Flying with British Airways during Heathrow Strike - a few questions

jackieblack

Seagull27 wrote: »

I’ve just got off the phone to BA, who told me:

– If I have not been contacted yet about my flight being cancelled, it will not be cancelled. All passengers whose flights have been cancelled have been told.

Do you not believe this?

Have you tried logging into your booking on BA website?

Tunstallstoven

jackieblack wrote: »

Do you not believe this?

It's contrary to everything I've read, which states that NO-ONE knows which flights are being cancelled. Some reports state specifically that BA has not informed its customers yet and will do so later today once a decision is made at the end of the ACAS meeting(s). So it's difficult to know what to believe.

Furthermore, the rep said I cannot book onto another flight which again goes against everything. So maybe he was just having a bad day!!!

jackieblack wrote: »

Have you tried logging into your booking on BA website?

I have and there's no mention of cancellation there.

But interestingly when I look for the flight on the BA website it is no longer there, although that could just be because it is sold out.

Voyager2002

You report your telephone conversations with BA: were these with the Indian call centre (whose staff know nothing except what their screens show), or the people in Newcastle who are actually pretty good? I would rely on what someone in Newcastle told me...


Personally, I would gladly pay an extra 25 pounds to fly out of LCY rather than Heathrow, even under normal circumstances. Of course, if that meant sacrificing a significant number of hours from a short holiday I would hesitate to do so.

Tunstallstoven

Voyager2002 wrote: »

You report your telephone conversations with BA: were these with the Indian call centre (whose staff know nothing except what their screens show), or the people in Newcastle who are actually pretty good? I would rely on what someone in Newcastle told me...

I've no idea! How would I be able to tell? I called 0800 727800... Do you know what number I would need for Newcastle?

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Personally, I would gladly pay an extra 25 pounds to fly out of LCY rather than Heathrow, even under normal circumstances. Of course, if that meant sacrificing a significant number of hours from a short holiday I would hesitate to do so.

Is that just because LCY is a nicer airport? I've never been to neither of them.

It wouldn't hardly impact on my holiday. I'm going to a music festival in Czech Rep. If I fly from Heathrow, I've got a few hours to kill in Prague before meeting up with my friends and travelling on to the festival. If I fly from LCY, I get to Prague at around the same time. So the only difference would be whether I've got time to kill at LCY or in Prague. The latter would obviously be preferable but I'm really not too bothered about that and far more concerned with getting there in the first place!!

Thanks for your input Voyager2002.

Tunstallstoven

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I would rely on what someone in Newcastle told me...

Think I'm gonna go ahead and make the switcheroo, but based on this I would rather do it via the Newcastle option if that's possible. So if you get a moment to share the details on how to get through to them, that would be great...

Many thanks

Voyager2002

Seagull27 wrote: »

Think I'm gonna go ahead and make the switcheroo, but based on this I would rather do it via the Newcastle option if that's possible. So if you get a moment to share the details on how to get through to them, that would be great...

Many thanks

The same number gets you through to whichever call centre is working at the time. You can tell from the accent and manner of responding to you whether you are speaking with an Indian or British agent. Generally the British staff are better trained and are given more authority to solve problems, so if someone in India tells you something that sounds like nonsense, or cannot do what you want them to do, it is worth calling again and seeing if you get connected to Newcastle instead. Something that I have never tried is asking to be connected to the other call centre: no idea whether or not they can do that.

I prefer LCY to Heathrow because it is smaller and less crowded, and the whole airport is designed for people who value their time.

Tunstallstoven

Updates (and not very good ones!!!) after calling BA. Apparently you have to pay to change flights. More details below:

Call 1 – On hold for nine minutes, phone went dead.
Call 2 – On hold for seven minutes, phone went dead.
Call 3 – Got through to someone after a lengthy wait. She gave different info to the previous guy:
a) They have not announced which flights will be cancelled.
b) Mine still could be cancelled
c) Free changes are not allowed until the flight is cancelled. She was adamant about that, even after I read to her what their website says, and what is being said in the press. That being said, nowhere does it say explicitly that the change would be free, so perhaps my assumption there is wrong. What do you guys think?
I asked her again to confirm there is no way to change for free… She said she would put me on hold. 10 minutes of hold and the phone went dead.

Tunstallstoven

Call 4 – Got through in less than a minute. The guy said I CAN change for free, but when I said I wanted to change to same date at LCY he said no – that it had to be a different date. I quoted their own FAQ, he put me on hold, and then returned saying it was his mistake and I can change. For free. It’s all done now.

Thanks to everyone for the help

And the moral of the story? Perseverance is key. (Or – stick to holidays in the UK!)

Voyager2002

Seagull27 wrote: »

Call 4 – Got through in less than a minute. The guy said I CAN change for free, but when I said I wanted to change to same date at LCY he said no – that it had to be a different date. I quoted their own FAQ, he put me on hold, and then returned saying it was his mistake and I can change. For free. It’s all done now.

Thanks to everyone for the help

And the moral of the story? Perseverance is key. (Or – stick to holidays in the UK!)

I suspect that call 3 was to India and call 4 to Newcastle.

londoninvestor

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I prefer LCY to Heathrow because it is smaller and less crowded, and the whole airport is designed for people who value their time.

It really is so much better - both objectively quicker and subjectively less stressful.

I've taken that LCY-PRG flight a couple of times, and checkin and security are done in a couple of minutes each.