Oh bugger...

[whisky77]

Typical.

Typical BA customer service. Best of luck getting home mate.

[davidruddell]

Welcome back to Blighty.

Sorry to hear you're unwell, and can only sympathise with your situation with BA.

When I used to work in publishing, we universally referred to them as 'Bloody Awful'
The company switched globally to Virgin as their airline of choice, much nicer staff generally.
always find BA staff think they are 'superior' to other airline staff.

[El Catador]

Simon, I feel your pain!

Almost 10 years ago, after a series of disastrous BA experiences: lost luggage, delayed/cancelled flights, missed connections, (piss) poor customer service, etc. I took the decision to 'black-list' BA as carrier, except for destinations/routes where there was no alternative airline. (The only airline I've ever expressly vetoed).

Thankfully, even those routes now have competition, so we haven't flown with them for almost seven years.

Being (brutally) honest, I find it astonishing that 'anyone' still books with them at all! Especially with the on-going threats of industrial action as a back-drop, and a delusional union seemingly hell bent on the organisations destruction.
Expecting (demanding), rates of pay at almost twice the industry average for a service that falls way short, (and then disrupting the flight plans of its core customer base with repeated strike action) is nothing short of commercial suicide!

The very fact that this airline is the 'flag carrier' for the country is a sad state of affairs indeed.

[Gordonbcb]

Simon, I feel your pain!

Almost 10 years ago, after a series of disastrous BA experiences: lost luggage, delayed/cancelled flights, missed connections, (piss) poor customer service, etc. I took the decision to 'black-list' BA as carrier, except for destinations/routes where there was no alternative airline. (The only airline I've ever expressly vetoed).

Thankfully, even those routes now have competition, so we haven't flown with them for almost seven years.

Being (brutally) honest, I find it astonishing that 'anyone' still books with them at all! Especially with the on-going threats of industrial action as a back-drop, and a delusional union seemingly hell bent on the organisations destruction.
Expecting (demanding), rates of pay at almost twice the industry average for a service that falls way short, (and then disrupting the flight plans of its core customer base with repeated strike action) is nothing short of commercial suicide!

The very fact that this airline is the 'flag carrier' for the country is a sad state of affairs indeed.

+1 here. They are the only airline I'd avoid using if at all possible - due to a very bitter past experience.

[celsis]

I never fly BA and I never fly out of London. Both have proved, in the past, to be unreliable and useless. I now fly out of Edinburgh, Glasgow or Dublin. Dublin if I'm going to the US as you can do US immigration in Ireland and it saves ages at the other end.

Hope you're feeling better.

[Lilyboo]

Dublin if I'm going to the US as you can do US immigration in Ireland and it saves ages at the other end.

Does that still happen? That would save a fair bit of hanging around when you land.

[nicwing]

If you need consolation mate just thank your lucky stars you weren't flying Ryanair who have no concept of a customer service desk for you to get cross at!!

[Simon-JG-hr]

Thank you Nic. That made me chuckle. I flew with Ryanair once and promised myself that I would never do so again - I'd rather walk...

[macker89]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Simon.

Like several of the chaps on here, I blacklisted BA years ago after a nightmare experience and zero interest on their part to make things right in the aftermath. As for Ryanair, at least you know it's a pikey airline and you're only paying pikey prices (unless of course, your luggage is any bigger than a wallet or you want to use the toilet).

[Gordonbcb]

While we're on the subject of pikey airlines, let me tell you what happened to a friend of mine on Friday.

He was due to fly Easyjet from Edinburgh to Munich on Friday to stay with friends for the weekend and make his annual pilgrimage to Oktoberfest.

He got as far as being in his seat on the plane when the captain announced the flight was cancelled.

Worse than that, Saturday was already fully booked, as was Sunday!!! To say he was gutted must be understatement of the year.

[celsis]

Does that still happen? That would save a fair bit of hanging around when you land.

Yep, still happens. They've even built a new US immigration area in Dublin airport.