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Original poster

Flying with BA- would you??!!!

34 replies

bamboowarrior · 19/06/2023 06:26

We've booked flights from Heathrow in summer - thought BA was good ,- but now seeing other of horrendous reviews of BA cancelling etc - still have option to cancel flights- what would you do?

OP posts:
cuckyplunt · 19/06/2023 06:27

What you going to do otherwise? Walk?
Why is any other airline going to be better, they still use the same airports?

TomAllenWife · 19/06/2023 06:31

I would fly with most other airlines over BA

I recently paid a little more to fly Virgin as a preference, I'd rather pay a bit more if it's less likely to be cancelled, shit food and older planes (route dependent)

TomAllenWife · 19/06/2023 06:32

cuckyplunt · 19/06/2023 06:27

What you going to do otherwise? Walk?
Why is any other airline going to be better, they still use the same airports?

This is such a twatty reply, could you be any less helpful

CatsOnTheChair · 19/06/2023 06:49

I'd check the planned industrial action at Heathrow didn't co-incide with my dates.
If my dates are impacted, I'd cancel and fly from a different airport.
Otherwise, I'd stick with it.

YouBetYourBippy · 19/06/2023 06:55

My husband flies with BA at least 30 times a year and never seems to have the problems that other people talk about on here. We are probably all with him at least 5 of those times each year if not more and, again, have never had anything but excellent service.

Last year I had one flight with Qatar Airways and had a dreadful experience but they are often raved about! I think it's all luck of the draw.

We flew from Heathrow at Easter when there was a security staff strike on and it was absolutely fine when we were there - in fact, arguably, it was quicker!

That's not to say that problems don't exist as people do have issues but I don't think it's the "sure thing" with BA that some people seem to make out.

Tarantella6 · 19/06/2023 06:59

We went to LA in Feb with BA, it was fine, food wasn't amazing but the flight times were the best. Passport control were on strike and I have never got through Customs so quick. It was absolutely freezing on the plane home though, like painfully uncomfortably cold. So take a coat.

itsnevertolate · 19/06/2023 07:01

We traveled with BA a couple of months ago. I was a bit nervous after seeing all the reviews, but they were really good. We had no issues departed/arrived on time.

Kentkittypie · 19/06/2023 07:02

I am sure it will be fine.

I wouldn't go to the expense of cancelling and rebooking flights now. I fly quite a lot and I wouldn't say BA is any worse than others and it's normally BA that I'm doing long haul on. I'm flying with them this summer and am not planning on changing my plans.

NoYou · 19/06/2023 07:07

Have you still got that option though? That's part of the problem I think. We wanted to cancel our flights last summer and it was the most stressful thing ever! You couldn't do it online, you had to ring and nobody ever answered. We tried for about two months.

We just went in the end.

However, they were great once we were actually flying with them.

It's not like there's countless airlines. If they are going where you want to go then I would just get on with it.

notimagain · 19/06/2023 07:31

Starts by declaring an interest as I'm an ex-employee.

They are not as good in some areas as they used to be -lots of reasons, mostly beyond the scope of this forum, but they are still not as bad as many.

OTOH they've always seemed to be a "love to hate" airline...

Spend enough time flying around/through various airports and you see plenty of other operators having problems and for example cancelling flights...but if it's not BA and if it's not LHR it generally doesn't make the UK tabloids (though TUI managed to get their name in lights about a year ago).

I've been through LHR as a passenger with them a few times recently and the various ground staff strikes had nil effect, BA were fine.

reluctantbrit · 19/06/2023 08:21

We flew BA to Prague at Easter and were re-booked as our flight was cancelled. It was very easy, no fuss.

I do like BA for short flights as their luggage allowance is very generous and if I need a suitcase, the whole price is often cheaper than paying for all the add-ons with EasyJet.

Long-haul - nope, did it twice and don't like it at all.

lljkk · 19/06/2023 08:31

cuckyplunt · 19/06/2023 06:27

What you going to do otherwise? Walk?
Why is any other airline going to be better, they still use the same airports?

I thought this was quite reasonable question, what is your alternative, OP?

Can you cancel with zero penalties & inconvenience? Will you reschedule after that?

