The DISGRACEFUL State of British Airways

As a brit I avoid BA like the plague. Unfortunately, due to us living on an island, its a little difficult to avoid Heathrow as the main departure and return point, Gatwick being the next best option but...yeah. I try now, if I'm flying, to go with ANY of the Arab airlines because they have their shit sorted and put most other airlines (but especially British ones) to shame.

I booked a ticket through the British Airways website, which was a return ticket, Berlin to Seattle. I could have found a cheaper ticket but I have always been a fan of BA. There were issues with my driver in Berlin and long story short, I missed my flight. There was no one at the BA ticket counter or office to ask for help and so I made a phone call to the BA customer service. She wouldn't put me on the next flight out, but instead quoted me a price of €3000 for the next day. Which seemed insane. They were absolutely no help.

I ended up getting a one way ticket with Turkish Airlines for a third of the price. I flew to Seattle and have been here taking care of family and was scheduled to fly back home to Berlin tomorrow morning. My BA app still had me scheduled for my flight tomorrow and when I went to check-in it wouldn't let me. I spent an hour on the phone with an agent and she said that I didn't have a seat on the flight tomorrow. I had never received an email, message, phone call, nothing, telling me that my ticket wasn't good because of missing my flight in Berlin 3 weeks ago. The app told me I needed to contact someone at airport checkin desk. I drove an hour to the airport today to talk to someone and figure out what the deal is with my flight tomorrow. What they told me is I have to buy a new ticket. When I asked why the app was telling me I was scheduled to fly and sending me reminders, they just shrugged their shoulders.

It all felt like a huge "f you, we couldn't care less about you as a customer and this terrible predicament you're in." So I won't be flying tomorrow and I sure as hell won't be flying with British Airways. Terrible experience, horrible customer service and just employee after employee who didn't seem to know what was going on.

On an overbooked BA flight from JFK my family were put on separate flights. My parents flew BA as normal whilst me and my son were rebooked on UA 2 hours later. At LHR my son & I collected our bags from UA flight as normal but was informed that my parents flight's baggage had still not arrived in T5 despite landing 2 hours EARLIER. For your own peace of mind do yourself a favour. AVOID BA LIKE THE PLAGUE. THEY REALLY ARE ABSOLUTE RUBBISH !!!

I've heard this recently about BA. I've not flown since 2010, but Remember BA Birmingham to Hamburg in 1986. He held up a white and red bottle of wine (33cl I think each). I couldnt make my mind up and he handed me both.

So what airline does everyone suggest for a family wanting to visit the UK from the USA for the first time? I want to have a great trip and was considering business class since this might be a once in a lifetime trip for us.

90% of flights from heathrow have been delayed for me.

I flew with BA from LHR to Kenya recently (Airbus A350) but flew economy since premium was over double and buissness was over 5x more.
Was by far the worst 9 hours of my life from the space to food and service.

Came back from Brandenburg to Heathrow 3 weeks ago - the whole service was grim. Wait times at the airport, in the airplane - far in excess of other airlines.

Went to HK this year using BA, usually very comfortable flying with BA,but not great this time

Sounds familiar

Its horrible, that’s why they mostly come on dinghies

BA Traveling internationally since 1975, the airline can easily be summed up as setting low standards & failing to achieve these. Travel from the front all the way to the back from sarcastic snivelling first class to totally ignored class at the back. KLM, Singapore, Emirates are by far better airlines, more recently Turkish air when traveling to Venezuela. For BA the first place to start would be a far better attitude from cabin staff which Singapore could provide, then cabin decor second only to air Brunei drab cabins. Would I fly BA, not if I was paying.😂

The Brits have degenerated themselves into helpless, useless oblivion, with thanks to monopoly capitalism and the moronic billionaire press.

I agree with everything you mentioned.

Oh dear. I'm flying from Heathrow to Basel soon. From the shittest UK airport to the shittest swiss airport

Well, I thought I'd try BA, but I'll put that idea on hold. I do like trying different airlines, but airlines with a home court advantage ought to, more often than not, have their act together as consistent as possible. Thanks for the review.

Fking terrible.

BA is a fair reflection of the UK more generally. Going downhill fast.

BA seems to be broken as an organisation. I feel sorry for the staff. Even flying short haul with them is a bit of a lottery with a number of cancellations on LHR based flights with BA. Most of the time I try and avoid them. The flight you took would be one I would take with Qatar instead.

Management management are useless only concerned with diveet any guilt to.others usually the lowest ones in the chain