Right, name changed for this. Bear with me, this could be long.
The young student whom I support with multiple SNs and his mother have been treated appallingly by BA and I need some alternative perspectives from those who know more about these things.
Yesterday, they booked a seven night break away. While the booking was going through, several things happened. The screen froze, then seemed to go back on (there were a few compare options open on the BA website), mum (who has a vision impairment which BA already knew about) could not focus well because of all the flickering and completed the booking for what was the only suitable hotel for their disability needs i.e. not on a clifftop. Only after she got the email did she notice that it was the wrong one and for whatever reason, a clifftop resort in the middle of nowhere had been booked instead. She called and called but no reply.
She finally got through today, she mentioned all of the above. The agent was really off, saying that it was her fault, not BAs and saying that she could potentially charge £500 to book the hotel which she actually needed/had wanted all along. In the meantime (you've guessed it) flight price raised by £200 odd quid, the change fee of £100 not negotiable as "charged by the hotel" even though the hotel have confirmed they know nothing about it as BA pre-purchase a block of rooms from them and allocate among paying customers without their input.
Mum was in tears. Ended up being charged over £400 extra in total when it should have been £130 if the booking had gone through properly.
Mum asked to speak to the complaints team but was told by the manager that he wouldn't be putting her call through because she had no basis for a complaint as far as he was concerned.
He also tried to remove the breakfasts which were clearly stated as included (and listed that way on the BA website as well 'because this is not a new booking' but put them back on after she insisted. He also made the point that she should take responsibility as though it were her fault even when she explicitly pointed out their visual disabilities.
I know their ratings are down in the shit but isn't this blatant, unpleasant disability discrimination? It sounds like they could have just charged the difference from the point of sale price but instead forced over £400 extra out of her which makes their holiday more expensive than what it is selling for on their website in general or if they had booked it directly on the Hilton website. What about deliberately refusing to put her through to complaints? She also offered to take a full refund and book with another company but they would have charged her over £500 for that as well.
WWYD? Thanks for bearing with me!