British Airways are giving complimentary status extensions to people affected by the recent IT issues. Reports around the web are stating that Executive Club members are receiving e-mails notifying them of this.
In case you missed it, British Airways recently experienced an IT problem which caused all systems to go down. Flights were cancelled for a couple of days causing many people to have ruined travel plans.
Complimentary Status
Executive Club members are reporting they are receiving e-mails giving them complimentary status for 2 years. The e-mail states, “… as a gesture of goodwill, we’d like to renew your current tier status for a further two years, regardless of how many Tier Points you collect in that time.”
Gold members and Silver members have reported receiving this e-mail which is very welcome. Considering how the media has lambasted British Airways for the failure, this is an excellent example of service recovery. The airlines most valuable customers will appreciate it.
But What About Everyone Else?
There is no doubt that British Airways customers have a poor impression of the airline at this time. Many changes to the service have been introduced this year and for many people the IT failure must be the last straw.
Media reports have gleefully reported on the failures, with people missing holidays, carnage at Terminal 5 at Heathrow, bags not being sent on for several days and more.
However, what about everyone who is a loyal BA flyer and was not affected by the issues? These people can also read and would have a bad impression of the brand, despite not flying on the particular days in question.
Should those people also be entitled to a status extension? I believe they should. It would give everyone an impression that BA cares for its customers. It will probably increase the likelihood of people flying with the airline. More importantly, the value of this in people passing it on via word of mouth can’t be underestimated.
Overall Thoughts
I am very impressed that BA is giving these status extensions to its loyal customers. At last, the airline is showing they listen to their customers. The fact they acknowledge the damage due to this issue is excellent. I hope the company extends it to other people but even if not it is a great example of service recovery.
Have you received an e-mail giving you complimentary status due to the issues? What do you think of this gesture by British Airways? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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[…] British Airways Giving Complimentary Status For 2 Years – While they could of done more, I’m glad to see British Airways is doing something for those affected by the IT issues. This will make for some happy higher loyalty members. […]
As a regular BA flyer (silver on way to gold) flying long haul tomorrow, I couldn’t agree more. The best I got was an email saying “As you will soon be travelling with us, we wanted to reassure you that we’re operating a normal service from all our airports worldwide.” – I should hope so! What if those elite customers who have been given silver/gold for two years now decide to use another carrier/alliance to build up points and status there? It’s the rest of us ‘loyal’ customers who will continue to buy and fly BA if we want to… Read more »
Yes, that sounds like a typical BA e-mail to me! I imagine they are scrambling to reassure everyone that everything is back to normal.
I completely agree with you. There will be a few people who will get the extension and then fly other oneworld carriers, but I guess most would stick to BA due to it being the main game in town for the UK. I would definitely like my status extended by 2 years. It would make me a very happy person! Thanks for the comment 🙂
You are forgetting that British Airways IT crash was inexcusable. The first thing IT implements in an organization is disaster prevention and recovery. That is why you never hear of this — except at BA. They did not do this and responsibility starts with Willie Walsh. He should be removed by the board. Everyone who was a victim of this deserves to recover in a gross negligence claim.
Far from this status extension being an example of some imagined BA customer focus, it is just a cheap fob to those who spend the most at the airline.
I completely agree with you that it is inexcusable. I work for an IT company, so I completely understand the necessity of disaster recovery. They’re saying now it was a contractor who turned something off but even so backups should have come online to ensure continuity of service.
Of course the status extension is cheap but it is also the first time BA has ever done something like this so it is a good move. What else would you suggest they do? They already have to refund under EU law and provide compensation and pay people’s costs.
Directors should get new top management.
As an aside, EU refund law is actually designed to limit the airlines liability. It tends to subsidize the airlines’ cost of flight cancellations.
That’s an interesting way to look at it. I’ll have to give it some more thought.
Interesting – you referred to “everyone else” and how they should get compensated, but you really only referred to elites. What about regular passengers, who are not elites? Maybe they should have gotten some miles or something (maybe they already did). Yeah, the elites are the airline’s “most valuable customers,” but it always bugs me when bloggers ignore the rest of the people on the plane.
As for your original suggestion that loyal customers who were not affected should get a status extension, I’d say no –
Regular passengers – and Elites – will get the standard European Union mandated compensation. British Airways have said they’ll provide refunds, alternate travel up to November and compensation for additional costs incurred. Therefore, non-elite travellers will receive compensation due to them even if they are a once a blue moon flyer and so they should. I am not ignoring the others, I am merely commenting that elite flyers are being compensated over and above the usual due to their status which is a very good thing. Regarding the final point for customers not affected – they probably shouldn’t. However, since… Read more »
If United had done something similar for every time they hosed me, I’d be 1K until 2078. I guess that’s why they didn’t.
Haha – is it that bad at United? I’ve heard it’s not great, but that sounds positively diabolical!
To be fair, I stopped flying United in 2013 after a series of inexcusable flight and customer service mishaps. Judging from the Dr Dao video, United has not changed. The evidence shows I made a good call.
Certainly looks like it! I haven’t flown United since the 1990s myself.