If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
Never would I have thought that I would say this (especially as I
think their in-flight service is quite good), but BA's ground staff make Air Canada's ground staff look positively stellar and flexible in comparison. Never have I come across a crowd of more rule-bound and traveller-unfriendly people in my life. Their refusal to check through my luggage from ABZ (Aberdeen, UK) to YYT (St. John's, Canada) when I clearly had a continuous journey from ABZ-YYT (via LHR (London Heathrow)) was puzzling, especially when for whatever reason my agent was issued an e-ticket LHR-ABZ-LHR on the BA portion of the journey (I believe she said that BA would not ticket it any other way) and a proper paper ticket YYT-LHT-YYT. AC had absolutely NO PROBLEM checking my baggage through to ABZ from YYT (where the journey originated) using the combination of tickets (the e-ticket being issued, as I was informed, at BA's insistence), but BA simply refused to reciprocate in kind. When this fact was brought to the attention of BA, the ground agents simply muttered that BA policy was not to check through baggage to YYT as the journey was not all on one ticket and because AC is not a Oneworld partner. They said that BA has no agreements with AC to check baggage through to YYT. When I pointed out to the ground crew that AC would have been unlikely to check through my baggage to ABZ on the outbound leg of this journey in the absence of such an agreement, the ground agents simply refused to listen to my logic. I also tried to point out the massive inconvenience and difficulty of shifting three heavy bags from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 at Heathrow, but they were completely unsympathetic. (I was travelling alone.) When I queried about the interlining agreements that most major carriers have with one another (i.e., that BA would agree to transfer luggage to AC flights provided BA flights formed part of the trip), the ground agents simply clammed up. Not only that, the ground agents refused to check in two pieces of my luggage as they were in excess of 32 Kg. I offered to pay any excess weight charges (I had fully expected to do so), but they refused, citing health and safety regulations. I was told I could put some of my goods loose in BA supplied plastic bags to reduce the weight of these two over-weight bags (from 38 Kg and 42 Kg) down to levels acceptable to BA (not an option as this would result in damage to some of my goods and in an increase in the number of bags I would have to handle in the Terminal 1 - Terminal 3 transfer), the agent had no answers. When I helpfully suggested that these two bags could be shipped frieght, she said they could and that I would be likely to save money as a result, but she wasn't sure that BA's cargo agents were in for the day (it was 5:20 a.m. on a Friday). She did nothing to help arrange for shipment by cargo (not even placing a phone call) and I had to place the phone calls myself, to get a taxi to the cargo area, to go though 20 minutes of paper work to ship my bags, just making it back to the terminal in time for my 6:20 a.m. boarding call. For this pivilege, I was charged in excess of 430 GBP (an amount about equal to the entire cost of my round-trip journey from YYT to ABZ) and when I shared the information about the exorbitant cost of shipment of these bags by cargo with BA's ground staff, I could plainly hear the agent that was helping me chuckle in the background. I am appalled at how inflexible, unhelpful and obstinate these people were and I will do my very best to avoid flying BA in the future. What ticks me off even more is that the same baggage handlers were likely to be putting my two bags on a BA flight in ABZ to have them shipped to YYT on AC via LHR: these two bags were likely to use the same airlines, on the same routing, being loaded by the same baggage handlers. I recently had the privilge of flying ABZ - YVR (Vancouver, Canada) on KLM and found KLM's ground staff to be reasonable helpful. Not only that, changing planes in AMS (Amsterdam Schiphol (sp?)) was a breeze. I only wish that LHR were not the only European city served from my home airport (at least for the time being), YYT. Does anyone have an address, a telephone number, etc., to which I can complain to BA regarding this mess? Does anyone have any thoughts regarding any of the points raised thoughout this rant? Has anyone had any experiences with such complaints to BA? Is it worth my time? Thanks for your thoughts. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
|
#3
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
Maclock wrote:
through my luggage from ABZ (Aberdeen, UK) to YYT (St. John's, Canada) .... was issued an e-ticket LHR-ABZ-LHR on the BA portion of the journey (I believe she said that BA would not ticket it any other way) and a proper paper ticket YYT-LHT-YYT. Technically, when it is on 2 separate tickets, the originating airline is not obligated to check through bags, even if the second journey is on the same airline. So their refusal is just "impolite". An airline that accepts to through check luggage on 2 tickets is doing you a favour and you must ask/beg the check in agent with this in mind. However, many airlines do not prevent those favours and allow check in agents to through check luggage on two connecting separate tickets. So the question becomes whether BA has a corporate policy to prevent this or whether you just got some agent who had gotten up on the wrong foot that day. Not only that, the ground agents refused to check in two pieces of my luggage as they were in excess of 32 Kg. I offered to pay any excess weight charges (I had fully expected to do so), but they refused, citing health and safety regulations. I was told I could put some of my goods loose in BA supplied plastic bags to reduce the weight of these two over-weight bags (from 38 Kg and 42 Kg) down to levels acceptable to BA Unfortunatly, the airline is right in this case. You'd need to deal with the cargo division to handle single pieces that are above 32kg. The fact that the airline did offer to have you shift your luggage into seperate pieces is an indication that they were willing to work with you. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
