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!

You have 24 hours from booking to cancel free with BA.

Flights yes. Holidays no

@onetimenamec are you aware if this lady booked using credit or debit card?

If the former, she could try making a complaint to her credit card provider. I am disabled, and have found them willing to help resolve matters in the past with retailers, obviously make the circumstances very clear.

Alternatively, she could try a debit card charge back through her bank. No guarantees this would work, but if she explains the full situation, the bank liaising with someone at BA may just swing the changes she needs, or alternatively a refund so she can rebook.

In both cases, it's certainly worth a try. If you're prepared to help her though this, your support on the call could probably go a long way.

You sound absolutely lovely, and I wish my support worker was anything like you! But tbh I would probably help this lady out this once, but in future perhaps get less involved with clients' family issues where they are not directly relevant, as it can create untold and unforeseen complications, not to mention stress for yourself.

I hope you manage to get it sorted. 💐

We travel regularly but I will never use BA again. Every single time there has been a problem. They have the worst customer service I have ever seen, it almost seems as if they really don’t care at all about losing customers. I got through once after a four-hour wait, I was told the problem had been resolved, when I got on the plane it was clear the problem hadn’t even been looked into. Sorry, that’s not much help! I seemed to get the easiest, swiftest replies through Twitter and a BA complaints group on Facebook. That said, I only received replies, no solutions for their ridiculous, repeated mistakes.

What I wouldn’t do Op

is take the word hook line and sinker of a woman I barely know who very much seems a vulnerable adult herself (you started the general role less than a year ago but have refused to be clear how long with this family, which indicates very recent to me)

nor would I, in a professional capacity where I am looking after her son with extensive needs himself, allow myself to get caught up in an issue completely separate from my role, which in itself, is much more important than this issue

and finally, I would use sense. BA will have recorded the calls so whether or not she was criticised for her visual impairment can be proved. Added to which, who uses a website to make an expensive booking with a visual impairment? I’ll tell you. Someone who’s “visual impairment” is very mild (short sighted and didn’t have her glasses to hand?). Then cocks up and rather than own it. Comes up with a story about a flickering screen and a customer service rep who rigged BA’s pricing system just to charge her, just her, a couple of hundred extra

Airline websites are generally terrible for non visually impaired people and airline pricing is a mystery. You wouldn’t believe the tricks needed to get a reasonable price i.e trawling Google flights which lets you price compare and to see which dates are cheaper to fly out and return on, using a VPN because pricing is also region dependent etc. I get the impression that you think that someone behind the scenes was deliberately tinkering with the pricing to shaft her personally, that probably didn’t happen it’s just their systems and algorithms are designed to extract as much out of your wallet as possible.

She should make a complaint because their customer service was shitty but I don’t think it was discrimination. Given her disability and the inflexibility of airline booking, I personally would not have attempted to book the holiday without assistance. I am fortunate that my impairment, especially now I have an iPad where zooming in makes thinks easier, doesn’t greatly impact detail oriented tasks.

@Gwen82 definitely doesn't sound like someone who would go out of her way to help anybody in need. I hope for the sake of the service users that she doesn't work with disabled people.

Unjust and uncalled for.

I think I would prefer gwen82 to care for my family members in my absence. For starters, I’m sure they wouldn’t be plastering my private family business on a forum.

Thank you

nor would I , as the OP has no doubt done, be telling this woman that she’s been wronged by BA and should pursue a refund because somehow a customer rep has rigged the BA payment system to discriminate against someone visually impaired

The BA website is hideously laggy. I often book on the website, and I'm a fairly young (in my 20s) person, and I still get confused using it. I have to physically and mentally will myself "do NOT click or refresh" while each progressive page remains mysteriously blank, or partially loads, in case I click on the wrong thing.

(Btw, it sounds like it may have been slow loading/refreshing – so the page "re-aligning" itself if you know what I mean – but probably not rapid flickering. Firstly, the BA website is too slow for that lol. Secondly, flickering would probably be an issue with her digital display.)

I know this sounds dismissive of disability, but someone booking the wrong thing (especially someone in their 40s, but also a first timer user in their 20s) is probably a fairly common outcome given how shit the BA website is. It's not anyone-friendly, really.

So of course it's not disability friendly either. Though, I thought that was legally fine as long as there's an accessible alternative like being able to phone up for help?

If you make a fuss about it online or writing in to the Guardian's consumer column, you will get a refund though.

Putting it in writing is good and more likely to elicit a resolution.

I think you can mention the medically diagnosed disability. BA and other companies will be shit scared of publicity for disability discrimination.

The man was probably dismissive over the phone because he thought she was trying on an excuse. They must get hundreds of calls everyday (and not just from the UK) from people who booked the wrong thing because of how utterly shit and laggy their website is. Speaking from personal experience.

