Richard Branson, where are you? Do you even care about the mess your formerly good airline, Virgin Atlantic, has become. Are you so content praise from the Virgin America fanboys that what happens on your flagship carrier matters not, anymore? I guess they’ll learn, as things degrade over there as well. Here’s a little rant from one of your gold card members. You know — the folks you supposedly want to take care of. I ain’t been feeling so taken care of, which makes me fear even more for what’s going on with the non-gold members.

I loved Virgin. Remember, way back in 2006 I even wrote about how I’d pay more to fly with Virgin because:

Virgin also makes me happy since they seem honestly happy to see me, and this is even in the days when I was flying economy as a regular non-gold passenger. BA’s staff feels like they hate working there, and that attitude shows.

Ah, the good old days. Since that time, it’s like you’ve conspired to turn me away. I still find it difficult to use my many frequent flyer miles and seriously begin to wonder if I’ll reach the 2 million miles figure needed to do one of your suborbital flights. No doubt if I do, I’ll be told that there’s only availability for one day in the next 20 years. Enough. Free up some seats. And stop giving me companion tickets that are useless, where I have to buy a ticket as such an absurdly high price that it’s actually cheaper to buy two tickets rather than take “advantage” of the free companion ticket offer.

Have customer service people that can actually do things. My last flight from California, I paid good money — lots of good money — to do upper class on the way back. You know, so I could work and sleep. But it turned out my seat table didn’t work. That meant eating dinner in my lap, then working on my laptop in my lap. Hey, I know it’s a laptop — but if you promise tables, I should get one. And if I don’t, I want a little something more than a small number of miles to make up for the problem. Comp the damn ticket or give me many more miles closer to the cost to the ticket. They cost you nothing, and at least I’ll feel like you really care. Plus, you know, you didn’t deliver what you should have.

I greatly enjoyed my last flight to New York. I’d bought a ticket; my wife was using miles (yes, a rare occasion when there was availability). We arrive at the ticket counter, and we don’t have seats together. I mean, the tickets were booked at the same time. HOW HARD IS IT? Customer service sent me a note afterward apologizing and saying that I might request adjoining seats in the future. But it also notes that these are guaranteed.

Duh. I could have told them that. I’ve routinely arrived at your counter with the whole family, all of whom had tickets booked at the same time, paid in the same way, only to discover you’ve put all four of us in different places. Are you insane? Is it just that you like to make the check-in people do their merry little endless typing?

As this went on with my last trip, I asked if we could just upgrade from premium economy to upper class. I had plenty of miles. Plus, you and I both know Virgin’s dirty little secret. You routinely oversell premium economy and you bump all the gold card holders up. This should have been no problem to do.

Well, it was. My wife could be upgraded since her ticket was already on miles. But me, with an actual paid-for ticket? I could only upgrade if I wanted to pay $2,000 more. I thought that was a bit pricey so said no.

Off we went to the gate, where Virgin’s idea of “priority boarding” means that premium economy and upper class passengers are actively encouraged to shove through the existing line of economy ticket holders. You’ve been doing this for more than two years. It’s rude. It’s uncomfortable, and I won’t do it. So one of the perks of my ticket is useless. Open up another damn line!

More fun at the gate. Bing! My ticket sets off an alarm. Oh look, I’ve been upgraded. You know, bumped from premium economy to upper class exactly as I knew would happen — what was apparently impossible to do at the check-in gate. But my wife’s not bumped, and now it’s too late to upgrade her with miles as it was before. Oh well, see you dear, I’ll just be lounging around in upper class and will check in from time to time.

Yeah, I gave up my ticket. Kind of funny, when I asked the guy in the aisle seat next to her that I wanted if I could trade, before I could even get the words out of my mouth, he said “No!” I replied I was sorry, I just thought he might want to take my upper class seat. Funny how that changed his attitude.

I know, I’m a baby. I’m whining about a bunch of silly sounding things. But I fly with you a lot. I’ve deliberately chosen you over other airlines. And you’re letting me down. Your staff more and more seems to think the airline is there as a private club for them, rather than attending to your passengers. That’s improved a bit in the past few months, but there’s still that attitude. The Heathrow lounge — well, you know that’s to die for. But I can get my haircut and my shoes shined elsewhere.

