10 cm snow in London. BA collapses, BAA does too

Heh! Yes, an ignore function would be great.

As for the function making a forum enjoyable, I disagree. The forum is enjoyable as it is. When those who wish to speak, can do so. Even - especially - if they want to be BA apologists, the more the merrier.

I love it when people clearly direct their frustrations at posters like me, who speak their minds.

To those who are censorious, stuffing their own ears and eyes is the last resort. What then happens is predictable...traffic in response to the newly-"invisible" poster drives them wild and soon they begin posting frustrated missives on how idiotic the unseen opinions are, how the mods should take control, direct the blight of responses away from the OP, etc. It's about speech control and when stuffing their own ears can't restore control, they melt down.

This unfolding is very entertaining because it highlights the contradictions created by an inability to handle open discussion.

Early signs of such propensity are posting eternally about methods of silencing other posters, or failing that, of ostentatiously ignoring them. We see the hallmarks of such a mindset here. It's truly hilarious when these guys post replies faking studied indifference to threads like this.

These posters even seek the contrary opinions out. This, despite having acted in cahoots to censor such commentary in other places (!) This ironical hypocrisy is not lost on the observers. After all, Johnny and Jane Foreigner are smart - something that BA and the apologists often forget or want to disbelieve.

Now on the upside, there are some very good prospects for the BA (or BAA) management recruiters here. Who better to defend the ideologies unmasked at LHR by jbc during the snow service interruption?

Blah blah blah Jovellian blah blah blah apostate blah blah blah Eigerian blah blah blah Mussolini blah blah blah fortitude blah blah blah Ferengian blah blah blah Malvinista blah blah blah Tolstoy.

Feel free to make your own RTS post using this framework

Careful... some of your BA cronies might sue you for plagerism

What a shame that such a sharp wit should be made blunt by the inability to spell. But it's the thought that counts, so well done.

I was tempted too. However, I suspect that grammar schools are no longer... and in many former colonies may never have been.

The latest part of this saga is too amazing not to post.
Following the second cancellation a BA representative handed me a form letter telling me I was entitled to compensation of GBP 200 for hotel and other things. I submitted my claim which was actually for less than the total they offered. Within seconds I had my response. They tell me I am not entitled to compensation because the delay was beyond their control. No apology, no sorry, just tell me I am not entitled. I have not decided on the next step i will take. Suggestions? Please don't tell me to forget it because it was beyond their control.

All the EU airlines paid during the ash cloud disruption, and that was certainly beyond their control too. What's supposed to be different here?

edit:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1178615-snow-disruption-claims.html

I do not know. The response was only that i was not entitled because the cancellation was beyond their control. Only that, nothing else.

Well, the link above from FT seems to indicate that BA are paying out for snow disruption, so I don't know why they sent you that email.

I just read through both the FT threads on this subject. Frankly, not one positive experience was mentioned in one thread while the other one that you linked did have a couple positive comments. I think I am just going to give up. It is GBP220, but I really do not want the aggravation.

Such issues are why I stopped being EC Gold a couple years ago. Why I decided to try them again is another issue, but I will not worry more. Sending a DHL/FedEx claim to them will cost me roughly another GBP60 so I'll just waste more money fighting when they've already denied. I know that is the reaction they want. In this case they get it. However BA has had my last money.

Suggestions? Well, accept that - maybe sadly, in spite of recent claims of perestroika and glasnost - BA remains Dilbertian. To the core.

This is so ridiculous and pathetic. If Kafka was writing today, the operations of BA would provide great fodder.

Your experience proves yet again how deeply-rooted the Dilbertian ideologies are. If the loss of function were less ideological and more instrumental i.e. it was somehow procedural or personal or even departmental, it would be worth systematically addressing it with logical documentation. Up the wazoo.

But it isn't. You see for yourself, and so do we, how impossible it is to execute reforms when the structure hires Nigels and Nigellas who deny reality, who denigrate customers and show their contempt for them in these ways. They will continue to insist that their customer service is excellent, that their surveys show them, no problem etc. The philosophy that shapes these surveys, the people who don't receive them, and the questions it doesn't include, are reflective of the ideology above.

