Oops!

I have always said that Virgin's lounges are better than BA's, it would seem that judging from this story BA executives agree with me:

"Virgin Atlantic opened its new clubhouse at Boston Airport at the weekend. To ensure the launch went off without a hitch, the airline held a dress rehearsal the day before. Representatives of other airlines were invited to sample the posh grub and comfy chairs.

The ploy seems to have worked well. My mole tells me two British Airways airport managers stayed a touch too long: they turned up late to the opening of their own lounge, to be met by a group of angry customers."

Source The Telegraph.

Pilots' Strike

The latest news on the possible BA pilots' strike over Easter, 86% of pilots voted in favour, is that both BA and the pilots have agreed to take their respective cases to mediation.

Customer Isn't King

The Independent reports that the long suffering passengers of BA had to endure more misery, aside from the twelfth hike in its fuel surcharge, BA forbade its economy class passengers from checking in luggage Heathrow Terminal 4 owing to a breakdown in the baggage check in system.

Other airlines manually dealt with it, BA chose not to.

BA really needs to understand that its passengers (customers) are going to get fed up with being taken for granted and treated like this.

Britain's Worst

Well Done lads!

"British Airways was once again named Britain's worst airline for mishandling baggage, and the second worst in Europe.

The airline mishandled 1.14 million bags in 2007, an average 26.5 bags per 1,000 passengers."

Source The Times

Late Again! II

Congratulations to British Airways (BA) for ensuring that my return flight from Stockholm to London last night was only 30 minutes late.

Needless to say, no explanation was provided.

I guess that counts as an improvement in customer service?

£10 Refunds

Here's an interesting story on the BBC site:

People who flew with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between 11 August 2004 and 23March 2006 may be entitled to a refund of £10 per flight.

The law firm Cohen Milstein expects to sign an agreement later on Friday in a class action suit with BA and Virgin.

BA was fined by US and UK authorities for price-fixing on fuel surcharges while Virgin also admitted breaching US and UK law but escaped the fines.

BA declined to comment while Virgin could not immediately be reached.

The settlement would cover customers in the UK and the US.

Cohen Milstein estimates that the settlement will be worth about $200m (£100m), £73.5m of which will be set aside to pay claims by passengers who bought tickets in the UK in pounds sterling.

Passengers and businesses that bought tickets would be eligible for refunds of up to £10 for each leg of a journey.

BA was fined £121.5m by the Office of Fair Trading and $300m (£150m) by the US Department of Justice for colluding with Virgin on the level of fuel surcharges that would be added to their ticket prices.

Virgin escaped the fines because it had informed the authorities that the breaches had happened.