On Jul 17, 8:22 am, johac <jhachm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Is British Airways telling me the truth about a flight for tomorrow?
> They say the SFO Air****t is "holding the flight for security reasons".
> What does THAT mean?
>
> Here's the scoop ...
> I've been trying to obtain seats for a flight tomorrow (less than 18
hours
> away) for the past five hours, all to no avail. It seems British Airways
> doesn't separate the task of obtaining a seat assignment from checking
in,
> contrary to what all other airlines do. So, in order to obtain a seat
> assignment, one must check in online atwww.ba.com(which can only be done
> 24 hours or less prior to the flight departure time).
>
> However, when I check in at -24 hours, -23 hours, -22 hours, -21 hours,
> etc., British Airways' web site says repeatedly (and insultingly)
"Sorry,
> we are unable to offer you Online Check-in for this flight. We recommend
> that you review the status of your booking. Manage My BookingTo check in
> and receive your boarding pass, please proceed to the air****t."
>
> Numerous calls to British Airways at 1-800-AIR-WAYS get me a variety of
> mis-information, and get me confirmation that the "status of my booking"
is
> fine. After a few exasperating hours, the best I can do after speaking
to
> their "supervisor" is obtain the web-help hotline number 800-403-0882.
>
> Calling that "hotline" is an exercise in near futility, as the wait is
> greater than 20 or 30 minutes each time. Thank God for unlimited
cellphone
> minutes and earbuds. Twice I get the same guy who tells me there's
nothing
> wrong with my reservation but that the "air****t" is not allowing check
in
> for "security reasons". He says "call back later" which I do but get the
> same answers. Asking for what I should do, he says "call the air****t
> authority" at 650-821-8211.
>
> I call the "air****t authority", only to get a woman and then her
supervisor
> whom I have to basically teach the basics of British Airways check-in
> procedures. They just can't fathom why I would want to check in 24 hours
> early saying the airline isn't there - and I can't fathom why they can't
> understand that British Airways is different than all the rest in that
they
> don't separate seating from checkin so to get seating you have to check
in
> but that you check in online without actually checking in any baggage or
> physically being at the air****t. The supervisor tells me I've been
misled,
> adding that he's there for emergencies and this isn't one so we hang up.
>
> I go back to the British Airways web site to obtain my seat arrangements
> (aka to "check in"), and still, it says I can't - even almost six hours
> into my 24-hour period, even tho we're traveling with children between
the
> ages of 2 and 11 (BA advertises falsly that we get seat assignments 3
days
> prior but obviously that is not true).
>
> My question:
> Is this BA check-in experience common and ... more im****tantly ... what
> could possibly be the "security concerns" that the "air****t" could have
for
> holding up the check-in process for this British Airways flight to
> Heathrow?
Within the US, I have been told a similar story when trying to obtain
seat assignments on 2 different US airlines - the seat assignements
were being held for security reasons. In both cases, the planes were
overbooked, and I was one of those without a seat, although in both
cases I did eventually get a seat.
I also once had this happen on SAS from London to Copenhagen, this was
because they changed the meal options between my booking and my flight
and I had to get information about that and this could for some reason
only happen at physical check-in. But at least they didn't claim it
was a security issue, just that I could not check in/assign a seat on-
line.
Hanne
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