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.

.

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.

If you compare them to Nazis on here I wander what your attitude to the staff must have been and can completely understand why you got this treatment. Me thinks you are telling porkies on here and not telling the full story big time.... :mad:

Wirbelsturm

Likewise, similar has happened to me twice in the last 10 years ( FWIW less than 1% of my ST flights). On both occasions I was on standby travel and even so the bags were delivered by courier/cab the next day.

Like you and others I suspect there's more to this than outlined in the initial post.

When I used to travel on ST tickets (various airlines) we were generally better treated than paying pax! Happy days!

Genuine incident.....
 

I seem to have stirred up a 'hornets nest' of some people doubting my facts and assertion on this loss of concessions.

I have taken this matter up the chain of Management to the top and unless I take legal action, I am quite simply without my long-service concessions.

My reference to 'nazi' was said with 'shadenfreude'....perhaps there are too many cultural differences with folks taking that too seriously perhaps?

However, when one has no right of appeal, such as in my case taken up to B.A. C.E.O. level, this matter just stinks quite frankly.

I luckily have the wherewithal to pay for commercial J tickets on other airlines. I just wanted to use what as I see as a well-earned annual 'retirement' concession once annually with 'firm' onload priority...and done with research into 'loads' etc., My interest was to see if this had happened to others.

Many thanks to those others who have e-mailed me privately. It seems to me somewhat sad that perhaps there is a very strong culture of 'fear' from current management in what some people think (via PR perhaps?) of as a 'good' company to work for. It certainly was pretty good in my days there, with 'sensibility' ruling the day most often.

I can see no logic whatsoever in removing my concessions, as I genuinely hold Gold (or equiv.) top-tier membership of One World, Star and Skyteam alliances. I'm just left with a sour taste in my mouth from B.A. for putting in a frugal £200 claim (minus the £50 payment at the airport) for loss of luggage for 4 days.

If anyone doubts my case, they can contact Mrs. C. Da Cunha who is head of B.A. legal services (Board Member). De facto.

:uhoh:

Since staff travel is discretionary, I see no possibility for any legal challenge. BASSA discovered that they could not deliver on their promise to members to have such privileges returned!

Seems to me your only chance is to lick arse and win people over with your charm. I have a sneaking suspicion that could have been your problem in the first place?

As you say, you can afford 'j' tickets on BA's competitors, so no great loss to either side?

Do let us know how you get on.

PS: Very interested to hear how, as a pensioner, you are able to "research into 'loads' etc."? Perhaps that's a factor Mrs C da Cunha may wish to include in her deliberations??

Hi 4468...
 

Hi 4468,

Thank you for your reply.....yes the BA retirement concessions website gives load information and even who and what priority they have. Very interesting, legally. FACT.

Yes, as I reiterate....not crying here...just upset that a frugal claim ended up causing such disturbance and sour taste in my mouth.

Yes, I also have various current long-term friends in B.A. who could, if I asked provide any information I like. However, I have never done that and do not intend to. I am very grateful for the personal replies to my original post, as this shows me just what I was suspicious of....a very chaotic type of management whereby the hand doesn't know what the elbow is doing...sorta thing. I trust you get me on that. That was why I posed the original question, Sir.

These kind of 'weird' current management calls right up to the top brass just reinforce what I've been hearing from my current seniour colleagues still there. I just wanted to know some facts in reply...and I am very grateful to those that have taken time to provide me with that information.

oops 4468...one codicil I forgot to mention....
 

Again 4468, one legal codicil that I forgot to mention relating to your kind reply was that current contracts do, unproven legally, clearly state a 'discretionary' aspect to long-service 'award' benefits. Contracts such as mine do not.

I have no intention of taking up a legal battle with B.A., as I have better uses of my money/savings/time. I would probably 'win' my case legally and get a small payout after legal fees....however....I have no time for that.

I just wanted to know what was going on and I have found out sufficient information for my 'issue' as stated.

