BA do it again - now they’re having a pop at the elderly and disabled!
Not satisfied with offending a huge number of people across the world with their cross ban and losing £80 million in revenue last month when more than 100,000 passengers defected to rival airlines to avoid strike action, British Airways have now implemented a drastic baggage policy which could see the elderly and infirm pay a huge, surprise amount to place luggage in the hold.
This new policy, reported today in the Daily Telegraph, means that people who have been advised to travel with lighter bags, typically the elderly and infirm, will have to pay £120 to store bags in the hold.
Bizarrely, items usually carried by young and fit people such as golf clubs, scuba diving equipment, skis and bicycles are not covered by the excess bag rule. Even more bizarrely, BA states that the notice of the increase can be found on their website, not a place usually visited by older people. Only 35% of people over 55 are using the internet, according to the Office of National Statistics.
We at BA Boycott would have thought that British Airways would steer away from any controversy, for a short while at least.
This latest PR disaster proves that the distance between BA management and their PR department can be regarded as a ‘near miss’ at best. The number of emails we’ve had regarding this seems to indicate a rising disatisfaction amongst the general public.
February 8th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Oh no, not again!
When will BA learn? When will Willie Walsh get his act together?
It’s Virgin for me now
Peter
February 9th, 2007 at 2:50 am
Well done BA you’ve lost another customer. I will be sure that i will now not request your airline when booking my tickets in the future. With your fuel surcharges, now baggage surcharges and squeezing me into ever smaller spaces whats the point of flying with you. Ryanair charged $14 per bag, you charge $240, hmmmm how did you come up with that figure. If you want to charge more for the tickets have the decency to add it to your ticket price up front.
February 9th, 2007 at 3:32 am
I will never fly BA again.
I guess their aim of getting more revenue worked.
February 9th, 2007 at 3:57 am
This hardly surprises me. I stopped using BA twenty years ago because of the poor service and unhelpful attitude. Whenever planning a visit to the UK from HK I always specifically tell the travel agent not to book me on BA. Now, there’s even more reason to avoid this B… Awful airline.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Just booked three return flights to Australia with Singapore Airlines, so there’s two and a half grand that BA have lost straight away. How can they shoot themselves in the foot so often and so obviously?!
February 9th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I am flying to New York next Wednesday and would normally have flown BA. I just booked on Virgin.
When will these people learn that we have a choice and will exercise that choice if they continue to do stupid things like this?
February 9th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Have not had a problem with BA until now. Had booked our Florida holiday before the cross furore, which made me determined not to use them again, but now this - not only do we have to endure rip off british prices in our high streets, but now we can’t even do our shopping in the US and bring it back. Looks like very large suitcases this Easter and NEVER fly BA again - might just as well book charter for less money! This is just spiteful on BA’s part.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:25 am
January, 2007: About to book wiht BA to India, after many years of avoiding them, announced on the radio…Cabin staff to go on strike. Immediatly switch to alternative airline. 1/2 the price of BA
February: BA announce bizarre extra payment for more than one suitcase, this costs more than the total cost of flying alternative airlines.
Are BA totally of their heads? They act against their customers interests and indulge their staff’s restrictive practices…Sack everyone and start again. Whilst on the subject: Heathrow the world’s busiest slum airport. Regards
February 9th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I am a pensioner and always take two small bags ( well within the weight limit ) that I can more easily take off the luggage carousel. I will not be able to manage a single large case and am not prepared to submit to this obscene charge ; I therefore plan to book on another airline in future and many of my contempories will do the same.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I moved to American Airlines for my annual holiday to the USA after suffering declining standards for 6 years on BA. I’m glad I did it. This charge for for more than one suitcase is a huge managerial mistake and will lose them even more customers. My message to BA is you do not lose customers by giving a good service.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:08 am
Some of the comments on this site are laughable. “I’ll never fly BA again” - doubt any of them ever did in the first place.
I agree the £240 charge is ridiculous but has anyone compared the new baggage allowance with that other airlines already have or propose to introduce?
