Complaints with British Airways: any ideas?

hamedb0001

My fiancee and I had a pretty awful journey with British Airways last week: I won't bore you with the whole story, but suffice it to say that it involved delays, lost baggage and a lot of frustrating exchanges with BA staff when we asked them for help. We now intend to lodge a complaint with them, and I was hoping that you might be able to provide some help with this. I particularly had in mind people who either work for BA or have complained successfully with BA (or other airlines) in the past. Specifically:

• To whom should we address the letter? There is a complaints department listed on the website, but does anyone know of a better option? Any specific people that we could send the letter to?
• Are there any specific words or phrases that we should use or avoid?
• Should we ask specifically for compensation? We are travelling again in about a month with BA for our honeymoon, so is it worth asking specifically for an upgrade, or should we just present the facts and leave it to them to respond?

If there is any other info that might be useful please let me know: many thanks in advance!

richardw

Print off the terms and conditions that you agreed to and look for ba's get out clauses to your complaints.

disney_cjd

I was once very rudely spoken to by the resident BA dragon at the First lounge in Terminal 4. I wrote to Willy Walsh and frankly he was a complete waste of time. Like a true hot head I told them where to stick their gold card and I now fly on whoever is cheapest.

cookie_monster

When me & my partner flew with BA several years ago to NY from Manchester Airport the flight was delayed for most of the day after which they cancelled the flight and bumped us onto the flight the following day from Heathrow, really annoyed with the ground staff at Manchester Airport for misleading information etc.

We wrote to BA to express our views and certain questions that we needed addressing but what they did was send a standard appology letter and a £50 gift voucher to spend on their inflight catologue per person but they only sent the 1 voucher.
Another well worded letter sent off to BA about the fact they just send out "a standard appology letter copied a 1000 times" and the fact they did not realise that my partner was also flying i.e only 1 voucher sent/1st time we flew with them and possibly never again and the fact none of my issues very addressed and the voucher sent back to them resulted in them giving us a free flight to anywhere in the world which was valid for a year....whooppeee :j :T

We went back to NY the following year.:T :j

morg_monster

I would definitely mention the honeymoon - don't specifically ask for an upgrade but say something along the lines of "we are flying with you again for our honeymoon on August 15th and 29th to and from New York and in light of our recent experiences we are somewhat concerned that these BA flights will not be the relaxing experience we hoped they would be when we booked"...

It does give them a really easy way to make you happy (ie an upgrade for the honeymoon flights etc) if they wanted to do that ... or they could choose to ignore it and give something more conventional like vouchers etc.

WiseInvestor_2

Before you embark on a long and frustrating relay of letters, e-Mails and phone calls with a faceless organisation the size of BA it might be worth expanding here with your concerns so we can help with exactly what to write and where to focus your complaint.

Saint_Chris

Hi
I've just had a successful claim for delayed baggage for my daughter,

she flew to new york with ba, or rather they didn't because there flight from manchester was delayed, which meant' them missing the friday night flight to new york,

on arrival at london, Ba put them up in a hotel overnight and got them to new york the next day, but before my daughter boarded the plane, she and 2 other passengers were told that there luggage was not on the plane.

long story, but i managed to find the luggage, and ba wanted to send it to new york on wed morning, i told them no as they were due to fly home on the wed evening.

luggage arrived here on the friday.

daughter had a bit of a upsetting time in new york as she'd taken nice clothes to wear, but that's another story.

BA were excellent, i rang them up, when they came home, they sent me a claims form i filled it in, put all receipts for clothes and toilitries in.
I also enclosed a letter, stating all of the above.

daughter got all monies back for the stuff she had to buy, and had some of her phone calls to me refunded.

then as a good will jesture ba sent daughter £150 worth of vouchers to be used on line in the ba shop.

daughter would rather have had cash, but they wouldn't budge, nice lad dealing with claim, said if he could he would like to send me cash, but couldn't .

daughter has bought makeup and perfume of the ba site.

hamedb0001

Just a quick note to update everyone: having sent our complaint letter we got a letter back from BA yesterday. Other than the usual corporate blurb ("your complaint has been taken seriously at the highest levels within BA" etc.) there were two concrete measures they took to compensate us.

• We got a cheque for about 150, which covered us for the clothes we had to buy and our cab from the airport to the city centre (which we would have paid for anyway).
• 10,000 BA miles each, which is enough for a return European flight (Paris, Madrid or similar).