Yep, in fact I just got a Finnair deal for 2 to the Far East for £1,500 a head in 'J' and can not 'worry' about supposed 'firm' B.A. Retirement Annual Award issues of onload, get to use the lounges et al., sure you know where I'm coming from, especially as the 'taxes/surcharges' on the B.A. 'award' currently amount to over £1,000 on that route on the pretense of 'F', more likely 'J' and I'm not exactly over the moon on the current B.A. offerings/product in either classes....heheh.

Go well!

As an aside - I remember how the OP got his "name" on the 757 fleet some years ago. Very pretty French girl............

No serving staff below the board/CEO level has 'firm' F class tickets in BA. Why should you be any different. My 'firm' F tickets are downgraded if my family travels with me operating the flight. The become 'waitlisted'. Often commercial ops will temporary embargo the F cabin to allow for commercial upgrades leading to the F priority staff travel ticket holders being waitlisted until <24 hrs prior to departure.

ST is not a 'right' it is a concession as such it is BA's concession to play with, as stated above BASSA found this out the hard way.

In my experience the Gate Crew, Cabin Crew and Flight Crew will ALL do their very best to get ST passengers to most comfy seat they can when the opportunity arises. In all honesty the 'booked seat' element is primarily for catering and I will try and get ST travellers as far up the front as I possibly can. But then you don't like the product so no loss there then.

As to the baggage issues, BA doesn't differentiate between ST passengers and commercial passengers when it comes to processing baggage claims. They can't, the claim process is a legal process. In my experience again, and obviously the experience of posters above, on the very few occasions my bag has been delayed a poilitely worded letter with receipts for obvious essentials has had my claim settled promptly. Perhaps a 'bull in a china shop' approach doesn't garner the same results? I don't know but I'm just guessing.

As far as 'checking' loads on both the ST and the Retired Travel sections of the intranet goes they never, ever, reflect the actual commercial load of the aircraft. They do show an estimated commercial overbook position. Hence it may show free seats and onload priorities for staff but those seats might not actually be there in the event of an industry standard overbook policy. The only way to get an accurate figure, as 4468 was alluding to, is through FICO.

But as you seem to be an upstanding, high level member with all of the alliances around the world then all of this is irrelevant isn't it.

Enjoy Finnair.

Staff Travel changed significantly in 2009. If you have used it since - which given the reason for this post we can clearly take it that you have - you will have acknowledged and accepted the changed T&Cs that go with the 2009 changes. Those T&Cs clearly state that ST is discretionary and not contractual, so I suspect that despite the bandying around of such words as 'codicil' you are really blustering.

So much about this thread and the complaint that started it sound ill informed or just plain wrong.

I have just had the pleasure of a seven year old niece for Christmas and this all reminds me of one of her tantrums.

Juan
spot on.

It's such a shame this "dirty washing" is being rinsed on a public forum and in an inappropriate section such as this.....!!! :=

I am a long haul commuter and in First class 3-4 times a month where the crew have been generally awesome, nothing too much bother..... Or sat suffering on a jump seat when the a/c is full :{

If I am correct the author of this missive was an amazingly great Captain and person when in BA, are you sure about the "whole" story as I have had bag claims on staff travel without the slightest trouble...???

Please tell me you haven't turned into the grumpy old man we all fear turning into. :confused:

Excellent post toro. As you say, Bond'll Do was a popular and loyal captain and therefore I cannot believe that BA would remove staff travel purely on the basis of a baggage claim. There has to be more to this story, but as you also say, this probably isn't the place to discuss it.

I believe that the incident to which ETOPS refers was on a VC10, not a 757.

4468, serving and retired airline employees can research into loads on any airline, including those based near Hounslow, here.

TBH staff travel concessions, like the company car, are relics from a bygone age and I suspect will be gradually eroded to nothing as they are almost all non-contractual. Ours have recently been slashed to the bone, which for some could be a loss of around 7000 per year in entitlement. Its a shame, but brave new world and all that....

