Compensation for broken entertainment?

[normanna]

On my flight to Dubai a few days ago I had no access to any entertainment. Even after a reset then a full reset I had nothing. When I spoke to the manager to please log the issue so BA would be aware when I contacted them he said he would but because there were a couple of spare seats elsewhere then BA would do nothing. Is this correct?

[NorthernLass]

I don’t think they would check whether there were any spare seats (though was moving not an option, out of interest?) There used to be a standard amount of compo like 5000 avios for this so it’s worth filling in the online form.

[Thegasman]

If your seat won’t reach horizontal in CW/First then it’s 50k Avios but they definitely check if there were spare seats in this scenario & won’t pay out if moving was an option.

Whether they would bother arguing about this for the ?10k Avios you get for no IFE I don’t know. It’s very easy for them to check seat map & see if anything was available though.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[JD]

Thegasman wrote:

If your seat won’t reach horizontal in CW/First then it’s 50k Avios but they definitely check if there were spare seats in this scenario & won’t pay out if moving was an option.

Whether they would bother arguing about this for the ?10k Avios you get for no IFE I don’t know. It’s very easy for them to check seat map & see if anything was available though.

I was travelling DXB to LHR on a redemption, my daughter’s seat was completely broken i.e. no power at all – not a big problem as the cabin crew could manually release it into the lie flat position (and vice versa), but annoying nonetheless.

BA gave me a GBP 400 ‘voucher’ for this inconvenience. I am now thinking that I should go back and ask them for 50k avios instead…

Anyone else got any data points or thoughts on this?

[normanna]

Thanks. I was in WP Plus and all 3 middle seats entertainment was broken. I didn’t want to move as I had all 3 seats to myself and I’m always really unfortunate that someone reclines to the max in front of me for the entire flights so I didn’t want to move from the front row.

I will send an email and see what happens. I expect that when I pay for a seat it should work correctly.

[Tom2]

If the equipment is broken and you refuse to move to a seat that is available and working then i would hope you wouldn’t get compensated if i am honest. Unless you paid a fee to specifically sit in the front row in which case i would push for that fee to be refunded/AVIOS compensation.

[Carlos]

When on EK business flight the ICE system kept rebooting and so did the handset, I thought a picture would be enough evidence. Customer Services said as I didnt raise this to a member of staff onboard, to log the complaint they would not uphold the complaint, hence lost potential points. The other resolution was to move seat which you did not allow them to offer you by not raising it, so I dont think they will compensate you.

[PointsChaser]

normanna wrote:

Thanks. I was in WP Plus and all 3 middle seats entertainment was broken. I didn’t want to move as I had all 3 seats to myself and I’m always really unfortunate that someone reclines to the max in front of me for the entire flights so I didn’t want to move from the front row.

I will send an email and see what happens. I expect that when I pay for a seat it should work correctly.

I think everyone expects to get a seat that works correctly but if you refused to move, then it was your choice not to have a working seat.

[normanna]

Just an update to this. BA have responded with an apology and will credit my account 5,000 Avios.

[Lady London]

PointsChaser wrote:

normanna wrote:

Thanks. I was in WP Plus and all 3 middle seats entertainment was broken. I didn’t want to move as I had all 3 seats to myself and I’m always really unfortunate that someone reclines to the max in front of me for the entire flights so I didn’t want to move from the front row.

I will send an email and see what happens. I expect that when I pay for a seat it should work correctly.

I think everyone expects to get a seat that works correctly but if you refused to move, then it was your choice not to have a working seat.

PointsChaser wrote:

normanna wrote:

Thanks. I was in WP Plus and all 3 middle seats entertainment was broken. I didn’t want to move as I had all 3 seats to myself and I’m always really unfortunate that someone reclines to the max in front of me for the entire flights so I didn’t want to move from the front row.

I will send an email and see what happens. I expect that when I pay for a seat it should work correctly.

I think everyone expects to get a seat that works correctly but if you refused to move, then it was your choice not to have a working seat.

PointsChaser wrote:

normanna wrote:

Thanks. I was in WP Plus and all 3 middle seats entertainment was broken. I didn’t want to move as I had all 3 seats to myself and I’m always really unfortunate that someone reclines to the max in front of me for the entire flights so I didn’t want to move from the front row.

I will send an email and see what happens. I expect that when I pay for a seat it should work correctly.

I think everyone expects to get a seat that works correctly but if you refused to move, then it was your choice not to have a working seat.

PointsChaser wrote:

normanna wrote:

Thanks. I was in WP Plus and all 3 middle seats entertainment was broken. I didn’t want to move as I had all 3 seats to myself and I’m always really unfortunate that someone reclines to the max in front of me for the entire flights so I didn’t want to move from the front row.

I will send an email and see what happens. I expect that when I pay for a seat it should work correctly.

I think everyone expects to get a seat that works correctly but if you refused to move, then it was your choice not to have a working seat.

Especially if someone got a decent seat by planning, or luck or buying it, why should they have to accept a worse seat im order to have entertainment working?

If I was willing to move I would expect my seat reservation fee to be reimbursed. But sometimes I would have carefully planned in order to get that seat for free and sometimes I could have been just lucky. Doesn’t mean I should be obliged to move because a basic heavily marketed feature of J is not working for my seat. I’d expect full compensation whether I accepted to move or not.

[Aston100]

normanna wrote:

Just an update to this. BA have responded with an apology and will credit my account 5,000 Avios.

That sounds a bit tight-fisted of them.
I recently received 10k Avios because my seat belt wasn’t working properly and also the food was not very nice.

[jj]

I’d pay a lot more than 5,000 avios to be on a flight with no entertainment system. I’d much prefer a good book, a view out of the window and some pleasant company.