British Airways Reviews

I usually like British Air (actually love it) but not this trip. I could have chosen my seat before 24hrs before flight if I wanted to pay for it ( didn’t tell me how much).I chose to wait but even though I had done VeriFLy, had a “Pass” on the BA site and ticked all the boxes I could not confirm my flight. This was with multiple attempts throughout the 24 hrs before. So no seat assignment/choice and continuing message that they were sorry and maybe it was due to inability to confirm my health status. However they already had everything since the had everything according to the site Pass. Tried chat mode and it was useless and kept ending while I waited to speak to a representative. Tried the Ai but no help. Tried Twitter with no response. As I approached the airport (LHR) I was magically allowed to check in and wonder if wonders was assigned a middle seat. Back of the plane. Not able to change seating online. Was only a few seats anyway because apparently another flight was canceled so everyone filled this flight! So now here I am at the gate at 10:06 for a plane that was supposed to board at 9:25am. Nothing happening and no announcement. The only, thus far, shining moment was tagging my bag (Please ask for assistance kiosk) where the assistant asked if I really wanted the middle seat and was able to get me an aisle seat. Of course, not on the plane yet but I am at the gate!

We booked 2 tickets from British Airways to Turkey Sept. 9th for a January 16 flight. In October, Turkey began a series of changes in Visa requirements for US citizens wanting to travel to Turkey. I’ll skip all those details now since I’m reviewing British Airways but at each step of not being able to get into Turkey, we called British Airways to find our options (refund, voucher, etc.). Each time BA assured us that we’d get our visas and and to wait. They would only refund taxes and fees, about $990 (customer service wouldn’t say a monetary figure) out of $3500. We waited and tried monthly. Finally, after getting approved for an appointment for an in person visa interview with Turkey, the only available interview was in January, the day before our flight. Then there’s a two week approval window. So no visa and when we called about refund options, the refund offered now was $187. I believe since BA is government subsidized, there was a conscious delay process to permit the government to continue to collect time released taxes. I’d enjoyed multiple Economy Comfort step up seats and comfort and thought I’d found a comfortable way to travel. I’ll now take my business to another airline. I forgot to say, but when I calmly said to the BA customer service agent when offered $187, that I might as well hold onto my seat so BA could not resell the seat, she hung up on me. Fly US and suffer with the tight seating.

BritishAirways as a whole doesn’t function well from a technical perspective. The user interface, in theory, is pretty well thought out, but I can’t enjoy any of it because of the technical difficulties I’ve been having with BritishAirways . This is coming from what you would consider a power user - I’m not your grandma and using a smartphone for the first time. When it’s difficult for someone who thoroughly understands the inner workings of mobile applications (+3 of her tech-savvy friends), you have a problem. An example of a use case is earlier when I attempted to check in for my flight, got to the final step, and BritishAirways crashed. I then decided to check in via the web and the process showed several discrepancies. I also couldn’t get my mobile boarding pass unless I went back to BritishAirways and finished my check in process, which I couldn’t actually complete because of aforementioned difficulties.

There really needs to be some significant technical adjustments to BritishAirways . For an airline that is highly sought after, your app is severely lacking. I’m happy to provide more detailed feedback if needed.

It’s sometime hard to separate the corporations from the computing presence they project with their apps. I’ve lived and worked in Silicon Valley CA for over 30 years and there we have a consensus among our friends that it’s possible to forecast a company’s future by the quality of its Internet presence. This does not bode well for BA as this iOS app projects a backward stagnation. Unfortunately I find it frustrating to write these reviews as the people who read the feedback cannot present it to those in charge since their culture is usually the cause of the technology gap and they just can’t bridge it.
Update:
As I continue to use BritishAirways over many years and get hit with layer after layer of bugs and mishaps that inconvenience BA customers and club members, I wonder when will the responsible executive be dragged through the streets of London with tar and feathers - I guess never... it’s equivalent to BA’s running of T5 in month one, but just in a permanent state.

There was a time when I found the BA iPhone app helpful and functional. It appears that it has undergone some sort of redesign that has rendered it near useless. Basic airline app functions like selecting seats and checking in are tortuous and frequently impossible. Navigation is not intuitive and endless loops of error messages are standard. The redesign seems to have moved BritishAirways from a native iPhone design to directing one to a smart-phone version of the (horrible) BA web site. On every page, I get a message at the top of the screen advising me to install the BA iPhone app, as if I haven’t already thought of that and am indeed already in it. The inability to do anything useful on BritishAirways forces me to stand in long queues and/or call BA for things that on other airlines I can efficiently do myself with their apps.

I logged in 24 hours before flight to choose business class seat (let’s leave out that a business class customer should be able to reserve a seat upon purchase and not have to pay extra for it) but when I checked in I found a seat had been chosen for me and it was impossible to change it. The site said I could choose my seat but no option was available for doing that, though a box saying “choose seat for next flight” had me thinking that was the place since my NEXT flight is the first leg not yet taken. The box should have said RETURN flight not “next”. I tried to find a BA phone number after choosing my country from drop down menu as instructed and then? There was NOTHING. Truly a miserable website app and experience so far.

