Underhand and incompetent (British Airways Executive Club in general)

Member Name: mike340

Product:	British Airways Executive Club in general
Date:	10/04/02 (551 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good network, Safe, Reliable

Disadvantages: Incompetent, Underhand

I begin with a general comment about airline mileage schemes :
They encourage you to join, to fly with their airline, promise you the earth, and then when you actually try to redeem the miles, place many obstacles in your way to prevent your doing so.

Here is my latest experience with BA. They told me when I tried to book a journey from Spain to the UK and back, using my Executive Club Miles, that they could only book for journeys beginning and ending in the UK.

This was quite clearly incorrect and when I quoted them the paragraph in the conditions per their own website, they backed down and made the booking. They then gave me 24 hours to confirm the booking, at 5 in the afternoon and cancelled it at midnight the same night, 7 hours, not 24.

I had it reinstated and they then told me that I could not pay the taxes with a Spanish credit card because because I am registered in the UK. After speaking to a supervisor, they agreed that this was incorrect.

With so many obstacles placed in one's way, most people would have given up. This is why FF schemes are so lucrative to the airlines, as a high percentage of the Miles remain unredeemed, a nice little profit for them.

BA is not the only offender in this regard, I can also add experiences about Lufthansa and Iberia's FF schemes but this is not the correct place to do so.

Summary: