Topic: Beware of British Airways
Myself & my wife had B.A tickets, Mumbai-Madrid-DFW-Mumbai, leaving Mumbai on 3rd June 2006 and returning on 30th October. It involved change over at London from Heathrow to Gatwick to Heathrow airports for both journeys, BECAUSE B.A DOES NOT HAVE SERVICE TO MADRID FROM HEATHROW OR FROM DFW TO MUMBAI FROM GATWICK, NEITHER DOES IT HAVE A CAPTIVE SURFACE OR METRO TRANSPORT BETWEEN THE TWO AIRPORTS.
We were told while buying the tickets that we would be given free vouchers for the bus journey by National Express from Heathrow to Gatwick and vice-versa. At Mumbai on 3rd June we asked the check in clerk for the vouchers and he assured us that these would be given to us at Heathrow. It was of course a blatant lie as the customer relations person at Heathrow blandly refused to give such vouchers and to our enquiry whether National express will accept US $ he breezily said “they will even accept gold”. Gold we did not offer but US $ we had which was unacceptable and we, two senior citizen, spent anxious time getting British Pounds and wondering if we would make the connecting flight!
Before our return to India I sent an email to the Customer relations officer of BA asking whether free vouchers will be given to us at DFW for our return journey and transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow. The officer Aparna Gupta, apologized for the inconvenience caused and wrote that as we had already bought the National express bus tickets from Heathrow to Gatwick similarly we could buy from Gatwick to Heathrow. On our return we can claim the reimbursement by sending the ORIGINAL tickets and assured us of reimbursement.
The British Airways had provided us with copy of rules stating that UK visa is not required for change over from Heathrow to Gatwick and vice versa. But having been warned about the “British” ways of BA we had taken a 4 month UK visa which expired before our return journey to Mumbai. On our return on 30th October we had to again spend anxious time at the immigration counter at Gatwick where the officer, while contemptuously debunking BA’s statement that no UK visa is required for change over from Gatwick to Heathrow or Vice versa (“Who is BA? it is not the ruler of Britain! It is the government that rules here not BA!”) claimed to show mercy on an old couple and granted a 24 hour transit visa. Please do not misguide your hapless passengers with such incorrect information.
On our return I wrote a letter dated 6th November 2006 enclosing the ORIGINAL TICKETS of National Express bus service. We had been following this matter with Aparna Gupta when she replied to my email saying that she is now leaving the post and the matter would be dealt with by the next incumbent.
We now have your letter dated 31st January flatly refusing to reimburse the expense incurred by us. Does such ‘lying to customers by the check in clerks and going back on written commitments given by your customer relations officer’ form part of the “British” character and culture of British Airways?