British Airways

San Francisco to Edinburgh via London with British Airways. Upon arrival at Edinburgh Airport we waited over an hour before we were informed, only after seeking out the information ourselves as opposed to an announcement of any kind being made, that our luggage was lost at Heathrow - along with 500 other bags. Things happen, and can be forgiven; it's what happened after the fact that is so completely appalling. We were not given any vouchers or helped in any way by the baggage claim people or by the customer service desk. We were told that our bags would be delivered to us in 24 hours. Since we going to be in a different place every night as we traveled through Scotland, we gave them the address of the B&B where we would be the following night, essentially giving them more than the 24 hours to get our bags to us. We received a text saying that the bags were out for delivery. They did not arrive. In the next seven days, I spent an average of 2.5 hours a day on the phone with the call center in India who were absolutely no help at all. The customer service phone line at BA was not being answered, and the supposed courier service phones lines (2 of them) were gone out of service as well. I emailed both the courier service and BA customer service and did not receive a response from either one. Still, the courier website listed our luggage as being out for delivery. On the evening of the fifth day, it took 45 minutes to get a supervisor on the line (in India) who took another hour to tell me that the baggage claim area in Edinburgh was closed and there was nothing she could do. The bags were continually listed as being out for delivery, but they never showed up. We were never contacted, and neither was the B&B where we had had them (supposedly) sent. On the morning of the sixth day, on yet another call to India, I stated that the extra medicines my friend had brought with her on the plane had run out and that I was going to have to consider taking her to the hospital. Then, in a few hours we received a call from a nice chap at the Edinburgh baggage claim who said he had both bags right there, that they had never been out for delivery at all. We would be in Tarbert on Harris the next night and he had them flown out to us. Seven days after our arrival in Edinburgh. During the seven days, we had to purchase clothes to wear. We missed doing some of the things we had planned to do because of the time spent on the phone with BA and the time spent shopping for clothes. When we made the return flight, we had to pay for an extra checked bag to accommodate the clothing we had purchased. Finally, a month later, we have received a note of intended compensation from British Airways - for the amount of the clothing only. Not anything for the extra bag that we checked that contained clothes that we shouldn't have needed to buy or to check through, and only needed to do so due to the incompetence of British Airways. That's completely on them, and we should be reimbursed for the charges. One would think that there would be some offer of a voucher towards future travel if not monetary compensation for time and inconvenience, but nothing was offered.

My daughter was booked on a flight from Antigua to St. Kitts on September 5, 2015. (flight BA2157) The flight left nearly 10 minutes early stranding 30 passengers who had just managed to get through customs. I have no idea how a flight can leave early or how you can leave without 30 passengers. The attendant at the desk merely informed these passengers that the desk was closed and they should return tomorrow. It was 3.00 on a Saturday afternoon. Nothing was offered to help these passengers get to their final destination. After calling multiple times and sending various emails, I was "granted" a refund. My full refund offer came with a $50 cancellation fee and a $40 service fee. I have yet to accept the offer. We never cancelled her flight nor received anything that looks like service. Do not fly this airline. They are inept and have no idea what customer service is. There is no 'value for money' when the flight departs early.

My wife and I who are 76 and 77 respectively arrived at terminal 5 in Jan 2015 to travel to Johannesburg.This was our first experience of the size of this terminal and assumed that this was where we were to eventualy board our flight. However after sitting around for many hours it occured to us that we had picked up any information regarding the flight,so we went to the BA desk only to be informed that the flight had left,and that we had been waiting in the wrong part of terminal five, and if we had been in the right area we would have heard them paging us. Whilst I take full resposibilty not checking the flight boards properly I would like to complain about the way we were treated from that point on, it was now 11 pm on a cold Jan night, my wife and I were escorted to the exit and left to find shelter for the night in an area that we were totally lost in, until we returned for a different flight the next day.

Aircraft was fine and journey smooth. Staff at airport helpful. The service however lacked shine expected from British Airways whilst on board. Staff showed little interest in passengers, minimal soft drinks offered, 2 on a 9 hour flight, bit of turbulence so not hot drinks provided, bring your own drinks.

