BA cancelling long-service award concessions.....
 

:8

Having used my long-service award concessions to go to Singapore recently (in retirement)...BA managed to lose my Luggage..presented at check-in at Heathrow for 4 days (incl).

I subsequently made a claim via BA (I also had separate insurance) as to why this happened.

Turned out to be a 'cock up' at LHR checkin. In my claim was just loss of clothes for 4 days...around the £200 mark, all very legit.....and my did I have to show the receipts.

Thought this wouldn't be a problem, however, BA Has written back to me to say, as your retirement concessions are 'gratis' in effect from them, we have decided to remove your retirement entitlement with immediate effect....no appeal allowed...just BA trying to save oldies like me from making a genuine and frugal loss of baggage claim for 4 days.

By me doing that, I have lost many years of entitled concessions...anyone else had this 'Nazi' treatment by BA??? :eek::ugh::ooh:

"Nazi" treatment? Really? Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Juan, a bit tough. Bondy has a point. If Staff Travel 'entitlement' is compromised by loss of baggage claims, it should say so, somewhere in the small print.We all know the deal and that ST can be modified or removed at any time. However, a major player like BA has a sophisticated scheme and one that is likely to be looked forward to as a retirement perk. Removing it as a disciplinary response to a lost baggage claim is petty, knee jerk and downright ill thought through.

Their response is frankly mean and in some ways a little sinister. A bit like the National Lottery finger coming down from above and saying "Thou shalt not annoy The Corporation".

Don't worry Bondy - Iberia will sort them out for you.

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Tough? Comparing BA to the Nazis? Jesus wept some people have lost the plot

Completely agree with the above. Absolutely ludicrous to compare something to that.

Ammmm, the point of the OP was not to compare BA to NSDAP, but to point out his/her problem with them? Or maybe I'm a bit weird 'cos I actually read the whole comment - weird like Musolini, who believed garlic is elixir of life?

If you were not rude or impolite in your dealings with BA then it is just sad, though not too surprising.

Some BA staff, and some ex-BA staff appear to live in a Fantasy Land.
All the good work that enthusiastic crew do to improve BA's image is easily undone by the "entitlement" culture that some folk in and ex- BA have.

Why on Earth should BA treat their staff any better than they treat their customers?

BA told its longstanding Gold card customers that if they met a particular qualification, they could be Silver card holders for life. I, and many others, met this requirement.

As soon as BA realised that this marketing ploy was going to cost them they reneged on their promise.
So if BA treat their customers in this way, they will treat their staff in the same way. No surprise there, then. And Exspeedbird will be along soon to put the BA pensionners pov.

on the occasion my bag was lost by BA in HKG I was given $100 to buy essentials, which was more than enough, admittedly I got the bag back in 2 days, maybe they felt £200 a little excessive, was there no further explanation of the removal of your rights.

Just another of so many examples of today's style of management in many companies (aviation and non-aviation). I fully understand the "Nazi" reference made by the OP.

Bond'll Do: I suspect this decision has been made by incompetent middle management. I suggest pushing it up the ladder further, and threatening to "go public". After all, BA did promise not to return the staff travel concession to the striking cabin crew, but they eventually did after pressure.

A few years ago, I claimed for the contents of a suitcase that got chewed up / destroyed (only bits left!) by the baggage system while in transit between LHR and CDG. My ticket was an ID90 standby from a relative who was an active BA staff member. I got a cheque for the value of the contents.
Your scenario seems very similar, although fortunately you got your bag back in once piece.
Good luck!

Bond'll Do

I am wondering if their is a bit more to the story.

About 5 years ago, I travelled to SIN but was initially on standby. My bag was sent through the system with a standby tag (so it would be by the side of the aircraft ready for immediate loading if I got on). I did get a seat and I handed the other half of the standby label, that had been given to me at check in.

When I arrived at SIN I waited for my bag. It did not turn up but I was approached by ground staff who advised me that my bag had not been loaded. I was then taken to an office where a form was filled in and I was given some money to cover essentials. My bag arrived at the hotel later that day.

So is there any additional information you need to impart that might give us a better idea as to why you lost your long service concession?

BA treat their frequent fliers with similar contempt. Unfortunatly I have many thousands of award miles with them, tried to get an award ticket to the US for a family member. Ticket price.....$780 for cash.....award price....$740 + 40,000 miles:* The same trip using my American Airlines Advantage account....$176 + 40,000 miles.:D:D

I try to avoid BA where there is a viable alternative and dont`get me started about Heathrow. In all of my travels they are the only ones to lose my bags, but they did a great job getting them back to me so no foul there really!

I do find it quite difficult to believe that we have the full story.
Staff baggage claims have always been treated the same as those of paying passengers.
Some years ago my bag was destroyed by a baggage tractor at Heathrow.
I was immediately given a new bag and my claim for new clothes was paid without delay.

This is why staff travel will become increasingly limited, as it ends up costing the company money in hassle and bad pr potentialif nothing else

Bond'll Do

The 'punishment' does seem a little harsh although I can see that the term 'Nazi' might be a little OTT.

Could you tell us if there was any altercation over this or was it a simple baggage claim?

Is a claim not usually for compensation rather than an explanation?

However, if it is simply as Bond'll Do says it does sound overly harsh and a worrying sign of the way BA views it's retiree's staff travel privilege.

renfrew (and keel beam):
I absolutely agree! This cannot be the total sum of the story. I know as well as anyone that BA are far from perfect, but this story just doesn't have the ring of truth about it.
Sorry!

I have had bags turn up late on a couple of ST flights with BA (I use it alot!). The bags have always been delivered, albeit late, and I have never had a claim refused/not refunded.

One of the pitfalls of travelling standby is that the bags are kept on the Pan until the end of loading and sometimes get forgotten/missed.

Don't get me started on some of the charter companies 'third party' claims agents!

I don't think the whole story is here either.