British Airways

[KARFA]

It maybe so, but how many people have been cought out? I know someone who bought 300,000 Emirates airmiles for a very low price. If its against T&Cs then why do companies like ebay host such items?

In this person's instance when it was transfered to his account, it was deposited via a merchant chase acc that I'm guessing deals with EK miles.

ebay only takes down things which infringe the law, not companies own t&cs.

i have no idea how many have been caught out. i doubt many who have go public so very difficult to tell.

 

[AirBingley]

I thought I'd do an update of my experience of using BA vouchers following the suspension of LBA flights.

I had 2x flights booked which were pay economy upgrade with Avios, the first cancellation I opted for a voucher as the service hadn't been pulled and the second cancellation BA issued a voucher automatically. I thought fair enough - it must be easy to use them - how wrong! I must note these are old style reservation / ticket number vouchers and not the newer online ones that are being issued now.

The old style ones cannot be booked online and the only way is to ring BA's overstretched call centre. The staff to be fair were pretty helpful but theres around a 20 minute or so wait. I pressed 2 to use a voucher and the first chap saw the word "avois", wobbled and said he couldn't help so put me through to Avios. The second lady said she couldn't help as it was a voucher and put me through to commercial where a really helpful chap sorted it for me. I had been on for 40 minutes at that time. We ran through availability and he secured seats on new flights.

The important thing here is that they allocate seats on the new flight to the old reservation number and 'send' it to the ticketing team and this can take 7-10 days before you get an Email so its not instantaneous by any stretch and a there is a leap of faith that the overly busy call centre gets it right. I felt very insecure with the while booking process as after all they are using my money from cancelled flights so rang back to confirm the process. This was on Thursday and I'm still waiting my new E tickets.

This may be relevant to people who have the same old vouchers as most of the vouchers issued for the LBA service will be old style who may want to use them on Aer Lingus to Dublin and Beyond or indeed Belfast. 'The Points Guy' wrote a cracking article about the pitfalls of the voucher and I would so far concur with that article - it is a very very clunky labour intensive process and I'll update with just how long the tickets took!

 

[AirBingley]

Morning all

I promised I'd update on my BA voucher experience and basically it was just as bad as 'The Points Guy's' article suggested it would be. It appears BA have a backlog at ticketing (they will ticket 48-72 hours before departure and you're reliant on the agent quoting the fare correctly and noting the voucher numbers at booking - more of this later) and if you don't ask when you book then the booking doesn't even show in you profile!

So, as I mentioned I gave 3 voucher numbers, and this morning rang BA back as had an Email to contact them and they were asking for money - they had discarded the other 2 vouchers so I had to go through the whole process of validating the vouchers again. The agent was helpful but the process is an absolute farce. The vouchers were plus Avios and I have yet to see the refund off those on my account so i'm expecting to have to write to them!

If you have an E voucher, things will be smoother, if you have a 'phone voucher' expect a bumpy ride!

 

[jason1-11]

I was told unofficially that the LBA route was heavily reliant on Transatlantic connections as this was where the majority of the yield for the route came from. Until such times that this market is re-instated and the aviation industry returns to normalized levels, I would not be too positive of a speedy resumption. Also, BA’s medium term strategy for LGW could influence a potential LBA return as certain leisure routes that have moved temporarily to LHR may become permanent, thus reducing BA’s pool of slots. The semi unattractive ones used previously for the LBA service would be ideal for Mediterranean leisure traffic.

 

[Bigman]

A sad day this. The last 2 BA 747's are making preparations for final take-offs from LHR. I can see that one of them is CIVB, which I actually flew on 3 years ago from LHR to Chicago. It is a real shame that they could not have done a final low fly pass tour of UK airfields.

 

[SNOWMAN]

hi big man
any idea where the 747 are going??
sm

 

[rollo]

Arrived at Kemble to await there fate - sad day.

 

[Coathanger16]

Arrived at Kemble to await there fate - sad day.

The one at Kemble is being preserved and turned into a museum there.

 

[rollo]

Sure BA said that all would go the knackers yard but great to know one at least will be preserved

 

[LBA4EVER]

A sad day this. The last 2 BA 747's are making preparations for final take-offs from LHR. I can see that one of them is CIVB, which I actually flew on 3 years ago from LHR to Chicago. It is a real shame that they could not have done a final low fly pass tour of UK airfields.

I think multiflight should have one based at LBA and use it as a bar and restaurant, maybe even a hotel for plane spotters!

 

[Bigman]

On the top of Plane Tree Hill would be perfect.

 

[lbaspotter]

Haha. Nice Idea, If only! Pure fantasy idea's by both you @Bigman & @fight2win

Can you imagen the problems at just getting planning approval from Leeds City Council, Hell the nimby's at GALBA would have a giddy-fit just seeing something so large on final approach...

 

[Bigman]

Grumbles About Large Boeing Aircraft

 

[Finger66]

Yes but at least then they could legitimately take the hump!

 

[LBA4EVER]

Haha. Nice Idea, If only! Pure fantasy idea's by both you @Bigman & @fight2win

Can you imagen the problems at just getting planning approval from Leeds City Council, Hell the nimby's at GALBA would have a giddy-fit just seeing something so large on final approach...

and of course it would require designated cycle lanes around it !

 

[752]

Looks like BA have added x1 daily MAN-LGW thinking it could be a LHR based AC doing it on a W pattern. not sure how successful that one is going to be. also read elsewhere MAN to go LHR x7 daily. clear to see how much IAG value MAN with their now planned EI transatlantic ops. Definitely don't see the need for x7 Daily MAN when they could utilise a x2 Daily LBA with better times and better load factors..

 

[Finger66]

Come on Eastern, strike a deal, you know you want to................

 

[LBA4EVER]

Looks like BA have added x1 daily MAN-LGW thinking it could be a LHR based AC doing it on a W pattern. not sure how successful that one is going to be. also read elsewhere MAN to go LHR x7 daily. clear to see how much IAG value MAN with their now planned EI transatlantic ops. Definitely don't see the need for x7 Daily MAN when they could utilise a x2 Daily LBA with better times and better load factors..

so frustrating the mass volume of BA flights from MAN yet we don't even get a x2 daily. you would think that east of the pennines it was all rural with nothing here and no population! Must get this terminal approved at LBA and change the image of the airport or else we will be left further behind!

 

[Aviador]

so frustrating the mass volume of BA flights from MAN yet we don't even get a x2 daily. you would think that east of the pennines it was all rural with nothing here and no population! Must get this terminal approved at LBA and change the image of the airport or else we will be left further behind!

Or will things change when HS2 runs to Manchester and misses Leeds altogether.

 

[White Heather]

Or will things change when HS2 runs to Manchester and misses Leeds altogether.

Yet again, Manchester and the NW is favoured over Leeds and Yorkshire, despite Leeds being the biggest financial centre outside London.

I sometimes wonder if all these Northern Powerhouse bods from the North West, aided by our traitorous MPs are claiming to support all of the North publicly but favouring the NW behind the scenes and ensuring that if anyone is sacrificed, it's not them.