[AJF]

This is a warning to all potential BA passengers about how badly they treat their most loyal long-term customers.

I was booked on BA196, departing Houston at 20.25 on 28th April. That morning I received a text telling me that my flight had been cancelled and that I should phone BA to make alternative arrangements. After nearly an hour on the phone to the UK (their US number was unobtainable) having surreal conversations with two customers services reps who kept telling me that my flight had not been cancelled I determined that BA196 had indeed been cancelled and that BA had rebooked me onto BA194, scheduled to depart at 16.15. BA would no allow me to find a later alternative so I was forced to cancel an important meeting and go to the airport earlier than planned. I was shocked when I checked in at 13.30 to be told that BA194 would be delayed until 19.00.

After a very long wait in the airport when I was offered no food vouchers (other passengers received them) the flight departed and the captain announced that the flight had been deliberately delayed to accommodate as many passengers as possible from the cancelled flight.

I wrote to BA to complain about (1) my original flight being cancelled and me being rebooked onto another with no choice; (2) the fact that I had to cancel a very important meeting in Houston to catch the earlier flight; (3) the fact that the earlier flight was then delayed, and it arrived at LHR just under four hours after its scheduled arrival time; and (4) the lack of food vouchers at Houston. They sent a boilerplate response offering no compensation and saying they will raise my concerns with Houston airport. My issues were not with Houston airport but with BA.

I tried again and received another lame response which offered me 50% of the compensation that I am entitled to under EU law, which also contradicts their own website. Several more attempts to reason with BA have got me nowhere so I have now engaged a solicitor to pursue the matter. BA Customer Services are a disgrace and they just add insult to injury.

BA is an absolute shambles of a company that doesn't value its customers. I have flown with BA for many years and have been an Executive Club Silver of Gold member for a long time. This counts for nothing. I have been very disappointed with many of my BA flights this year, including First Class, where the in flight attendants were far from attentive and the food was almost inedible. I now avoid BA and use other airlines. Asian airlines are so much better.

[shankara]

Dear Sir

RE: Ticket Number(s): 125 7463831422-23, My case reference is:12766979

I am shocked and certainly very unhappy and dissatisfied with the refund amount of USD 121.20 which I believe is only from Brussels to LHR whereas my booking was from Brussels to Bangalore (X2G9W6).

I have been in communication with BA for the last eight months in the hope that BA would rightly compensate me for having incorrectly denied me from boarding Flight BA391 from BRU to LHR and from there on Flight 119 from LHR to BLR on 23rd September 2014, in spite of having a valid ticket and visa.

I had mailed all the documents mentioned below that Mr. Neil Adair of British Airways Customer Relations had asked me to provide as evidence including the bill and boarding pass of my ticket by Jet Airways that I was forced to buy to get back home to Bangalore on the 29th of Sepetmber 2014.

1. Hold a confirmed onward reservation out of the UK, by air, to a third country, within 24 hours; AND
2. Be correctly documented for their destination; AND
3. Hold one of the following exemption documents:
(a) a valid visa for entry to Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America and a valid airline ticket for travel via the United Kingdom as part of a journey from another country or territory to the country in respect of which the visa is held;
(ab) a valid visa for entry to Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America and a valid airline ticket for travel via the United Kingdom as part of a journey from the country in respect of which the visa is held to another country or territory;
(b) a valid airline ticket for travel via the United Kingdom as part of a journey from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America to another country or territory, provided that the transit passenger does not seek to transit the United Kingdom on a date more than six months from the date on which he last entered Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America with a valid visa for entry to that country;
(c) a valid USA I-551 Permanent Resident Card issued on or after 21 April 1998; or an expired USA i-551 Permanent Resident Card issued on or after 21 April 1998 provided accompanied by a valid I-797 letter authorising the extension, issued by the Bureau of Citizenship; or a stand alone US Immigration visa Form 155A / 155B (attached to a sealed brown envelope);
(d) a valid Canadian Permanent Resident Card issued on or after 28 June 2002;
(e) a valid common format Category D visa for entry to an EEA state or Switzerland;
(f) a valid common format residence permit issued by an EEA State or Switzerland pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No. 1030/2002.
Assuming Ms Shankara Prasad complied with points 1 and 2, she probably believed that she was exempt because she complied with 3(ab) or 3(b). However, she needs to provide us with evidence of this. We would need to see the US visa she used to enter the USA on this trip and the entry stamps related to that visit.

Consequently, I received mail from Ms.Rhiannon Grice, agreeing that I was incorrectly denied boarding on this occasion and that I was entitled for compensation under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 for the fixed about of Euros 600 based on the distance due to be travelled and reimbursement of the flight tickets affected.

I sincerely hope that justice will prevail and British Airways will rightly compensate me for the injustice done to me for no fault of mine.

Sincerely

Lalitha Shankar

[AJF]

Good luck with your claim Lalitha. I have been corresponding with BA's Customer Relations department for five weeks now and it is a very painful process. I still can't decide whether the individual who responds is uneducated or being deliberately obstructive. I suspect the answer is both. She will not (or can not) answer my basic questions. After initially offering zero compensation she made an offer for part of what I am due and recently increased the offer again but it is still not meeting the commitments made on their own website.

BA's eventual offer followed me contacting Business Traveller magazine and the UK Civil Aviation Authority, who have taken up my case and will hopefully take enforcement action against BA. I have also contacted the Trading Standards body to let them know about BA's inaccurate claims on its website.

I am determined that justice will be done and have plans for further escalation if BA do not resolve this matter soon. BA seem to hope that customers give up. You need to be determined.