British Airways Difficulties

I recently flew to the UK on British Airways (BA), and it was a frustrating experience. I cannot figure out the airline and it is unlikely that I will ever fly them again due to their terrible customer service. Here is a summary of the issues that I experienced.

  1. Booking the flight — Something came up and I had to re-schedule my flight. I would expect to pay a fee for this and get credit for the original ticket. I was surprised to hear to that BA’s ticket policy indicates that they provide no refunds and so I had to eat the original ticket cost. That is super annoying, and I am not accustomed to that in the US. This was not a deal breaker though.
  2. Seat Assignments — This was the weirdest. When I booked my flights about 2 months before the trip, I asked for a seat assignment. When flying in the US, you always get seat assignments unless you are flying at the last minute. BA refused to give me one. They indicated that they only offer a very small number of seat assignments before the flight and the rest are given at the day of departure! Huh, what is up with that? What makes this even more odd is that the flight was that I later found that the flight was empty. Why would they make it so difficult to get a seat assignment? They claim so BS about allowing special seats, but what it really means is that frequent fliers get their seat assignments while the rest of us have to wait.
  3. Online Check-in — I fly domestically all the time and am comfortable with online check in and booking. I tried to check in online with BA and the system never worked. It eventually locked me out and so I called BA to ask them to unlock me. Guess what, they can’t do that. I asked them why it did not recognize my valid flight information and they said that they were having problems and that it was my problem. Nice! I later found out that the problem was that my name was spelled incorrectly and only after I complained from the UK did they figure it out.
  4. Frequent Flier — This is where it gets really weird. I realized that I will be flying back and forth between the UK and the US a few times in the coming year and thought that it would make sense to join the BA frequent flier program. I applied for the program and the online application did not work. I could not figure out why and when speaking with them on another matter asked them about it. They said “Your airfare is too inexpensive and so you cannot join the program.” Huh??? I told them about my plans for frequent trips to the UK and their answer was the same as above! Their justification was that it was too expensive to create accounts. Now come on, how expensive van it be to enter a new frequent flier number in the system? They would probably argue that the account summary mailings are too expensive. Here is a crazy idea, how about provide only online access to infrequent BA fliers? Guess what, the cost of that would effectively be zero.
  5. Check-in — I was trying to check-in for the return flight. The good news is that I finally had my login information as mentioned above and so expected things to go smoothly this time. Yeah right. When I logged into BA’s website with my new information, I provided them all the required passport information. Once I logged on for check-in, BA verified that it had my passport information. Great! Once I hit check-in, it said “please input your passport information”. Huh? I already gave it to them. Okay, so I go ahead and re-enter it. I hit check-in and guess it says “please input your passport information” again. It did this infinitely. I called BA and they said, “Oh, you are caught in a loop. This happens sometimes and there is nothing we can do to help. You are out of luck with online check-in!” Why did this not surprise me. Yet again, they are unable to provide any reasonable customer assistance.
  6. Frequently Flier Update: I just called them to verify the frequent flier situation. They indicated that they don’t care whether I fly frequently or whether they lose my business. Their policy is not to allow entrance into their frequent flier program unless you have expensive airfare! Can you believe that? To me, this is the icing on the cake. I am done with BA and will only fly American Airlines to London.

As you can see from this lengthy post, I had serious problems with BA. They provided terrible customer service and have completely bizarre customer policies. I still cannot figure out the frequent flier issues, and it is beyond me while they would be so draconian in their account creation policy. It seems to stupid to lose a customer and all future revenue from that customer just because the first flight was too inexpensive. I also cannot figure out the seat assignment thing.

Oh well, if they want to crap on their customers, that this their problem. From my perspective it is goodbye BA and hello American Airlines!

Computers Gone Wrong

I found this link on slashdot. It is the crazy story of a robot that was designed to to taste wines and other foods. It has some kind of sensor that allows it to sample these items and provide information about them. That is it supposably can determine what type of wine it is by sampling it or what type of food. The funny thing is that a writer stuck his hand in the machine and it determined that he tastes like bacon. The camera man then stuck his hand in there and the computer thought that he tasted like prosciutto! Uh-oh this sounds like trouble! I don’t like where this is going…..

Global Warming

I recentl ran across this link. It is an interesting article on the fallacies of global warming. The author argues that global warming may not be a problem and that much of the fuss being created on the topic may be substantially overblown. He goes on to highlight some of the errors in the reports put together by the UN on global warming. Now I am certain not a climatologist, but can tell you that it is definitely interesting to see another perspective then the one we most commonly hear about. The reality is that the author makes some good points and the UN likely has valid points as well. The truth is most likely between the datapoints, but we have to remember that just because a well known institution like the UN takes a specific position mean that the position and supporting facts are correct.

Second Half — Pats vs. Colts

I just posted about the first half of the game. The second half has begun and unfortunately, it does not look good. The Patriots just turned the ball over again; turnovers like these will kill you. Fortunately, the defense was able to hold the Colts, but the Patriots cannot keep doing this to themselves and expect to win the game.

Update:

The 4th quarter just started, and the Pats are still struggling. The biggest concern is that the offense looks confused. In the first half they seemed to be in rhythm and were playing well, but that seems to have disappeared in the second half.

The Pats just keep killing themselves. Chad Scott intercepted Manning and then Brady gives it right back. Aaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!

Halftime — Pats vs Colts

The game has been a high-scoring affair so far which IMO plays into the hands of the Colts. There are two key problems facing the Pats.

  1. The defense has shown a complete inability to stop the Colts offense. Peyton Manning is a quality quarterback, and the Pats need to do something to disrupt his game. They have not gotten enough pressure on him and the secondary has been unable to come up with big plays. The defense needs to figure something out over halftime or the Pats will have a tough time winning the game.
  2. Turnover problems. Brady through two interceptions in the first half. This is a high scoring game and the Pats have to take advantage of every position. Brady flubbed two possessions with the interceptions, and fortunately the Pats are still in it.

In the end, all we can do is hope that the Pats can make adjustments to resolve the above two issues during half time. If they do not, then they are going to have a very long night with only a tiny chance of winning.