as much information as you can get before interacting with BA agents, and plan ahead.

This — along with similar comments above — is correct.

The fact it is necessary is shocking. The agents should be the experts, not the customers. I’ve had a recent cancellation (and recovery) and voluntary same change change with United (both in-airport, at desk) and it was a marvel of excellent customer service backed by experienced, helpful and adequately trained staff. Nothing like BA.

[zapato1060]

BJ wrote:

Lady London wrote:

I would not have let the checkin agent retrieve my bag telling them I would sort it out in London or Man

I totally agree and, whilst not wanting to be unkind to the OP, I do feel that much of the faff here was caused by @Mick failing to do that. The original comments are clearly laced with frustration an annoyance; if this was also on display it was nevever going to help what might have already been a flustered check-in agent. All the other stuff mentioned (wet leases, cancellations, delays, weather, IT) are common to all airlines and not unique to BA whom I would be surptised if they were close to the worst in any category.

@Mick, I’ve just had four flights with Bangkok Airways this year. Two were cancelled costing me double the original travrl costs, one was subject to a 2h schedule change, and the fourth last week delighted with a nerve-jangling aborted landing in a thundedstorm. Sometimes, we’ve just got to go with the flow, play the hand we are dealt as best we can without causing ourselves undue stress, and sometimes stuff happens too that we just have to laugh-off and put down to experienve. Travel’s more than a bit messy these days as tge industry emerges from the pandemic but over the long term on all airlines things go as they should most of the time.

This was nice. cheers.

[Mick S]

memesweeper wrote:

Alex G wrote:

Always useful to have as much information as you can get before interacting with BA agents, and plan ahead.

This — along with similar comments above — is correct.

The fact it is necessary is shocking. The agents should be the experts, not the customers. I’ve had a recent cancellation (and recovery) and voluntary same change change with United (both in-airport, at desk) and it was a marvel of excellent customer service backed by experienced, helpful and adequately trained staff. Nothing like BA.

interesting comments, thanks for the feedback. in my defence

1) I’m presented with a cancelled flight email whilst at arriving at the terminal – BA’s email should actually reference which flight has been cancelled. Opportunities to start googling, looking at flightradar, making phone calls are limited – i was already at the desk, I’m not in a hotel room with decent wifi and a laptop. I’m roaming with crap roaming signal, congested non-existent airport wifi, and usual airport chaos.

2) other people checking-in hadn’t had an email, so this causes confusion

3) I queried that my bag had a LHR & MAN luggage label / tag – agent advised that when the bag is scanned at LHR, the MAN part of the journey would ‘fail’ as the flight is cancelled, and that the baggage handler would just put the bag on the carousel at LHR. Obviously nonsense as it turns out.

4) if the check-in agent is speaking to a manager and telling me that train tickets will be sorted, even quoting times and names of operators, who am I to query this.

5) check-in agent clearly out of their depth – is their an expectation that the passenger should be more knowledgable that the staff ? if so, then something is seriously wrong with the process.

However, I’ll be better prepared for the next BA disruption / “sh*t show next month. I’m quite happy to take the cancellation fees and sort something else out, but the family are keen to keep the holiday as planned.

[NorthernLass]

Are you doing the whole outbound on the same day or travelling MAN-LHR the day before?

[Mick S]

We are travelling the day before, stopping at the Hilton Gatwick. We will make our own way from LHR-LGW.
So one way or another we will be in LGW for the day of international departure.

[memesweeper]

Mick S wrote:

We are travelling the day before, stopping at the Hilton Gatwick. We will make our own way from LHR-LGW.
So one way or another we will be in LGW for the day of international departure.

I wouldn’t cancel the whole itinerary on the basis of one, albeit terrible, experience. But if things go south, do your own research, and assume everyone at BA you speak to is incompetent. That way you won’t be disappointed.

I used to fly a lot with BA. When things went wrong, they were sometimes hopeless, occasionally brilliant. Do your research, and be prepared to make your own arrangements, but do some research before you phone up and ask/go to the desk — and sometimes it all “just works”.

My last long-haul out of Gatwick was with my family, after a gazillion cancellations and reschedules due to covid. I said multiple times “I won’t believe this is happening until wheels up!” to the kids. Ten minutes after we leave Gatwick our aircraft is struck — hard — by a falling object. Our flight crew assess the damage and fly on — saving our much-delayed holiday. On arrival in Costa Rica the damage is reviewed and the plane grounded. Return cancelled, much woe at airport for returning passengers. Eventually a replacement windscreen is flown in via Jamaica. Bravo BA flight crew and engineering for the decision they made on that day.

I hope you and the family enjoy your trip as much as we enjoyed ours.