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Andrew Wetton, Singapore
RANDOM ALLOCATION I have flown the Singapore-London-Singapore route for over 30 years – mostly in economy. To celebrate my retirement, my wife and I decided to pay for premium economy with British Airways (BA) and enjoy better quality, more comfortable seats. The seat configuration in the premium economy cabin is 2-4-2 or AB-DEFG-JK. Not wanting to incur another fee of up to £50 (US$75) each way for seat selection, we decided to wait for online check-in to reserve seats. Big mistake. BA pre-allocated us the worst seats in the cabin – the two middle seats E and F –– meaning we had to clamber over other people all night on a 13-hour flight. Any delight we felt in “treating ourselves” to an
upgraded seat/flight was immediately quashed by this thoughtless allocation of seats. As two passengers travelling on the same record locator, we had expected one of us to perhaps be in a middle seat (as the AB and JK side seats are always the first to go) so we would have understood and accepted a DE or FG allocation. But, worse was to come. On the return leg, exactly the same thing happened! I really couldn’t believe it when we were allocated the two middle seats again. Both times at check-in I appealed to BA to at least give us one aisle seat, but the answer was: “no, full flight”. This whole experience of paying for a premium ticket and then being asked to pay again to get a seat allocation seems wrong. Maybe in economy I can understand a seat selection fee, but I have since found out that BA charge for seat selection even in first and business class! BA will be able to defend their position easily by saying it’s all clearly laid out on their website. It is, but
this has taught me a big lesson, which is not to rely on the airline being sensible in allocation of seats. I am seriously now rethinking this as a future travel option and am very disappointed in BA.
BRITISH AIRWAYS RESPONDS: We thank Mr Wetton and Business Traveller Asia- Pacific for bringing this issue to our attention. We take any customer complaints extremely seriously. British Airways offers free seat selection to all of our customers 24 hours before their flight, with the exception of those customers choosing Hand Baggage Only short- haul fares. Customers can easily select their preferred seat on
ba.com, by logging in to Manage My Bookings. The option of pre-paying for seats is popular with customers and was introduced after customers told us that they would welcome the opportunity to select their seats more than 24 hours in advance.
Customers travelling with infants can choose their seats for free at the point of booking. We also allocate seats for families travelling with children three days before the flight to ensure they can sit together. Gold or Silver members of British Airways Executive Club, or equivalent Oneworld partner frequent flyer programmes, can reserve their seats free of charge at the point of booking, and our Bronze members can do this seven days before their flight.
This month’s winner of Letter of the Month will receive a gift card from Plaza Premium Lounge. The card entitles the holder to 10 lounge visits of up to three hours, inclusive of shower facilities, food and non-alcoholic beverages, internet access, secure left baggage area and more. Full terms and conditions can be viewed at
plaza-network.com/giftcard/tnc. For the chance to win Letter of the Month, email us at
editorial@businesstravellerasia.com and include your postal address and daytime phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters.
m Plaza Premium
Harbir Singh, Hong Kong
BAGS HELD HOSTAGE I want to highlight the worst luggage handling and customer service response I have ever faced. I flew with Iberia on July 19, 2015 in business class
from Dusseldorf to La Coruna (LCG) via Madrid. I had checked in two bags, which contained many important business samples that were required for two meetings in La Coruna on July 20. I was then scheduled to return home that evening. Unfortunately my bags did not arrive on our flight. The Iberia ticketing counter at LCG handled my case; they identified that my bags were in Madrid and told me they would arrive on the next flight – due to land at 8pm. The airport staff assured me they would send the bags to my hotel immediately after they’d arrived. When they didn’t arrive, I repeatedly called Iberia’s
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customer service hotline (using roaming on my Hong Kong sim and burning money). At 10pm I was told the bags would leave LCG at 8am and be delivered before 9am the next morning. I waited until 9am, but the bags didn’t arrive. I called the hotline again and they said the bags had been dispatched, so there was no way I could go back to pick them up myself. I delayed my meetings for an hour while I waited. But
there was still no sign, so I left for my meetings, which were literally useless as the samples to be discussed with my customers were in the bags. In short – I wasted a very important day from my busy schedule. I got back to my hotel at 3.30pm – the bags had still not arrived, but now I had to return to the airport to catch my flight back to Madrid. I went to the ticketing counter again and asked the lady about my bags.
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