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British Airways

John of Burr Ridge, IL August 27, 2008

John of Burr Ridge IL (08/27/08)
Flying with my wife and two children to Paris. When we arrived we did not receive my wife's. Luggage finally arrived 2 days later. All of my wife's belonging, from personal heigene, shoes, under garments, clothing and make up were in that luggage. We were told by BA agents that we cab purchase here needs and keep the receipts for reimbursement. We had to waste our priceless vacation time to go around and buy her necessities for a couple of days. We tried to purchase what she needed from neighborhood and discount stores and pay for the high prices of Europe.

On the way back home, when we arrived all of our luggages were delayed for 24 hours. We were home and were able to waite for our luggages. Even though I had to go to Pharmacy and buy my daily medications I did not even think about filing a claim for the return misshap, but I filed a claim for expenses in Paris.

A month later and after several emails of inquiry about the status of our claim, BA notified me that they will pay less than one third of what we had spent. I am deeply upset that a large company like BA can get away with such a remedy and I do not know what I can do about it except never fly BA.

Rebecca of Johnson City, NY July 16, 2008

Rebecca of Johnson City NY (07/16/08)
I bought a plane ticket for my husband in June of 2008. I called BA customer service prior to doing so as I was concerned that the price had gone up considerably and wanted to discuss this matter. When talking to the customer service rep., I was assured that the prices would not again come down due to the economy and this was the lowest price I would get. I bought the ticket. I looked on line later and found the ticket at a much lower price-about 150.00 less.

After trying to get through to BA Customer I finally succeeded on June 27, 2008. When talking to the rep, I was instructed to file a claim with Customer Relations who would be able to credit back the difference. I again did as I was told and have only had communications telling me to be patient. On July 15, 2008 after being extremely frustrated at the lack of response from BS Customer Relations, I again contacted Customer service. I spoke to a pleasent customer serivce rep. who informed me that the avereage turn around time for Customer Relations is 4-6 weeks. Next I was told that I should have never been sent there any how as this was a pre-flight issue and they are handled by the customer service supervisors. When I had all my flight information in front of me, she instructed me to call back and talk to a supervisor who could then issue the credit for me.

I called for the last time on Juky 16,08 and finally spoke to a supervisor. All the supervisor could tell me was that he was sorry for all the mis-information on behalf of British Airways, but they would do nothing more. He would speak to the reps and re-train, but it was British Airways policy that they do not compensate for their errors. They would not credit the difference in the ticket prices, they would not offer a coupon for discounted flights in the future, they would not offer an upgrade, nothing.

I asked to speak to a manager above the supervisor to whom I spoke, and he refused stating that there was no one above him. Having been plagued by the horrible service on British Airways I am not looking forward to having my family fly on this airline. I cannot believe a large company such as British Airways would allow their employees treat the customer so rudely and do nothing about it.

Su of Cambridge, MA June 7, 2008

Su of Cambridge MA (06/07/08)
We were originally booked on BA881 from Moscow to Heathrow, with a connecting flight to Boston, MA, USA (BA213). These flights were scheduled for Sunday, June 8, 2008. When we attempted to check in online on Saturday, June 7, we found that British Airways had cancelled BA881 and rebooked us onto a flight that arrives at Heathrow well after BA213 is due to depart. British Airways had not notified us of this change, though they claim that the flight was cancelled in April 2008.

British Airways also made no effort to reroute us on any of their partner airlines. The only solutions they offered were either to cancel the reservation entirely and issue a partial refund, or to rebook us onto the same flights the following day (Monday, June 9, 2008). I should note that our original outbound flight (Boston-Heathrow, May 20) was also cancelled by BA without our being notified. In that case, the flight was cancelled then reopened, but we were not rebooked onto the reopened flight. Again, BA had not notified us of any changes to our itinerary.

Dana of San Francisco, CA May 19, 2008

Dana of San Francisco CA (05/19/08)
On a return flight to SFO with British Airways from Milan, Italy, via London Heathrow, my famliy's 4 bags plus a baby stroller were lost. When we arrived at SFO we, along with about 20 others from flight BA 285 on April 12, 2008, were without any of our luggage. The difference for us was that they did not even have a trace on any of our luggage. We possessed the baggage claim tickets, yet none of our claim numbers registered in their computer system. It was as if our bags were never checked.

The lost bag agents told us they had no idea where our bags were and all I could do was continue to check the status of our case file number (SFO BA 28927) online or by phone. I checked twice a day online and by phone which always resulted with a no information message about our bags. By the 5th day I finally reached an agent, as the voicemail number I called and left messages at never resulted in a returned phone call. On that day I was informed that one bag had been found and would be delivered. The next day our stroller was delivered.