Overall, this is probably the very best airline app of the many I use. It’s simple to use, yet provides far more information and utility than any other I use. And it’s actually visually appealing. However, the Watch app doesn’t seem to work. Despite having a flight departing in five days, the Watch app says I don’t have any upcoming flights in the next seven days, even though I have two (both of which show in BritishAirways on my paired iPhone.) Having access to BritishAirways on the Watch is super useful while traveling, and the absence of this feature working correctly made me withhold a fifth star.

This Airline wants you to buy a ticket - take your seat, be quite & don’t ask for anything.

On 3 occasions I wanted to upgrade my seat to first class. None were available at the time of purchase. Day of the flight, first class seats became available - no one would process the upgrade & take my card! Not customer service, the check in counter, no one = god forbid

I have have flights delayed that interfere with obligations on the other end - they make no effort to help you out = has a flight to Chicago O’Hare delayed at Heathrow, then onto Denver with American Airlines on the same ticket. The plane at Heathrow breaks down - I asked them to put me onto a flight direct to Denver - plenty of seats availed = nope, not a chance. They don’t care that timing was of the essence.

As long as you don’t need, ask for anything or make an inquiry, take your seat, be silent = everything will be great :)

The only thing BA has going for them is cheap tickets to Europe from the US.

Now the brand new update to BritishAirways doesn’t work - can’t book flights cause BritishAirways crashes, there is no way to co tact them except to blast them here - there not going to read this anyway.

I will never book a flight with British Airways. I spent $1,100 on tickets but booked a spontaneous flight to Italy. I planned on missing one of my flights with plans to meet the second flight in London. When I called BA to inform them I was going to be a no show at the first location they informed me my second flight would be canceled due to a changed itinerary. THIS WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN MY CONFIRMATION EMAIL. I would have never booked my other flights. To make a long story short, I threw away over $1,000 trying to fix this mistake. When requesting a PARTIAL refund they simply informed that there was nothing they could do. Basically robbing me, while other passengers took advantage of my “no show” seats. Unbelievable! I will never fly BA again and will make sure my friends and family are aware as well.

This is the worst travel experience I’ve ever had. I had to wait 4 1/2 hours until BA was able to help me with a new flight which was for the next day. They were not prepared for the opening of US travel. Some agents didn’t know much at all. Many people missed their flights due to lack if organization. The next day when I tried to get an earlier flight, they told me that my ticket wasn’t issued properly and that my luggage wasn’t tacked at all. If I wouldn’t have tried to get on an earlier flight I might have had ti stay another unwanted night at the airport.
They should have prioritized the people with the earliest flight times to get them processed first due eliminate so many missed flights.

I checked in using the mobile app because I figured it would be more convenient to have a boarding pass on my mobile. Upon doing so it would allow me to check in but not change seats nor download my mobile boarding pass. Screen after screen kept telling me that my reservation number was invalid or that the session timed out and I need to start over. When logging in online it said I already was checked in therefore could not change seats any longer but if I wanted to download my boarding pass on my mobile I need to use BritishAirways . If BritishAirways actually worked all of that would make sense but since it does it doesn’t I am left frustrated and without. This will be my first time playing on British Airways and so far I’m not impressed.

I travel regularly and have rarely if never had such a negative experience flying. The attendants on the flight were rude to start. Then airline lost my luggage and I didn’t receive it for a FUL 7 DAYS, costing me hundreds in expenses because I was on important work trip and I had essential equipment in my bag. By the time I received my bag, my work was done and it was time to fly back. Then, on the way back, somehow the airline forgot that I purchased a checked bag and made me pay $70 to check my bag, the very bag they lost to begin with, truly adding insult to injury. The manager at the check in desk would not listen to my concerns and walked away as I was trying to both explain and understand this issue. I will NEVER fly this airline again.

Just as I thought, European airlines are better. In America we do not know how bad it is until we use an airline like British Airways. BritishAirways works well, the plane clean and even in coach there is good legroom. The flight attendants are super attentive to your needs. Even if the ticket costs a bit more than an American carrier, buy it!

The display is so bloated with everything BA wants to show you along with large branding images that users have to scroll down quite a ways in order to get to different functions. Not user centered.

They provide links for various offers and upgrades, but these are often not available. Huge disconnect between BritishAirways and reality.

They have a feedback link, but only users can only enter a general description of the problem with no connection to specific issues, pages or links. Reflective of BAs general disinterest in user feedback, lamentable as this could be used for improvement.

BA just keeps getting worse and worse!! Of the four flights booked, two were cancelled, ended up having a 8 hour stopover at Heathrow only then to get a further 3 hour delay, most of which was in the aircraft. Pathetic explanations and excuses, and an attitude of just “don’t care” Lost a whole day of my holiday, by the time my arrival into Newcastle I was too late for my Covid appointment and rental car office was closed. Lost most of the following day to rebooking Covid tests, car rentals and hotels. Still have to endure my return flights! After two years of using the Covid excuse, I would have thought BA management would be in a better position to run their business. But obviously NOT!!

