Can you believe it? British Airways call ARMED POLICE to #Heathrow Airport's business class lounge last night "to prevent any situation from escalating ... "https://t.co/90vRpOnuW2
— Adam Bates (@AdamBates_D6) December 11, 2017
“It's going great. Customers say to us: 'Finally, I have good choices. No more chicken or beef'."Asked if the service could be extended to long-haul economy, he said: "We might do it".
“We have been in touch with our customer after what we understand must have been a very distressing experience.Clealry BA's PR department hasn't read this:
Our highly trained cabin crew always work to make our customers as comfortable as possible, but Civil Aviation Authority safety rules stipulate everyone must remain seated with their seatbelts on after the aircraft has started moving.
The safety and security of our customers is always our top priority.”
"Adequate toilet facilities must be maintained and made available to passengers during the delay."Source Nolo.com
"Thank you for contacting your British Airways Executive Club Service Centre.However, I have since heard nothing back from them!
Please be assured that your email is important to us and will be responded to as soon as possible.
We thank you for your patience."
"Hackers have accessed tens of thousands of British Airways frequent flier accounts.
The airline said no personal information has been viewed or stolen, and it has frozen affected accounts for the next day or so while it resolves the issue.
It means top executive club fliers may not be able to use their air miles until the issue is resolved.
Airline chiefs said only a small proportion of its millions of customers are affected, and that their names, addresses, bank details and other personal information have not been accessed.
The company apologised to customers and said it expects to have the system back up and running in the next day or so.
It is not known who is behind the hack, but it is believed it was carried out by an automated computer programme looking for chinks in the armour of the company's online security systems.
A British Airways spokesman said: "British Airways has become aware of some unauthorised activity in relation to a small number of frequent flyer executive club accounts.
"This appears to have been the result of a third party using information obtained elsewhere on the internet, via an automated process, to try to gain access to some accounts.
"We would like to reassure customers that, at this stage we are not aware of any access to any subsequent information pages within accounts, including travel histories or payment card details.
"We are sorry for the concern and inconvenience this matter has caused and would like to reassure customers that we are taking this incident seriously and have taken a number of steps to lock down accounts so they can no longer be accessed.""
"On 28 April, we’ll be making some changes to the Executive Club that will mean you’ll notice a difference to the way you earn and spend Avios with us. We’re making these changes to provide more opportunities for you to spend Avios on reward flights as well as to ensure that the Executive Club continues to deliver a competitive and rewarding loyalty programme for the future.
9 million reward seats will be available this year.
From 28 April we guarantee that more than 9 million reward seats will be available on our flights, with a minimum of two Club World/Club Europe and four World Traveller/Euro Traveller reward seats on all British Airways operated flights that are offered for sale on ba.com. This change will create over half a million extra reward seats including many to our popular destinations, which are available to book from today.
To do this we have needed to restructure the programme and you will find a summary of all the changes below. If you’d like more details on all the changes, you can find further information here. All bookings made before 28 April will not be affected by these changes.
Changes to how you earn your Avios.
We’ll make earning Avios on flights more aligned to the cabin you fly in and the different types of fares within that cabin. In practice this means that if you pay for a flexible ticket you will earn more Avios than the lowest priced ticket in the same cabin.
Our lowest priced tickets in Euro Traveller and World Traveller will award a minimum Avios of 25% per mile flown instead of 100%. In Club World/Club Europe and our First cabins the Avios you earn will either remain the same as it is now or increase up to 300% per mile flown depending on the cabin and type of ticket.
Changes to Silver Tier Bonus.
Silver Members’ Tier Bonus will change from 100% to 50%. Gold Members’ Tier Bonus will stay at 100%. Bronze Members’ bonus will stay at 25%.
Changes to the number of Tier Points.
The lowest priced World Traveller and Euro Traveller seats will now collect 25% of Tier Points rather than 50%.
Changes to the price of reward flights depending on the time of year.
From 28 April we will introduce different Avios pricing for reward seats depending on the time of the year, the cabin and zone. At busy times of the year we will have a standard Avios price and for less busy times less Avios will be needed.
So for two thirds of the year you will require less Avios than now to fly on reward seats in Euro Traveller and World Traveller. In Club World and First the Avios price will increase, the amount will vary depending on the time of the year. To see our Avios prices in more detail click here.
Reward flights with our airline partners will be one price all year round, with the exception of Iberia who will also offer seasonal pricing.
Changes to UK domestic connecting reward flights.
To bring the UK in line with the rest of the world, you will now be required to pay for any UK domestic connecting reward flights to and from your final European destination. This does not apply to connecting reward flights on long haul, which will remain included.
Changes to how we handle your Avios.
