Prologue:
Back in 2008, I have discovered the joy of flying First Class from Either Cairo or Johannesburg for Cheap.I even went "further" to buy a ticket in 2010 from Pakistan.
Back in November Egypt devalued currency by almost 50 percent ahead of IMF loan.
The same day I purchased a trip in First class for less than 900€ with Qatar Airways to Bangkok.
I also paid my trip with BA to Cairo for less than 350€ in coach.
The final routing is as follow :
Marseille to London with BA -> No report
London to Cairo with BA - here
Cairo to Doha with QR
Doha to Bangkok with QR
Bangkok to Doha with QR
Doha to Cairo with QR
I was supposed to fly back with BA on the way back to Marseille... As we were close to take off, both engines stopped and we were told to wait for 30 minutes to figure out a solution with BA tech team in London.
After a while, the captain said, the flight won't leave today. It's where things got nasty.
As we left the plane you would have thought, everything is under control.. Well, it was not.
Passports were taken for no reason to be handed out 5 min later. Pax were screaming for the lack of information aside you should go to BA desk. I arrived at 11:30am.
Knowing were it was, I took my passport and rushed there to find a fast option. Fast ? Wait a minute...
Going to Marseille in not the easiest thing in the world.
When you have an untrained agent it makes things even harder. With no wifi provided in the terminal. I knew my options. For BA staff you have the following options:
Option 1 : Egypt Air to London. I will need to pay my room in London and flight back to Marseille. DENIED
Option 2 : Air France to Mrs via CDG. taking off at 1:30 am arriving in CDG at 6 am and leaving at 9pm to arrive in marseille at nearly 11pm the next day ! DENIED
Option 3 : Qatar airways to CDG via DOH. I need to pay my ticket to marseille. DENIED
I proposed either TK or LH. Full.
After 45 minutes and with only 2 agents available. I let you imagine the crowd behind me. I decided to give up and picked QR.
Upset about the whole process. I went to the Terminal 3 and used the bridge to relax with a drink in the Mariott Hotel linked with T3.
Enjoying the wifi I used twitter to send a message to BA :
@British_Airways BA154 cancelled. Poor assistance providd. Dest MRS but proposed CDG. Can y pls hp me to get to my final destination? 7xxxxx
After 45 minutes BA CS team came back with a solution to route me via DOH and LHR and then Marseille with BA.
However the ticket to CDG was still issued and BA had to work with oneworld team to remove it.
Close to check in deadline, QR gave me the boarding pass to DOH and CDG. BA told me not to worry, they will work on it. Upon landing at DOH, i went to the connection desk to collect my flights to LHR and MRS.
I arrived in marseille 18 later than planned and received the EU compensation of 400€.
Let's head back to the topic. BA service to Cairo.
The menu.
========== British Airways Galleries First Lounge T5 ==========
Staff Service: 7/10
Entertainment: 3/10
Business Center: 7/10
Food: 5/10
Lounge Design: 5/10
Spa and Bathroom: 5/10
Wifi: 8/10
Summary:
A classic BA flight in coach.The new First Class lounge will soon be live. Much appreciated move.
The main event comes from the crew. Most are Egypt nationals and working from Cairo.
I really loved their genuine interest and customer care. We happen to wait our shuttle together.
I saw the same guy on my flight out of Cairo. You know what happened next...
Stay tuned for the upcoming flights with QR.
Thanks for reading.
2 Comments
ReplyMerci Adan for your first lounge report. I'm back to BA Silver, I will try it later in the year. Welcome !
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