British Airways and possible Credit Card Fraud - Airliners-India

malik · Member

British Airways and possible Credit Card Fraud

Nimish · Member

This is quite unacceptable - that they're unable to do online ticketing on BA. I'm guessing it's a chicken/egg situation, with so few people doing online ticketing, that BA haven't thought it worthwhile to enable the full feature set?

On another note, the next time you have such an opportunity, give a shot to Amadeus' XPLORZ booking portal for India - this has real time availability/fares from Amadeus. I've not actually made a booking myself, but if anyone has got it right, then Amadeus should be it.

tayara mechanici · Member

malik wrote:

I had to go on a business trip and was looking for good fares (DEL-LHR-SFO/JFK-LHR-DEL) as well as reasonable comfort, without paying for full Business Class. Good options are Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic and World traveller Plus on BA, as well as a slightly complicated routing on AI. 9W+UA sounds good, too, but the timings didn't work for me.

So eventually I landed a decent rate of Rs 63k on BA in WTP, and made my booking on their website. Now I need to pay, and it says "OFF-LINE", please call such and such number.

Next day it took me 3 calls, with average 30-45 minute "on hold" each time, to the BA office in Gurgaon, which is like an STD call, to make the credit card payment "on phone". (The 1-800 number does not work, or does not exist, take your pick). After the usual exchange, I am told that the total including taxes is almost Rs 92k. I pay, but I tell them that I need to see the break-up of taxes/charges/fees soon, and the lady promises me my e-ticket in 5 minutes.

Long and short of this is:-

# the e-ticket never came. It finally came after 24 hours and a lot of fuss.

# next morning I get some calls from people claiming to be from BA, asking me for my credit card number and CVV.

# the taxes/charges/fees are not explained nor can I find them on their website.

# the call-centre is open only on working days from 9:30 to 5:00, with a lunch break.

# there is no way you can escalate. For everything, call the call centre.

# another gent rang up from BA telling me that "I was being difficult" by asking for the tax break-up. At this point I decided enough was enough, made alternate travel arrangements, and filed for a cancellation.

# most of all, it does appear to me that BA has a different attitude towards customers from India, if the facilities for customers from other countries is an indication.

To me, their website seems to convey the impression that they are doing Indian passengers a great favour. There is a condescending air when they tell me, "Oh Sir, we can thee do thee online payments only in thee a-broad". (Say this with a nasal Punjoo female accent for best effect) There is clear discrimination if they do not provide a 24-hour 1-800 phone service for enquiries from passengers. And most of all, their method of taking payments using credit cards on phone is suspect, if people call the next day for the numbers again.

It took me less than a few minutes to buy DEL-LHR-DEL on 9W on the web, and lesser for domestic tickets on other airlines. With BA, my exec Club profile is fed in, and it still takes days . . . this is one airline, IMHO, which is still living in a colonial past as far as India is concerned.

What are the rules for online credit card transactions within India, or get RBI involved ? And if there is any pax grievance asso or cell in India why not involve them for some free press, i am sure BA will attract the media from India, especially since Channel 4 of U.K. is having a go at Indian BPOs.