I’m sticking with BA for now, have had far worse service elsewhere.
Ian, ryanair, please be sensible - they have so many hidden charges New Labour would be proud to have them on the cabinet!
February 10th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Following the BA decision to stop requestng a seat position prior to 24 hours before flying, almost impossible when returning from some holiday locations,I cancelled our booking with BA and went elsewhere.I am more than ever convinced I did the right thing following their latest baggage charges.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
As a BA staff member, I’m saddened that this website even exists. By all means excercise your right to fly another airline but to just openly critise without all the facts is a sad day. This is peoples jobs and livelihood you are playing with. Example, the gentleman who mentions wonderful Ryanair doesn’t state that when the new tax came in in Feb BA didn’t charge anyone who had tickets already booked a penny and took the hit themselves. Certain airlines took the extra money without asking. Many examples of one-sided aruement appears on this site. Compare other airlines without prejudice and you’ll see they all give somethinmg and they all take something. Rather than “I’ll never do this or that”, be open minded about who gives the whole best overall service and book accordingly. If it happens to be another airline, have a good flight.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:59 am
for all of you who comment about not being able to take two bags, you clearly havent read the new baggage policy.USA, canada, mexico, brasil, plus a few others have always had a two piece luggage system and this remains in place with BA’s new baggage policy. Read the facts GILLIAN HEATH and MICHAEL GENT before spouting off your over emotional rubbish.
February 12th, 2007 at 10:40 am
£120 for an extra bag is off the scale for an reasonable extra charge - more than the fare for some journeys, as someone has already said.
Do BA actually want customers? As an older traveller I do not want to lift more than about 15kg so when visiting family who live abroad, and taking presents to them, an extra case is much better than only one which goes up to the limit. Solution simple - fly with other airlines.
Additionally, BA has a dreadful attitude to peoples luggage. We did fly with them at Christmas, before the fog, and when we returned via Terminal 1 at H.Row there were dozens of cases piled up in one corner of the Baggage Reclaim hall: we could easily have put a couple on our trolley and walked out with them - nobody was checking or supervising.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
If you have to fly BA can I suggest that you pack your extra items in a golf bag ( without the clubs)as they don’t appear to be charging for that!!
February 21st, 2007 at 5:50 am
I fly on business or pleasure 6 or 7 times a year. BA has always been my airline of choice and I have only ever deviated as a result of unavailability or, in a few cases, special price offers from competitors (not low cost airlines) that were too good to miss.
I have never had an issue with BA’s service or reliability. One piece of luggage once went missing when I changed flights in Johannesburg but BA dealt with that promptly and efficiently and I felt the occasional hitch was inevitable and so reason to reconsider my alegience.
So I never had any reason to change my policy of using BA as my airline of choice. Until now. Whether the above anecdotes are true or false, I have no wish to find out the hard way. I cannot manage 1 larger bag when 2 smaller bags are more practical so I will not use BA again. I have three trips planned between now and October. I will be trying Virgin, El Al and American.
April 7th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I had not flown BA in many years and I finally decided to take it flying from Paris to Alexandria via Heathrow. What a mess!!! First I was alowed to board in Paris with a small handbag and a shopping bag with a Glass vase in it. In Heathrow I had to go through long long lines for security only to be told that I had no right to take my hand bag on board. My hand bag was tagged and taken away from me to be put in the hull. of course it arrived in a million pieces. Now I can understand that Heathrow has some strange luggage rules but if that was the case shouldn’t the Ba agent at Paris have alerted me? Plus for the fortune that I paid for the ticket I was only allowed to carry 23 kilos. An empty suitcase weighs 5 kilos! to add insult to injury I was informed that because my fare was was so low ( 900 Euros ! ) I could not join the frequent flyer program !!! No problem there , this is one airline I will never use again , as a matter of fact I will avoid Heathrow all together. Pitty because the BA staff is really friendly but their hands are tied!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
[…] Much criticism has been made over the new policy and questions asked as to how the elderly, disabled or infirm are supposed to carry the maximum allowed weight allocation in one bag. […]