If you think BA is too big and problematic to respond to such kaizen, try doing this with national governments....for real! It takes serious energy and commitment and the results are very slow in coming. But we can never give up. Even the most recalcitrant organizations can experience a breath of fresh air, of new leadership, and then the scene is ripe for change.

Meantime, directing your money towards other carriers that don't cause such aggro - as the BA apologists would say - is the best long-term solution.

Do you have a script to post this automatically by any chance?

You respond to the request for a suggestion with a rant, pretending that you're offering a suggestion. You're not. At least I posted a link that just might have some possible useful information in it. Saying that someone should use other carriers is not a solution to this particular issue. I certainly wouldn't give up on it, I'd insist that BA's obligations were met and they paid the expenses. Admittedly many companies including BA try to fob you off with an excuse and hope, probably successfully, that a certain percentage of people won't bother to follow up, but I would, and I'm pretty sure BA would pay up.

So, I called the AA EXP line. They had issued the ticket. Oddly they also had the history. The very kind person took my details asked me to hold and they, AA, paid my costs and awarded me 15,000 AAdvantage miles, telling me it would all be billed to BA. I am now a "happy camper", as the Americans say, and, although I'll not volunteer to fly BA I certainly will give AA teh benefit of any doubt. They had nothing to do with this problem other than issuing the ticket so it was far beyond their call of duty. Bravo, AA!

You are probably relatively new here and on FT so you can be excused for not knowing the history of these discussions. Certainly I denounce poor service but I usually do more than that. I offer constructive suggestions and methods for improvement in, and then measurement of, service delivery. In fact I provided quite a lot of specific suggestions four and five years ago, on the BA board. Predictably these were the subject of contemptuous dismissal among the apologists for the usual ideological reasons. Less predictably and more interestingly, over that period the person who paid most attention to what I had to say - was an actual BA manager! With whom I had some private conversations and who, if not exactly in full agreement with me, acknowledged areas of service deficiency and took the comments more seriously. And who then invited me to Waterworld during my LHR visit, although I couldn't make it during my visit to the BA Heritage center. Credit to this guy for taking the bull by the horns. Unlike most of the Colonel Blimps who presume to speak for BA and who are the most instinctive and strongly-habituated ostriches of the post-Holocene epoch.

But remember, then I was censored by the apologist-ostriches. So the irony is reinforced.

Newbies tend to fall into this trap. Those who've had longer experience with my posts may not like my tone but they are often forced to acknowledge that the criticisms being voiced are factual, that they're not just mine, and that things could be done better by DL, BA, UA, CO whomever.

Some people show their naievete by believing for instance that someone like me would be an apologist for CO to the degree they apologize for BA and DL. But no, I defy their limited horizons. Criticism where it is deserved. Example: it is well know that the CO Y cabins in the 738 are the most uncomfortable and horrible fit of any US major and, like others, I've stated so numerous times. Not only on bulletin boards. I stated so to Jeff S., Larry Kellner's and Gordo's faces, the last time I saw each of them respectively. The 738 Y cabins suck, we spend far too much time in them, I can't even count how many hundreds of hours in my case. Some days, 14 hours of Y seating in the 738 (e.g. HNL-MAJ-TKK-GUM, or SJU-EWR-PHX with long taxiway holds). Yes, the DL 738s are marginally more comfy in Y than CO's. Not that it makes them great. (The CO 73G isn't quite so bad because of the exit-row seating arrangement that affords huge legroom in 21A/F).

Anyway, as for UG percentages, usability of miles, program benefits, transparency and so many other things, UACO (and US/AA) blow away DL and BA. We all know that DL and BA jockey for position as *best in class* in many aspects of the flying experience.

Now, back to jbc and the LHR irop. You're "sure" BA would pay up? You might be. Lots of others - including me and the OP and numerous people who've complained about BA's service recovery over the years - are equally sure they won't. You live in hope, certainly, but how much time you've spent with the BA CS demons is questionable.

jbc has taken the right step, which is addressing the deficiency to an organization that does deliver good CS - the AA EXP line. And they delivered an acknowledgment of the problems and a service recovery package. Wasting time with recalcitrant customer-facing entities at BA is a recipe for frustration. AA's response illustrates starkly that it can and should be done better. Anything else is dissembling and an excuse for poor service. Especially BA's risible performance described by jbc above. It shows nothing has changed from the most Dilbertian period.

