Worlds Worst Rebooking/Rerouting
I have been told at every turn that there is no further action I can take so all I can do right now is scream into the void I guess.
I had a flight booked with British Airways yesterday at 5:30pm. A lovely occasion—a wedding! Only not so lovely as the flight kept being delayed. Later…and later…and later. Until the gate showed “9:00pm”. Except the gate lied. It wasn’t a 9:00pm departure. In fact, passengers all got an email stating “overnight delay”. No information on time or rebooking. “Oh, then ask the gate agent!” I hear you say. But alas, dear reader, my response to you would be “what gate agent?” Said source of information was conveniently missing from the gate. So 8:30pm, a crowd of passengers crowded around an empty gate desk. What to do but call Customer Service? As it turns out, dear reader, Customer Service did not see any delay on their end. In fact, their internal system still marked the flight as “confirmed” and leaving at 9:00pm. And because of that, the kind, sweet Customer Service representative informed me that she could not rebook or reroute my flight, despite the airline’s obligation to do so under UK216.
Defeated, the herd shuffled to the ticketing counter, presumably to try and rebook with someone live. One hour of waiting later, we are informed that they will only help with hotel booking, and will not entertain any rebooking ideas until the internal system reads “cancelled”. What is a girl to do but return home with her tail between her legs and hope for the best.
The best, as it turns out, is a flight reschedule. At 9:00pm. Departing from an airport over 200 miles away from the original departure airport. But they were oh so gracious to arrange a bus to shuttle their defeated herd of passengers across state lines. Upon calling Customer Service, I was informed that all the flights for BA and any related carriers were fully booked and I should have rebooked earlier. Silly me, of course.
So now I am out a hotel, facing a 12 hour travel day, and at the mercy of British Airways to properly compensate me for this delay and my reasonable expenses. Honestly, and disrespectfully, British Airways (derogatory) needs to get its shit in order. The lack of communication to customers, the less than ideal rerouting, and frankly the rudeness of customer service is no way to run a business.
Thank you, void, for hearing me scream.