Here’s a little checklist of things I’d like to see happen:

• Separate boarding lines for priority passengers, guaranteed
• Seat passengers booked at the same time together, guaranteed
• Never make me stand at a check-in desk while someone types for 20 minutes. I know, I know — it’s not just a Virgin thing, but c’mon, along with solving global warming, can’t we get drag-and-drop reservation systems?
• Make it easier to use mileage awards — like open up more seats to at least match what BA offers
• Companion ticket offers should be good for any class of ticket. Otherwise, they’re just a con
• Don’t make me have to ask four times for a Diet Coke. It’s like routine. We don’t all drink wine with dinner. But kudos on finally serving Diet Coke on occasion rather than that awful Virgin Cola
• When something goes wrong, empower your staff to provide a fix rather than an excuse. I’m not asking for unreasonable things. But when we all know there are going to be bumps, just let them do it.

Oh, and the next time you lose my snowboard, I don’t know — act like you’re really sorry about it and maybe make it up in some way. But it was nice to get it back after three days, I suppose.

I’ve been an unabashed Virgin fan, but the airline has amazingly –
unbelievably — now driven me closer to British Airways. The hated BA, which I
have to say, looks much better as I measure up the frequent flyer programs.

Virgin’s Not So Generous
Frequent Flyer Program is my post from last year, when I looked at how hard
it was for me to use my Virgin miles for anything. I’ve just now tried to book
tickets for a family trip in October. I have four companion award tickets to
use, plus 350,000 miles. Can I splurge on the big seats to fly over? Nope. Can’t
use the companion tickets, and it’s strictly only economy left for a range of
dates I checked.

"It’s the school holidays," is the usual Virgin refrain. Duh. Of course it
is, but the bigger problem is you don’t release enough seats. Meanwhile, I’ve
been flying BA more recently, as they’ve either had exceptionally better prices
than Virgin or fly into places Virgin doesn’t go. I’ve built up some miles,
enough to see what BA might have to offer on the family trip. Big seats? No
problem.

I really, really enjoy Virgin. I’ve paid more to fly them in the past. But
I’m tired of accumulating useless miles. It’s nice to be a gold member, and the
Virgin lounge at Heathrow has no match to what I’ve seen elsewhere. But I think
I’ll build up my status on BA instead. What a change for someone who
has hated them so much in the past.
And what a change in particular because of problems with something that’s
supposed to keep my loyal, a useless loyalty program.

British Airways — you know, the airline
I generally love to hate –
may
face a strike action. Apparently it will be the first official strike in
like 10 years. Good job BA workers. I was about to book a flight on BA today,
then another one later this week and a third after that. Now I’ll seek
alternatives.

BA’s such a bad airline usually, with delays, lost luggage (they’re still
finding stuff lost in last December’s havoc), that entire caterer’s strike that
meant like no or little food for passengers. Then I think there’s been like two
or three unofficial walkouts over the past few years. All I know BA as an
airline just gets more and more undependable. And the staff already generally
sucks. They don’t seem to like working for BA. They don’t seem to like the
passengers that pay their wages.

I don’t like either side in this, and I doubt either of them are going to
gain anything from it. After everything BA has been through, a strike is just
going to cost the airline further loyalty losses. Maybe that will freak out
management enough to cave. I doubt it. They’re both going to lose in this.

I’m just glad Virgin is starting to fly direct to Chicago now. I continue to
seek BA alternatives where I can, starting today.

I’m not sure if the news has jumped over the pond about the radiation found
on at least three British Airways planes, all part of murder of former KGB agent
Alexander Litvinenko. I gather those with the radioactive material used to
poison Litvinenko flew on some BA jets, leaving traces of the material on those
jets.

It doesn’t look to be a public health worry. But you have to wonder if the
radiation can be found on the jets, isn’t that something the security scans
protecting us at the airports also should have picked up?

Perhaps the new plastic bag
requirements helped shield the radiation from being detected. It would be
funny if it didn’t make a mockery of the screening process.

