BA overbooking - a bad experience
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From: hummingbird on 26 Feb 2007 06:16 A bad experience ... I flew back from Bangkok to London on BA0010 last week. At Bangkok's new airport, I arrived 3.5 hrs before my flight and joined an existing queue to check in. About three hours before my flight, BA opened up one check-in counter and asked for Qantas passengers to come forward for check-in. Since this was a BA flight it puzzled me. Clearly something odd was going on as BA passengers were not being checked-in at all. One hour later it became apparent from a BA memo circulating along the passenger queue that BA had overbooked this flight by 90 seats and were asking for BA passengers to accept an alternative travel package to London (overnight hotel in Bangkok, flight on China Airlines to Hong Kong [3h40m] the following morning and a flight from Hong Kong to London on BA the following evening - plus a card worth �250 which BA claimed could be used to w/d the cash in *many ATMs*). It was not until this fiasco unfolded that I realised my flight to London had in fact started in Sydney/Australia and stopped in Bangkok only to refuel and pick up additional passengers. Too bad my agent (Expedia online) don't make this info available when booking as it might have influenced which flight/airline I booked with. I am never happy to board a flight which originated elsewhere. It took me a total of three hours to get checked in and I was subjected to severe pressure by check-in staff to take the alternative package or to go on a Qantas 'standby' list. I explained this was unacceptable to me. I insisted that I wished to fly on the flight I booked and finally got my boarding pass 25mins before scheduled flight departure, so had no time to visit duty free since the boarding gate is 20min walk from the check-in counter. When I arrived at the boarding gate, there was a small delay before boarding. Sadly, my seat assignment turned out to be next to a foreign guy who was obviously too large and unable to limit himself to one seat, so he overflowed into my seat space and that of the young woman next to him. I spoke to the cabin bossman before take-off and asked if I could be reseated but he said "unlikely" because the flight was 100% full. This proved to be accurate - not a single empty seat to be seen. We then sat in this BA 747-400 for two more hours before take-off while 35 other passengers were processed through check-in/immigration etc. According to the captain, they were late arrivals but we later learned that these were people who had been bumped off the same flight the previous night following its cancellation and had spent the night/day in a Bangkok hotel while BA ran around like headless chickens trying to find alternative seats for them to London. One of these passengers was on my BA flight but his wife had been put on a Qantas flight! Unofficially, the previous night's flight was apparently cancelled as it had developed technical problems soon after leaving Sydney and had to put down in Bali, hence the number of Bangkok passengers stranded and BA's attempts to roll-over the problem to my flight to avoid the 24hr disruption rule on compensation. I have no idea what happened to the previous night's passengers who were dumped in Bali. We were scheduled to take off at 00.10am but eventually got airborn at 02.15am, arriving back at LHR at 07.30am instead of 05.50am local. A total of 15 hours on the plane plus 3.5 hours to get checked-in. Is this modern day air travel?
From: Bobs your uncle on 26 Feb 2007 08:30 You want to read Richard Branson's Autobiograpy Part One. It has some interesting British Airways 'tactics' in there that were used to try and stop him from ever starting Virgin Atlantic. Stick to Qantas, give BA the flick I say! "hummingbird" <RHBIYDTNPPAX(a)spammotel.com> wrote in message news:kvc5u2p2ll76bl7jmel6544t7gr2pflnpc(a)4ax.com... >A bad experience ... > I flew back from Bangkok to London on BA0010 last week. > At Bangkok's new airport, I arrived 3.5 hrs before my flight and > joined an existing queue to check in. > > About three hours before my flight, BA opened up one check-in counter > and asked for Qantas passengers to come forward for check-in. Since > this was a BA flight it puzzled me. Clearly something odd was going on > as BA passengers were not being checked-in at all. > > One hour later it became apparent from a BA memo circulating along > the passenger queue that BA had overbooked this flight by 90 seats > and were asking for BA passengers to accept an alternative travel > package to London (overnight hotel in Bangkok, flight on China > Airlines to Hong Kong [3h40m] the following morning and a flight from > Hong Kong to London on BA the following evening - plus a card worth > �250 which BA claimed could be used to w/d the cash in *many ATMs*). > > It was not until this fiasco unfolded that I realised my flight to > London had in fact started in Sydney/Australia and stopped in Bangkok > only to refuel and pick up additional passengers. Too bad my agent > (Expedia online) don't make this info available when booking as it > might have influenced which flight/airline I booked with. I am never > happy to board a flight which originated elsewhere. > > It took me a total of three hours to get checked in and I was > subjected to severe pressure by check-in staff to take the alternative > package or to go on a Qantas 'standby' list. I explained this was > unacceptable to me. > I insisted that I wished to fly on the flight I booked and finally got > my boarding pass 25mins before scheduled flight departure, so had no > time to visit duty free since the boarding gate is 20min walk from the > check-in counter. > > When I arrived at the boarding gate, there was a