Also take a step back, and keep it to the facts you can verify. E.g. generally stating the website "glitched severely" as above is good, I would personally omit the rapid flickering (I don't personally find that convincing as a regular BA website user on many different devices on many different wifi networks in many different countries over many years). And just say generally that the customer service staff was rude and unhelpful, refused to escalate her request, rather than anything verbatim that you may not be able to verify, as they will have the phone call recording.

Although I'd not get too confrontational while mentioning the disability in the email too, as I believe BA have no legal obligation to refund her if she has chosen not to use BA's accessible options like booking through phone. I'm not clear about this though.

Sorry to post so many times, but I feel for your friend OP, and I want her to get the refund she needs. I would also not insinuate that BA bumped the price up just for her, as that is extremely improbable, and makes your email lose credibility.

Lots of good advice on this thread OP.

Just chiming in to reiterate that the price increases on the holiday will be nothing to do with your friend - the customer service team will have zero influence or control over pricing, which will be managed by an algorithm/ revenue management team.

FWIW it does sound like poor customer service - your friend's mistake yes, but they could have waived the admin fee under the circumstances, so that's not great of them. It sounds like the agent your friend spoke to was particularly unhelpful - though of course there's always two sides to every story.

It doesn't sound like discrimination to me.

I think it would be worth complaining though - no harm in it - I would recommend twitter but if your friend doesn't want to do that then there will be an email address on the BA website to submit a complaint. But she should stick to the facts - that she accidentally, due to her visual impairment and some glitching on the website, booked an unsuitable hotel for her disabled child. When she realised the error she phoned up immediately and was disappointed with the way she was spoken to and the refusal to show any leniency on the admin fee for change given the circumstances.

BA will have recorded the call so will be able to check whether the agent was unprofessional or rude and may well offer a gesture if it turns out he was, but it could also go against your friend if she hasn't told you the full story about how she behaved during the conversation.

What do you mean by "vulnerable adult"? Someone who lies and cheats, by the sound of it.
If you are shortsighted you don't need glasses for a computer screen (that would be long sighted)
The op knows the family better than you - why are you asserting that the woman is making up her visual impairment?
Also why make up this story? It seems perfectly plausible and the kind of thing that happens all the time, as shown by the responses to this thread (and not just to "vulnerable adults", whatever that means).
It would have been fair if BA had refunded the rebooking fee.
The op is just trying to help.
Why do you have such a problem with disabled people? Don't you know how much harder life is, and how much more expensive everything is? Or don't you care?

Thank you so much for the comments, especially the letter template from@benten54 I think there is definitely a basis to complaint because it will otherwise be recorded as an expensive mistake. I know I am over involved but I would like to see it through to some kind of conclusion and work on my boundaries as suggested.
I have asked @mumsnet to take it down because I am concerned that it may identify the two people involved but it is still up.
@Gwen82 still seems triggered by the situation, she must have her personal reasons. I do not agree with her frostiness and suspicious attitude. However, there is so little official support available to these families that I think we all need to be going the extra mile to help unsupported people who are already present in our lives.

"Added to which, who uses a website to make an expensive booking with a visual impairment? I’ll tell you. Someone who’s “visual impairment” is very mild (short sighted and didn’t have her glasses to hand?). Then cocks up and rather than own it. Comes up with a story about a flickering screen and a customer service rep who rigged BA’s pricing system just to charge her, just her, a couple of hundred extra"

I'm visually impaired (registered partially sighted) and use the internet to book things all the time.

I suspect like many you gave no idea what you're really talking about

triggered? 😂

I’ll take a punt that you’re in your twenties

Go ahead and complain

BA will pick up the voice recording and I suspect…

OP this is the sort of post that gets people's spidey senses going because Mumsnet, like other online platforms attracts begging threads.

And as someone who has worked in healthcare for over 30 years I too have heard a lot of sob stories. Many heartbreaking and no, not all true. The professional response in such scenarios is to signpost the person towards people who may be able to help. You can show sympathy and empathy - but do not get involved. Please do discuss this with your supervisor, you need to have appropriate, professional boundaries.

BA are shite. The few times I've flown/holidayed with them I've always regretted it- first time all luggage was sent to the opposite side of the world and we didn't get it back until we got back home.

Then booked a holiday in Egypt through them and they'd basically sold us off to the (cheapest) local cowboys who picked us up from the airport in their car and then random other people took us out on trips - there was no BA rep anywhere and we had no idea what was happening. I'd never book a holiday through them again.

Then the one other time we flew to Turkey with them we were sat at the back and the flight attendant spent most of the flight talking to someone about what an awful company BA was to work for, issues with drunk pilots and everything that had gone down hill about it, it was awful.

It sounds more like rubbish customer service. If she had poor visibility, the best thing she should have done is book over the phone or through an agent who could have done this for her. She made the choice to make the booking online