Travel Horror Story: British Airways and Delta
Yesterday my wife was supposed to be travelling back to England. She had been planning the trip for over half a year and was looking forward to attending her friend's wedding as well as catching up with friends and family for a couple of weeks. The day started off early as her flight with Delta from Pittsburgh, PA to JFK, New York, NY left at 10:00am.
About an hour after she had left I got an automated call from Delta saying that her flight had been cancelled and they had booked her onto a flight at 6pm that evening! I knew that her British Airways from JFK to Manchester, UK was due to leave at 6:05pm. This was obviously a problem and so we started looking for alternatives to get her there on time.
I called a friend who offered to drive me to the airport to meet her and try to get this sorted out. Delta were less than helpful and claimed weather which apparently means they are not obligated to help. Checking the weather reports confirmed that storms were predicted that afternoon but offered no explanation why they were grounding flights that morning. After talking to them it seemed clear they were not going to get her there in time.
So we called British Airways. We have been loyal customers for years, taken more flights with them than I remember and had always been very happy with the service. We had never had cause to use their customer service but assumed it would be good as every other dealing we had with them was always positive.
After speaking with a customer service agent she assured us that there was nothing to worry about. She advised us to try and get to JFK today, but if we couldn't make it they could put Louise on the flight tomorrow for a fee of approximately $120. This made us feel much better and we thought worst case the journey was just going to be delayed by a day. We abandoned the plan of attempting to hire a car and drive to JFK which according to Google and MapQuest would have taken just shy of seven hours.
After confirming with Delta that there was little chance of them getting my wife to JFK in time for her flight we accepted the flight the next day on the proviso that Louise could get a refund if she found an earlier flight with a competitor. So we headed back home, scoured the travel sites and Louise called British Airways back to see about getting her flight switched to one tomorrow.
To her horror the second representative told her that this was not possible and no changes could be made to her ticket on the day of travel. She then proceeded to very unhelpfully quote that it was in the terms and conditions and that the previous agent was incorrect. We talked with the first person at about 8:20am when we might have had a shot at making it to JFK by car but being at home at around 10:30am we knew that we have no chance of making it.
I made the point that it was their previous agent that had given us incorrect information and that they should take some responsibility and work with us. My wife was obviously really upset by this and so I tried to talk with the woman who just kept repeating that it was in the terms and conditions and that if my wife didn't make it to JFK that day then her ticket would be forfeit and she would need to buy a new ticket.
I quite honestly couldn't believe it and after speaking with this woman it became clear that she thought she was in the right, I couldn't speak to anyone else about the matter and the previous agent was wrong. I was apparently free to make a complaint about this but beyond that she simply didn't care. When I asked her whether she thought it was fair that we pay for the poor training of the previous agent she went on to repeat that it was clear in the terms and conditions. I made the point that the previous agent didn't seem to know it but apparently I should know it myself.
We actually called Delta to see if there was anything they could do to get Louise there. When we asked for a refund they somehow found a new flight they hadn't noticed before at 3pm. So it was back to the airport to wait and hopefully get to JFK. They kept Louise there until about 6:30pm before cancelling the flight and sending everyone away.
She was disappointed but then Delta decided to really twist the knife and refused to refund the money for the flights saying that they had booked her on flights for the next day. When she explained this was useless to her they had little sympathy for her but after going to customer services and standing in another queue they offered her a partial refund. This stank but it just got worse from there on in.
I had been looking for alternate flights back to the UK but everything inside the next two weeks was $1900 or more and we simply don't have that kind of money. It became clear that she wouldn't be able to go back to the UK this time and it seemed that BA was keeping all the money for that flight with no hope of getting any help or understanding from them.
Louise had her return to the US booked and subsequent return back to the UK in October as a pair of flights. We felt for sure we could change the UK->US flight and just pay a fee to move the dates. Now we have found out that you are not allowed change the flight sequence and it looked like we had lost that flight too. After talking to another very unhelpful person from customer care (seems like a real misnomer) who seemed to think nothing of asking for over $1,000 to change the flights so that she might be able to use one of the three flights she had paid for.
Bearing in mind a return typically costs $800-$900 I think that is rediculous. If we don't alter the flights then by not taking the first flight in the sequence the second is automatically cancelled and cannot be used. It was a real "computer says no" situation. I can almost laugh at how rediculously unhelpful they were being. Is this legal? I am guessing it is as they have a legal team to ensure it is. I really do not think it is right...
To top it all off I sent an email to them detailing everything that had happened and got an automated response. Typical time to reply is two weeks but I do have a case number. I suppose we have been lucky previous to this in that we have never missed flights or had to deal with the airlines. I had always assumed they would do what they could to help us out if things didn't go well. This was totally outside of our control but they were no help at all.
Is this really typical? If anyone knows of anyway to get them to atleast help us out a little and give us credit or something I would love to hear it. Unfortunately my annual travel insurance policy lapsed since leaving the UK and so it wasn't covered there. I thought it was bad enough that Louise couldn't get home but then we find out that the airlines are all too happy to state that it isn't their fault and that we should have read the terms and conditions more carefully.