More on the story from This Is London

here. Over at BA, they sent me (and other customers) and email about it:

As a valued customer I am writing to give you the latest information
regarding the forensic examination of three of our Boeing 767 aircraft.

You may be aware that these three aircraft were identified by the UK
government as part of the police investigation into the death of Alexander
Litvinenko.

Two of the three aircraft have been forensically tested at London Heathrow.
The third aircraft will return to London Heathrow today where it will undergo
testing over the weekend.

The initial results of the forensic tests on the two aircraft at London
Heathrow showed very low traces of a radioactive substance onboard. Since then
the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said that one of these aircraft does not
pose a risk to the health of the people in it and that it does not believe
overall that passengers on this aircraft were at risk over the past month.
Monitoring is continuing on the second aircraft.

We have been advised that this investigation is confined solely to these
three B767 aircraft and no other British Airways aircraft are involved.

We hope to return the two aircraft currently at London Heathrow to service
as soon as possible.

Details of the flights operated by the three aircraft at the centre of the
investigation are available on our website, http://www.ba.com. We have also
identified on the website the 72 flights that have been given the all clear.

If you were on one of these flights and wish to receive further advice you
are advised to telephone NHS Direct on 0845 4647. Only customers who have
travelled on the remaining specified flights should telephone NHS Direct.
Non-UK customers are advised to contact their doctor.

The British Airways helpline remains open on 0845 6040171 and + 44 (0) 191
211 3690 for international calls.

We wish to reassure you our operation is planned to continue to run
normally and any further news of the government investigation will be posted
on our website.

Heading over to BA, I find this

page that doesn’t really explain the situation as to how the radiation got
on the flights. It assumes I’m all up to speed about this. But it does

list the flights made by one plane identified as having radiation on it (not
that I was that worried, but still, phew, I’m clear). That also shows flights
that a second plane made that is being examined.

I spent last week in Las Vegas sadly missing the lip balm I had to give up
when I went through security, since I neglected to put it within the now
required plastic baggie. The entire process seems absurd, but at least I now
have plenty of bags after purchasing some and also getting one mailed to me
today by British Airways.

There was much discussion of the new rules among those I talked with out at
Pubcon. Everyone seemed to have a different story. Mine was being mildly annoyed
that my lip balm couldn’t just go in one of those plastic bins without being in
a bag. What exactly did putting the balm into a bag for scanning do that made it
more acceptable?

To be clear, I couldn’t drop the balm on its own in a plastic bin. However,
if it was security encased within a clear plastic bag, then dropped into the
bin, that was acceptable.

My friend found her plastic bag was verboten because it used an actual zipper
top, rather than a plastic zip. Another said she was told by security that the
bag had to be Ziploc brand. This produced
many chuckles that Johnson, which makes Ziploc, must have some secret deal going with
the government. "How we gonna get sales up? I know, let’s start a security scare
that only Ziploc bags can solve."

Another friend had a plastic bag, but it was an ordinary sandwich bag that
couldn’t be resealed. That wasn’t acceptable. Why? Security told her she’s not
really supposed to open it after going through. That was clearly mistaken, but
the idea that the bag needs to be resalable makes no real sense.

In fact, the purpose of the bags themselves remain a mystery. I want to know
exactly how the new rules are stopping potential terrorist activities, but I’m
afraid that the response would be that if I was told, that might help the
terrorists.

Over at the US TSA site, I was bemused

to read:

Please keep in mind that these rules were developed after extensive
research and understanding of current threats.

Honestly, I want to see the lab where the testing happened, where by placing
these items within a plastic bag, they were rendered harmless.

Another friend turned up all smug that he’d been to the TSA site and was all
hip to 3-1-1. That’s the
TSA trying to communicate that you can have:

• Liquidy stuff in containers that are 3 ounces or less
• Items in 1 quart bags
• 1 bag per person

If you don’t deal in ounces and quarts, then I guess it’s 100-20-1, for 100ml
containers in a 20x20cm bag, one bag per person.

Many of us wondered why the TSA doesn’t provide bags right there at screening
points that can be
used. You aren’t required to keep this stuff in the bag after going through
security. The only purpose to the bag, says the TSA in its
Why The
Bag page, is:

Consolidating the bottles into one bag and X-raying separately enables
security officers to examine the declared items. By reducing clutter in the
carry-on bag, security officers can more easily find prohibited items within
the bag.

