No point reserving seats with BA - they steal them back!

[ajandjjmum]

DS moved to Australia on Monday, and we had reserved - and paid over £70 - for a specific seat in economy.

He was stopped at the boarding gate and told that his seat had been changed, despite him having a copy of the receipt and confirmed seat number with him.

The BA woman lied and said that he was still in an 'extra legroom' seat - he wasn't - he was in a standard row of three.

The seat he paid for was given to a 'silver' tier member of the exec club at no charge - DS is merely 'blue'.

DS was polite and understanding to the crew (more than I would have been), and accepted that on a full flight they could do nothing.

Four days later, BA haven't replied to any of the three emails, other than a generic 'holding' email - clearly don't give a monkeys.

I know the reservation of seats is something that is often discussed on this board, particularly in relation to the lower cost airlines. Just thought others might be interested to know that a paid reservation obviously means nothing to BA - the theft of which is obviously covered in the small print! So much for being the national flag carrier (yes, I know it's Spanish now!)

I think I would have refused point blank to take the offered seat and asked to be put on the next flight which did have the same or similar seat which I had paid extra for (unless of course you son had to be there on a certain date!).

As a family, we currently have 17 flights booked with BA. If this is how they treat their loyal customers........

As your son is only a blue, it's fair to say he's not a loyal customer.

What happened is annoying, and BA customer service is slow, but you'll get a refund once they do reply.

He did MilkTrayLimeBarrel (I used to LOVE those chocolates!) - he starts a new job on Monday!

MilkTray If you refused to board your ticket would be cancelled with no refund. Seat reservations are never guaranteed.

Social media and persistence are your friends here. Keep pestering!

I think that when you have paid £70 and taken up a service offering of being assigned a specific seat, then the extra money paid for the dubious privilege should actually enter you, albeit temporarily, to the silver travellers club. In effect you have paid for the same benefits (one of them anyway) and that should put you on an equal footing. If it doesn't - and it clearly doesn't - the service should not be offered and the money should not have been accepted (the acceptance sort of feels like a contract between you despite Ts and Cs which no one ever reads because the service offering should be transparent and not be with fingers crossed whilst you're being gently deceived). You clearly haven't got what was paid for and neither was an equal alternative offered and therefore you must get a refund and in my view a small gesture of goodwill. As has been said this week in the news, BA is like Ryan Air but with food.

The email address I found for the CEO is

[email protected]

Although this does seem an odd address....

This thread has just prompted me to check a booking I made for a couple of weeks time. I had paid extra for an extra legroom seat, but it looks like they’ve now extended the business class cabin backwards meaning I’ve lost my seat. No email advising this, and I was left with no seat reservation at all, even though I originally had a normal seat reserved prior to paying extra for the extra legroom seat. Anyway, there is an online form to complete to claim a refund for seat reservation fees, OP, which may be quicker than emailing them.

www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds

I think I would have refused point blank to take the offered seat and asked to be put on the next flight which did have the same or similar seat which I had paid extra for

You could try that, but it wouldn’t end well for you. They make it clear that they can change your seat for operational reasons.

That's definitely not Alex Cruz's email address!

I hope you get your refund. I will be watching to see what happens before I book a flight on BA. That's just wrong.

BA after-flight customer services is absolutely DIRE. They are shockingly bad. They just don’t care. As pps have said, they want to provide budget service for premium prices.

Keep pushing for a refund of the £70 @ajandjjmum.

He is a loyal customer NoBaggyPants in as much as he chooses (chose) BA over other airlines.

Gosh how annoying, and yes as you say it's the less than quick or polite desire to sort out the issue that is the most annoying aspect.

Did he not complain when he was in the air and discovered that the seat did not have extra leg room ?

FWIW we flew to Nz with Qatar who offer free pre-booking of seats for economy customers, have great leg room and lovely service. I'd be doing my long haul with them in future OP rather than British Airways.

Am I the only one wondering why a grown man has got his mummy to complain in his behalf?
OP, you only have one side of the story from your son. Leave him to sort this out for himself!

All airlines do this. It’s not a secret. It’s in the T & Cs.

Am I the only one wondering why a grown man has got his mummy to complain in his behalf?

Presumably, she’s the one who paid the reservation fee?

Anyone who is a loyal customer of BA is mad. There are much better airlines out there. I only use them when there is no alternative.

rookie
He complained when he got to the newly assigned seat, and found that it didn't have the extra legroom as promised by the woman at the boarding gate, when she changed his boarding card.

He also pushed it with the crew, but said that they couldn't do anything, and he 'didn't want to look like a dick' infront of a 100 other passengers.

They said they'd sort it out once the plane got in the air - and then funnily enough, could do nothing.

It makes me wonder how much money airlines, incl BA, are taking from customers for a service they don’t provide.
Having people booking their seats (and paying for the privilege) is making their life easier at boarding but somehow it’s also ok for them to move people around as they please

Tbh that’s why I LOVE regulations that are protecting customers from greeedy company.

Yep. It's annoying, but every airline I've booked seats on has clearly stated (it's not even hidden away) that they can't be guaranteed, before I've clicked to pay/confirm.

You'll get the money back. Just fill in the form. It's frustrating but hardly a drama that needs an email to the CEO.

Snide comments like that are really helpful Soontobe60 - I am lucky in that I have often been helped by people I care about, and am happy to return the favour. He's in a new country, sorting out a new life, getting ready to start a new job - if there's any little thing I can do to help, I am happy to - a fairly natural reaction from a good Mum I would say.

Once in the air, there is really nothing they can do @ajandjjmum.
All the seats have been given, people are sat down. Unless there is a miracle and a seat is available with extra leg room with no one in (aka it’s not going to happen)....

It was a way to keep your dc quiet until boarding has finished and then say ‘look we can’t do anything now’

Personally I think BA are pretty shocking.

They were good about 15 years ago, but lately? No. I'd rather pay less and travel EasyJet, or just use a different airline if flying long haul.

We use Emirates or Singapore Airlines to fly to Australia and have never had anything less than excellent customer service from either.

That's disgraceful. I'd write to the chief exec and keep naming and shaming on social media. Write to a consumer column like the Guardian's Saturday one too (are they called Miles and someone?)

Thank you rookie and adaline - going to check out Qatar, Singapore and Emirates to see how the costs stack up again BA for some future flights.

I have done this in the past, but tended to come back to BA - who obviously really appreciate my custom!

I think you’d get a quicker response if you called.