I haven't had better experiences with other airlines, so BA is as good as it gets for me.

Sleepyteach · 19/06/2023 08:32

I’ve flown with BA twice this year, one short haul which was great, once LH where our outbound flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on to a flight the next day. we could have pushed harder for rebooking the same day but it probably worked out for the best as the chaos at Chicago airport (not BA’s fault) would have made us miss our connection anyway. The flight itself was great although they did say everyone may not get first choice of food as some meals hadn’t been loaded and had we waited the crew would have been out of hours - I didn’t actually see anyone not get what they wanted. The LH flight was during the Heathrow strikes although this wasn’t the cause of our cancellation and they have since hired in more aircraft specifically for the route we were on to address the problems there. Security during the strikes took a bit longer but it wasn’t too bad at all.

Silkierabbit · 19/06/2023 14:30

They were great with us. We had a small car crash on way to flight to Maldives and got there 40 mins before flight due to take off and check out closed. But they got us and luggage on.

DerekDuvall · 19/06/2023 18:07

I can't say that they were any different to others in my experience in terms of them cancelling flights. I do fly a lot of low costs though. One thing where I prefer some of the others is that it is much easier/cheaper to book a flexible ticket with some of the low cost ones. And even if a ticket is non-refundable it's really easy (no pun intended) to get most out of your money back with EasyJet. For a reasonable fee, depending on how far out your flight is you change the destination or even transfer your ticket to another person. BA only offers date change. If you cancel you lose all your money. Bottom line: I would not actively look to avoid BA, but most certainly wouldn't pay a premium to fly with them over Wizz for example. In case of EasyJet I'd probably actively choose EasyJet over BA in case price was similar.

HanSB · 19/06/2023 18:32

We flew BA 3 weeks ago in Europe and our outward flight wasn't cancelled but handed over and operated by Avion Express, the plane was really outdated, with zero leg space, really narrow gangway so couldn't go to toilet because the trolley was in the way, just awful. Return journey with BA was a marked difference! However I wouldn't change the flight as any airline could have a problem, or indeed the airport with strikes.

bert3400 · 20/06/2023 17:58

I've flown BA 4-6 times this year. Always delayed but onl once was the flight cancelled. The alternative flight they offered was pointless to us so we rebooked with another airline and got a refund from BA also they paid for taxi and hotel and we got compensation - all very quickly sorted out

Twiglets1 · 20/06/2023 18:03

They are my second least favourite airline. I believe RyanAir are worse but I’ve had too many bad experiences with BA. The worse thing about then is if you are entitled to compensation, you can’t get through to customer services and it takes forever to sort out.

CJat10 · 20/06/2023 18:13

Only flown once with them when they overbooked the plane and informed 50 passengers at check in they wouldn't be going home that day....never seen that before!

YouJustDoYou · 20/06/2023 18:15

I recently flew out long haul a couple weeks ago and it was fine, the airport was rammed, and didn't see a single cancellation on the board. They have pretty good pilot cover now so aren't cancelling as many as they had to before.

FlounderingFruitcake · 20/06/2023 18:24

I think they’re the most likely to go wrong (all the IT errors!) and the least likely to help you when it goes tits up because they don’t EVER answer the phone and emails often go ignored. That said often they’re the cheapest, have the best times or are the only airline going direct so I fly them
a bit against my better judgement. Just have travel insurance, a credit card with a good limit to cover hotel stays, emergency clothes etc and enough of a buffer in your finances so you can pay said credit card bill whilst you’re waiting on the small claims court.

Fandabedodgy · 20/06/2023 18:31

I fly with BA at least twice a month.

I rarely have problems but when I do BA are pretty good at resolving or refunding.

JET2 though are the absolute best at customer service.

chipsandpeas · 20/06/2023 18:35

ive flown with BA a lot and never had a problem, id take them any day over other airlines

BHRK · 20/06/2023 18:36

No problems flying BA and we fly a lot

babbi · 20/06/2023 18:50

Frequent flyer with BA worldwide and rate them very highly .
Any issues are resolved easily even during Covid .
hope I haven’t jinxed myself now.