I think the worst thing is that we could have driven at 9am and probably made it but due to the totally incorrect information given to us by that first British Airways representative we thought everything was fine. Everyone we have spoken to since at BA has refused to take responsibility for that or bend even a little to allow us to use any of those three flights we paid our hard earned cash for.
I certainly won't be looking for that BA logo anymore on my next trip and I hope this story can serve as a warning to others who think that companies like BA are any different to the rest. It seems that the people at Delta (I never suspected Delta was a good airline) and the people at British Airways (who I always thought were a good airline) are just there to stamp their cards. You can't trust anything they tell you unless you get it in writing but they won't do that.
Is it fair that if I arrive a day late they get to keep my money and send me away yet if they get me there a day late then I should be thankful? They don't even have to compensate me if they claim it was the weather that did it as far as I can tell! Rather than asking what they can do to help get you to where you paid to go they just seem to want to get you out of their way by whatever means possible. Call centre workers hide behind the veil of anonymity and no longer take any personal responsibiltiy for their mistakes - better to let the customer pay...
Sorry for the long mostly unrelated post. I would welcome advice on how to deal with these people but fear we might have to chalk it up to experience. 
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Andras on :
What you can do is to complain to higher levels (company management and customer right protection) and sue them. Delta because their canceling made you miss the other flight and they canceled without reason (if you say the weather was nice at that time, there are probably records about the weather) and BA for miss-information (they should have records of conversation). Unfortunately unless you bought the tickets (Delta & BA) from one place, eg. from BA, you cannot really sue BA for not paying back your money for the no show. In the future you better do this, in that case they have to transport you from your location to the final destination and if they mess up a connection, that is their problem.
IANAL (and not even American), but this is what I think you can do if you want to fight for your right and your money.
And it is very unfortunate that such problems, miss-communication and not caring about passengers can happen with big airliners, like these two, or like Lufthansa with whom I had also an unpleasant experience.
Marcus D. Hanwell on :
You are correct about buying the tickets from different places, I think that is one of the main things that has meant they could get out of helping us. Delta gave us some money back for their flights but I don't think BA has to give us a penny despite the misinformation. Pittsburgh isn't well connected to the north of England.
We have basically no experience of dealing with airlines in cases like this. It would have been a lot easier had we booked it all through the same airline and then they would have had to have sorted it all out. That is what we will be doing from now on - might be checking out US Airways Pittsburgh->Philadelphia->Manchester. Not heard good things about them but not sure we have many other options that are reasonably priced.
I am not American either - English person trying to make his way for a couple of years in the US.
Martin Taniane on :
Anonymous on :
Jonathan Jesse on :
Marcus D. Hanwell on :
The tickets were purchased from BA UK using a debit card. I used to have an annual travel policy when I lived in the UK but as I now live in the US it is no longer current. I would like to thank you and the others for the advice - I fear I am an amateur when it comes to complaining/dealing with people like this whose only goal seems to be getting rid of you.
Raj on :
Good luck.
Marcus D. Hanwell on :
Scott on :
I have also had some very bad experiences with BA and so I'm not surprised really. (I'm Australian, never flown Delta)
Andras on :
Don on :
Good luck.
D. Fear on :
Surely your feeling that this is not right is basically correct; I fear that you will have to really go at them with lawyers etc. before anything happens - not necessarily an option. I don't know how to avoid these pitfalls - 'buyer beware' is all well & good, but does that mean we have to be legal experts before buying a simple ticket for transportation from A to B? What a world!
Marcus D. Hanwell on :
I think we will certainly send a snail mail complaint and look into rights protection. The flights were bought in the UK over nine months ago and so I don't think the card company would be able to help us there. There do seem to be a few tricks to dealing with these people and if you don't know them they leave you very much out in the cold.
Thanks once again.
anon on :
They always do that. They have no respect for customers until they get hit back using their own means. "refund", "newspaper" and "public" are possibly the words they most hate.
Oh, and if you can, yes, proceed just like somebody up there suggested. Reject the payment done using credit card. Finally, they will be the ones to worry about you (or rather, their missing money), instead of you being phoning them.
Chris on :
I once had an incident with BA where they changed the schedule without notifying me and when we arrived at the airport we managed to just get a glimpse of the departing plane. As a result we were stuck for 2 days. The BA responsible didn't even allow us to use his office phone for a quick call home, and would not pay for accommodation or anything.
Anyway, after we got back home I wrote a long letter and sent it through snail mail to the manager of BA in the country where I lived. One month later I received a reply where they said that although they were not to blame for the incident, they would refund all our expenses (including the new connecting flight we had to book with a competitor, hotel, meals, etc).
Might be worthwhile trying a similar approach!
Chris.
Lorne Bailey on :
Kimberly Sogioka on :