small delay before > boarding. Sadly, my seat assignment turned out to be next to a foreign > guy who was obviously too large and unable to limit himself to one > seat, so he overflowed into my seat space and that of the young woman > next to him. I spoke to the cabin bossman before take-off and asked if > I could be reseated but he said "unlikely" because the flight was 100% > full. This proved to be accurate - not a single empty seat to be seen. > > We then sat in this BA 747-400 for two more hours before take-off > while 35 other passengers were processed through check-in/immigration > etc. According to the captain, they were late arrivals but we later > learned that these were people who had been bumped off the same > flight the previous night following its cancellation and had spent the > night/day in a Bangkok hotel while BA ran around like headless > chickens trying to find alternative seats for them to London. One of > these passengers was on my BA flight but his wife had been put on a > Qantas flight! > > Unofficially, the previous night's flight was apparently cancelled as > it had developed technical problems soon after leaving Sydney and had > to put down in Bali, hence the number of Bangkok passengers stranded > and BA's attempts to roll-over the problem to my flight to avoid the > 24hr disruption rule on compensation. I have no idea what happened to > the previous night's passengers who were dumped in Bali. > > We were scheduled to take off at 00.10am but eventually got airborn > at 02.15am, arriving back at LHR at 07.30am instead of 05.50am local. > A total of 15 hours on the plane plus 3.5 hours to get checked-in. > > Is this modern day air travel?
From: Thur on 26 Feb 2007 09:38 "hummingbird" wrote news:kvc5u2p2ll76bl7jmel6544t7gr2pflnpc(a)4ax.com... > One hour later it became apparent from a BA memo circulating along > the passenger queue that BA had overbooked this flight by 90 seats > and were asking for BA passengers to accept an alternative travel > package to London (overnight hotel in Bangkok, flight on China > Airlines to Hong Kong [3h40m] the following morning and a flight from > Hong Kong to London on BA the following evening - plus a card worth > �250 which BA claimed could be used to w/d the cash in *many ATMs*. [snip] > We were scheduled to take off at 00.10am but eventually got airborn > at 02.15am, arriving back at LHR at 07.30am instead of 05.50am local. > A total of 15 hours on the plane plus 3.5 hours to get checked-in. An obese guy sitting next to you can happen everywhere. Further, Ia delay of 1h40m is not that huge... The alternative offered for the overbooking isn't that bad etiher; I think I would have taken it. I don't see what's the "bad experience" at BA's fault here. You wrote you arrived 3h30m before scheduled departure time to the check-in, so why you mention that again is beyond me. Greetings, -tada!
From: hummingbird on 26 Feb 2007 10:13 On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 15:38:58 +0100 'Thur' posted this onto rec.travel.air: >"hummingbird" wrote news:kvc5u2p2ll76bl7jmel6544t7gr2pflnpc(a)4ax.com... >> One hour later it became apparent from a BA memo circulating along >> the passenger queue that BA had overbooked this flight by 90 seats >> and were asking for BA passengers to accept an alternative travel >> package to London (overnight hotel in Bangkok, flight on China >> Airlines to Hong Kong [3h40m] the following morning and a flight from >> Hong Kong to London on BA the following evening - plus a card worth >> �250 which BA claimed could be used to w/d the cash in *many ATMs*. >[snip] >> We were scheduled to take off at 00.10am but eventually got airborn >> at 02.15am, arriving back at LHR at 07.30am instead of 05.50am local. >> A total of 15 hours on the plane plus 3.5 hours to get checked-in. >An obese guy sitting next to you can happen everywhere. Further, Ia delay of >1h40m is not that huge... The alternative offered for the overbooking isn't >that bad etiher; I think I would have taken it. I don't see what's the "bad >experience" at BA's fault here. You wrote you arrived 3h30m before scheduled >departure time to the check-in, so why you mention that again is beyond me. If you can't see the bad experience I described here, I'm sorry for you...perhaps you aren't aware of what a nightmare flying is becoming these days: 3-4 hours to check-in, ineffective security checks, shoes off at LHR, personal items in plastic bags, inadequate seating, flight delays, damaged luggage, lost luggage etc etc. Yes, I arrived 3.5hrs before my flight time but *not* to stand in a queue waiting for BA to get their act together. I intended to look around the new Bangkok airport before my flight. It's quite likely that if I'd arrived - say - only two hours before my flight, I'd have had no choice but to accept the BA offer as I'd have been at the wrong end of a long queue. Yes, obese people can appear anywhere it's true. But surely the point is that if I have bought and paid for a complete seat, I should get it - not 2/3rds of it - on a 13hr flight. Is it not time for airlines to bite the bullet and insist that obese people buy two tickets?; something which already happens in one or two US airlines afaik. No, there was no way the BA offer was acceptable to me. Firstly, I flew out to HK four weeks earlier and didn't want to go back there (flight time 3h40m). Secondly, I needed to get home asap as during my month long absence my father was taken into hostpital and suffered two heart attacks. True, a 1h40m delay into London was not too bad as you say, but that ignores that BA had overbooked the flight, allocated me a seat next to an obese person and kept us on board for two hours before take off. ....I'm grateful that BA managed to get my luggage on the right plane.
