Very Unhappy With British Airways

I believe upgrades are like award seats[INVALID]-there is limited availablity at one price level, and then the price goes up. Just out of curiosity, I looked at upgrades from the East Coast (DC) for next april and also September. I didn't see any less than $300, and most were more. You must be going at a lower-demand time. You are fortunate[INVALID]-from our airport, upgrades to WT Plus are running between $558 and $2424 for ramdom flights I checked for next April. That is per leg, not RT. . . . . Every time I checked, they offer a "return" upgrade as well as the separate upgrades for outbound and inbound. Could you not have done that at the time you booked and avoided the problem?

Sure, I could have done that. But the last two times I flew with BA, I bought the WT seats, and then upgraded to WT Plus at a rate that was much better than the one offered when I bought the tickets. Similar offers were made this time. When I initially bought the latest tickets, the price for a round-trip upgrade was about $570 round trip. After I bought the tickets, I was offered upgrades at $159 each way, but when I tried to buy them, I was told that they were only available on my return leg. Now BA tells me that new buyers can upgrade on the outbound leg for $234, but since I already have my ticket, I have to pay a change fee of $275 and an upgrade fee of over $500. There's no doubt that I should have bought the upgrade when I bought the tickets. But I was only doing what I had done before, and which had worked out well. I still say that it is unfair for BA to sell upgrades to new customers at one price, and charge me 3 times that just because I have already bought my tickets. One other thing: If you want to pay extra and choose your seat, you can't get a look at the seating chart until after you have paid for your tickets. If you want bulkhead seats, for example, you can't find out if they're available until after you have bought your ticket. Too bad if those seats have already been sold. The seats you want may be available on a flight an hour later, but you can't find that information, since you can't access the seating chart unless you already have a paid ticket.

Do other foreign carriers allow you to look at the seating chart and available seats before you buy your ticket? I know some domestic carriers do (we check), but I'm not sure about the foreign carriers. I've tried on Lufthansa and you can't see available seats before purchasing a ticket. Same for the last time we flew SAS, but maybe that's changed. I know there are a lot of complaints about British (high fuel surcharges, pay for advance seat selection) but they have their good points too. . . . You might try getting through to customer service (not reservations) and ask why an upgrade for an existing ticket costs so much more than for a new purchase.

I guess maybe I mis-spoke. The folks at BA that I talked to today WERE in their "customer service" department. I held on for what seemed like a half hour while the matter was referred to a supervisor, but they still refused to sell me the upgrade at the same price that they would sell it to a new customer. It kinda reminds me of the way that DirecTV treats their customers. I've had DirectTV for 8 years, and paid about $70 a month for their basic service. I saw an ad in TV last week that offered the same service to new customers for $39.95 a month for 6 months. I called them up and asked if I could get in on the deal. They told me "No. It's only for new customers." I asked them why they were treating new customers better than customers who had been paying them for 8 years, and they could only say that it was a "promotion", and was not available to existing customers. So I cancelled my DirecTV service, and now get my satellite TV service from Dish Network. I keep getting calls from DirecTV, wanting to know what they can do to get me to switch back to DirecTV. I told the last guy that their company needs to learn the definition of "customer service".

It was a promotion. Who knows what those new DirecTV customers will have to pay once their six months is up.

According to the person I talked to at DirecTV, once the 6 month promotional period is up, the new customers will pay the regular $70 a month price....the same price that I have paid all these years. I'm retired and now work part-time in a retail establishment. In the store where I work, we take good care of our regular customers, and it pays off for us. We treat ALL our customers well, but we try to go the extra mile for our regulars. Too bad that the airlines don't have the same philosophy.

We see the same promotions with cellular phone companies. New customer:Here's your nice new phone - Old customer: Sorry, nothing for you after years of loyalty.

Joel, see his second post above. He bought the tickets and they waited for an upgrade offer to come later. this has worked for them in the past. But it's a gamble to wait for that to happen again. Maybe the offer they got was "upgrade your flights for as low as $159" but then the outbound leg was much higher. This could be avoided if you upgrade at the time of purchase, as you can see the price for a return ticket and each leg separately. If it is too high for one day, choose a different one a day or so earlier or later. They upgrade fees, like the tickets, can vary widely from day to day.

