Shitish Airways Frequent Flier Scam

Ever been treated like dirt by an airline? Ever flown on British Airways? If you answered yes to either of those questions then you probably answered yes to both.

Flying is a requirement in my job. It's not something glamorous or fun, just a necessary evil one has to endure while performing ones duties. Being away from my spouse and children for days or weeks at a time, staying in strange hotels, and running from meeting to meeting in a packed schedule is simply no fun.

When you fly on an airline which treats you like crap the experience really becomes unbearable.

British Airways consistently proves themselves to be inflexible and unhelpful. I fly business class all the time and have many frequent flier miles... BA makes it so difficult to use them that it is almost impossible!

My wife and I have been trying to book a family holiday using BA miles for months and there is no availability anywhere you might want to be at that time of year. In the winter, all the frequent flier seats to ski areas are gone. In the summer or spring all the FF seats to warm destinations were apparently snapped up ages ago. I feel like I have to camp out in the BA office like a groupie waiting for tickets to go on sale for the hottest concert of the year! Is this how they treat their best customers? And if so, how badly do they treat the guy in economy?

The other day we were able to book some flights using both cash and miles. We made it clear at the time that we might have to change or cancel the flights if they didn't work  for our sons schedule. The BA rep told us we had 24 hours to cancel or make any changes with absolutely no penalty.

We phoned them 23 hours later and they informed us that we had gone over the 24 hour mark. After obviously arguing the point over several phone calls, an hour had past and we actually were over the 24 hour period. The customer service rep, Lisa, then informed us there was nothing she could do and we would have to write a letter to the customer relations department to file a complaint.

Are you kidding me!?! Who the hell has time to do that? But that's their game. They know we don't have the time to chase these things and so they take advantage of the situation.

After my wife fighting with them for a whole morning, they finally agreed it was their fault and relented. The fact that it took 2 days to rectify and an incredible amount of angst was insane.

Unfortunately, the weakness in the airline industry is only going to make matters worse. Competition will continue to drop and added value will be hard to find. My only hope is that Richard Branson can add more routes to Virgin Atlantic. They actually try to help their customers and take especially good care of the upper class and business fliers. I think the economy seats aren't great though...

Come on Richard! Regional flights to Europe and the Middle East please!