British Airways Will Repay Customers After Fraud Ruling

by Josh Lew on

If you flew British Airways between the U.S. and England from August 11, 2004 to March 23, 2006, you may be in luck. BA was caught charging passengers a fuel surcharge that went beyond the actual cost of the gas. The scandal also involved Virgin Atlantic, so travelers who flew with that airline during the above dates are eligible to get in on the action.

Don’t start getting excited or jumping up and down like you’ve won the lottery. The maximum refund per person will be around $20. Still, that’s four beers or five lattes or a fairly decent haircut (in some cities).

Those who are eligible for a refund can apply online with their ticket info, passport number, or frequent flier card. Those who didn’t fly BA or Virgin can still feel good because, for once, big airlines got caught with their hands in passengers’ pockets.

With most airlines going out of their way to cut costs and nickel and dime passengers with added fees, it might not be the last time something like this happens.

Several BA and Virgin execs involved in the surcharge scandal will be doing some hard time after being charged with fraud.

Related Article

10 tips for smarter flying


British Airways and Iberia to MERGE

by Grant Martin on

Word coming in from Australia’s The Age is that British Airways plans to merge with Spanish national carrier Iberia in light of the tightened economy and fierce competition. The two are said to be in advanced talks in preparation for a merger, though several reports from the wire proffer conflicting reports about how complete the deals is.

Surprisingly, the European Union has already granted the two carriers permission to merge, in a process that is astonishingly faster than that in the United States (case in point, Northwest and Delta).

Operationally, the merger wouldn’t be outrageous; BA already owns a large part of Iberia, they are both in the Oneworld Alliance and both have a strong presence in Western Europe. And the unity of the two carriers would make BA a stronger player in the EU and transatlantic market…

At the very least, perhaps BA will enlighten Iberia a little bit on how to make their airline a little bit less of a crap bag. I have flown on IB several times in the past few years and am still dumbfounded at the poor quality of service on the carrier.

Details on the entire event are starting to come into focus as data stream into the interwebs — we’ll let you know how and if the merger works out.

Open Skies: Transfer in from Orly

by Grant Martin on

Several people that I have spoken with have expressed concern that Open Skies doesn’t fly into Charles De Gaulle, the main airport in Paris. Is Orly further out and harder to get to than CDG?

No, it’s not. It actually might be closer. To transfer in from ORY, you can use several options which I’ll run through in order of risk/cost ratio – lowest risk, highest cost first.

Parisian cabs can be caught at the front of the airport, which is a short walk from the baggage claim. You can give your driver your hotel address and he’ll take you straight there, or, since you flew in on Open Skies you can call the concierge, give the phone to the driver and let them sort it out. Bear in mind that this will probably cost you over 50 Euro.

The Orly bus also picks you up at the front of the airport and will drop you off at various locations in downtown Paris. Since you’re getting in around rush hour, expect a bit of traffic and a 30 – 40 minute commute, but nothing spectacularly uncomfortable, time consuming or expensive. Tickets are around 10 Euro.

You can also connect to the commuter rail, or RER, via the Orlyval, ORY’s version of the Airtrain. That train will drop you off at RER B’s Antony station, which will take you about 15 minutes to get into the center of Paris. You can buy a ticket at the airport for about 9,20E that should connect you all of the way through, just keep your ticket handy because you have to swipe it on the way out.

Continue onward to Return trip logistics or skip ahead to

The final word

%Gallery-27040%

Open Skies: Online check in

by Grant Martin on

Twenty four hours before departure, I got an email from Open Skies telling me that online check-in was open. I took a quick gander over to the website, plugged in my confirmation number and last name then clicked “Manage my booking”. In turn, the site asked for my passport information then took me to the seat selection website.

This is where things got a little tricky. Things may have been complicated a little because I was on a press ticket with several exceptions in the reservation, so the online system had trouble automatically checking me in. At first I thought that this was a problem with the website (I had the same trouble on the return trip), but I met several people who had successfully checked in online so can only blame my specific reservation.

Given that I had plenty of time to connect the next day, I shrugged off the problem and decided to check in then at the airport.

Continue onward to Arrival and check in or skip ahead to

In flight: Economy
In flight: Prem +
In flight: Biz
Transfer in from Orly
Return trip logistics
The final word

%Gallery-27040%

Open Skies: In flight Economy

by Grant Martin on

Looking at the economy configuration, you don’t immediately see many differences between the Open Skies product and any other transoceanic carrier.

But a closer look at the product reveals the perks. Seats are new, all-leather and surprisingly comfortable. With only about thirty seats in the cabin, there is a quieter, personal feel in the area, which means that if the baby three rows ahead of you starts crying it’s not going to reverberate as dramatically. The back of the plane, rows 18 – 14 make up the economy section with a hard bulkhead at the front, so if you’re concerned about legroom don’t sit in row 14.

Like other transoceanic carriers, both recline and legroom are limited in this section as well (I poked my head around the seat and decided not to recline into the dinner of the woman behind me), but such is the nature of coach.

Once airborne, an Archos 705 portable media player (many with the clear plastic still on the screen) chocked with 20 new releases and 42 TV shows including Ugly Betty, Family Guy and 30 Rock is dropped off. In addition, 66 musical artists with 777 titles are loaded as well as 10 simple interactive games. This In Flight Entertainment (IFE) is standard throughout the aircraft, although the headphones passed out in Economy and Prem + are a little flimsier than those given out in Biz.

Navigating the system is as simple as choosing French or English at startup and tapping what ever menu option you want on the screen. The entire system is refreshingly responsive, unlike many of the IFE that I have tested, which I partially believe is because the systems run independent from the aircraft. So when there’s a glitch in the server or row 10 isn’t working, the flight attendant doesn’t have to reboot the entire system. The bad part about this is that you don’t get integrated into the aircraft computer, so you don’t get GPS or network data, but the pros seem to outweigh these points.

In coach, these system strap to the back of the seat in front of you (or the bulkhead), while Prem + and Biz seats have dedicated arms and slots for the systems.

Meal service still has the same “chicken, pasta or fish” options with similar portions to other carriers. In spite of the portions, all meals are served on ceramic dishes with real flatware, so even if you aren’t eating better food you feel better about eating it. Food service is standard between Economy and Prem + as well, so you won’t be paying extra for that if you opt for second class tickets.

Continue onward to In flight: Prem + or skip ahead to

In flight: Biz
Transfer in from Orly
Return trip logistics
The final word

%Gallery-27040%