businesstraveller.asia JUNE 2016
InboxI 17MOVED TO ANGER
One of the benefits of having a British Airways gold card is the supposed ability to pre-book seats on
the plane ahead of check-in. I travelled with the airline from Geneva to London on March 4 and later
on March 18. I booked the emergency exit, seat 10A, on both journeys – well in advance – and when
I turned up at the airport, I was still booked in this seat.
On the first flight, when it was time to board, I was asked to stand to one side while they issued a
new boarding pass – it turned out I was moved to seat 16A, which was not by an emergency exit. When
I asked, I was told it was“London who has moved you”. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the
reason why I was moved was so that an off-duty captain could sit in that seat.
A similar situation occurred when I was moved to seat 16F two weeks later – a couple sat in my
pre-booked seat (and the one next to it). This time, I was told it was due to a different aircraft
configuration, which was not true since the plane was the same as the one I had booked my seat on.
I wonder what BA is playing at and why it treats customers in this way? The seats were booked using
Avios and I have a feeling BA treats these bookings as inferior and, therefore, moves people to less
desirable seats.
This, for me, is another reason to stop travelling BA following the host of changes to lounge catering,
use of Avios, lack of long-haul Avios seats, etc, which means travelling BA is now a rather unpleasant
experience.Phil Berry, Geneva
BRITISH AIRWAYS REPLIES:
We fulfil advance seat requests
from many thousands of Executive
Club members every day and we
recognise how much the service is
valued. We always do our best to
provide customers with the seats
they selected and are sorry that
we were not able to do so for
this customer.SINGAPORE AIRLINES RESPONDS:
We were sorry to learn that Mr Tan
couldnot proceed with the journey
as planned. Customer satisfaction
is very important to us and we are
glad to know that he is satisfied
with our goodwill arrangement. We
wish Mr Tan a speedy recovery and
look forward to welcoming him on
board in the future.GOODWILL GESTURE
It is with great pleasure that I share a very positive experience I had with Singapore Airlines. I had
booked a pair of tickets to Melbourne with my wife on a promotional offer in August 2015 for travel
in April 2016.
Such promotional tickets usually come with non-refundable clauses plus other non-cancellation
and no-change policies. Unfortunately, I suffered a slipped disc in the early part of 2016 and
subsequently needed operations. As my ticket was non-refundable, I asked SQ if any arrangement
could be made for me to change the date if I paid a fee. It was no fault of the airline after all, as I had
booked and accepted those ticket conditions.
Instead of simply providing me with a standard response, the agent asked if I could provide any
medical records of my condition. I submitted a copy of my MRI report and also my scheduled
operation dates.
Soon after my email submission, the agent called me back and told me very pleasantly that she had
spoken to her manager and received approval for a full refund of my tickets. This was way beyond my
expectations as I thought she might come back to inform me that the airline would only allow me to
change my flight date with an open option or cancellation with a penalty. Of course, in the worst-case
scenario, I would have to forfeit my tickets.
Overall, SQ’s management of my case showed compassion and they should also pride themselves
on having recruited a wonderful agent who showed care and concern during the whole interaction.
Thank you to SQ and their staff – they have affirmed my preference to fly with them.Alan Tan, Singapore