Endured horrible British Airways return flights from Heathrow to Cape Town. The plane seems to be from the 1980s. Somehow the seats are really narrow, so that anyone with remotely broad shoulders spills over onto the seats next to them. I couldn't fit between a larger man one one side and a woman on the other and resorted to leaning forward for much of the flight. Thankfully a child was on one side on the way back. There were a number of flyers on the plane who had clearly done the route before as many refused to sit togther, forcing first-time flyers on the route like me to be squashed between them. The seats were also incredibly uncomfortable. The moulding on the back was took narrow and dug into my bag. I only fell asleep through sheer exhaustion, but woke up repeatedly with back pain from the seat. Other passengers walked around the cabin throughout the flight, while some resorted to sitting in the flight attendants' seats. Also the seats in front of the toilets don't fully recline. The TV controls are fixed into the arm rests which makes them uncomfortable to put your arm on and you inevitably press one of the buttons accidentally. The TVs themselves are about 30 years old, small and poor quality. The selection of movies was not great. It was very hot onboard the plane, and passengers repeatedly asked for the air conditioning to be turned up. The service was good on the way out, but the return flight service was poor. The staff appeared disinterested. One flight attendant responded rudely to me when I asked if I could use the overhead locker above my seat that had her bag in it. Another told the child next to me, when he asked for Sprite with his dinner, they had run out. Even though I saw a flight attendant drinking a can of Sprite 30 minutes later. Generally they seemed more interested in rushing through the service and stuffing their mouths than helping anyone. My call button was ignored twice. Another passenger pressed their's and the attendant simply came and turned it off then walked away. She said she'd be back in a moment, but didn't return. The food was generally ok.

Recently there have been more delays and this particular British Airways trip was worse still. I was originally booked to fly from London City to Geneva first thing in the morning but the flight got cancelled. I did not receive so much as an email from BA about this. The only way I found it was cancelled was by going into my original confirmation email as the flight did not even register on the British Airways App. My replacement flight was from Heathrow so I had to make my way all the way across London (at my own expense) to get that flight which then ended up being delayed by 1 hour! British Airways for some years has been a great airline but I fear cracks are starting to appear!

Don't ever fly with British Airways! We went Cancun for our honeymoon, and on the way there they seated my husband at the opposite end of the plane - only 48 hours of being married. When we arrived in Cancun our bags didn't make it there, so we had to wait 4 days for our bags and go out and buy some clothes. Travelling back they lost them again, so not only did they lose our bags once but twice and had to wait 4 days again for them. I advise anyone reading this to not waste your money.

British Airways from Antigua to Gatwick. A shabby aircraft, my seat was broken, it would recline without command, the head rest was broken and the seat covers were very worn. The inflight entertainment had to be re set as it wasn't working and when it did work my screen did not display the safety briefing, images would freeze, in effect I did not receive the briefing. The cabin staff refused to dispose of my wife's drink because it was not finished, I had to request another hostess to take it. The food was poor quality in general too, looked like a kids meals, pasta with cheese. Check in was good, queues were long but the staff were very helpful and the flight left on time. British Airways is not in the league of other long haul carriers like Emirates, a lot of work to be done to refresh it's image.

Booked through Iberia a year before departure with the addition of a connection to Las Palmas, online check in completed 24 hours in advance which is when I noticed that yet again BA had subbed the Boeing 767 on this service to an A320. The leg room in this 0730 departure from LHR was good with the new seating offering a more comfortable ride than Iberia Express. Food was a cold breakfast croissant which wasn't too bad once it had come up to cabin temperature. Cabin crew weren't the friendliest bunch. If you have a connection at Madrid Barajas Airport leave at least two hours - the place is huge with very confusing signposts and for some reason if you connect T4S to a T4 departure you have to go through Security, but if you do a T4 to T4S connection there's no additional security.

British Airways is clearly cost cutting now and I wonder whether they just want to sell off their shorthaul operation. The A319 to and from Bologna had new seating which was one of the smallest and most uncomfortable seats I have experienced. The crew were ok but looked bored, indifferent and just really could not be bothered with passengers. Then came the complimentary food and drink which included half a cup of luke warm tea. Hats off to British Airways for pushing passengers towards low cost carriers.