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I will keep this to facts only. Flights first and business.
Back end of BA I had many flights booked on a round trip to Vancouver, with stop off on the way out overnight in Dallas to see a friend dying of cancer. Hotels all booked with BA.
While in the air from London, to Chicago, with my bags all checked in to Dallas for the 36 hour stay, I luckily find out (as I paid for Wi-Fi) that somebody somewhere (itinery@amadeus.com) had decided to delete my onward flight to Dallas, plus other flights in the days ahead, and put me on a direct flight from Chicago to Vancouver that day.
No consideration for my hotels I had booked with BA holiday in Dallas etc.
I speak to the captain and he takes on the task of resolving it all, takes five hours and rolls of cockpit “fax paper” (costly so the Captain said) and he comes and sits with me and says “Sorted, you are back on your flights”.
In between London also decided to book me on ten other flights (yes ten), anyway, eventually the Captain is sat next to me saying “I’ve never seen the likes of this in my 30 years career, do these people not realise what damage this causes, can you make sure you take up a full complaint when you get back as it cannot be allowed to happen again”.
So I return a couple weeks later and start my complaint run. I have the complaint number(s).
Multiple emails later(all ignored), multiple chats later (fobbed off including by so called managers), multiple complaints later and I have got absolutely nowhere.
While I have lost tier points, as they created new bookings (ONLINJ) unrelated to my original booking, I also lost Avios, the bigger issue is the fact nobody is interested in speaking to me about what actually happened. (I created countless lost partner airline requests for tier and Avios points, all vanished into the ether.)
Every time I try to talk to “India” on “chat” I get somebody saying “sorry you have to wait, it can take months”. Nobody reads anything or even takes the time to consider what I am saying. It is literally like I am talking to somebody who works “BA chat” as a side hustle from a shop in Mumbai. I kid you not.
While I do not wish to bash on, I’ve lost my gold status yesterday as the tier point date reset (I hope they back date my 80 points to get me over the line for gold), but as a family we have spent a lot on BA this last year, but nobody cares (nearly £40K spent on family flights alone for holidays).
In complete frustration, after the UK manager told me “you need to wait” when I asked to be transferred to a “manager” yesterday, I have now forwarded all documents and complaint codes directly to Sean Doyle office. I do not know why I did this, or what I want him to do, but I just want somebody somewhere in BA to listen. I have never complained in my life to BA for info.
So my question to you experts, do I take this all on the chin? or do I keep fighting?
I’m actually fighting a black hole or India who keep saying “it can be months before anybody will reply to you” …
I know BA are going downhill , but this is worthy of a dedicated blog for how bad. I am lucky in that some of my best friends are front and centre in main stream media (at the top), but I’d rather not stick my name in lights in an attack on BA for what is actually a really simple issue that could be addressed with a few minutes on the phone with the right person.
Does anybody work for BA anymore?
keep me honest here, am I being a Karen?
Submit a CEDR arbitration complaint. Takes 10 minutes, all sorted (admittedly in 6 months).
Others have said that emailing sean.doyle@ba.com can be effective. At least in my Google search, Sean Doyle ba email” is the first search suggestion after typing in his name.
@elbowe – I’m sorry to hear this awful story and BA is often difficult to deal with. I don’t agree with either of the above suggestions because some of the issues you raise can’t be addressed by CEDR and you say you have already written to Sean Doyle which is anyway a route too well trodden nowadays.
Frankly, I would start from scratch. While I don’t know what you have sent to BA, I fear that from reading the above, BA may not really know either as it sounds rather muddled although you say it’s a “simple issue”. It’s really not clear what happened or what you want save someone to listen to you when, if you were to find that person, I guarantee they will annoy you with platitudes more than appease you. Keep it formal and in writing.
If I were in your position I would summarise the issues, removing all the emotional bits, including I’m afraid including your friend’s cancer. These get in the way of a successful complaint. The summary needs to be succinct and very clear; you can just use bullet points, you don’t need whole sentences and it may assist to do it in the form of a chronology or alternatively provide a separate chronology. Then break down the complaint into its component remedies – what you say BA actually owes you by way of Avios, tier point or cash, each separately itemised and justified. Then ask for compensation for their conduct (that runs between unreasonable and negligent) and the huge distress and inconvenience it has caused you and cite any actual cost incurred. In respect of any lost hotel costs, you will need to evidence that and explain why BA might be liable. Add any specific supporting documentation/evidence. If possible, ask someone totally independent to read what you have prepared to see if they fully understand the story. You might want to consider sending this by Special Delivery rather than by email.