Fine — make bags available for the people who might suggest, instead of the
incredible waste that continues to go on where all this stuff is dumped. Once
the bag is used for screening, let people leave it for the next person to use.
If by chance you get a bag flagged as possibly having explosive contents, then
don’t reuse that bag.

Providing bags might also gain more support for separation of these items.
Several people I know simply left lip balms or other liquid-like items in their
bags either on purpose or accidentally, and these weren’t caught. Those doing it
on purpose might have complied if bags had been offered, which ultimately helps
the TSA. Those who got stuff through accidentally further highlight that these
rules seem more about making us feel safer rather than actually making us safer.

Then again, who feels that safe when after getting through security, I was
later allowed to board my aircraft without showing any picture ID. Just a
boarding pass was enough. I know that supposedly I was in a "secure" area and
checked once getting through security, but it still felt odd that no one did a
further check that the person who was supposed to be getting on the plane
actually was that person.

One of my friends, wanting to keep her lip gloss, went back from security and
found a gift shop selling bags for 25 cents. Matt Cutts made me chuckle when he
saved his toothpaste

by finding a baggie in his luggage at the last minute. He even managed to
get a 7 tube through, rather than the 3
ounces you’re supposedly limited to per container.

Actually, it turns out the TSA agent wasn’t bending the rules for Matt. If you
do have something bigger than three ounces by mistake, the guidelines say:

1. Separate these items from the liquids, gels, and aerosols in your
   quart-size and zip-top bag.
2. Declare you have the items to one of our Security Officers at the security
   checkpoint.
3. Present these items for additional inspection once reaching the X-ray.
   These items are subject to additional screening.

Of course, what the guidelines say and what the TSA actually does are two
different things. Back during that brief time when the remove your shoes rule
was relaxed, I actually tried going through with them on. Naturally, I got
stopped. I said, as politely and meekly and in as non-terrorizing manner as I
could that I read on the TSA site that morning that shoe removal was voluntary.

The TSA guy agreed it was. Then he said he also had discretion to stop anyone
for further screening. So I could wear my shoes and have a pretty good chance he
might decide to stop me for a further look afterward, I was told.

I removed my shoes.

By the way, I now have the perfect shoes that I’ll wear on my next trip to
SES Chicago
in a week, just for the airport. These are some Vans slip-ons I was trilled to
find out in Las Vegas:

See, I’m no threat! Should you need a pair, you’ll find there

here at the Vans online store.

Back to baggies, on my return home to the UK, I was fully equipped. During my
regular Target run for the usual essentials (some DVDs, pack of Oreos, Goldfish
crackers, a Zune), I grabbed a pack of baggies. Yes, quart-sized. Yes, I even
went for Ziploc brand.

For the record, none of the brands I looked at said "Meets TSA requirements"
on the boxes. That’s inevitably going to happen. I give it a month to three
months before we see that on boxes all resealable bags, as they discover an
entire new market.

The bag worked a charm. I got my lip balm, a deodorant stick and some
toothpaste through just fine. I’ve also put about five extra in my backpack, so that I
can distribute them to poor lost souls without. Heck, I’m tempted to carry an
entire box around to leave behind at security checkpoints for others to use.

In the mail today, what kicked off this post was yet another bag. This came
to me from British Airways, which I thought was pretty nice. I don’t know if
every frequent flyer with them gets one or only certainly levels (I’m in the
middle as a silver member). But the bag contained a flyer explaining all the
rules.

Unfortunately, while this baggie might work to get my stuff out of the UK, it
technically won’t meet the US rules to get stuff back out of the US. The UK

allows 8 inch by 8 inch bags. The US
allows "quart" bags,
where the sizing is 8 inch by 7.5 inch. I doubt the extra 0.5 inch will be a
problem, but sheesh — how about some consistency.

I’m no fan of British
Airways, but
this story (paid sub. required) from the Wall Street Journal gives me
another reason to think again before doing a BA flight. Last year, after an
engine flamed out minutes after takeoff from Los Angeles, the pilots decided to
"get as far as we can" with the remaining three engines on a trans-Atlantic
flight to London. They made it to Manchester, with an emergency landing over
fears of running out of fuel.