On Mon, 10 May 2004 01:47:09 GMT, nobody wrote:
An airline that accepts to through check luggage on 2 tickets is doing you a favour I'm not sure if you meant this satirically or not, but a service industry that believes that going an extra step is " a favour" is heading for dinosaur-ville. Also, there was a story on this board that BA was refusing to interline at LHR to Star Alliance. Not sure if that's true or not. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
Hilary wrote:
AC were being nice and gave you more than they needed to. The BA staff were following the policy issued a couple of months ago. Then, if there is a strict BA policy not allowing interlining luggage to non-Oneworld partners, the original criticism is valid and BA should be "faulted" for having such a policy. And in this case, individual BA staff can't really be faulted if they are forced to follow a strict corporate policy. You'd think that a full service airline would strive to provide exactly what its low cost competitors don't: interlining. And it is interesting that BA wouldn't accept to interline with AC since BA didn't lift a finger to try to save its former partner in Canada (Canadian Airlines). Where there is a oneworld presence, I could understand not interlining with competitors, but where there is no oneworld presence, BA should accept to interline. That's correct, no airline at LHR (or many other airports now) would have done so. Haven't most western airlines implemented a 32kg limit on individual pieces a long time ago ? (seems to be that the LHR edict won't make much of a change, except perhaps to smaller airlines from abroad.) they would have been handled differently. This new LHR policy (and it is *airport* policy not BA's) came into effect at the beginning of the month. Looking at an old BA timetable (2000), it has a 40kg limit per piece, except to australia where it is 32kg. However, for coach from europe to south/central/north america the limit is 32kg, and elsewhere (intl) it is 23kg. UK domestic was set at 32kg. So in essence, it was just international first class to places outside of americas/australia that allowed 40kg. So even before the LHR edict, the BA rules did stipulate a 32kg limit per piece for flights to/from Canada. It clearly stated that bags weighing over 32kg would not be accepted, that the weight would need to be reduced by transferring items into another bag, or making other arrangements. This has interesting implications for flights to/from north america which use the "2 pieces" system. If you arrive with a 32kg bag and a 40kg bag, how will the airline deal with the extra 8kg ? Will they allow you to check in a 3rd piece ? Woudl they then charge per kilo, or per piece ? |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
On Mon, 10 May 2004 07:14:37 GMT, nobody wrote:
Hilary wrote: AC were being nice and gave you more than they needed to. The BA staff were following the policy issued a couple of months ago. Then, if there is a strict BA policy not allowing interlining luggage to non-Oneworld partners, the original criticism is valid and BA should be "faulted" for having such a policy. And in this case, individual BA staff can't really be faulted if they are forced to follow a strict corporate policy. You'd think that a full service airline would strive to provide exactly what its low cost competitors don't: interlining. The problem is the majority of passengers look at ticket price first, then think about other issues later. Low cost carriers are dragging down standards, and fares, across the board. Add to this the increasing importance of alliances rather than individual airlines, and you will soon find BA's policy will become widespread. --==++AJC++==-- |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
"Dick Locke" wrote in message ... On Mon, 10 May 2004 01:47:09 GMT, nobody wrote: An airline that accepts to through check luggage on 2 tickets is doing you a favour I'm not sure if you meant this satirically or not, but a service industry that believes that going an extra step is " a favour" is heading for dinosaur-ville. Also, there was a story on this board that BA was refusing to interline at LHR to Star Alliance. Not sure if that's true or not. Well I flew from LHR with BA to IAD then onto SEA with UA and they checked by bags through. Which in practice meant I still had to pick up by bags at IAD but at least it was only a short walk to the re-checkin point. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
On Mon, 10 May 2004 09:00:22 +0100, "Mark Hewitt"
wrote: "Dick Locke" wrote in message .. . On Mon, 10 May 2004 01:47:09 GMT, nobody wrote: An airline that accepts to through check luggage on 2 tickets is doing you a favour I'm not sure if you meant this satirically or not, but a service industry that believes that going an extra step is " a favour" is heading for dinosaur-ville. Also, there was a story on this board that BA was refusing to interline at LHR to Star Alliance. Not sure if that's true or not. Well I flew from LHR with BA to IAD then onto SEA with UA and they checked by bags through. Which in practice meant I still had to pick up by bags at IAD but at least it was only a short walk to the re-checkin point. I didn't write it clearly. I meant "refuse to do an interline bag transfer at LHR to Star Alliance" e.g. fly BA to LHR and transfer to United to the states. As I said, it was just one story. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
BA ground staff
Many thanks for your observations. Perhaps I will think twice before
attempting to drown BA in my burning vitriol! |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Jacques Chirac and taking the high moral ground | Jerry Johnson | Air travel | 17 | February 1st, 2004 01:50 AM |
French fury over US treatment of air staff | Be Positive | Air travel | 22 | January 21st, 2004 10:04 PM |
Ground transport from SNA (Orange County Airport) to Disney-area hotels? | Traveler Google | Air travel | 8 | November 14th, 2003 09:23 PM |
ground transport BWI | Edgar | Air travel | 3 | November 11th, 2003 06:11 AM |
Ground transportation options from LAX to San Diego (Old Town or Gaslamp District) | Traveler | Air travel | 6 | October 18th, 2003 05:03 AM |