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.

(Maclock) wrote in news:71b3f67.0405091408.33019a22
@posting.google.com:

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.

Under the same conditions, except that the e-ticket was on AA (a Oneworld
partner), BA has checked my buggage all the way. I am not sure why the
Oneworld part would make a difference since, as you say, bags are
interlined all the time.

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.

They were entirely correct to do so. Airlines do not take luggage over
32kg/70lb. It has nothing to do with excess charges. When you ship by
freight, heavy items are handled by forklifts and etc., but checked luggage
has a weght limit so that baggage handlers can lift them without risk of
dislocating their spines. Arguing that your suitcase was over 32kg but
still light enough to lift since you lifted it would be pointless; those
are the rules. There has to be some arbitrary limit. Anyone who travels
should be aware of this limit. It seems that BA tried to help you by
offering you something to repack your possessions in. What more could they
have done?

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.

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.

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 ?

On 9 May 2004 15:08:40 -0700, (Maclock) wrote:

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.


This has been discussed at great length on alt.travel.uk.air, BA do
not through-check baggage on to other alliances in this situation. I
agree that it is inconvenient, but that is their published policy.
Expect this to become the norm as alliances become more integrated.



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.


Yes, that is the part of the experience of transferring at LHR, which
is never a good idea!



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.

Here they were quite right too. The 32Kg rule has been in force in
other parts of the world for a long time now, it is nothing to do with
excess baggage, it is a health and safety matter, BA were being
helpful in offering you plastic bags to reduce the weight. 42Kg is a
ridiculous amount, you can not expect check-in staff and regular
baggaage handlers to deal with such items.

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?


Probably not. They will simply point to their terms and conditions re.
interlining baggage, and overweight baggage.



Thanks for your thoughts.

--==++AJC++==--

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++==--

"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.

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.

Many thanks for your observations. Perhaps I will think twice before
attempting to drown BA in my burning vitriol!