British Airways Holidays - potential disability discrimination

[onetimenamec]

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!

I don’t have particular knowledge of this situation, but based on a truly appalling experience my elderly parents had with BA a little while back I am not surprised.

BA stalled for months on compensating them on a missed connection (crew were not in place) which then snowballed. DF finally took them to Small Claims Court and suddenly BA payments started showing up in dribs and drabs in his current account. When it reached the amount we all reckoned they were owed, DF withdrew his claim. Throughout all this there was never a word of acknowledgement from BA. Weird.

My area does

Hence me asking 🤷‍♀️

I don't really know the full extent of her problems, only her son's. She seems fine.

Having to phone up to book accessible accommodation is pretty standard. It sounds like she did make a mistake in clicking on the wrong thing sadly.

Those of us with a sight impairment can still register as can those who have a hearing impairment

I am relatively new in this role and this makes me really sad. Has it become worse recently or was it always the case? In my own family, we have literally only had experience of one child with mild ADHD who never needed extra input but I thought there was more compassion out there, honestly.

@SouthCountryGirl There is nowhere for me to register.

ok I would put money on her being vulnerable in ways more than visual impairment.

hence trying to book a holiday online with a visual impairment
hence overspending meaning she now has no money for food
hence telling you this “story” whereby she is “criticised” for having a visual impairment

@onetimenamec I think it has got worse with the growth of the internet. You are expected to hang on phone lines for hours trying to speak to someone who can help or get someone to help you use the net. It was way easier when you could visit an office and talk to someone.

That's appalling.
There isn't really any hope of them giving any of it back in her case.

And this is common. People assuming you are lying when you say how you are treated as a disabled person.

BA will have recorded this call

So will be very easily proved or not

I don't think it makes her vulnerable just because she told it like it is? She wasn't begging for money or expecting my charity to bridge the gap. She was venting to her son's key worker which may cross a line for some, but in this era of services cuts is unsurprising as you also hear about teachers paying for food for their students.

they all do that

All airlines do this.

OP it sounds like you are new in post and are a caring person. I would speak to a more senior, experienced person about this situation.

It's easy to become overinvested and overwhelmed.

Professionally, you could ask what she has done to resolve this and what else she thinks she can do. It's not on you to solve it. Is she able to get to a travel agent to make any future bookings or to ask a friend to be there to check the details before she confirms the booking?

The BA website is hideous, and if you've a few windows open checking out the details of a few hotels I think it would be easy to select the wrong one. The website is super slow and laggy and can belive that, plus a few glitches could make it very easy to select the wrong hotel.
However easy it would be to select the wrong one, I think it's harder to then commit to the booking of the wrong one as there is a summary page before you action the payment.
I can see how someone not tech savy could struggle.

I think for your own sake OP you need to become less invested in your service users personal lives, and that of their families.

You’ll end up stressing yourself out, and may overstep boundaries which could lead to trouble.

It doesn’t sound like part of your role to help this persons mother raise a complaint about a holiday, or be a listening ear to this extent. Take a step back and reassess what is within your remit.

You sound like a lovely person but no, it’s not disability discrimination unless BA have no other ways to book apart from online at home. She should have got help with booking rather than doing it alone so BA are correct that it’s not their fault.

Why the mum book the holiday herself if she has poor vision and struggles on screen? A huge site will be tricky to navigate and it is easy to make mistakes when not familiar, but this is not discrimination.

Thanks for the advice.

I work in an area of high deprivation where most students never go away on holiday. This family had been saving up from the start of the pandemic.

I know from my manager that the key worker is literally all the support which many families have these days and things are not going to get better.

I think that the blame is definitely not one-sided here. BA should have done more to help. However, having read the personal experiences of other posters and on the review websites, I don't know if there is any point in complaining as they are comically bad and this mum will never pursue it via the small claims court.

The take away from it is that people should think twice before using BA. I have never heard anything like it and I have travelled a lot.

Are you new to the role OP?

BA were brilliant when we were stuck in Turks & Caicos at the start of covid lockdowns. I would suggest your friend follow their complaints procedure stating their promises and how they have failed to comply. The promise forms part of their terms and conditions so are legally binding as part of the contract.