As part of an IAG group reorganisation involving British Airways Plc and Avios Group (AGL) Limited, British Airways has agreed that AGL will be responsible for issuing your Avios points. As a result, AGL will receive, store and process your data in connection with administering aspects of the Executive Club. This will be done with, but legally independently of, British Airways. Each will have their own responsibilities for separate aspects of the data processing involved in administering the Executive Club. We will continue to be in control of the operation and management of the Club and these particular changes will have no direct impact to you as a Member and your relationship with the Club as it is today.
More opportunities to upgrade.
By the end of the year, you will be able to upgrade using Avios from World Traveller and Euro Traveller commercial bookings, except the very lowest priced seats. That means there will be more opportunities to upgrade than ever before.
Combined together, all of these changes will allow us to continue offering a competitive rewards programme to our Members, improving the availability of reward seats across our entire network many of which will require less Avios than today.
Thank you for taking the time to read about these changes. If you still have questions, you can find many answers and additional details on ba.com."
"I was on a 19:15 flight to Paris, for which I was there several hours early, and they didn't announce the cancellation until the very last moment when it was supposed to board.Did anyone else have a similar experience?
We had to reclaim baggage, go back through immigration, and then we directed to a long queue where we continued to stand for several more hours.
A few hours after BA customer service agents came out with some bullshit paperwork and informed us that the airport would be closing and they wouldn't be able to help people rebook/accommodate them in hotels for the evening because there were too many people.
On this paperwork we were given a phone number to call which was a) busy b) you had to pay to call if you were like us had an international sim card, and a second phone number was only operable during regular business hours (it was nearing 10pm in the evening by this point).
Additionally, this paperwork stated that the passengers had to pay for the rebooking, hotel stay, and any other expenses but that BA would "CONSIDER reimbursing" if we saved the receipts and sent them a letter by mail.
No one had any clue when this reimbursement would take place.
For people with hefty travel plans like myself and my partner, this was completely unreasonable and out of budget."
“We’re essentially trying to recreate the feeling of recognition you get in a favourite restaurant when you’re welcomed there, but in our case it will be delivered by thousands of staff to millions of customers. This is just the start — the system has a myriad of possibilities for the future."I can't wait for them to Google me, they'll have a great laugh:).
"Jonathan Miller, foreign affairs correspondent for Channel 4 News, and his team have been deported from Bahrain following their release from detention.
As per Jonathan Miller's Twitter feed:The correspondent, cameraman, Joe Sheffer, and producer Dave Fuller, were arrested yesterday evening alongside their driver, Ali, and activist Dr Ala'a Shehabi while filming a small demonstration in a village.
Last night, authorities in Bahrain released the group. The three Channel 4 members were driven to Bahrain airport at "breakneck" speed in a police van to be deported back to the UK, according to Miller.
However fears quickly grew for the fate of the driver, who was violently attacked by police before being taken away separately. The channel's head of foreign news, Ben de Pear, has urged Britain's foreign secretary to raise the way in which he was treated with Bahrain.
After British Airways staff initially refused Miller and his team permission to board an aircraft after saying the group's "documentation [was] not in order", Miller said, they were flown back on another plane early this morning.
Dr Shehabi, an economics lecturer, was released some seven hours after she was taken into custody.
"OK...Channel 4 three finally being deported aboard a non-British airline," Miller tweeted this morning. "Goodbye Bahrain. I met some lovely people but not many were cops."
A spokesperson for Channel 4 News said: "We are pleased to confirm that our team is safe and on their way back to the UK. We also have confirmation that the team's driver - who they saw assaulted by Bahraini authorities, and human rights activist, Dr Ala'a Shehabi, have also been released."
The team's trip to the Gulf nation co-incided with the Grand Prix - the target of violent protests in the run up to the event. Amid heavy security, the event passed off with skirmishes and a number of arrests, after activists were denied entry to a zone surrounding the circuit.
Police brutality
Explaining the circumstances leading up to the arrest, Miller said that they had been operating without official accreditation.
He said: "So when we were caught filming a planned demonstration in one of the Shia villages, they have not been particularly pleasant. They've been very aggressive towards me, my crew and driver and Dr Ala'a Shehabi, a prominent human rights activist.
"We were actually heading back to where we were staying to edit the piece we'd compiled for tonight - we'd met villagers in a Shia suburb off the main city, who were demonstrating night after night."
Responding to a tweet from the minister, who had expressed concern over the fate of the team, Mr de Pear said: "The police treated the driver badly. I trust these are issues brought up in consultations."
"Jonathan Miller @millerC4
Channel 4 crew being deported from Bahrain wish to thank British Airways for leaving us stranded, refusing permission to board. Cheers BA."