You mention hotels booked with BA and later the word ‘holiday’ after BA, so I’m not sure if this was booked as a BA Holiday or was just a linked travel arrangement. If it was a BAH, you need to rope them in as well.
I have to say, I am also rather lost as to what happened – if the previous complaints were in the vein of the post here, I am not surprised BA are not replying.
@JDB’s suggestion is a very sensible one.This is just far too long and includes quite frankly irrelevant information despite your saying you’ll keep it factual.
BA don’t care why you were going to Dallas or how much your family has spent with them or that you bought wifi somewhere.
Also making several separate complaints isn’t helpful to BA either as each will be dealt with separately with likely no coordination / combined into one single complaint.
What does “back end of BA” mean?
When was this?
It’s possible the flights were changed because of weather or other issues in Dallas. When irrops happens they can’t take into account personal factors just the need to get you to your ticketed destination.
If you do take this to MCOL then for goodness sake keep it simple.
I’m thinking OP means “back end of last year”, in which case weather may well have been a factor.
What’s also not clear is what flights OP did actually take in the end
I’m sure BA know exactly how much the OP has spent with them. On the occasions I have travelled First, I found the BA First call staff fantastic, accommodating and helpful. So I’m a little confused as to why they have not been in this instance. For all other call centre staff, YMMV depnding on who you talk to.
It’s quite simple to submit a GDPR subject access request (SAR) to find out exactly what occurred. I’ve never been re-routed with a planned stopover missed, so there is something else going on…..
A 36 hour stopover in Dallas means the destination that should have been protected is Dallas and not Vancouver. There is no question about this. You were entitled to be flown to Dallas first as the next place on your ticket routing aa you were stopping there for more than 23hrs59min.
23hrs59min gap between flights on the same ticket, or less, would have meant Dallas would have had the status of a connection not destination or stopover. The airline can override a connction and just get you to your final destinatiom, or your next destination if you’d be spending 24hrs or more there. But their error was Dallas was a stopover, not a connection. So they should have got you to Dallas next. Even if they had to do this via Vancouver 🙂 . Then Vancouver later as your next or final destination.
@elbowe I’m
(1) still not clear what is the list of things you are asking from British Airways(2) also not clear, on what exactly happened.
For a start it sounds like a connecting flight from.Chicago to Dallas? had a problem. That flight was operated/organised by a different airline than BA, if so. Yes there is (weakish) contractual liability of BA, but knowing which airline might help as that sounds to be the flight that had a problem – if we know, that airline may have broken US Dept of Transport rules.
I’d like to see :-
A. the exact dates and times of each flight on your ticket, with flight number and routing for each, in sequence as purchased on your ticket.
B. Then all those same things for what did you actually fly.
C. Then the resulting consequences. eg hotel booking wasted, transport cost, call cost, any extra other costs such as meals, what you were harmed in doing due to this messup. And here I think your friend’s situation being the purpose of Dallas being your next destination and not a connection, so you needed to be there for the length of time you had booked, in the sequence on uour ticket, is worth stating.
D. Then your list of what you want from BA.
If I need this logically laid out in order to be able to understand then anyone at BA will too. I’d write these up in detail, call them Appendix A through D, then write the shortest possible Summary page to put in front with short words referring the Appendices for detail. 3 sentences on what happened. 2 or 3 brief phases in next paragraph saying what you want again referring to Appendix D, so sbout 2 paragraphs only in Summary but everything clear Problem nd Desired Solution.
Whack it all into a .pdf so that anyone looking at the first page knows what happened and what you want, and knows they can refer to Appendix A B C or D for more detail. Put a Table of Contents listing each part of this at the top first heading ; Summary…then list title for Appendix A then B etc.
You will not get anyone’s intelligent attention unless you lay it out logically.
I am absolutely with you on your Indian call centre experience at the hsnds of BA. Such an experience culminated in one really bad incident with them for me many years ago now, after a number of earlier experiences of their cruelty, poor training, utter incompetence, obduracy (they were wrong) and operating more of an Indian service culture than an Anglo one. And I do know literally of what I speak, having professionally a lot to do with outsourced call centres around the world especially India, and having trained others to cope.