"relics" indeed!

Mmmmm....

Edited to add: As a retiree Bond's 'contract' has clearly expired?!

I have no desire to know who he was in the 'real' world, I can only judge from his contributions here. No doubt I am not alone. I'm sure many will have missed his plea to contributors to protect their anonymity?

I can't help wondering why anyone would be so determined to be anonymous????

Or maybe he was scared off???

Well, it is pretty much that simple, if you have a contract of employment that said that you would get discounted air travel until death, then sue them! They will soon back down as the legal costs will outweigh the financial gain. If you don't have that, then you have a concession, which is granted by the goodwill of the airline. As such, like my own airline, the management can judge that to remove it saves enough money to outweigh the loss of morale felt by the workforce.
It isn't right or fair, but with food banks springing up all over the country, I am afraid there won't be a lot of public sympathy around for the loss of a non contractual travel perk. (which by the way, is why in my airline the new travel concession has been accepted with barely a whimper of protest)

Well, that's one thing the ex bmi folk don't have to worry about.

Various rather strange replies here.....
 

Various rather strange replies here......

Perhaps with the usual chat network sites some have failed to read from the beginning?

I thank those with similar experiences for their confidential sharing back by e-mail.

As I re-iterate, yet again, any 'staff travel' for long-service was both a verbal contract and a written one in my early days of joining 'X' airline.

What seems to be happening now is that 'X' airline on whatever whim it is/convenience is deciding to renege based on, as far as I can say, some silly issue over lost baggage for 4 days. (amounting to approx. £200).

After 30 years of dedicated Professional service to 'X' company, I had only decided to use what was called an 'annual award' ticket once. (I had the ability to use Staff travel at the usual standby unlimited rates, including new premium options etc.,). On this occasion, after I duly submitted my genuine and frugal clothes purchases receipts, I was e-mailed by the legal department of 'X' airline and informed quite simply that as these 'benefits' were seen as available to be revoked at any time...they were choosing to do that in my case.

I sought clarification into this matter as this e-mail 'missive' was sent by an employee of a 'long-winded' Departmental name that I had never heard of in 'X' airline. I actually thought it was a kinda 'spoof'/joke e-mail as I still have several senior ex-colleagues in various departments with that airline.

To my surprise, this turned out to be a genuine e-mail and I took this matter up to current C.E.O. level in my incredulity...and in fact asking if there had been anything incorrect in my behaviour whilst using this ticket. e.g. I've heard of people having Staff Travel removed for being drunk, complaining to staff etc., I have never had any report during my tenure at 'X' airline over decades or since.

So, to close this case, it appears currently that this has happened to a few other people with no reason given from the airline involved. I am grateful for those responses as they help me try to 'figure out' where I may have transgressed. I have not. I have a bitter-taste left in my mouth as to why this has happened.

As I re-iterate, I feel very lucky to have a sufficient-enough retirement income to be able to afford to travel frequently both short-haul and long-haul.

I genuinely do not care which airline I fly on, as long as I deem them to be 'safe'. I've done the basic economy seating over my long career and with myself and older family I wish to travel in a larger seat than basic offerings.

For example, when I used my 'annual reward ticket' with my family member, if circumstances (airline OPS on the day) had meant that I was only offered an economy seat or jumpseat, I would have gladly declined and returned to my hotel either to take a 'firm' flight the next day or, if there was an ongoing problem....just pay for a 'premium economy' or business-class seat. End of story. I do NOT expect nor ever have that any form of travel benefit is guaranteed premium seat available either to current staff or to long-service retirees, like myself.

I trust that this matter is now closed unless someone who has read the full original post has some other 'gem' to offer. That's all.

I've made this matter as clear as I can.

Happy New Year to all readers.

So please do enlighten us 4468, what did eventually happen?