"Unfortunately our systems are not responding, so we are unable to process your request at the moment. We apologise for this inconvenience and suggest you try again later."
"BA do not provide an answer that explains why our executive club numbers have not been tracked in the system for the flights:It seems that BA have learned very little from this as, almost five years later, Dennis Howlett has discovered:
"Dear Mr Frost
I am sorry to learn that your flights did not track to your account. This should automatically happen when you quote your Executive Club number at the time of booking or at check-in. This is providing that the name on your Executive Club membership card and the name on your booking, match exactly.
As advised earlier, the flight(s) you are claiming for were operated by a partner airline, we are unable to update your account without copies of the boarding passes and ticket stubs from the flight(s) in question. This allows us to verify the information before crediting your account.
Contacts details for your local Executive Club Service Centre can be found at:
http://www.ba.com/servicecentres
We always recommend you save your ticket receipts and boarding passes until the flights have been added to your account, in case of discrepancy.
Thank you for emailing us and we hope to resolve this swiftly for you.
Regards
British Airways Executive Club "
Here is my answer:
"Thank you for your email.
We did book in using our correctly registered executive account numbers etc.
Therefore, re my original question, why has the system not tracked our flights?
Re you not be "able" to update our accounts, without hard copy stubs, I find that a little hard to believe.
We are pre assigned seats when boarding the aircraft, you have records to show how many people are on the flight at take off, who they are and have records to satisfy security controls that show exactly who was on a flight.
You would not be allowed to operate or to fly to Spain, the USA etc without having such security controls.
Therefore you are well capable of verifying that we were on the flights.
If you need a little help, our flight booking was featured in The Times a while ago.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article1889980.ece
Do I really have to raise this matter with Walsh simply to get my miles added, something that your system should have done in the first place?
Kind regards
Ken Frost"
"I am a BA Executive Club member. As such I can theoretically do many things on the site: book and manage flights, check my tier and Avios points, look at baggage allowances and so on. All standard fare. Except that in BA’s case it doesn’t always work."Good luck Dennis, BA can be as stubborn as a mule but keep pushing them!
"This is part one of a three parter. In this part I talk about process failures in communications and the ticket locator/e-ticket systems. In part two, I talk about the website. In part three I talk abut the broader implications for development and customer relationships in a hyper connected world.
Those who drift between this weblog and my personal site will know that every now and again I launch a tirade against some aspect of travel. The latest target for my ire is that icon of self deprecating failure: British Airways. Its uncanny ability to muff even common day tasks beggars belief yet it stands as an exemplar of all that’s messed up in modern day IT development. Here we go…"Dennis sums up Part 1 of his three part synopsis of BA's failings, by highlighting the key problems/issues that need to be addressed by BA:
"Arguing with the call centre is pointless and horribly time wasting. Two calls that tell me wait time will be more than 15 minutes, a wait time of 9 minutes followed by a fruitless call with the agent and another 22 minutes wait before speaking with an agent who at least empathised with my situation did not resolve the situation.I wish him well, and hope that BA use this as an opportunity to improve their customer care procedures.
According to BA’s Ts & Cs:This is not the same as ‘will’ cancel, a fact I pointed out to the empathetic agent but which got me nowhere. All of this is really a prelude to the various places that BA’s systems fail in the value delivery chain.
6c) You must check in by the check-in deadline
If you do not complete the check-in process by the check-in deadline, we may decide to cancel your reservation and not carry you.
On to the BA website. This is where things really get screwy."
- The call centre is understaffed. Four calls over a period of 12 hours during which the wait time is at least 15 minutes on all calls tells me something. Where are the systems that predict call loads?
- Part of the problem seems to stem from the fact that the original booking agent organised two e-tickets albeit under the same ticket locator. Right now it is unclear which of the tickets BA voided although from the printed information I have, it sounds like the Malaga>London return. Where are the processes for reconciling ticket issues in these circumstances?
- It doesn’t make sense that there was a bowling ball effect onto other e-tickets i.e. the Sydney>Frankfurt leg and as yet no-one can explain what happened. BA allows this confusion to occur. Why?
- At the very least there is confusion and conflicting information at BA and communicated to me. That should never happen. BA should always be in full possession of the right information. It is a security issue. If the agents are confused then where is the escalation process to help them out?
- At no time did anyone advise me that a part of my itinerary was at risk. Given the fact there were two tickets under the same locator reference is it beyond the wit of man to at least insert an IF>THEN SQL statement into the workflow so that a communication can be instantiated? This cannot be an uncommon issue.
- The interpretation of ‘may’ to ‘will’ is not made clear to customers. That is palpably unfair.
