V-Flyer

My parents have just been denied boarding from a BA flight to Canada in Club as all the seats in the cabin had been pre-allocated to Exec Club gold or silver members. BA seem to block OLCI in these circumstances, as they tried to do OLCI 24hrs before departure yesterday, but it would not work. Phoned the BA helpline, only to be told all the seats were allocated to EC members with status. The flight was overbooked & the 4 pax with no [or Blue] Exec Club status had to wait until check-in closed to see if any of the gold or silver pax who the seats were being held for did not show up - they all did.

This got me thinking, had this been VS in UC... A Red FC member can book an UC ticket and even on a Z fare, they can select the seat they would like on the aircraft (as long as the 60% of seats available for pre-allocation has not been reached) at the time of booking. When OLCI opens, anyone, irrespective of FC status can check-in online & bag the seats they want (exit / bulkhead rows excepted). They then have a boarding pass, so stand a good chance of getting on the flight.

I cannot decide which airline is 'right' here - BA are clearly rewarding their frequent flyers by allowing them to pre-select and then holding their selected seats until check-in closes. I am sure that Virgin only offer to guarantee a FC AU or AG member an Economy seat on a flight if it's fully booked - and then you have to be booked on a full fare ticket. On the flip side, Virgin are generous in allowing anyone to pre-select their seat on the aircraft & then bag other seats when OLCI opens. Would people lose their pre-selected seats on VS if one of the 'top 50' FC AU members wanted a seat on the flight?

As it happens, my parents did not have any plans as such for tomorrow in Canada, so they are in the Heathrow Hilton with free dinner, B&B + 400 of BA's cash.

As a slideline, apparently more than a few of the BA ground staff indicated that this happens far from infrequently.

James

Don't forget that any airline can still 'bounce' you at the airport, seat allocated or not, OLCO or not....

Originally posted by Kraken
As it happens, my parents did not have any plans as such for tomorrow in Canada, so they are in the Heathrow Hilton with free dinner, B&B + £400 of BA's cash.

It's always frustrating to be bumped.

I know it's easy to have the benefit of hindsight, but I would've pushed for an upgrade to F - at least that way they would have something nice to look forward to in lieu of their delay.

Cheers, H

Well my Dad wrote a letter to Wee Willie Walsh about his experience on this trip. This covered all aspects of the 'bumping', including the first words of the check-in staff at T4 'oh, you're downgraded today' [no sorry or anything].

He also mentioned that he holds an AA Advantage Platinum card, with OneWorld Emerald Status (as per the BA Website, this should have got him some priority & allowed him to pre-select a seat). Had he been able to do this, he may have been able to check-in online.

He showed the BA Customer Service Manager at T4 this card & got the response 'that card means nothing to us'. Hmm... I am sure that BA warmly welcome their OneWorld Alliance passengers in their onboard announcements.

It was interesting to note that BA's letter made no attempt to address the OneWorld card issue. They just gave 20K Exec Club miles & a fairly 'boiler-plate' response - much like what you often get from VS. My Dad has replied to Mr Walsh thanking him for his comments & has advised him to that he will do all he can to avoid BA (where a good alternative exists) in future. Example - he has already booked 2 of our family on VS (in Upper & yes, I've got the Miles More Friends referrals in) to JFK.

I can't say that I am in any hurry to fly BA...!

James

Originally posted by Kraken
Well my Dad wrote a letter to Wee Willie Walsh about his experience on this trip. This covered all aspects of the 'bumping', including the first words of the check-in staff at T4 'oh, you're downgraded today' [no sorry or anything].

He also mentioned that he holds an AA Advantage Platinum card, with OneWorld Emerald Status (as per the BA Website, this should have got him some priority & allowed him to pre-select a seat). Had he been able to do this, he may have been able to check-in online.

He showed the BA Customer Service Manager at T4 this card & got the response 'that card means nothing to us'. Hmm... I am sure that BA warmly welcome their OneWorld Alliance passengers in their onboard announcements.

It was interesting to note that BA's letter made no attempt to address the OneWorld card issue. They just gave 20K Exec Club miles & a fairly 'boiler-plate' response - much like what you often get from VS. My Dad has replied to Mr Walsh thanking him for his comments & has advised him to that he will do all he can to avoid BA (where a good alternative exists) in future. Example - he has already booked 2 of our family on VS (in Upper & yes, I've got the Miles More Friends referrals in) to JFK.

I can't say that I am in any hurry to fly BA...!

James

James

Not that its really relevant now but I'm a little confused about what actually happened to your parents .... in your first post you say they were denied boarding and in the one above you mention them being downgraded ?

Its also worthy of note that even as a BA gold you dont have a god given right to a seat on a flight.... its pretty much the same as VS were you will usually get a Y seat if you book +24hrs and on a full fare and even then its actually not set in stone. So in essence your fathers Emerald status with AA probably wouldnt mean a lot at that stage of the process.

I am actually surprised at the number of throw away comments by BA staff that you make reference to.. whilst not always perfect my own experience of BA staff is usually professional.

As for the right or wrong about pre booking seats.... having flown both carriers quite a bit.....my own and some would say selfish point of view is that I rather favour the BA system of allowing Golds & Silvers to hold seats before anyone else (BA also block seats on certain routes for Gold only) as opposed to VS giving golds no advantage over anyone else (another one for the 'whats the benefit of being VS Gold' debate)

Just my 2c worth and Im sure there are many who would say the opposite.

MS [:D]

Just to clarify... my parents were greeted with the 'you're downgraded today' comment when they arrived at check-in. They refused the downgrade to WT+ and following discussions with the Customer Service Manager, they were put in the Hilton overnight with Club World seats on the following days flight.

I fully understand why airlines overbook flights & in the current climate, all airlines need flights to depart as full as possible.

James

Originally posted by Kraken
Just to clarify... my parents were greeted with the 'you're downgraded today' comment when they arrived at check-in. They refused the downgrade to WT+ and following discussions with the Customer Service Manager, they were put in the Hilton overnight with Club World seats on the following days flight.

I would have gone for overnight stay plus F upgrade. Sounds very fair to me. Maybe they tried that.

H