I want to give it negative stars but cannot. When I first tried to check in, I couldn’t for scream hours. BritishAirways is the slowest one I’ve ever used. Have to get back in multiple times because it crashes constantly. Why do I have to put my passport number in every time? Why won’t it save it? Same for email. Also, why after I’ve checked in and gotten a boarding pass do I get a push notification telling me to check in and then it shows I’m not. BritishAirways is worthless. I’m deleting it after I get home and never using it again. Absolute waste of time. You should fire the designer and whoever works on it. They are not qualified to maintain an app and are stealing money from your company.

Ps. Nickname? What the hell?

If I could give this zero stars I would. Maybe this is all due to Covid restrictions around the world, but they insist on using the VeriFLY app which isn’t supported by BA for all its flights. Second, even when you have VeriFLY set up and filled out for a route that is supported check-in is spotty. For the exact same flights I could check-in but my fiancé could not. Then, when trying to select seats, it wouldn’t even give me a map to see other available seat selections. BritishAirways itself opens browser windows within BritishAirways and has a pop-up banner asking you to open the page you are viewing in BritishAirways … clearly developed by amateurs or a Monty Python acting troupe.

It still appears BA is unable to produce an application for iOS (or web) that works consistently and reliably. It’s been a multi year effort with little improvement thus 2 stars not 1.
You can go and check-in only to be told you can’t get your boarding passes due to passports/visa verification. You go in through an alternate route and behold boarding passes abound. Then it refuses your partner’s boarding pass and you have to log in with their BA app to get a boarding pass - funny not haha.
Just one of many bugs as the iOS app switched in and out of web mode. Just sloppy execution and negligent QA.

I love British Airways but their app. Is a bit lacking - it simply does not update frequently enough.
I use SW a lot and their app. Is amazing and always up to date - this can be super helpful when there are potential flight delays etc. it not I it keeps you updated with times, but with gates, which is very important when you have limited time.
The gate for BA/AA flight from London to DFW was shown in the terminal way before BritishAirways . In fact, we are not long before boarding and it still has not updated!!!!
This renders BritishAirways . pretty useless for the most part if it cannot be relied upon.
Disappointing.

I’m flying with British airways and BritishAirways is so unorganized and confusing. My bookings kept getting cancelled and instead of refreshing my new flights the old ones pop up at the top. This is so confusing because I have to click on at least five previous cancelled flights until I find the right one. You guys need to add a feature where we can delete cancelled flights and where only our actual flights will show up. You guys should also include more information on our paid ticket types such as baggage weight requirements etc.

1. Could do with a way to book award flights using Avios.
2. Desperately needs an option to add the Executive Club card to Passbook. BA employees at lounges usually can’t scan the barcode off the small card that displays in BritishAirways because either a) the barcode doesn’t show or b) when it does show, it’s grainy.
3. The “retain (insert BAEC tier here)” never matches the website. Apparently to retain silver, I need 230 more tier points and 0 of 4 flights have been completed. The “or” says 3 of 50 eligible flights have been completed. The website correctly states I need 230 more tier points and 1 more flight (it shows 3 of 4 flights have been completed).
4. Progress to the next tier could be a nice addition to BritishAirways along with what I need to retain the BAEC tier I’m in.
5. Getting to the seat selection page is a ballache. You click select seats and it takes you to the manage booking page, click select seats there and it’ll take you back to the same page. You have to select the flight within manage my booking to find select seats in the drop down under a particular flight (even though you already did that in BritishAirways under a particular flight before it sent you to the browser), and then choose them there. All the while, the top of the screen above the mini browser says “select seats”... I could be adding my passport number or selecting a meal in that and it’ll still say “select seats” up the top...

I’m waiting to board a flight with BA to LHR and connect with BA 247 to Sao Paulo. The lady that did my checkin was very unfriendly and had the wrong attitude to be in contact with customers (and she is working in the “Business Class” desk! - I think we (customers) should be able to evaluate airport agents instantly upon completion of checkin as we do after calls, after using your app etc. Maybe this would help “shaping” a seemless excellent customer service at BA! Certainly with the high unemployment affecting France, BA could do a better job at recruitment and selection for airport jobs.

1) why ba doesn’t provide boarding time?
2) why does BritishAirways , despite having my name and booking and flight info still require me to put in booking number to change seat???? It pops up a PROMPT asking me to if I wish to change seat but then the process to do so is a nightmare
3) same for adding luggage...I assume you want my money right?? Why don’t you make it easier for me to pay for these amenities??? It just took me 30 min to check in, pay add luggage and change seat. 30 min!!!!! Other apps are way better in this respect and frankly I will demand that my agency never books me ba flights again

I think it is a good app, but it’s somewhat basic in what it offers users. There is not an ability to search for a vacation package, I.e., a flight and a hotel or a flight and car. It takes an inordinate amount of time to search for those individually, then bundle them.

I’d like to have an ability to view more detail in my account as well.

Overall it is a good app, but a bit more tweaking would make it much better.

Have always liked BritishAirways but got a bit miffed on a recent business trip when trying to get the final mobile boarding pass for my last flight. Not able to do so apparently because the overall itinerary of flights was too long to display.....what??? Those flights are gone already. Should be an easy bug to fix and then you get that extra star back 😄