Pom-DownUnder
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2020
- Posts
- 855
Heya,
Been reading quite a few threads on here and gave me a reminder of a story I have ranted about to a few nodding heads but you guys will probably understand my grudge more than most, or perhaps tell me that I did something wrong and it was all my bad, either way lol.
So after a trip back to the UK I am on my way to airport to start the return journey (Newcastle (NCL) - LHR - SIN - SYD) all legs with BA.
Now of course this would not be a tale without some level of misfortune befalling our hero, this occurs in the form of a fairly substandard light rail system that links the airport to the developed world.
I have already checked in on-line have boarding pass, just need to check luggage, with the light rail nightmare i end up getting there 45 minutes before the flight, now I know its a hard cut off with 30 mins before the flight but 45 should be 'sorry about that, but on you go' with a perhaps your luggage might end up being a day behind you. However there is limited BA staff at NCL so the same people that work the check-in are the only people there and they also work the gate. After there being no-one at the check-in desk I manage to track down a minion who explains the 'staff at gate' situation and there is 'nothing they can do'.
So, hang around in airport for the 45 till the flight leaves building up a good amount of frustration. Start looking around for BA staff to 'discuss' things .... wait longer ... wait longer ... about 30 minutes after the flight has gone they finally rock up back to the counter.
BA: "did you book through BA directly"
Me: "No"
BA: "Then you will need to talk to the people who booked the flight .. I can have a look at the type of ticket you have and see if it can be altered, I just need to go on my hour break first"
Me: "You cant just have a look now? I've already been waiting for 1 hour 15 to talk to you"
** insert meaningless back and forths until they realise i'm not just going to bugger off**
BA: "because you booked through a travel agent there is nothing I can do about the ticket"
Me: "What if i make my own way to london" (there was a sizeable amount of time in LHR due to cough flight timings but in this case I could have made it
BA: "No, because you missed the first flight the whole ticket is cancelled"
Phoned BA and got the same story - their plane - their seat - nothing they can do, bull**** imo. The Australian agent I used didnt have 24 phone service so had to wait until they opened and was told I would basically get the taxes back and the rest i could whistle for.
The main thing that annoyed me was just how BA gave ZERO coughKS about the situation as soon as they had a method to palm me off to they wanted nothing else to do with me. Attitude just absolutely sucked.
From then I have only booked direct through airline sites and stay away from BA even though they are often cheapest option for my travel, Pay a bit more and get a more direct option through EK (since they do DXB - NCL so I dont have to mess with LHR) and get QFF points/status.
anyway, thats my rant, the hell with BA.
Been reading quite a few threads on here and gave me a reminder of a story I have ranted about to a few nodding heads but you guys will probably understand my grudge more than most, or perhaps tell me that I did something wrong and it was all my bad, either way lol.
So after a trip back to the UK I am on my way to airport to start the return journey (Newcastle (NCL) - LHR - SIN - SYD) all legs with BA.
Now of course this would not be a tale without some level of misfortune befalling our hero, this occurs in the form of a fairly substandard light rail system that links the airport to the developed world.
I have already checked in on-line have boarding pass, just need to check luggage, with the light rail nightmare i end up getting there 45 minutes before the flight, now I know its a hard cut off with 30 mins before the flight but 45 should be 'sorry about that, but on you go' with a perhaps your luggage might end up being a day behind you. However there is limited BA staff at NCL so the same people that work the check-in are the only people there and they also work the gate. After there being no-one at the check-in desk I manage to track down a minion who explains the 'staff at gate' situation and there is 'nothing they can do'.
So, hang around in airport for the 45 till the flight leaves building up a good amount of frustration. Start looking around for BA staff to 'discuss' things .... wait longer ... wait longer ... about 30 minutes after the flight has gone they finally rock up back to the counter.
BA: "did you book through BA directly"
Me: "No"
BA: "Then you will need to talk to the people who booked the flight .. I can have a look at the type of ticket you have and see if it can be altered, I just need to go on my hour break first"
Me: "You cant just have a look now? I've already been waiting for 1 hour 15 to talk to you"
** insert meaningless back and forths until they realise i'm not just going to bugger off**
BA: "because you booked through a travel agent there is nothing I can do about the ticket"
Me: "What if i make my own way to london" (there was a sizeable amount of time in LHR due to cough flight timings but in this case I could have made it
BA: "No, because you missed the first flight the whole ticket is cancelled"
Phoned BA and got the same story - their plane - their seat - nothing they can do, bull**** imo. The Australian agent I used didnt have 24 phone service so had to wait until they opened and was told I would basically get the taxes back and the rest i could whistle for.
The main thing that annoyed me was just how BA gave ZERO coughKS about the situation as soon as they had a method to palm me off to they wanted nothing else to do with me. Attitude just absolutely sucked.
From then I have only booked direct through airline sites and stay away from BA even though they are often cheapest option for my travel, Pay a bit more and get a more direct option through EK (since they do DXB - NCL so I dont have to mess with LHR) and get QFF points/status.
anyway, thats my rant, the hell with BA.