LAX’s air traffic controllers saw the flame-out when the plane was only 300
feet in the air and prepared to guide it back. Was the decision prompted by
costs? The Wall Street Journal covers out $30,000 in fuel would have been
dumped, plus $275,000 owed in compensation under the EU’s delayed flight rules.

BA denies costs were a factor. BA says continuing on posed "no evidence" of a
significant increase in risk. Of course not — I mean if it did, you’d think
they would have had to do an emergency landing some place — oh, yeah, they did.

The story gets into a fight between the US FAA and the UK’s Civil Aviation
Authority. The FAA wanted to fine BA $25,000, despite a UK regulatory ruling
that seemed to find things were OK. The FAA then quietly dropped its attempt,
after the CAA said it would push for changes to BA’s procedures when flying in
US airspace.

The story goes on to say the UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch found BA
has flown 747s to long-haul destinations 15 times since April 2001. Three other
airlines polled said they have policies similar to BAs; two require the plane to
land, if it has not reached cruising altitude and one had no policy. The other
airlines aren’t named in the article.

As much as I hate British Airways, I love Virgin Atlantic for some of the reasons I’ve explained here. The only thing that really spoils my VA love is the insanity if you want to use your frequent flyer miles or other perks they offer you.

Decided to treat yourself by upgrading from Economy to Premium Economy or Upper Class? Make sure you aren’t trying to do it from the lowest fare level. You can’t upgrade at all from some fare classes.

For example, I’m looking at a flight in February from London Heathrow to Boston. Cost in Premium Economy? That’s £847 pounds. Now let’s say I want to upgrade to Upper Class using miles on one or both legs of the trip. No can do. As Virgin tells you in the small print, you can only upgrade from a full adult fare in W, S, Y, B, L and M classes — whatever these are. Got your secret fare class decoder ring handy?

So what’s the lowest you can spend on a Premium Economy flight to qualify to then do a mileage upgrade to Upper Class? That’s £1,147 — £300 more for the ability to then spend miles to sit in the nice, big seats and sleep if you want (the Wall Street Journal had a nice article yesterday on American trying to match seats on Virgin or BA. Believe me, fully flat is not just a marketing ploy, if you’re really trying to sleep).

Frankly, if I’ve earned these miles on Virgin in large part because of my loyalty to them, it sucks to be told certain tickets aren’t eligible for upgrading. But the craziness doesn’t stop there.

Going on a trip with the family? How about using a companion ticket, where you pay for one ticket and get the other free, all for spending miles. Sounds great — but as above, you can only do it with tickets in certain fare classes. If you wanted to do it for the Boston trip above, you’d still have to pay the higher £1,147 fare to take someone with you.

I also get a companion ticket each year because I have a Virgin credit card. It’s a nice pitch they give you — take a companion free on a trip. But again, this only works if you buy a full fare ticket. In some cases, the amount you spend to do this is more than just buying two tickets and not using the companion reward all. True, you’ll be buying non-refundable, non-changeable tickets. But still, the pitch of a free companion flight deserves a better qualification.

Virgin’s doing this again right now. Virgin’s shifting its credit card from MasterCard to American Express and trying to get us all to change over to Amex. There are lots of reasons to do it, from the big mileage bonuses they’re handing out as an introduction to the ability to earn two free economy-to-premium economy upgrades per year.

Look at the pitch about the black card here.

It’s the fastest way to earn a complimentary companion reward flight*. Spend just £7,500 on the Virgin Atlantic Black Card each year and you’ll get a complimentary round trip companion reward ticket the next time you book a qualifying flight with Virgin Atlantic.

It’s the only way to get a Premium Economy reward upgrade**. Spend £5,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Black Card each year and you’ll get a round trip Premium Economy reward upgrade flight the next time you book a qualifying reward flight in Economy.

