BA Club Europe - AWFUL

Just returned from a trip ORD/ATH via LHR in Business (Club World) under PNR ******. Missed our connection from BA294 due to late arriving crew although BA reported it as a mechanical. Right! When we got to LHR the airline had rebooked us on a later flight - almost 5 hours. They are paying the 600 Euro compensation because they have to. However, when we got to the LHR/ATH flight it was an old 767-300 - G-BNWZ. Apparently BA has a few still left in their fleet. This one is 20 years old. When we got onboard I thought it was a candid camera moment. Nasty old seats on a nasty old plane that should have been retired years ago. No special meals loaded even though BA misconnected us. No food for 4+ hours. In flight supervisor on outbound flight apologized for the plane, the service, the seats - said she had been flying for the airline for nearly 30 years. She was embarrassed. I do not blame her. Sent tweets to Alex Cruz who has failed to respond. Dealing with Scott Clark who states he is a part of the British Airways Customer Relations team. My request was that I should get what I paid for and in the event I did not then I should get the difference in fare. He rejected that idea stating ...

Whilst I appreciate your reasons for asking, we're unable to offer compensation for the issues you had on board. I'm sure you'll understand we must apply a consistent approach to situations like this, so we're fair to all our customers. This means we won't make an exception. I know this will be disappointing to hear since it's clear you expected more from us. I understand from your email how strongly you feel about this issue. I want to assure you we've taken the matter seriously and done all we can to make changes within the company, so we can try to avoid this happening again.

I reject that idea. BA needs to be competitive with other products out there. This idea of blocking a middle seat out with a semi-permanent tray offers more privacy than a larger, newer and more comfortable seat with a bit of legroom - I am 6'3" - is outrageous. Don't sell what you don't have to sell.

as a traveller based in Athens I think the intra-europe business class offerings are limited. Almost every airline just operates with a blocked middle seat but the seat is essentially the same as you will find in economy. British Airways has significantly cut down on their shorthaul travel experience and that is why Aegean Airlines (okay, I'm slightly biased towards my hometown airline), Lufthansa, Swiss, SAS and Air France are slightly better in my opinion. And Aegean offers free hot meals in economy (if you ever find yourselves in the back of the airplane).

I am not too sure what you are expecting. I can see you signed up to have this whinge but not really sure why.

I generally second what Grannular has said. While I am sympathetic to the special meals not being loaded on to your new flight. Especially if the food offering in the LHR lounges (you would have been able to spend a few hours in) were not suitable or avoided in anticipation of being able to eat the plane.

It stops short though about your complaint about the airframe. I'm not sure what you expected from the seating on the LHR-ATH leg? If you had of made your original connection it's likely you would have been on an A320-232, which and are not exactly known for their legroom and would have come with the exact same blocked out middle seat as you had on the 767.

While the decline of BA's soft product is well documented and is something I am sad to see, as Bruce77 has stated, the seating is pretty on par with most airlines running intra-europe J-Class

It is a bit of a crap situation especially regarding the food, but you were compensated as per the EU rules, which is far more than you would get in Australia for a similar 5 hour delay.

I have to somewhat agree with the other posters here. I do feel your frustration though as I have flown BA intra Europe J class and to say I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. But as has been mentioned, there are plenty of reviews including on this site, but also by looking on the BA website at the travel classes section you can see that all they do for Club Europe is block the middle seat but have the same seats as standard economy. I sympathise regarding the meals though. But I guess they have paid a €600 compensation which as was mentioned you wouldn’t get in Australia.

PNR removed from the original post for privacy reasons (you should never post these online as they allow people to access your personal information).

BA is terrible... but I am not sure what your expectations were for a intra-europe flight

I agree with the other posters. A little dose of reality is needed here.

To answer your poll question - no Club Europe doesn't compare to long-haul J, but compares to a lot of intra-Europe J products.

I am not quite sure what else you are after on top of EU261 compo.

I’m guessing by including his booking reference and loyalty number, more exposure and possibly a bit more leverage.

I actually quite like 767s.

I love the 767 with the 2-3-2 layout. Wonder how they could have blocked the middle seat as there is only 1 out of the 7 seats abreast.

This whinge is posted on FlyerTalk too, the original there also had the PNR. Hello identity theft.

Chris, you should also redact the BA staff member name as FlyerTalk did. That person is not here to defend himself and its poor form on the part of the original poster to name names.