cauchy

Well spotted! I forgot about this…

Newly Wed

I’m not sure there were significant downgrades as I saw at least 2 empty seats in PE and possibly more (difficult to tell if pax have spread their stuff out).

Apart from shouty man everyone was good humoured about switching seats around in Club once on the plane. The lounge agents were able to sort out seat changes for me and the kids and we had new BPs waiting at the gate.

choosethedrew

I’m not sure I follow the logic on a thread lamenting the swap to heritage Club World from CS, and where the OP has now paid money and disrupted the rest of their plans to escape the old seats, that ‘I doubt many people would notice or complain’. I can only speak personally but to me that’s an almost comical statement Flat beds have been the standard in business class for 20 years, saying that it’s all pretty much the same is like saying passengers have personal IFE in Y so it’s all good. Things have thankfully moved on.

I also think the reverse is true re occasional leisure travellers being less sensitive to aircraft swaps than corporate passengers. If your ticket has been covered by someone else, then I’d suggest that the feeling of hardship is likely to be much less acute. On the other hand, if you have scrimped and saved for years, planned your trip significantly in advance, pored over the costs / benefit of various airline and routing options and finally made a transactional purchasing decision based on the probability of a superior product (appreciate that is personal perception but as a general principle BA is replacing the old seats with the new, they are deemed as better by the majority of its customers, or else why would they do it) then I totally understand how a fair proportion of customers are going to feel extremely aggrieved.

With their current policy of not permitting rebooking due to equipment swaps, unlike other airlines with much less variation in the standard of their international J seats like AA and QF, I can see how this would deter repeat bookings from such inclined leisure travellers. BA no doubt doesn’t need them at the moment, but at some point the demand pendulum will swing.

percysmith

Couldn’t pax voluntarily rebook like BA15 LHR-SYD 28th Dec Aircraft Swap / BA16 SYD-LHR ?

JD1905

They were on an Avios booking, they were fortunate that there was availability to move and they also had to pay £70.

percysmith

I suppose GGLs or even Golds get some love?

JD1905

Wouldn’t go in with that assumption. If I got this equipment swap i’d actually rather be downgraded and ask to be re-routed as the flights the following day wouldn’t work for me.

Anyway - this should be an unlikely scenario, hopefully the frames that are out of service come back in soon and we get another head to CWL for a refit. I’m not travelling for 7 weeks, so alot may change by then.

camdentown

I'd note that the option of rebooking, which might sound nice and gives the customer a choice, actually is likely to be of limited value in practise.
Anywhere vaguely near to the date of travel, most BA flights are going to be fairly full. So the number of people who could take advantage of being able to change would be small.

Face the fact that cabin refurbishments by their nature have to be an incremental process. It takes a plane out of service for a while - and therefore perhaps best done at the same time as major (C/D) checks.
It's something we have to live with ...

Krisz

well ggl would not be charged the £70. However normal Avios availability would be required. If joker were used then d class could work too however if other ggl on the intended flight then it can be a push back. So ggl would get a few more options but SIN this time of the year is GGL heavy so you could be out of luck easily. But no special treatment or we just move you because you are a GGL.
I also think that in case of equipment change GGL’s tend to get assign seats first so very unlikely for a downgrade.

rarelyfly23

That's where the BA small print of subject to availability/serviceable aircraft/nothing 100% guaranteed comes into play. I believe their Instagram post in Oct 22 regarding the Sydney routes said 'CS will be available' - nice and vague so as not to commit to anything in writing

Don't get me wrong I'd be annoyed if any flight I'd booked swapped to CW, but I do also understand the other side of the desk when it comes to social media

NoTiersForMe

Like the OP I didn’t expect such traction on this thread either Popular route, popular time to take it, as we will be Feb 1 in J and watching FR24 closely for G-STBB/C/I appearances!

Question: We’ve used the new Amex 241 on this. Should the worst happen and we’re downgraded to W what exactly is the process for compensation. BA just refunds the difference in avios between J and W? That’s it?

Thanks
NTFM

jeremyBA

they are welcome to their terms and conditions. In any business transaction when either side ends up referring to the t and c the relationship is over.

they can change equipment if they wish but they must also treat customers fairly. If I wanted a crap business class between London and Sydney I would book China eastern. If I choose and pay for a product then I want it. If they can't deliver I have no issue with that but they must give me fair and reasonable options ( next day / re route etc )

steveholt

That's not how any company's terms and conditions work?

daenous

OP - wasn't there a case of EK from AKL on false advertising or deceptive advertising? I know SYD isn't AKL but maybe that is an angle available?

jophes

Agree with jeremyBA. T&Cs are ultimately there for the company to to CYA (cover your ...)... but from my own past experience in customer service, that should be last resort and it's preferable to make decisions based on the relationship.

Goes to show the disdain most airlines have for their customers unfortunately as their default is to just point to the T&Cs.