And using other carriers was jbc's proposal to eliminate this stress from his life. Not mine. You want to claim it's out of bounds. But from his viewpoint, it is a strategy, the best one in fact. Further, jbc is doing BA a big favor by spending the time to write all this out, in a way from which they can learn. As a former GE level customer of BA, giving them another chance, he's exactly the kind of customer from whom they most need to learn. This, more than anything, shows the idiocy of those who would delegitimate and dismiss what he says.

It is strange how some people see themselves. I suppose it does explain why they cannot believe they might be the problem!

What problem? FT BA thread, sure, big problem but I see no problem here.

Screeds of very long, rambling, egotistical, nonsensical posts on every thread, and you can't see a problem?

Ah well. I give the forum about 6 weeks before no one bothers to come here. It never has been a place to get the latest news, assistance is rather patchy and now since we are being treated to diatribes on every thread, I think the forum has jumped the shark.

I'm a bit lost in my understanding of what transpired here.

You boarded your flight to DME. It was cancelled before leaving the ground.

As a transfer pax travelling on a through ticket you are entitled to protection. Hotel accommodation, meals, phone calls at BA's expense.

As an O&D pax you should have received discretionary assistance to cover over the same. Not guaranteed, mind but others in similar circumstances as yourself have reported BA provided overnight hotel cover.

What baffles me is AA's role in this. From what I can gather AA served as your travel agent and thus had no power or obligation to reimburse your out of pocket expenses, nor are they empowered to counter charge this onto the flight operator. Strange, but remarkably it worked out for you, which is comforting to read even if there is little value to be shared with other members here. Of greater importance, you are now able to put this episode behind you.

I was quite surprised also. The AA representative told me that OW carriers do have discretion regarding settlement fo some types of claims, more so when the settling carrier actually ticketed the itinerary. I thought I was knowledgable but I'd not heard of that one. Anyway, alls well that ends well.

It will survive even by just being quite different from the black hole the FT BA board is. One thing is certain we have and will be able is escpape the myriad of silly OT postings, general intimidation of new posters, patently anti-American ( not to mention anti-Chase as if they held a gun to the innocent litte BA and forced them to sell miles ) and we all fly paid F lying crowd and general insularity found there.

Lets face it I cannot recall any of you lot coming here and offering any sort of helpful or relevant imformation about actually flying BA.

That is a weakness of many forum posters. We do need:
1) objective information about most effective use of Avios. No rant, not even mine, just advice about how to make the best of it;
2) How best to deal with LHR/GTW delays. Let's face it, they will not go away. How then to manage the issue with least discomfort;
3) A little IB tossed in since IAG is more of less one;

That is just three topics that might be worth a thread or two, rantless ones if we can do that.

I'm not sure how an absence of helpful or relevant information posted here about flying on BA, even if that is a differentiator from the equivalent board on FlyerTalk, will be conducive to this forum's survival.

Be that as it may, the main problem is that there are very few genuine discussions here that seek that sort of information. When there are, it is provided. But that means that those threads tend to be self-limiting. The threads that run and run are those which are composed of rants, or consist of whinges primarily about how BA is different from airlines/schemes which the poster has hitherto been used to, or seek to discuss how to game the BAEC scheme inter alia by redeeming for flights on other airlines.

It is odd that many of us seem to assume we know nearly everything, but we all can learn more. Posting questions can help even the most jaded traveller learn more. Many of us are here on that assumption, even though we must sometimes go elsewhere for data because we ar not here sufficiently mature to have all the information we might desire.

10 cm of snow in one day is heavy snow for London. In many years, we don't get that much snow in the entire year (and even when it snows, it doesn't necessarily settle on the ground).

What's wrong with using BA miles to redeem for award tickets on other airlines? This is a published benefit of the BA FF program and AFAIK BA continues to advertise this as an advantage of their program. It doesn't constitute gaming the BAEC scheme if someone prefers an award ticket using anotheer carrier or in fact is forced to use another carrier between their origin and desired destination.