Jim, I'm a little lost in folowing your post so forgive me. Were you trying to upgrade your tickets after you had completed the purchase, or as part of the purchase? *EDIT* Jim, Thanks for the clarification.

That's the deal with promotional discounts - they're not permanent and can change any time the airline decides to do so. If they lure even 2 new customers with it, they won't be crying about losing your business.

Joel... When I bought the tickets, I bought the coach tickets only. There was an offer to upgrade them at the time of purchase for about $570 per person, round trip. Had I known that I couldn't upgrade both ways after I bought the tickets, I would have bought the upgrade at the time of purchase. There was no notice, however, that the $570 round trip upgrade was a "buy it now or forget it" offer. Of course, after I paid for the tickets, I find out that since I didn't take the offer at the time of purchase, it's gone for good.

Jim, I know you want to blame BA for this, but it was a gamble on your part that just didn't pay off this time. I find "promotional" offers frustrating from a long-time customer standpoint, too, but they are a common way of doing business - phone service, cable, even those deals for a box of checks for 99 cents or whatever. The best you can do is learn from this and know that it can happen that way again (no matter which airline you use). But it wasn't BA's fault that you didn't buy the upgrade with the tickets.

All a part of theirs and other airlines' (hidden) fees that keep the public constantly guessing. Too bad Southwest Airlines doesn't fly to Europe...

Nancy.... If BA had posted information that the $234 upgrade was a "take it now or it's gone forever" type of deal, I would have grabbed it without hesitation. But they didn't do that. They made the offer, and then after I had bought my tickets I tried to buy it and was told that it was not available to me because I was already ticketed. That is NOT the way to treat a repeat customer.

Jim, I am still not understanding how this worked for you in the past. Before, you would complete the ticket purchase all the way through payment and confirmation, and THEN get an upgrade offer? How much later? Did the offer come by e-mail, or was it on the website after you completed the purchase? When I go on the BA website to check ticket prices, there will be an upgrade offer on the last screen before you enter credit card details and make the purchase. At this point, one can see the price, without commitment, and decide whether to check other dates, etc. But the upgrade price for both legs, when added to the basic fare for economy class, seems to add up to the price that day for World Traveler Plus, so it's not really a "deal", just an option to upgrade at the regular price. Are you saying that previously you got a better upgrade offer by waiting? . . . As for not being treated well as a repeat customer, welcome to the world of airline travel. Unless you are a high-ranking member of their loyalty program, I don't think you can expect anything from ANY airline these days. It's not a Nordstrom attitude toward customer service in the flight industry any more. . . . . Finally, if you really want to upgrade on BA, IF you would consider flying them again, you might look into joining the mileage plan and upgrading with miles. If you get their credit card, you get enough bonus miles to upgrade your ticket at no further expense (apart from the annual fee for the credit card, I think it's $70).

Jim - I guess I'm still not understanding the problem. ** I went out to the BA web site and did a psuedo ticket booking. I see where they offer you the ability to upgrade prior to ticket purchase. ** I also see the following statement "Time/date changes permitted at any time before each flight departure for a change fee of $ 275 or an upgrade fee of $ 275 plus any difference in fare. Changes subject to availability. Fees apply per ticket". ** It sounds like you booked your tickets, and then tried to upgrade ? ? ?

I don't know why you're so angry. British Airways is a great airline and the best one I have ever used. Prices rise and drop and its part of life and travel. You might still get emails offering upgrades, and they get cheaper the closer you get to your flight. I flew BA Denver-London in Economy and when booking, they offered upgrades of World traveler plus(whatever they call it) for $249 each way. Then 2 weeks before my trip they (email)offered $179 each way to upgrade and then 3 days before the trip, $149 each way. I didn't upgrade though. I tend to suffer it out for the sake of saving money. lol. But I got lucky. The plane was only about 30% full so I got an entire row of 3 seats to myself and a full nights sleep.