When is a 15% discount not a 15% discount ?

[13Alpha]

I recently received an email from the BA Exec club entitled "A little thank you" offering me "15% off your next British Airways flight, anywhere in the world".

As I was planning a return trip to Edinburgh I happily logged on to ba.com to book my cheap flight only to discover to my surprise that Edinburgh, in BA's eyes, is not "anywhere in the world" and that my discount cannot be applied. It appears that my journey is "too short" and that the discount doesn't apply on Cityflyer flights ("When is a BA flight not a BA flight ?")

Of course, reading through the T and Cs I find a statement that the discount isn't valid on a UK domestic return flight. So legally I can have no complaints about the offer being misleading.

But once again, BA's attempts to thank and reward its frequent travellers (I am a serial gold/silver card holder) are met with self-inflicted failure.

:rolleyes:

I'm going to drop the BA Exec club boss a line to see what he makes of it all.

13Alpha

[hugel]

Was an indication of the limitation included in the advert/offer ?
Was the limitation given equal priority to the advert/offer ?
It sounds misleading to me.

hugel

[13Alpha]

Dear 13Alpha,
Thank you for making a booking in the January Sale.
In return, we're delighted to offer you 15% off your next British Airways flight, anywhere in the world.



But later...


"4. The Promotion Code entitles eligible participants to a 15% discount per person on all long haul and short haul routes in World Traveller and Euro Traveller (economy class) and World Traveller Plus (premium economy), Club World and Club Europe (Business Class) and First."


So no mention of "UK Domestic". And I guess "short haul" in BA's eyes at least, excludes the UK. So legally, if not morally, I'm sure it's watertight.

But the point is, if this offer was intended to reward my loyalty, or make me well disposed towards BA, it's had the opposite effect, and I'm off to look at Cityjet, BMI and easyJet instead.

Of course, if they'd just included "foreign" or "overseas" or "abroad" in their email, it could all have turned out so differently... I'd have deleted the email as not applicable to me, and booked my flight with BA anyway.

:ugh:

13Alpha

[radeng]

Promotional code they gave me was rejected. So I called Exec Club. They gave me another one. That gets rejected too (this isn't for a UK Domestic booking, either). I'm now waiting for them to sort it out and get back to me.

Oh dear! Admittedly a computer cock-up, but one they could do without.