It isn't quite the upgrade to First class on our trip to Bangkok that I had been hoping for, but two free flights and zero out-of-pocket expenses seems decent to me.

Seems to me that being a member of the Executive Club was useful, as they made reference to it in their reply letter. If anyone is interested I'd be more than happy to forward a copy of the letter we used, although I daresay there are many seasoned writers of complaint letters on this forum!

Thanks to everyone who posted with help and advice, it's much appreciated.

H

sandrofoz

I am extremely disappointed with the service I received from British Airways Cargo at the Manchester Airport.
On 28th of October 2009, I phoned British Airways Cargo at the Manchester Airport in order to seek information and costs for shipping a bag from Amman, Jordan to Manchester, UK. A woman answered the phone and replied that she could not give any information or costs and that I should contact BACargo in Jordan. She told me that only they would be able to answer my request. Therefore, I gently expressed my gratitude to her and immediately contacted British Airways Cargo in Jordan.
They were really helpful and provided me the information and costs for shipping my bag.
After consulting few other air companies I found British Airways had the better price and on the next day, 29th of October 2009, I shipped my bag through British Airways Cargo in Jordan. I paid the full price they asked from me and I asked if that was all. The answer I got was that I did not have to pay anything else. I have the invoice I received from British Airways Cargo in Jordan and I it does not mention any other fees our services I should pay later. Trusting everything was clear I waited for my bag to come.
After few days, I received a call from Mr. Dean S Wootton from British Airways Cargo in Manchester saying that my bag had arrived and that I could collect it after paying him £70. That was an awful surprise. I argued that I had already paid to British Airways Cargo in Jordan. However, he told me that now I had more fees to pay to British Airways Cargo in Manchester. With no regards to my reasons, he only told me that I should pay if I wanted to see my bag again. The only option he gave me was that I could get £30 reduction if I cleared my bag from Customs myself. With great difficult, I was able to clear the bag myself. Nevertheless, I was still charged £40 to get my bag from British Airways Cargo Manchester. The invoice I was given by British Airways Cargo in Manchester states that they charged me a handling fee of £30 and a Clearance fee of £10. Why a clearance fee if I did all the work myself?
I would have paid all those fees with no regret if I were informed about them before. I feel British Airways Cargo, both in Jordan and Manchester, deceived me. They should have informed me for all the charges for sending the bag when I first requested it. I think British Airways Cargo in Manchester should not have answered me that only British Airways Cargo in Jordan would be able to give all the charges I had to pay if they knew I would have to pay fees for them also.
Sometimes, it seems, as it was two different companies with no communication between them. Which I believe it is not the case. British Airways Cargo is a great company and I believe has a good internal communication and a uniform system, or not?
Therefore, I am seeking for a compensation for these extra fees that was not informed and charged in a wile way. I feel British Airways has not acted with clarity. I would have used another company if all the charges were showed to me before I shipped my bag.
I also would like to see British Airways Cargo in Manchester working properly. Answering its customers with clear and exact answers. Not only seeking profit but also concerned with the whole Company image.

S O

dmg24

Summary: OP paid for bag to be shipped from Amman to Manchester. Got call from Manchester to be told had to pay £70 more. OP wants to complain.

warrens

BA sucks!! Doesn't it?

Booked a flight with BA from London Heathrow to Cape Town. We arrived in time, checked in early, but then were "bumped" off the flight when there were insufficient seats. They did not ask for volunteers, but simply told us that our luggage had been removed from the flight and offered the standard EU compensation (GBP 520). They booked us on a flight with South African airways the following evening at 8:30pm.
Our baggage did not arrive and I did not have use of this for the duration of my stay (15 days), but was able to locate and pick up my bag from Cape Town airport on the return flight to Heathrow.
Needless to say, the quality of customer care was appalling! I have yet to receive an apology and the staff I have dealt with have refused to take responsibility or show any form of concern or accountability!!
I have written to BA (recorded delivery), requesting compensation, about two weeks ago. I included receipts for items I'd bought (totalling roughly £300), and a spreadhseet outlining other associated costs. I have not yet received a response from BA!
I am thinking of lodging a claim with the small claims court. I would hope to receive compensetation for loss of enjoyment/amenity, in addition to my out of pocket expenses.
Any advice/suggestions..?
Thanks,

Warren