It’s always those asterisks that mess everything up. Let’s jump down to those, and I’ll highlight the key part that’s buried:

*Complimentary companion reward flight
If your card purchases equal or exceed £7,500 in a year, you will receive a complimentary companion reward flight the next time you book a qualifying flight with Virgin Atlantic. Card purchases exclude cash transactions, payments by credit card cheques and balance transfers. A year is defined by the 12 month period starting from the date you opened your Virgin Atlantic Credit Card account. MBNA will notify Virgin Atlantic of your eligibility within 30 days of you becoming eligible. One complimentary companion reward round trip flight to main cardmember only.

**Premium Economy reward upgrade
Spend £5,000 on card purchases by the end of any year and you will receive a Premium Economy reward upgrade the next time you redeem your Flying Club miles for a qualifying Economy redemption flight with Virgin Atlantic. Plus, spend another £5,000 in that year and earn another Premium Economy reward upgrade. The main cardmember only can earn a maximum of two Premium Economy reward upgrades per card account in any one year. Card purchases exclude cash transactions, payments by credit card cheques and balance transfers. A year is defined by the 12 month period starting from the date you opened your Virgin Atlantic Credit Card account. MBNA will notify Virgin Atlantic of your eligibility within 30 days of the end of the year if you are eligible.

Cardmembers must pay related taxes, fees and charges relating to the complimentary reward flight and reward upgrade. These will vary according to the qualifying destination, and are subject to change as a result of fluctuations in taxes, airport levies and exchange rates. Flights and routes subject to availability. Please note, discounted flights are not classed as qualifying flights. Tickets and Premium Economy reward upgrades are valid for 12 months from the date of issue. This offer may be withdrawn or amended at any time. Flying Club Terms & Conditions apply. You will not earn this incentive if you have not provided MBNA with a valid Flying Club membership number at the point you become eligible for a complimentary companion reward flight or Premium Economy reward upgrade.

Got it? Discounted flights are not classed as qualifying flights. And what is a discounted flight? That’s not defined, but I can assure you it won’t be the lowest priced ticket you can find on the Virgin Atlantic web site.

Virgin also has another program called Miles Plus Money. The idea here is that by spending a few miles, you can get a discounted fare. How discounted? Not much. That Boston trip above? Miles Plus Money knocks it down by £180 to £667, about 20 percent off.

That’s not bad compared to some other fares I’ve seen in the past. Earlier this year, I was booking a trip for a family member to New York. The regular premium economy rate was £820, and Miles Plus Money knocked it down by only £80, a 10 percent reduction.

Aside from all this, availability goes pretty fast. Book early, as far in advance as you can, most especially if it falls anytime near a school holiday. Only a relatively small number of seats are allocated for “reward” usage, and this group of seats goes to anyone using mileage, miles plus money, companion tickets and so on.

I wrote Virgin earlier this year about all these problems I find with their Flying Club loyalty program. Here’s the response:

I was concerned to read you’re experiencing difficulty when trying to redeem miles for reward seats, and your comments have been noted.

If I may explain, the allocation of reward seats on flights is the responsibility of our Reservations Control department. All reward flights are subject to availability and capacity control; popular dates (i.e. weekends, school and public holidays) will fill quickly and Virgin Atlantic reserves the right to limit the number of seats available for rewards. Also, reward seats are released sometimes up to 11 months prior to a flight departure and the allocation can be used fairly quickly. We strongly advise to book as far in advance as possible.

We try to ensure that the Miles Plus Money fares available to you as a Flying Club member are amongst the most competitive in the marketplace. However, the setting of fare levels is reflective of market conditions and we cannot guarantee that this will always be the case. We recommend asking at the time of booking for the lowest available fares.

The companion reward does require a qualifying full adult fare to be purchased. I have to agree that for you the companion reward tickets are perhaps not beneficial, though for members that are not paying for their travel themselves and require a fully flexible ticket, they are popular (i.e. for a business traveller who would like to take their partner).

With the exception of Miles Plus Money, all Flying Club reward seats are only bookable in reward seat booking classes.

We are still very generous in terms and rewarding loyalty, and reward seats are released on ALL flights. Whilst remaining sympathetic, it would not be feasible for us to offer a greater number of reward seats on each flight.

As a valued Flying Club Gold member, we appreciate your feedback whether good or bad as we continually look towards improving our product and service. Your valuable comments have been logged and reported to the relevant Managers, in order for them to review your suggestions and implement any changes they feel are necessary to further develop our frequent flyer programme. However, I’m unable to detail our plans for the future.

It is very much appreciated that you have also taken time out to express your gratitude for the telephone service that we have provided.

Thank you for your candid approach. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon.

I really do hope they make more mileage seats available and consider dropping the entire requirement that you have to know what mystery classes qualify if you want to do a mileage upgrade or use a companion ticket.

In the meantime, a few last tips, for those thinking about Virgin and pondering the big seats.

• Premium Economy generally does not provide laptop power, which is sucky. But the seats are big, comfortable, and the discounted non-refundable Premium Economy fares are often good value for those who want more space to work.
• A bonus to booking Premium Economy is that Virgin generally overbooks seats in this area. And where do you go if they are overbooked? Usually into Upper Class. There’s a slight chance you might get downgraded to Economy, but I’ve only seen that happen once in my years of flying with them (and it wasn’t to me). Premium Economy is an excellent way to get into Upper Class without paying the expensive Upper Class price — and the odds increase you’ll upgraded if you are a Silver or Gold card holder with Virgin.
• If you don’t get an automatic upgrade, after the ticketing is done, then ask about purchasing an upgrade. Often seats that they’ve held back for weeks are released on the day you fly, and the ticket desks at the airport have far more flexibility about letting you upgrade by paying a relatively small amount or using miles. And yes, sometimes you can even do this from those tickets that supposedly aren’t upgradeable.

I just posted about the struggle to find my lost DS Lite left behind on a recent British Airways flight. That’s strike two with me recently for the airline, with strike one being my fun experience in Munich not being able to board an earlier flight. But in fairness, I’ve been meaning to write about another flight with them where BA came through with flying colors.

It was when I was coming back from our SES Toronto trip. I plunked down my eticket information, then was shocked out of airline check in desk boredom when I was told the flight I was booked on wasn’t going until the next day.

What?!!!

Turns out, the travel agent had accidentally booked me in on the wrong day. I’d double-checked dates before booking literally about three times, but I failed to do that crucial last check when the ticket was finally issued. It was indeed for the next day.

I got shunted over to another desk, where the clerk told me changing it would be hugely expensive. Then after a little typing, she handed me a ticket to get me out that day — in fact, out on a flight earlier than I’d originally planned (I’d gotten to the airport very early, so had plenty of time to make this).

So thank you, BA. It was totally a case where they didn’t have to do this, though I suspect that perhaps the flight I was on the next day was overbooked. That was the case with the original flight I thought I was getting on.

Coming back from Miami yesterday, I made the mistake of leaving my Nintendo DS Lite in the storage underneath my seat on British Airways, forgetting it when I left the plane. Since then, it’s been both an enlightening and frustrating experience to learn how poorly the company handles lost items.

Before I’d even left the airport, about 30 to 45 minutes after leaving the plane, I realized I’d left the DS in its game case on the plane. I was getting into my car outside the terminal, so I couldn’t dash into a BA counter for help. Instead, I phoned the main BA number for advice and to see if someone could get it off the aircraft.

I was given a number to call (it was 0208-745-7727, for others who might have lost property at Heathrow). Unfortunately, the office wasn’t open (this was about 7:45am). So I drove to the petrol station at the airport to fill my tank and wait a bit, figuring that it was worthwhile to stay there a bit longer, in case they could get my property quickly.

When someone answered, I quickly learned that BA doesn’t handle lost property themselves. Instead, they contract this out to the Excess Baggage Company, which also handles lost property for all of Heathrow. I was told there was no way they could go onto the plane to check for my DS. Instead, I had to wait until after 11am, for when they get a bulk delivery of everything that is found left on BA planes.

I waited until around 1pm and called back. Nope, nothing was found. I was told to try again the next day, then to try again for seven days altogether. And if it didn’t turn up, then it was probably stolen.

Great. I know security is all about keeping things off of airplanes, but you’d think there were some procedures in place to log what comes off plus you’d hope that items left behind weren’t going to be stolen by those servicing the aircraft.

