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I told him to grab the jar. What else do you want?
I was in the Virgin lounge at Man Piccadily station once and watched a lady empty the entire basket of biscuits and the entire basket of packets of crisps into her bag.
Not a HfPer! We wouldn’t bother for biscuits and crisps.
The word ‘chav’ sprang to mind. Thing is Virgin rail prices were more than virgin atlantic prices…. and now it’s Avanti they’re 50% higher.
Chav aside, if the alcohol bottle is opened then its fair game.
Not a HfPer! We wouldn’t bother for biscuits and crisps.
Even if were just intended to be amusing, I’m not sure it’s a great compliment to HfP readers to suggest they are only higher value pilferers.
What’s remarkable about this thread is that anyone should think it necessary to crowdsource what it is or isn’t OK to nick from a lounge and is slightly strangely referred to as “etiquette”. When one considers the apparent demographic of the site, it is amazing also to see posts telling people to send a bill to BA for a Boots meal deal or other trivial costs. Those same people will no doubt be complaining about the BA customer relations system being slow.
Recent Friday evening visit to Lhr T5 North saw someone with a carry on case knelt on the floor having emptied all the fruit bowls & crisps into it – must have been 30 oranges.
@JDB I intend mine only as humorous but wont be surprised if cases actually exist. My worst is probably a bottle of water or a can
@Aquarius12 Absolutely absurd and my humour may be off but I burst out laughing 😀@JDB why would you not buy food and drink in the terminal and bill the cost to BA?
If you bought a ticket for Club Europe it comes with a “complimentary” food and drinks service, though if you really believe it is complimentary rather than in included in the price of your ticket you really are gullible.
The reality is that in this case they were giving out vouchers in lieu of service on board at check in but for whatever reason OP didn’t get a voucher which is perfectly possible if travelling with hand baggage and checking in online so easy to bypass a physical check in desk.
So it is perfectly reasonable to buy a sandwich, drink and crisps and bill BA the cost of doing so.
What surprises me is why BA can’t simply have a stack of vouchers at the lounge entrances and hand them out as you check into the lounge. That would be a much higher hit rate than the check in desks.
@AJA because it’s just so petty, I have better uses for my time and it makes BA’s job more difficult which is bad for everyone.
Life is full of little complications, inconveniences and setbacks and that’s just the way it is and I don’t think one should expect to be compensated all the time. Travel is a big luxury and If someone can afford to travel in Club, they can afford to pick up the odd minor cost here and there. If you buy some fruit in the street because the fruit at your hotel breakfast wasn’t any good, will you be billing that to the hotel?
@JDB BA is a big business. I think it can and should be able to handle things like this. I made a decent practical suggestion on how to ensure more business class passengers receive vouchers when they are being handed out.
I am also not advocating taking food and drink from lounges and buying a Boots meal deal. It’s one or the other in my book though I would not be surprised if some people do both.
You are free to not do things such as this that you deem petty. I am also free to do the opposite.
Thankfully you are not the head of customer service at BA as you’d likely deny customers many more things that you deem petty and inconsequential.
And I’ll thank you not to infer that I would also be likely to complain that BA’s customer relations system is slow. If you do believe that would you care to give me some evidence?
Edit: And I definitely would not buy fruit in the street and bill it back to the hotel. But I would complain to the hotel that their food is of poor quality. If they are going to offer it it should be a decent standard. Note that I would be doing so not in the expectation of compensation but merely because feedback both positive and negative is a good thing.
@JDB I’m sort of with you but if there are no consequences of offering for catering in club then they will continue to think they can get away with it
I’d be far happier if they proactively said sorry for their lack of planning with some Avios or dropped the voucher into a place on the BA app instead they’re being sneaky and I must go and find them somewhere convenient for them in order to get anything.
It’s crap customer service and crap customer service should be met with the proper feedback. Let’s not forget they are selling their services!
Hmmm, I think the message about no food or drink pinged before the flight might be my fault! I tend to suggest process improvements when complaining for a 10k Avios bonus. I have definitely pointed out that if they can text to offer free checkin of cabin bags on a busy flight they could also alert passengers to a lack of food and drink while the passenger is in a position to purchase some (my issue was in Economy)
@JDB I’m sort of with you but if there are no consequences of offering no catering in club then they will continue to think they can get away with it
I’d be far happier if they proactively said sorry for their lack of planning with some Avios or dropped the voucher into a place on the BA app instead they’re being sneaky and I must go and find them somewhere convenient for them in order to get anything.
It’s shit customer service and shit customer service should be met with the proper feedback. Let’s not forget they are selling their services!
On my work trips, flying economy between Edinburgh and London (especially to Heathrow where onboard offering is non existent), I’ve poured my champagne to take away coffee cup with a lid and took it on board. There, I said it!
AJA, TGLoyalty I’m with you.
It’s annoying to have to claim due refreshments, replcement for meals missing on planes, compensation rather than proactively having accurate complete information as to alternatives or remedy provided.
But sorry JDB what you’re overlooking when you say how unclassy to claim trivial amounts, is the multiplication effect of BA’s non-provision of included services, across literally 10’s of 000’s and ultimately millions of customers.
The total of all these ‘trivial’ amounts looks like a huge saving of $$$ to BA’s bean-counters. So BA will only continue its lacking or poor provision, eg no choice of meals after Row 1 and no meals at all left after Row 2. Or forgot to load catering or forgot to load people’s luggsge etc. Or ‘Ran out of planes’ – 19 minutes before the flight.
Add this up over a summer or even just over a day and thst’s serious missing service….So lots of money saved in lack of investment that wasn’t made to offset normal operational contingency levels and lots saved in catering direct costs (plus possible financisl penalties paid to BA from suppliers) etc.
So on an individual level it’s petty snd I personally would struggle to have tbe lack of class to claim such trivial restitutions. But claim we must, to avoid BA continuing and even expanding their delivery failures.
Failure to provide promised services has to cost BA effort and especially cash or they won’t stop. We know on here this is not exceptional, it’s not once in a blue moon, it’s whole periods when BA has arranged their own misfortune (or at least not reasonably provided to combat it).
This got weird real fast 😅 I don’t advocate stealing from the lounge, but if there’s no on-board service then it’s fair game (maybe not the Grey Goose!).
A better solution would be for:
– BA to inform passengers ASAP, and provide them an e-voucher (e.g. £10 via the BA app or just the boarding card) to use in the airport
– for CE customers, instant 5k Avios as compensation plus £20 voucher to spend (or claim back with receipt via an automated system)Save a fortune in customer services, etc. Customers are happier. Cabin crew can have a well earned break. BA need more thinking outside the (black) box.
@Ihar exactly they could make it far easier but they know this way they save money!
As BA were offering “Refreshment Vouchers” which would be inconvenient to me to source, and more expensive for BA to produce, I do not think that considering taking refreshments from the lounge INSTEAD of utilising a voucher (to purchase from concessions) is in reality the theft you suggest.
BA are offering compensation for the lack of a particular service that I paid for, I was asking if it would be seen as acceptable to circumvent the formal process and save myself time and BA costs.
I find you attitude to my very open and honest question to be more than a little rude!@Ihar exactly they could make it far easier but they know this way they save money!
I agree with much of what you said above but actually I don’t think the response to an uncatered flight is about cost saving, it’s more about a lack of a proper protocol for addressing the issue. The most likely cause of the flight having no catering is a last minute aircraft swap, so BA will have paid for all the food that may get thrown away. It’s possible that the caterers failed to deliver on time or encountered some problem, but that’s very rare. Either way, BA has taken the decision to operate the flight with no catering vs a delay or cancellation which to my mind is entirely the right decision.
Personally, on a short haul flight, I am never expecting BA to feed me for sustenance purposes. The food is an agreeable way of passing the time more than anything. If BA’s decision means I get there on roughly on time I consider that a bonus rather than immediately typing out a cross email and seeking compensation for the awful suffering I haven’t endured. As for the rubbish about it being part of one’s contract or ‘entitlement’ words fail me.
I think many posters here seem to think that if something goes wrong with their flight it’s BA being spiteful, but these operational problems that cause delays, cancellations, no catering etc. are incredibly costly to BA and are actually the last thing they need from a cost, operational and reputation perspective. Some of the problems are self inflicted as they have recognised in public statements and they are working to reduce that aspect.
I haven’t personally spent any time in BA’s ops centre or the the LHR APOC but am close to people who have and the professionalism they describe is seriously impressive but the passenger rarely sees all the very complex stuff that makes the smooth journeys we all generally enjoy. Running an airline is a horrendously complex business with which I am fairly familiar but don’t now have to deal with but again, from a personal perspective, running any business has its complexities and stuff goes wrong however much you plan (and airlines in Europe suffer more external forces than most) so I have more sympathy with BA than the punters who constantly claim compensation (egged on by the junior rank posters) for complete trivia.
Personally, on a short haul flight, I am never expecting BA to feed me for sustenance purposes.
I do expect to be fed on short haul flights and budget my time spent in the airport accordingly. If I was not then I would not bother paying the extra for CE!
As such there were 2 options open to me:
1) Contact the lounge agent, get them to check and print out a refreshment voucher, use this at a concession and carry that on-board
2) Take a couple of sandwiches, packet of crisps and a can out of the lounge and carry them on boardOption 1 would involve taking up the lounge agents time (times by however many CE passengers affected) causing queues to form for lounge access and cost BA more money.
Option 2 would be against technical rules but save everyone time and money.So I do not think that it was so horrifically wrong for me to ask my original question, but in future I shall go for option 1. If you are inconvenienced by your access to the lounge being delayed as a result, please keep it to yourself.
@Ihar exactly they could make it far easier but they know this way they save money!
Just to be clear I didn’t say that. Stuff happens. Just make it easy for people – especially on 3+ hour flights and those in CE – to get refreshments via a voucher or claim it back. Partner with an airport restaurant where you can offer ready-made boxes to be picked up without any queue. Caviar House doesn’t do a lot of cooking 🙂
Personally, on a short haul flight, I am never expecting BA to feed me for sustenance purposes.
I do expect to be fed on short haul flights and budget my time spent in the airport accordingly. If I was not then I would not bother paying the extra for CE!
As such there were 2 options open to me:
1) Contact the lounge agent, get them to check and print out a refreshment voucher, use this at a concession and carry that on-board
2) Take a couple of sandwiches, packet of crisps and a can out of the lounge and carry them on boardOption 1 would involve taking up the lounge agents time (times by however many CE passengers affected) causing queues to form for lounge access and cost BA more money.
Option 2 would be against technical rules but save everyone time and money.So I do not think that it was so horrifically wrong for me to ask my original question, but in future I shall go for option 1. If you are inconvenienced by your access to the lounge being delayed as a result, please keep it to yourself.
No it was not horrifically wrong for you to ask you original question. I may be a bit weird but I always enjoys these sort of threads. I like to read everyones opinion on this kind of thing, and try and work out what the norm is.
Take what you like from the lounge in terms of food and drink. But please don’t push two seats together and use them as a bed. And please don’t put your bare feet on the seats.
The JAL Sakura Lounge at HND last night was like a backpackers hostel. Impossible to get a pair of comfortable seats. And noisy people on their mobile phones. Culture shock after being in such a civilised country for nearly three weeks. Still, prepares me for getting back to the UK I suppose.
The perpetrators of course were not Japanese.
Oh Japan. Missing you already!
Take what you like from the lounge in terms of food and drink. But please don’t push two seats together and use them as a bed. And please don’t put your bare feet on the seats.
The JAL Sakura Lounge at HND last night was like a backpackers hostel. Impossible to get a pair of comfortable seats. And noisy people on their mobile phones. Culture shock after being in such a civilised country for nearly three weeks. Still, prepares me for getting back to the UK I suppose.
The perpetrators of course were not Japanese.
Oh Japan. Missing you already!
I really wish I had an interest in going to Japan. Absolutely everything about the culture in terms of politeness, respect, discipline, cleanliness etc appeals to me massively but I just have no interest in the country itself or going there. I’ve tried and I have listened to everyone who raves about it. I’ve never heard a single negative. But still…..just lack interest.
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