But British Airways’s Indian call centre finally had me in tears lengthily on the phone, after 50 minutes of their incompetent incorrect obduracy, after many earlier awful calls when I had landed them. I finally snapped and fell into lengthy tears on the phone with them and I have never forgiven British Airways for that. So I am with you on what being done over by them and the other failings of British Airways (such as deliberate lack of training and empowerment) is like.
(This was BA Holidays booked – loads of flights booked around the world but the bit that went bang:)
– Feb 27 2024 Fly LHR to Dallas via Chicago (bag and boarding passes to Chicago in hand) for a hotel stay on the 27th in Dallas (BA holidays booked on same reference)
– While in the air to Chicago Amadeus delete my Dallas flight for 27th (later told due to short connection – of 5 hours! yes 5 Hours, they soon backed off with that reason when I mentioned the 5 hours)
– They also delete my Dallas to Vancouver for the evening of the 28th Feb
– They Book me on a direct Air Canada flight to Vancouver from Chicago for the 27th (which is of no use as I’m busy during the night of the 27th)
– I spot all this and ask to speak to the chief steward, but get the Captain once I explain what has happened.Captain gets my 27th Feb Dallas flight reinstated, plus my 28th Feb Vancouver flight re instated. All on different ONLINJ booking refs. Captain asked me to not let this go as something has gone massively wrong with things. Nice BA Captain … sincerely apologetic.
9th March – fly back … raise complaints with copies of emails and images of boarding passes.
I will keep at it. Thanks for those that gave good advice. I truly hope you are not caught up in this kind of thing yourself when such emotions are swishing about in your head.
Since then nothing but hell trying to get somebody to discuss, tier, avios and what the f happened.
thank you for understanding.
BTW – I do not complain, ever, as I can afford to move airlines and not be bothered, which we will do.
I only took this up because the Captain asked me to.
I’m almost done with it all….. but like my business life, I tend not to give up when I fight! 🙂
1) How did you initially contact BA? Did you use the webform at
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/help-and-contacts/complaints-and-claims
2) Are you following up on a single a reference number for your complaint? It sounds like you created multiple complaints with different reference numbers which is why it is now taking so long. You have forgotten the basics of communication which is KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid
3) Not sure what you are claiming for – is it just a general complaint that you had your itinerary messed with en-route or is it something else eg Original Routing Credit?
4) It sounds like you did get to Dallas reading your sentence where you say the Captain said “Sorted, you are back on your flights”. Did you get to Dallas or not?Without knowing exact dates and your original schedule it is difficult to give advice as to how to proceed. As others have said you need to be succinct in setting out your complaint
I don’t know for certain but it could be that your original stop in Dallas was potentially impacted by weather or some other event so what BA’s systems were doing was proactively re-routing you to your ultimate destination which was Vancouver (even if you had planned an intermediate stop in Dallas that sounds like it was on an internal flight from ORD to DFW. I say this as you mention you were flying to Chicago (ORD))
I’m more concerned as to why the captain spent time sorting out your booking woes rather than flying the actual plane.
If only the captain spent most of their time flying the plane. I don’t believe they generally do. Between automated systems and, say, the First Officer I would only expect the Captain to be flying a large international airliner sometimes.
@Strickers will know.Hi Elbowe, I have to admit, like other people here, that I’m completely confused by your post. How did you have a 36 hour stopover in Dallas on a round trip to Vancouver. BA won’t offer that via BA.com. It sounds like you booked a multi city trip? or one of the more exotic routing AA.com sometime offers?
Anyways, it sounds like all you want is the Original Routing Credit (ORC)? That will give you the tier points and Avios that for the flights you booked, when operational factors change your itinerary. It is a simple request once you know what to ask for, and the tier points should arrive with the correct dates. Like other have said, leave out all the extra details – it creates confusion. All they need to know is that you booked x, they changed your flight to Y, and you want the credit for x. There is a form/series of prompts on the BA site
Submit a CEDR arbitration complaint. Takes 10 minutes, all sorted (admittedly in 6 months).
Sorry, pressed the report button! Please can we have an unreport option?
