British Airways- Avoid

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Well we have all seen the stories in the papers about luggage and terminal 5, I have another one for you.

Last year I booked Club World seats with BA for Summer 2008, I did a lot of research on the prices, they appeared to be cheaper than Virgin for my flights and I could book a month earlier than Virgin, as this is in school holidays I went ahead.

Recently I looked at the prices online, shouldn't ever do this, The total cost had fallen by over £2k!!!

Now we all experience this to some kind of extent, you buy some clothes a TV, a PC etc, and its on sale a week or two later at a lower price.

However seldom if ever would it be over £2k cheaper.

My guess is BA, has been hit very hard by the issues at T5, and luggage, and the 'business '' traveler has gone elsewhere, forcing them to cut prices.

I contacted BA, by e.mail and asked if there was anything they could do, Dissers on USA flights have said that airlines might have offered vouchers or air miles or something to ease the pain.

BA,'s answer is NO, you booked at that price its for new bookings only and ...well hard cheese..

Nothing more.

Anyway, late time I ever travel with BA, yes I know I booked it, but if the price fell £500 or so you could understand it, over £2k, well that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and I will know other people sitting next to me, would have paid far less. And BA doesn't allow seat selection until 24 hours before, unlike Virgin so people booking now have an equal chance to myself of a window seat etc.

If considering BA, for USA, take their customer service into account.....

 

[ali5on]

How annoying for you. It is so difficult knowing the best time to book flights.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

How annoying for you. It is so difficult knowing the best time to book flights.

Yes you would think booking early is best, it seems they start high and then fall, particularly in school holiday periods, when yuo have to book exact dates.

If you can hold back 6months > 3 months seems best, but then they rise again close to flight, unless not selling well.

 

[jen_uk]

Ouch!

 

[UKDEB]

How much would it cost to cancel the existing tickets?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Non refundable tickets, so you cannot get anything back.

 

[T16GEM]

That is awful, I think these big companies are the worst to deal with. If I were to treat my customers like that then they would all hear about it (somehow) and then we would probably lose a lot of business, but companies like BA seem to be able to give bad customer service etc and people still go to them. It's very wrong.

 

[CustardTart]

OMG Andrew! That's beyond frustrating!!!

The timing of buying flights is such a lottery - no rhyme nor reason that I can fathom anyway...

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

OMG Andrew! That's beyond frustrating!!!

The timing of buying flights is such a lottery - no rhyme nor reason that I can fathom anyway...

I know lottery is the word..

If you buy a DCL cruise or WDW package you can cancel up to the balance due date, and if the price falls on a Disney cruise they will reduce it, and WDW you can swap.

I personally wouldnt expect them to 'match' the lower price, as yes I did buy at the higher price, but they could show some customer service, IE Air miles or extra baggage allowance, something that doesn't cost them much,

But basically their answer is, not even sorry,

Funny about an hour or two after I sent my inquiry, the price for my flight went back up again to within £800 of my original cost, There are three flights to LAX each day the other two have stayed at the new lower price, Coincidence not sure?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

That is awful, I think these big companies are the worst to deal with. If I were to treat my customers like that then they would all hear about it (somehow) and then we would probably lose a lot of business, but companies like BA seem to be able to give bad customer service etc and people still go to them. It's very wrong.

Yes its the principle, we all know about 'sale' prices etc, so its buyer beware, if you buy clothes they might go on sale, but there again if its nice it might sell out, and often sale clothes are brought in for the sale.

When you talk about loosing £10 or £50 it isn't nice but you put it down to luck, if you purchased a TV and it reduced by say £500 you wouldn't be happy,

But we are talking here about in excess if £2,000, so you cannot really justify that.

And the difference is for the clothes or TV, you would have had the benefit of using them as soon as you purchased them, I havent used the product, but they would not allow a refund to swap to someone cheaper or better.

 

[Neoshoegal]

I can totally understand your frustration!
A similar thing happened to us last year but by no means such a huge difference.
We often take a cruise and most cruise lines seem to have a policy that if the price goes down from when you booked you can ask to take the difference of your bill. If the price goes up again afterwards, you don't pay any extra. It makes me wonder why airlines can't do that too

 

[3cheers4DIS]

We had the same problem booked our flights for £1740 ,next week they were going for £1250 !!!,phoned up and got the TV,clothes ect story, had to phone customer services on Fri as they had prebooked seats with my 4 year old daughter on her own,and split myself and the missus up as well !!! they was nothing they could do as the seating assignment section did not have phones or an email contact address !!! well i was well chuffed with this fantastic customer care, we have used BA a lot recently but now will think again.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I can totally understand your frustration!
A similar thing happened to us last year but by no means such a huge difference.
We often take a cruise and most cruise lines seem to have a policy that if the price goes down from when you booked you can ask to take the difference of your bill. If the price goes up again afterwards, you don't pay any extra. It makes me wonder why airlines can't do that too

We had the same problem booked our flights for £1740 ,next week they were going for £1250 !!!,phoned up and got the TV,clothes ect story, had to phone customer services on Fri as they had prebooked seats with my 4 year old daughter on her own,and split myself and the missus up as well !!! they was nothing they could do as the seating assignment section did not have phones or an email contact address !!! well i was well chuffed with this fantastic customer care, we have used BA a lot recently but now will think again.

