Newlyweds Prince William and Duchess Catherine were slightly miffed, to say the least, when the inflight entertainment on their 10 hour British Airways flight didn't work.
They -- among with other passengers who paid around £5,000 ($7,500) for their first class tickets -- were given £200 ($300) by BA in compensation for the inconvenience of staring at a blank screen for the duration of the flight.
"The whole of first class including the Duke and Duchess seemed a bit peeved but they were placated by BA's offer", Britain's The Mirror newspaper reported.
That set us thinking: what is an acceptable amount in compensation for inflight entertainment failure?
Australian Business Traveller staff have been on several international flights where the inflight entertainment failed, and received $100 vouchers from Qantas on each occasion -- for use against the booking of a future trip.
Is it enough? We'd like to know what you think is an acceptable compensation for the loss of inflight entertainment during a long flight.
If it has happened to you, how much did you get in compensation from the airline?
And do any airlines in particular have less/more reliable inflight entertainment systems?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2561
I received a $100 voucher from Qantas for a failed IFE in my seat on a business class flight to the US (the cabin was full so they couldn't move me to a different seat with a working screen). The trick was how to use the voucher, as I rarely fly domestic and by memory it didn't have a massively long use-day date. In the end I used it on the way back from the US to buy some in-flight duty free.
04 Nov 2010
Total posts 670
I was on a Cathay SYD-HK flight last year and the whole plane's video sytsem failed. The CX crew came through the cabin handing out vouchers which we could use for duty-free.
I was in business and got something like A$80 or A$100, a mate in economy got something like A$50, which is funny because the systems are exactly the same.
Obviously CX wants to keep business passengers even happier than economy passengers!!
Qantas
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 177
I can kinda understand why they'd give more to business class passengers... they are paying a lot more for the service, after all.
On the other hand, as you point out, if the system is exactly the same, it's a bit daft to pay more for the failure in a different class...!
03 Jan 2011
Total posts 665
Air New Zealand once gave me NZ$120 in Airpoints vouchers in early 2010 because my Business Premier power point wasn't working.
But HRHs the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should have taken the miles.
It's 25,000 miles to upgrade a two-leg journey (so, SYD-SIN, rather than the four-leg SYD-LHR) from Premium Economy to Club World (Business) on BA, or from Club to First. And with BA (unlike Qantas), upgrades are confirmable in advance.
04 Nov 2010
Total posts 670
I don't know that WIlls & Kate need free miles, let alone that they would ever have to apply for an upgrade!
03 Jan 2011
Total posts 665
Ah, but with BA's Household accounts, they could give the miles to the Middletons -- who are former BA crew themselves, in an interesting irony. ;)
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