British Airways appaling customer service
 

I made plans to fly to Dallas, Tx on Sun Feb 21st with Delta from Heathrow. I was due to take off at 1.55pm from terminal 4. I decided the easiest way to get to Heathrow for my allotted check in time was to fly down from Manchester. So I booked the 8.25am flight to get in at 9.25am which would leave me plenty of time to pick up luggage and get to terminal 4, where Delta operate from.

Upon arrival at Manchester airport I checked in at approx 7am and was told that the airport was closed due to adverse weather conditions, and our flight would definately be delayed. The runway was closed for an hour so we boarded the plane at 9.30am when the runway had been re-opened. We were told we had to de-ice and queue for the runway but should be in the air in 30 mins. The cabin crew told us if any connecting flights were disrupted that BA would be happy to sort it out on the ground. I informed a cabin crew member that my flight was with a different airline and i was told by no less than three members of staff that BA would sort it out with Delta or put me on one of their flights if i missed my connection.

We sat on the plane for two hours before we even taxi-ed away from the gate, with no explanation for the ongoing delay, then they took about an hour just to de-ice us. We didnt take off till approx 11.45am and didn't land till approx 12.30, by which point there was no chance i was making it to terminal 4 for my Delta flight.

I was told to go to customer services at check in where i had the displeasure of being handled by the rudest BA employee ive ever met.
He called Delta who agreed to change my flight for a fee, but i still couldnt fly out till the nexy day. The BA representative proceeded to tell me that
'BA had fulfilled it's contract getting me to London';
that 'it was my own fault booking two flights with separate airlines in one day';
that 'cabin crew had risen my expectations and they know nothing about ticketing';
aswell as the classic 'you should've just tried running for it as soon as you landed'. I would assume that an employee working in Heathrow would know that terminal 4 was a 10-15min bus ride, so therefore a completely ridiculous idea!

Delta couldnt put me on another flight till the next morning, so not only did i miss an entire day of my holiday, i also had to pay for a hotel which cost me £72 and i also had to pay the £100 fee to change my flight, which BA have refused to pay for in 3 emails. They BA representative even asked Delta to pay for it.
Im now put out to the amount of £172, for something that was entirely not my fault.

3 strongly worded emails later and ive had 3 paragraphs on how snow affects planes, and what is possibly the most ironic thing ive ever heard, 'we do hope this will not deter from flying British Airways in the future'
Yeah cos im just dying to get back on one of your planes!!
I actually had more sympathy from the Delta reps!

This is tricky.... of course weather is not within the control of any airline, and the delay's compound as the day progresses. Had the BA staff told you the bald truth.. we don't know when you will get to LHR and whether Delta will play ball will be a matter for them, your position would not have been any different. However, you would at least have not been mislead by airline employees, who appear to try to placate passengers by lying to them. What is it about the airline industry that the employees seem incapable of giving people a straight answer?

However, I have to say your biggest error was choosing to fly from Manchester to LHR to connect with a different airline. What were you thinking? LHR is one of the most congested airports in the world. The Virgin Train from Manchester to London takes about 2.5 hrs.. and in adverse weather trains are more likely to be on time than aircraft. You should only consider connecting in LHR if you are with a single alliance or airline and don't have to change terminals and your luggage can be checked through. In any other circumstances, it makes no sense.

It is unreasonable to ask BA to pay for your fees and hotel, as the delay was weather related. However, it is perfectly reasonable to expect the airline to treat you like an adult and not lie to you... the days when "BA will take care of it", when you were connecting onto a competing airline are long gone..

Trust me i have definately learnt my lesson and will not be flying with two separate airlines again. My only reason for attempting to do so was because the earliest train to London that morning did not arrive till 11 and even without any delay i would've been pushing it to get to Heathrow on time.

Airline employees can't give a straight answer if it's a bad one because they know they have to then endure the rest of the flight with ****** off passengers.
Although the weather only closed the runway for one hour and as soon as it re-opened every other aircraft took off except us because BA were incapable of getting us de-iced, shutting the cargo hold door, and keeping us informed of what was going on which caused some passengers to request to leave the aircraft.

What annoys me is that it wasn't a spontaneous snowstorm, we've been dealing with it all winter, why couldn't the airline/airport be more prepared?
The next day i flew into and out out of Detroit in heavy snow. My friend that made the plane i was supposed to be on flew into and out of heavy snow in Minneapolis. Why does Manchester airport ground to a halt and blame snow for everything? How do they honestly think people cope in places like Canada or Russia or Alaska??
BA refusing to pay is almost like saying well it was your own fault, like i could've got out and de-iced the plane/runway myself?

I agree.. you can try complaining to the ATUC's at complaints@auc.org.uk , but to be honest, I think you will find the weather related delays tend to get short shrift. I know that you feel that it was only your aircraft, but if you go back and look at the stats, you will almost certainly find that if the airfield was closed for one hour, there will have been significant delay's throughout the day. De-icing is problematic. Detroit has that weather all the time in winter, so probably has more infrastructure to cope with it, but I agree.. we appear in the UK to be chronically unprepared for weather extremes

A cautionary tale and note of assistance to all those who have suffered the misfortune of travelling with British Airways and experiencing their unique brand of so-called Customer Service:

BA are an unmitigated disgrace when it comes to customer service and they totally ruined our wedding and honeymoon travel.

My wife and I suffered an appalling trip at the hands of this company and Mr Keith Williams, CEO, and his management could not be more disinterested.

We suffered rubbish on the floor, rude and ignorant BA staff and no food in the Lounge at Gatwick. We had no working entertainment screens, broken seat tables, faulty seat controls, rude and ignorant cabin crew, burned food, an hour wait for dinner and another hour delay being served at breakfast; not to mention the insects, yes, insects, in the seat arm compartment. All this in First Class.

I suggest writing to the following in the hope you have better success than we did. We found emailing them daily was the fastest way to elicit a response. Start with an email to Mr Williams, copied to all. That should provide some response. Good luck.

keith.x.williams@ba.com
americas.communications@ba.com
amy.clasper@ba.com
andy.lord@ba.com
ben.marshall@ba.com
company.secretary@ba.com
Glenda.Midson@ba.com
gsrreplies@contact.britishairways.com
helen.blenkinsop@ba.com
Helena.Flynn@ba.com
international.media@ba.com
investor.relations@iairgroup.com
james.hillier@ba.com
Lynn.McClelland@ba.com
Mary.George@BA.com
media.relations@ba.com
media.relations@iairgroup.com
michele.kropf@ba.com
michelle.parker@ba.com
prensaintl@iberia.es
press@oneworld.com
radhika.raikhy@ba.com
Sanja.Simeunovic@ba.com
sarah.marzari@ba.com
shareholder.services@iairgroup.com
silla.maizey@ba.com
steve.sheterline@ba.com
tehreem.ashraf@ba.com
tobias.klitsch@ba.com
willie.walsh@iairgroup.com