This means my husband and I and our 5 year old and 15 month old who had packed for a 21 day trip were getting by on about 2 pairs of underware, socks, undershirts and a change or two of clothes. Most all of what we own in the way of clothing was packed for this trip. I also was without face cleanser & moisturizer, shampoo, hair gel. My husband without any shaving sundries. But in giving BA the benefit of the doubt I waited to purchase anything.

The day after the stroller arrived another bag arrived. It had been packed with wine. Upon arriving at our home, the bag was ripped open and a bottle of Barolo wine worth about 100 was missing. I was advised by a reservation agent to file a claim. I was also advised by 2 different agents to go ahead and purchase the essentials we needed, since they still had no trace on our bags which meant I didn't know when or if they would arrive, and that we would be reimbursed. At this point we were at least 7 days without any bags containing clothing or sundries.

After 2 weeks all but 1 bag had arrived. This one bag is now classified as lost. I should add that each time I called to speak with an agent about the status of our bags each agent had a different explanation of the status. The bags that had actually arrived to my home were not even logged as having arrived and furthermore, the baggage claim number for each bag was never logged upon arriving at SFO. So I could never know exactly which bag was missing, had arrived, etc. Even when finally filing a claim for the reimbursement of expenditures, which I was advised to do by several agents, I could not accurately report which bags had been delayed and which was still missing.

In this whole process it was never possible to contact customer relations by phone but only by email or fax. The reservation agent, not being customer relations agents, were limited in their knowledge and authorization of this matter. Once I filed a claim for the costs incurred in the 2 weeks we were without our bags, for undergarments, cosmetics, etc, I then followed up with faxing the receipts that totaled 355.

Mr. Rick W of the Customer Relations department informed me that it is the policy of BA to not cover any costs incurred for delayed baggage if the delay occurs when you are arriving in your home country. In 2 weeks of speaking with agents this was NEVER MENTIONED. I expressed my outrage since BA agents told me I would be compensated and advised me to buy what was needed. Furthermore, I bought the items I did because we truly did not have the back up surplus at home that BA assumes we did. It was an inconveinence to have to go out and buy these necessities after returning home form a 21 day trip with 2 small children and then having to return immediately to work and school and keep up with the lost baggage process and not even have enough undergarments to get us past 2 days at a time or shoes for my 5 year old who returned home in sandals and had her tennis shoes in the delayed bags. Despite my appeal, Rick of BA is not willing to reconsider.

Additionally, I filed a claim for our one lost bag of which the contents were valued at a total of 1680.00. I submitted a detailed list of the bag's contents and their values. These were the purchase prices when they were bought years ago. The current value to repurchase them would be much higher. Additionally, some items could not even be replaced based on sentimental value and on the fact that they were puchsed during travels which most like will never happen again. So I was contacted by a Customer Realtions agent on Wednesday May 14, 2008 who informed me that I would be compensated the full amout within their legal limitations of 1630.00. This was despite the fact that I was not able to provide BA with any receipts for the contents of the bag. I expressed that it was unreasonable to expext to see receipts for items that had beed puchased of the course of many years (many of the items were things left behind in a move from Italy to the US from 3 years back). Today, May 19, I was informed by Rick that I would be compensated only 815.00 due to a lack of receipts for proof of value and due to decreased value and wear and tear over time. I requested an appeal and to speak with a manager and I was then advised that the management supported his decision and that the case is closed.

I am out a total of 1200.00. And I have spent at least 5-7 hors dealing with this situation and dealing with ery rude customer relations agents.

Ahmed of Sheraton Heliopolis, OTHER May 11, 2008

Ahmed of Sheraton Heliopolis OTHER (05/11/08)
I was supposed to travel from Cairo to London today 12 May 2008 on BA0145, I have followed the online check-in process, I got my boarding pass from the BA by Fax, I had no luggage so I went to the airport 45 minutes before the departure, exactly 7:50AM Cairo time, the security officers insisted that I need the counter to proceed with the check-in process, I have tried to convince them that I don't need the checkin or issuing any boarding pass as I have no luggage, and I have my boarding already with me, they sent me to the BA office in Cairo airport, that was exactly at 8:05AM, there was about 30 minutes before the flight departure,

the BA officer told me she can't let me go into the aircraft as I was late, I have tried to let her understand that I have no luggage, I had already done the online check-in, and I have got my boarding pass by fax from the BA, she insisted that nothing in her hands, and she offered to change my flight to the next day, even she asked me to pay a penalty for being late, then she told me that is all she can do and if I need to talk with anybody else I have to go to the head office and she gave me the address,

I went to the head office, and they have repeated the same, even if I have done the online check-in I need to go to the counter in the Cairo Airport and go through the normal check in process.

Questions: 1. What is the benefit of the online check-in if I have to go through the normal check-in process? 2. If you have sent me a boarding pass by fax then whey you didn't mention that this boarding pass is useless and I need to go to the airport two hours before the departure time? 3. Who is the responsible for all the losses that I have encountered of not being able to travel today? 4. I am really disappointed with the way BA officers handled my situation.

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