I decided to try BA again. I called the main number, then was routed over this time to someone from the Aircraft Search department. Aircraft Search? Yes, he explained to me that I should have been sent to this department when I called originally. Had that happened, someone would have gone onto the plane and gotten my DS off.

BA never mentioned this when I called originally, nor did Excess Baggage mention this when I called them as instructed. That sucks, because it would have greatly increased the odds of getting my DS back (along with its game case, headphones and five games).

Next, I tried calling BA Customer Relations, to see if they could do anything to speed up the search process and if there was going to be any compensation if the DS had indeed turned out to be stolen, especially since I’d been incorrectly routed on my call. After about 15 minutes on hold, I decided to take up the offer and send in a request for help via the web. Using this form, off it went. A full day later, I’ve had no response. I’m glad I wasn’t emailing about some lost prescription medicine I needed or anything super crucial.

I had enough energy for one last attempt. I called Excess Baggage again. This time, the agent explained that no deliveries had come in from BA at all in the latest shipment, increasing the chances that my item had been found and not delivered, rather than stolen. I was told again to try back the next day, after 11am.

That’s what I did today. Sadly, it hasn’t come in yet. I was told to keep checking for another five days, especially since my flight came into Terminal 3, which BA rarely uses. That could add to the delay in getting it to me.

I also asked if there was a way to know if any items were found on a particular flight. It seems like it should be pretty easy for someone to check a database somewhere rather than me being kept guessing to see if my DS turns up in the Great Lost Property Lottery. I was told that BA does fill out a paper showing what flights items were found on, but these aren’t given to Excess Baggage.

I went back to BA. Didn’t they have a database they could check? No. But what about these records that are logged? No info on that, other than there was nothing for the customer service agent to check. Would they be compensating me for the loss? No, especially since it could have been taken by one of the other passengers.

I doubt that. I came back business class on BA. The seats all have these little lockable storage compartments under them. The DS wasn’t sitting out on display, for someone to walk off with. For another passenger to have taken it, they would have had to open all the little compartments under each seat when leaving. I highly doubt this happened.

No, if the DS is gone, this is what happened:

• Someone working directly or indirectly for BA checking all the compartments found it, took it and failed to log it.
• The aircraft wasn’t fully checked and cleaned (which wouldn’t surprise me), and so another passenger came across it when sitting in my seat.

Heck, for all I and BA knows, it might be sitting in that compartment still, flying around the skies. People don’t tend to use the compartments, from what I can see. I rarely do because I’m paranoid that I might forget about putting something in them (which is exactly what happened).

Even the customer service rep agreed that if the DS doesn’t turn up, it’s not likely that another passenger took it. And so I wait, hoping the next five days might have better news.

The loss won’t be a crisis for me, of course. I can get another DS and suffer the embarrassment of taking less care of mine than I always warn the kids to do with theirs! It’s more annoying, than anything. It’s definitely my fault for forgetting the darn thing. But I’m really surprised at how unresponsive BA was in trying to find it when I called, especially at a time when it was more likely to get found. Frankly, they didn’t really seem to care. I’ll keep that in mind.

My earlier rant about the no smoking light on airplanes will make more sense with this post, which also involved taking my camera into the lavatory. Don’t panic! There’s nothing to shield your eyes from other than perhaps a strange juxtaposition of smoking/no smoking signs. Seated upon your aerial throne, you’re greeted with this confusing situation, as you look at the door:

OK, it looks a bit weird because I had to take three shots to get the whole thing and then piece them together. But you’ll get the point. Down below, you’ve got two signs telling you where to put the ashes from your cigarette. Yet up above, you’re told three different times not to smoke (and even more if you could see the signs over the sink).

Hey, I can’t even remember the last time I was on a flight that allowed smoking. Maybe long, long ago when I was still a teenager, perhaps. So why on earth do these modern planes still have ashtrays in the bathrooms?

Second question — if you are going to have an ashtray but not allow smoking, perhaps there should be a no smoking sign over it, rather than one that looks like an invitation?!!!

Third, you’ll be happy to know that if you should violate the law, it will cost less in the UK (about $1,900 at the current exchange rate) than in the US. The picture below explains all: