One World Alliance - Myth?
I have been prompted to post this by a comment made elsewhere by Bealine that BA and EI have a strong alliance. I have not flown with EI but do fly to Australia two or thre times a year using both BA and QF flights. I have QF Frequent Flyer membership. There appears to be a distinct lack of communication between both BA and QF. On at least two occasions pre-allocated seats have been changed by BA and QF have not been allowed to reverse the change by BA, this has meant that I have had to try to change them back again once I reached Singapore - not always successfully.
I have also not had my upgraded ticket (I had used some FF points for it) recognised by a member of BA check in staff who tried to send me back to the Economy check-in and only agreed that I might be right when I asked if a certain BA CS manager was in that day and she looked more carefully at the seat allocation. I had even offered to show her my booking on the QF website.
This current trip has also produced yet another discrepancy. I have recently acquired Silver membership and one of the benefits is that I can have 10 kgs extra cargo baggage. I arrived at check-in and put my jacket into my big bag bringing my total to 30.4kgs.(split into more than one bag) Not bad, I thought but I was frowned upon by the check-in person. "I'll let you have that this time" I was told. What?!! It's only 400 grammes over the limit! "You are only allowed 20kgs" I explained that I was allowed 30 kgs and again offered to show the person the limits on the website. This was all discussed in a pleasant, civilised manner. It transpired that BA still only allow their Ruby members 20 kgs and that the check-in staff are not informed of the other partners' limits.
I am aware that there are peple who are only too willing to try and get more that they are allowed but I am not one of them. I didn't have my Silver FF paperwork with me but will make sure that I carry it in future.
Don't misunderstand me, I like BA and QF and will continue to fly with them, but the "One World" part seems to me to mean one world for each individual airline and rarely shall useful information be shared amonst the partners.
How do other alliances compare? I would be very interested to know.