Originally Posted by
old,not bold
I was prepared to give BA a cautious thumbs up after a reasonably OK trip to the UAE last week, apart from the fuss and bother that changing the day of the outward flight due to a last-minute problem, to say nothing of expense; it took a total of 2 hours in phone calls to do something that in the 1970's I would have done for a BA customer in 5 minutes, using my supervisor login to their system.
However, I withdraw any hint of praise; they still haven't learned anything.
We're off, in a day or two, for a week in Europe, on BA again. I paid for something they call, during the reservation process, Economy Plus, mainly to get the hold baggage allowance and the other minor benefits offered, including early check in. This turned into "Eurotraveller" at some point in the process, after they had the money.
The system would not allow me to check in 48 hours in advance, and 23 hours 56 minutes before departure there were only seats at the back of the cabin available. That's life, it's only a 2-hour flight, we'll live.
My real beef is that when I called to ask exactly what I had booked, and why the system would not let me check in 48 hours before, after navigating about 4 (5?) levels in their ridiculous menu tree I got a recording saying in effect "We're all frightfully busy, go away and try calling again later." Click.
This might be the way the Spanish/Irish do things, it might be quite acceptable in Spain and/or Ireland to tell your customers to p**s off because you are too busy to talk to them, come back maņana.
But for so long as this crap, foreign-owned airline has "British" in its title IT IS UNACCEPTABLE.
Economy Plus, as I understand it, is a standard Eurotraveller ticket, with 23kg luggage allowance, and online check in 24 hours in advance.. On certain routes BA sell economy tickets but with no hold luggage allowance. I have never heard of BA allowing check in 48 hours in advance, but I wait to be corrected.