PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Why Has BA Got a Deathwish?
View Single Post
Old 8th Feb 2012, 10:00
  #22 (permalink)  
13Alpha
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: London
Age: 56
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm sorry, but aren't we missing the point. I don't think it's realistic to expect every business & government department to supply 24/7 telephone support just because a customer is negligent in managing their affairs.
I don't think the original poster was asking for every business & government department to supply 24/7 support, he was asking that BA did.

And as the OP mentioned, BA's call centre response would have been the same regardless of whether he was phoning with a minor, self-inflicted problem, or if he had been a premium ticketholder stranded in some remote airport.

While BA's service onboard can be very, very good, its customer service on the ground, and particularly on the telephone is often very, very poor. Whatever the reason for your contact. Whether you are a one flight a year low-life, or an EC gold card holder.

The defence of "but you should expect poor service when something big is going wrong" is, frankly, pathetic, given how often "something big" goes wrong in BA and in the aviation business. Snow and fog happen every winter. Airports close, for some reason, whether it be due to weather, or volcanoes, or security incidents, every year. Industrial disputes (not always involving BA) affect flights on a regular basis. Heathrow as an airport is permanently teetering on the brink of chaos. BA should be able to cope with flight disruption far better than it does.

Many individuals within BA really care about customers, but collectively, the organisation often fails to deliver on customer service and support. Running a big airline is about a lot more than just flying planes.

There was a time when BA was my default choice of airline. Now it's just one of the crowd. That's not down to the service on board - although some Heathrow cabin crews have been particularly sour-faced lately. It's down to the whole end-to-end experience, including how the company deals with "unexpected" problems.

Last edited by 13Alpha; 8th Feb 2012 at 13:15.
13Alpha is offline