From: hummingbird on 26 Feb 2007 10:16
On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:30:39 GMT 'Bobs your uncle' posted this onto rec.travel.air: >You want to read Richard Branson's Autobiograpy Part One. It has some >interesting British Airways 'tactics' in there that were used to try and >stop him from ever starting Virgin Atlantic. Yeah, I heard about some of those tricks at the time. >Stick to Qantas, give BA the flick I say! I suspect that my personal experience is not unique to BA these days. I hear that overbooking flights is quite common in the US. >"hummingbird" <RHBIYDTNPPAX(a)spammotel.com> wrote in message >news:kvc5u2p2ll76bl7jmel6544t7gr2pflnpc(a)4ax.com... >>A bad experience ... >> I flew back from Bangkok to London on BA0010 last week. >> At Bangkok's new airport, I arrived 3.5 hrs before my flight and >> joined an existing queue to check in. >> >> About three hours before my flight, BA opened up one check-in counter >> and asked for Qantas passengers to come forward for check-in. Since >> this was a BA flight it puzzled me. Clearly something odd was going on >> as BA passengers were not being checked-in at all. >> >> One hour later it became apparent from a BA memo circulating along >> the passenger queue that BA had overbooked this flight by 90 seats >> and were asking for BA passengers to accept an alternative travel >> package to London (overnight hotel in Bangkok, flight on China >> Airlines to Hong Kong [3h40m] the following morning and a flight from >> Hong Kong to London on BA the following evening - plus a card worth >> �250 which BA claimed could be used to w/d the cash in *many ATMs*). >> >> It was not until this fiasco unfolded that I realised my flight to >> London had in fact started in Sydney/Australia and stopped in Bangkok >> only to refuel and pick up additional passengers. Too bad my agent >> (Expedia online) don't make this info available when booking as it >> might have influenced which flight/airline I booked with. I am never >> happy to board a flight which originated elsewhere. >> >> It took me a total of three hours to get checked in and I was >> subjected to severe pressure by check-in staff to take the alternative >> package or to go on a Qantas 'standby' list. I explained this was >> unacceptable to me. >> I insisted that I wished to fly on the flight I booked and finally got >> my boarding pass 25mins before scheduled flight departure, so had no >> time to visit duty free since the boarding gate is 20min walk from the >> check-in counter. >> >> When I arrived at the boarding gate, there was a small delay before >> boarding. Sadly, my seat assignment turned out to be next to a foreign >> guy who was obviously too large and unable to limit himself to one >> seat, so he overflowed into my seat space and that of the young woman >> next to him. I spoke to the cabin bossman before take-off and asked if >> I could be reseated but he said "unlikely" because the flight was 100% >> full. This proved to be accurate - not a single empty seat to be seen. >> >> We then sat in this BA 747-400 for two more hours before take-off >> while 35 other passengers were processed through check-in/immigration >> etc. According to the captain, they were late arrivals but we later >> learned that these were people who had been bumped off the same >> flight the previous night following its cancellation and had spent the >> night/day in a Bangkok hotel while BA ran around like headless >> chickens trying to find alternative seats for them to London. One of >> these passengers was on my BA flight but his wife had been put on a >> Qantas flight! >> >> Unofficially, the previous night's flight was apparently cancelled as >> it had developed technical problems soon after leaving Sydney and had >> to put down in Bali, hence the number of Bangkok passengers stranded >> and BA's attempts to roll-over the problem to my flight to avoid the >> 24hr disruption rule on compensation. I have no idea what happened to >> the previous night's passengers who were dumped in Bali. >> >> We were scheduled to take off at 00.10am but eventually got airborn >> at 02.15am, arriving back at LHR at 07.30am instead of 05.50am local. >> A total of 15 hours on the plane plus 3.5 hours to get checked-in. >> >> Is this modern day air travel? |