My recent journey to South Africa was my first, and last, experience with BA.

The most tightly packed planes I was ever on and the ludicrous practice of not being able to obtain an assigned seat when the ticket is purchased. You can obtain your seat only within a 24 hour window of the departure date and time.

To obtain a seat you would prefer earlier than that will cost. $83.00 for an exit seat, and $42.00 to $48.00 for a less desirable one. The planes were full, and I am sure that waiting until their 24 hour window opened would have found me in the middle of a 4 or 5 seat center row. (in economy at any rate)

On the 747 leg from Phoenix to London only 3 toilets were working for 352 on board. Thankfully all engines worked.

Admission to their "Executive Club," perish the thought. They are "partners" with American but Admiral Club members are persona non grata. And unlike American you cannot even buy a daily membership.

Their gun policy prices are all over the map too, we had to pay an extra $240 on the way there and $140 on the way back for the exact same luggage. Made us take the ammo out of our checked bag then hit us with an extra piece charge and then to top it all off, hit it with the firearm handleing fee on both the gun and ammo boxes.

Everything got there safe and sound however...

Many years ago, I decided to NEVER fly British Airways.

It was after they had "lost" my trophies from Zimbabwe.

Their station manager in Dubai was very helpful, but, they had some real idiots in their head office in London, and seemed to not really try to help at all.

Only after a lengthy and threatening letter did they "find" the missing trophies and ship them to Dubai.

We still have British Airways as "no fly" airline for all our company employees.

Their current stupid rules regarding the calibers show that we have made the right decision.

I'll add British Airways to my "no fly list." American Airlines is already on it.

With all the fees and other crap one has to put up with on pretty much all airlines these days, after this year's Africa trip, I think I'll just stay in North America or, if I'm feeling particularly adventurous, maybe to South America.

Again, the answer here seems to be SAA!

See Attached

I had a really great experience with BA when I flew to Zambia in 2006 and again with them when I flew to Scotland in 2008. I booked them to travel to Kenya last month and have to say that service has suffered since my last trip. We flew World Traveler Plus and were denied entry into their club in Houston before the trip... AE Platinum and Select Priority Pass wouldn't get us in. Same with seat assignments... 24 hours unless you paid $75 per leg. And no WiFi for commoners! Heaven forbid, just not done ol' chap. I will definitely be looking at other alternatives in the future.

I am anxious to hear how Brother Jines made out on Emirates... I just want an airline that respects ALL passengers! Calling them self-loading cargo shows how far they have fallen in customer service!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
One More Good Reason To Avoid BA!

Good heavens; can things get any worse?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
One More Good Reason To Avoid BA!

In fairness to BA, if it happened inside the terminal then the responsibility would lie with the airport owners (BAA?).

Not a pleasant thing to happen though!

I can appreciate your experience, I struggle to find a carrier that routinely treats it's passengers like customers rather than cattle. The exception being SAA.

That said, I had a different experience with my BA flight. After waiting on hold on the phone for 20+ minutes, I explained to the phone agent the problem with trying to adjust seating assignments via the internet for our flight from London back to the U.S. We chatted pleasantly and he said he arranged for seats with extra leg room. What I didn't know until we arrived to check in was he had upgraded us to business class for $150(US) each and the gate agents encouraged us to use the lounge. What a bargain and great experience. But I'm ruined, I now know what is up in front of economy class...