I do agree, most other 'transport' does cover you for increases, or decreases, this is why its best to buy a package rather than book direct, cruise lines will refund the difference if the price falls and you notice it, but they do have ways to cover this, by selling more lower cat rooms hen they have a back door discount and then upgrade.

It is the pre booked seats etc which is an issue you cannot book these in advance of 24 hours, to force you to check in on line, that even BA staff have said to me is stupid, I spoke to one on the phone who said, for the price you are paying, they could do that and did do it in the past.

Last year at Gatwick it took about an hour to get to the check in desk for BA, and that was club Europe, other airlines were instant check in.

I think BA has forgotten customer service, T5 proves that, they need to think again.

 

[UKDEB]

I clicked on this ad banner link from one of the DIS pages. For $24.95, I might well subscribe. What's the worst that could happen?

 

[SammieG]

Hmmm... im not sure I totally agree with you ..
I do agree its highly frustrating... and annoying that the prices have gone down.. but that is the way that the industry works..

If you need tickets on a particular flight.. you book them. You could run the risk of not getting them and book later when and if the price goes down (as it invariably does if there are unsold seats).. but I am assuming you had a reason to book the tickets when you did, and not wait.

Perhaps you thought that was the best price you could get? Or perhaps you didnt think they would have enough on that flight for you to wait and see..

If you dont like the price, dont pay it... and if you dont like the price but need to go on that date, you are paying for the guarantee of seats.

Either way.. i agree its annoying but thats the way life goes..
you can buy all sorts of things and then the price goes down. If you know how the system works, sometimes its best to wait until a good price comes up before parting with your money.

 

[CustardTart]

I clicked on this ad banner link from one of the DIS pages. For $24.95, I might well subscribe. What's the worst that could happen?

Wow!!! That sounds intriguing - I might have to join...

 

[Booknut]

I hate it when that happens, how frustrating...I guess the best thing is to never go see prices after you've booked but I find it impossible not to look.

As for pre-booking seats i'm surprised you can't pre-select, have they changed this recently? When we flew in September 2006 we were able to select our seats there and back when we booked and we flew economy (£300rt through a special link someone posted on here). In fact I remember changing our seats 2 or 3 times online.

I know you're frustrated with BA right now but would Virgin have been any different? I find most of these big companies are all the same, money comes first, customer service a very distant second.

Hope you still have a great holiday

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hmmm... im not sure I totally agree with you ..
I do agree its highly frustrating... and annoying that the prices have gone down.. but that is the way that the industry works..

If you need tickets on a particular flight.. you book them. You could run the risk of not getting them and book later when and if the price goes down (as it invariably does if there are unsold seats).. but I am assuming you had a reason to book the tickets when you did, and not wait.

Perhaps you thought that was the best price you could get? Or perhaps you didn't think they would have enough on that flight for you to wait and see..

If you dont like the price, dont pay it... and if you dont like the price but need to go on that date, you are paying for the guarantee of seats.

Either way.. i agree its annoying but thats the way life goes..
you can buy all sorts of things and then the price goes down. If you know how the system works, sometimes its best to wait until a good price comes up before parting with your money.

Actually I do know what you mean I am a reasonable person and can see both sides and your post is correct, I checked for a long time from a year out to see prices for 2007 at that time and how they changed and felt I had a good price, if they changed £500 or so, I would fully understand thats life, but we are talking over £2,000 reduction here, and when that happens I would have though customer service would have some understanding, and again not looking for £2k, maybe a gesture however small and acknowledgment.

I hate it when that happens, how frustrating...I guess the best thing is to never go see prices after you've booked but I find it impossible not to look.

As for pre-booking seats i'm surprised you can't pre-select, have they changed this recently? When we flew in September 2006 we were able to select our seats there and back when we booked and we flew economy (£300rt through a special link someone posted on here). In fact I remember changing our seats 2 or 3 times online.

I know you're frustrated with BA right now but would Virgin have been any different? I find most of these big companies are all the same, money comes first, customer service a very distant second.

Hope you still have a great holiday

BA changed last year on pre seat assignments they did allow it, then suddenly stopped, its only allowed if you are a regular BA flyer, (Gold?) or you book first class, otherwise you have to use on line check in 24 hours before the flight.

Yes I do not know how Virgin would handle this, they messed up some booking for 2009, all I would say is for that, I had emails from them and customer services at Virgin called me again and again to ensure they sorted it out, it wasn't a fare price drop so I do not know what they would do about that, but they picked up the phone more than once to call me, if BA called it would have helped.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I clicked on this ad banner link from one of the DIS pages. For $24.95, I might well subscribe. What's the worst that could happen?

Cor the advert goes on a bit doesnt it

 

[SammieG]

i agree that the seat assignment on BA is terrible! I had no idea, as we are gold card holders so can always book online...

I think that is a dreadful service.

You must have been looking at similar flights to us Andrew Derek Uk... as ours have gone down by near enough £500 per person... but we just werent going to go at the nearly £1000 price tag - so Im really happy they have come down..

still that is no consolation to you... BUT you did get on the flights you wanted to... and actually you might not have been able to with the reduced fare ...