BA texting mobiles

[essouira]

A while back there was an enquiry as to whether anyone had ever had a message from BA via their mobile phone to say a flight was delayed/cancelled. Most people said not.
Just so you know, I had a text on Friday advising of a cancellation just as I was leaving for the airport, having earlier checked in. I would otherwise have wasted an expensive journey across London. So I guess it is worth giving them all this information .......

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Ah yes, an interesting thread that was too, while it lasted :) I would have loved to see F3G take that to court and win damages off BA, as I suspect he quite possibly could.

Have BA changed their policy? If so, could it be because of the sensible words from the passengers on here? Have they actually started to 'care' (pun intented lol)

[13Alpha]

My experience based on 3 years of frequent flying with BA (1 gold card, 2 silver cards) suggests that texts are only ever sent for delayed/cancelled flights departing from LHR, and even then not reliably.

I've certainly had flights due to depart from LCY, EDI and LGW cancelled and significantly delayed with no text. In one case I found out about the cancellation 8 hours before via PPRUNE. In another the captain came out and apologised to the pax face to face for the 3 hour delay and the fact that we had "probably not had any prior warning of the delay" even though he admitted they had known about it the previous evening.

So if BA really have got their system up and running - and for flights departing from all airports, not just Heathrow, that would be most welcome ;)

While on the subject of BA, on my last trip through Gatwick I was shocked to be invited to board my EDI flight first due to my status as a silver card holder. I can't think when this last happened on a BA domestic flight. For a brief moment I felt special again :)

13Alpha

[Atlantean1963]

I was flying back from WAW to LHR the day that BA038 "landed" at Heathrow.

I can report that I did get a text to tell me my flight had been cancelled :) - however I got the text whilst I was standing in the queue to check in at the airport :( (and before the staff at the airport knew it had been cancelled)...

Best Regards,

Atlantean.

[Final 3 Greens]

Ah yes, an interesting thread that was too, while it lasted I would have loved to see F3G take that to court and win damages off BA, as I suspect he quite possibly could.

Someone on this forum kindly gave me an email address to a person in BA and I emailed them the details.

The whole of my expense bill was in my bank account within 7 days and as my client had deceided to pay me for the whole day (as mentioned later on the thread), there was no loss arising to recover, whcih saved a good deal of hassle.

Its good to see that BA texted the OP, as time often gives options to re-plan and work around problems whilst other options are still available. I suspect that could have been the case with me, too.

[TightSlot]

As they say in the 'beautiful game' - "we got a result..."

Congratulations

[Scumbag O'Riley]

All good stuff F3G.

These airlines really do need to pull their socks up, the behaviour of the past doesn't fly anymore (groan). BA gets found out again...

Payout victory for stranded air passengers - Times Online (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article5712508.ece)

We hope that airlines will now step up to their responsibility under the legislation and understand that passengers will not simply roll over and let their basic legal rights be ignored.

Of course they will have to get this money from their passengers, and the older least efficient airlines will have more difficulty doing this than the newer leaner and meaner airlines.

[A2QFI]

Slight thread drift but I get a text daily at 0800, from Transport for London, advising me of all problems on 2 routes that I have told them that I use. This runs to signalling problems, ecalator failures, snow/ice problems, cancellation, station closures etc. I realise that, hopefully, BA have fewer cancellations than TFL have transport problems, and on that basis I would have thought that texting people about flight problems would be a matter of a good compter programme to do it. Perhaps that is the problem - no suitable software?

[PAXboy]

A2QFIPerhaps that is the problem - no suitable software? Nope!!! I was in telecommunications for 27 years and setting up an SMS interface to send whatever data you want to any single or group/sub-groups of numbers (anywhere in the world) is the proverbial cake walk. I specified such a system to a local authority in 2003.

I won't bore you with the vast range of combinations/alternatives. You can even have a software module on your domestic PC that, say, notifies you by SMS if you have received an email from a certain address, if the PC has taken a phone call, a fax or any other event you nominate. Your home alarm system can SMS to say that it has a sensor gone off etcetera. It's all off the shelf. Naturally, an airline has a very much more complicated problem but it is all established technology. Any airline that does not do this is at least five years behind the curve and are costing themselves big money and reputation.

[added later]
My bank and AmEx send me SMS regularly each week with standard details but also, if my card is used overseas I will immediately be notified. If I am not overseas myself, then that is a problem! So they have lined up systems to automaticall relay ordinary and extraordinary information.

Heck, even my hairdresser and dentist send confirmation SMS!!! So I suspect that BA could do this too. :hmm: