MSE News: Beware British Airways' 'questionable' behaviour as it pushes people to overpay for ESTAs

MSE_Helen_K

Are you travelling to America, Australia, Canada or another holiday destination where you'll need to get a travel permit? Beware 'questionable' behaviour from the UK's flag carrier airline British Airways (BA), pushing customers towards overpaying for ESTAs and other travel documents by highlighting third-party tools over links to official government sites…

Beware British Airways' 'questionable' behaviour as it pushes people to overpay for ESTAs and other travel permits

NoodleDoodleMan

That's very naughty of BA - ESTAs should always be booked via the official US government website.

Brownrice26

Nothing surprises me about BA underhand behaviour. They are slippery and dishonest. 5 attempts to get refunded for flights cancelled 24 hours before leaving on account of the ME war. They just seek to frustrate and are happy to lie. So beware of BA for everything except direct flights into Europe where they are forced to abide by the rules. Am disgusted for a national airline. Poor Britain.

sayling

Disappointed to see MSE focusing on BA and Sherpa, when the SAGA partnership - for example - seems fast more egregious.

This feels very click-baity, jumping on a Bashing BA Bandwagon

WiserMiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82029289#Comment_82029289

Why shouldn't both BA and Saga be reprimanded? It's not a case of one or the other. They were once trusted brands so potential customers should be certainly warned about this utterly disgraceful behaviour.

sayling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82029376#Comment_82029376

I'm not saying they shouldn't - I'm just disappointed in the way the article is framed, particularly the headline.

The Saga case seems worse, but that's not the headline.

Other companies exist with similar practices, but are not identified. I'm not saying they're should be a definitive list or League Table of Shame (though these are compiled for other areas, good and bad, such as savings providers, energy suppliers, credit cards and the like), but, if this is a common practice, does it need to have BA as the headline/ leading culprit?

Meoleman

The only thing that surprises me about this is that Martin expects better from BA. They are one of the worst companies to deal with if anything goes wrong, as it often does. They do not care for their customers, they have no loyalty to their customers and only seem to be able to focus on cost cutting. Customer service is non existent. I was a gold and Silver card holder for over 25 years so have flown with them a lot. Now, I'll only fly with them as a last resort.

On the specific point of pushing people to pay for an unnecessary service wouldn't it be nice to say to their customers, you've spent hundreds or thousands of pounds with us and as a service to you we will advise you how to get your visas etc without the need to pay. But no, BA can't miss an opportunity to grab a grubby £10 from their loyal customers. I for one am not surprised

AndyRedSix

I’m travelling to the UK on BA with someone and they have an EU passport, and they need an ETA (the UK version of this debacle!)

BA sent them to some dodgy (backhander) site - not gov.uk as you might have thought

like Martin, I would have ‘hope for better from British Airways’

heatherw_01

How very naughty!

I personally avoid BA like the plague and refuse to fly with them, so not surprised honestly.

lucia758

Not surprised. I travel in British passport but place of birth is clearly stated yet BA forced me to rebook my trip at the airport because they said I needed a visa to travel to my piece of birth. I know lots of people this had happened to. Ben the helpline don’t understand you don’t need a visa to your place of birth

silvercar

BA never advise people on visa/ passport issues, which is why they advise you to look elsewhere. Sherpa is a legitimate service. I think BA could say to research yourself or use a legitimate site like Sherpa. And make it clear that Sherpa charge for their service by adding a charge to the Visa costs. But I do understand why BA won't advise people themselves. The number of different passports people hold and different visa requirements of everywhere that BA operate to would be an impossible task to take on and one which an airline isn't equiped to do.