[Fabian Karl]

Dear fellow passengers,

I was always taught that the client is the backbone of ones business and that in business the loyal client is the business. Sadly British Airways showed me their true colours in a recent BA case file number 11569008 and their actions have prompted me to write in the hopes I may share with others the treatment I received from them.

In short - I had till now been a loyal Executive Club Member (Gold) of British Airways - I purchased a return ticket Vancouver / London / Vancouver on a mix of First class and Business Class. I used the outbound leg and missed the return leg by two days as I had forgotten about the return dates whilst in Asia.

I called BA and apologized as soon as I realized the mistake and was told (after holding on for no less than 80 minutes) that the ticket was auto canceled under the tiny terms and conditions of carriage clause 3c10 (which are amalgamated with hundreds of other tiny terms and conditions located on a third party website which is hyperlinked from a tick box at the time of purchase - I have never read them till this nasty experience).

In short BA refused to honour my return ticket leaving me no choice but to buy another return ticket on another airline. The frustration of their action, the time wasted and annoyance following what I explained was an honest mistake was terrible.

The moral of this story is to read the fine print as BA reserve the right to bully you if you fall foul of their fine print clauses. BA are not forgiving ... And as a result they have lost my business. There is a lot of choice out there and I advise you all to shop around before even considering BA.

Thank you for your time.

[anonymouscomments]

Just to clear a few things up. The general conditions are on BA.com, not a third party website. Admittedly though yes there is lots and lots of small print. However i would say its a very common rule that airlines apply noshow rules to tickets as an industry not just BA. Ultimately you missed the flight and BA simply applied the rules on your ticket. Its not as though british airways have done anything here that is wrong! I agree its obviously a frustrating rule but dont simply say that BA have no customer service because they wouldnt bend rules for you.

[Fabian Karl]

Clearly you're a big BA supporter - 29 replies defending BA to the hilt.

Your reply to me, and I quote, stated "...but dont simply say that BA have no customer service because they wouldnt bend rules for you".

No where in my advice to other readers did I write that I had asked BA to bend the rules nor did I say that BA have no customer service. This you conjured up all by yourself although I am somwhat inclined to agree with you on the latter point.

If however you are the anonymous voice of BA they are in bigger trouble than I first thought.

[azstar]

If you purchased a First and/or Business Class ticket missing the flight would not invalidate the ticket. You should have been able to rebook the same flights at a later date. Did you purchase a discounted nonrefundable economy ticket which was upgradeable due to your status?

[anonymouscomments]

No im not the voice of BA and no i dont represent BA. Apologies but i guess i was reading between the lines. I agree you didnt say that but you did say they were unforgiving and were losing your business. Due to thid i had taken it as implied that you thought their customer service in this case was poor simply because they upheld the rules on a ticket. But yes i realise you didnt implicitly state this so sorry.

Also noshow rules can apply to business/first class fares. However usually they are more flexblie fares. There certainly are business class fares which are non refundable though. The least flexible fares BA sell are actually in business class as there are some business class I and R class fares that are completely non changeable once booked. Please dont make assumptions about fares that they will be changeable/noshow rules dont apply. Always check with BA.