What I was going to say was… I agree with Rob. Submit a complaint, list the FACTS and say what you want as compensation. BA are as bad at responding to CEDR as they are to original complaints, so in my experience you get the compensation you request as they fail to respond in time.
I would have been happy with the co-pilot sorting it out, I didn’t care who sorted it, I did not ask for him 🙂
For some reason this forum keep rejecting this reply:
(This was BA Holidays booked – loads of flights booked around the world but the bit that went bang:)
– Feb 27 2024 Fly LHR to Dallas via Chicago (bag and boarding passes to Chicago in hand) for a hotel stay on the 27th in Dallas (BA holidays booked on same reference)
– While in the air to Chicago Amadeus delete my Dallas flight for 27th (later told due to short connection – of 5 hours! yes 5 Hours, they soon backed off with that reason when I mentioned the 5 hours)
– They also delete my Dallas to Vancouver for the evening of the 28th Feb
– They Book me on a direct Air Canada flight to Vancouver from Chicago for the 27th (which is of no use as I’m busy during the night of the 27th)
– I spot all this and ask to speak to the chief steward, but get the Captain once I explain what has happened.Captain gets my 27th Feb Dallas flight reinstated, plus my 28th Feb Vancouver flight re instated. All on different ONLINJ booking refs. Captain asked me to not let this go as something has gone massively wrong with things. Nice BA Captain … sincerely apologetic.
9th March – fly back … raise complaints with copies of emails and images of boarding passes.
I will keep at it. Thanks for those that gave good advice. I truly hope you are not caught up in this kind of thing yourself when such emotions are swishing about in your head.
Since then nothing but hell trying to get somebody to discuss, tier, avios and what the f happened.
I would have been happy with the co-pilot sorting it out, I didn’t care who sorted it, I did not ask for him 🙂
I’m just surprised that there are not strict rules about what pilots and co-pilots can do during a flight.
I’m just surprised that there are not strict rules about what pilots and co-pilots can do during a flight
There is, they cannot be seen drinking together or spending time in the toilet together. Beyond that, anything goes.
So it was a multi city BA holiday? Was the Dallas hotel and Dallas to Vancouver leg on the same ticket? 5 hours sounds like a lot but you do have to go through immigration, collect your bags and check back in, so if your flight was delayed, or there was bad weather at ORD, then the rebooking makes sense. Especially if you have to change terminal?
Did you actually fly to Dallas and then onto Vancouver? Was it with AA, and if so, did you get any airmiles and TPs for those legs? It’s hard to figure out what your complaint is – are you missing the double tier points from a double tier point qualifying holiday? Did you not fly to Dallas and you want the original routing credit? Did you fly with a non-OneWorld carrier and you want ORC? Did you fly with OneWorld carriers but your Exec club number wasn’t on the booking so you want the credit?
I suspect you may have confused things by submitting multiple confusing requests
There is some missing information here.
I would have been happy with the co-pilot sorting it out, I didn’t care who sorted it, I did not ask for him 🙂
I’m just surprised that there are not strict rules about what pilots and co-pilots can do during a flight.
You think the pilot was on google flights looking up alternative flights and connection times?
The pilot would have sent a message through to BA OPs and they would have dealt with it and then sent a message back.
I would have been happy with the co-pilot sorting it out, I didn’t care who sorted it, I did not ask for him 🙂
I’m just surprised that there are not strict rules about what pilots and co-pilots can do during a flight.
You think the pilot was on google flights looking up alternative flights and connection times?
The pilot would have sent a message through to BA OPs and they would have dealt with it and then sent a message back.
Of course I don’t think that. I am querying what the OP said:
“takes five hours and rolls of cockpit “fax paper” (costly so the Captain said) and he comes and sits with me and says “Sorted, you are back on your flights”
There would have been some considerable back and forth, no doubt needing discussion with the passenger themselves. Pilots have more important things to do.
This is epic trolling !! You’ve hooked a few of us in…
How were you going to have 36 hours in Dallas, as you wrote above??
Your flights on the 27th surely wouldn’t have arrived before 7pm, as you say you had a 5 hour connection in Chicago to get there…. and you say you were leaving on the 28th.
And who is this pilot you enlisted as your PA ?!
The mind boggles
Next time, fly directly to Dallas in your made up story.
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