BA Customer Service

I meant to write this post at least three weeks ago when the actual events happened. I consider it my personal achievement because I won the battle with customer support.

Here is what happened. When I learned that my talk was accepted for PG Day UK, I wanted to book the flight immediately, but I had to wait for almost a month because our firm was switching to the new reservation system. The next day after the switch happened, I found out that I needed to book it on my own because it wouldn’t be reimbursed anyway, but the best prices were not available anymore. I rushed to book whatever was available, and since I used the BA website, I forgot to switch to the Finnair Plus loyalty program. As it turned out, it was impossible to do it in the “Manage reservation” menu, so I had to call customer support.

The first time, I called immediately after I made this reservation and realized the mistake I had made, but after waiting for forty minutes, I decided to give it another try. I made a second attempt two days later and, once again, gave up after almost an hour of waiting. Meanwhile, I have activated Avios transfer between BA and Finnair, but I still wanted to get points from my preferred program, especially because my anniversary is on September 30. I decided to make the third and final effort during the Labor Day weekend.

First, I spent almost an hour waiting. Finally, somebody picked up and then went on hold, verifying my trip locator, and finally disconnected. I was determined to follow through, so I dialed again and waited for another forty minutes. This time, finally, everything worked. Not only was my loyalty program updated, but they also listed all the extra bonuses I had with Finnair Plus. In the end, it was worth it, spending all this time, but I was ready to give up at least ten times!

It felt like the greatest achievement!

Mini-Vacation In Boston Day 0

My mini-vacation started with the horrific flight delay. I was so happy with how I planned Friday, avoiding the congestion at ORD by taking public transportation, only to depart five hours later than it was scheduled!

The good thing is that I was at the AA lounge, so I had food, drinks, and comfortable seating, and also I had instance access to customer service. Eventually, I was put on a flight that departed earlier than my original one. However, we were delayed a couple of times, even on that flight. The aircraft just started to gain ground speed and then stopped, and we were told we would need to wait for the storm to clear! So – one more adventure! At least I was able to get to my friend’s apartment in Boston five minutes after midnight, not in the middle of the night!

New York

Yesterday was the day of my Russian Consulate passport appointment, and at this moment, I am hesitant to say whether it was a good day or a bad day.

It went perfectly almost to the end. I managed to go to bed earlier the day before, so getting up at 3-15 AM was not horrible. Uber pretty much flew through empty streets, and I was at the airport at 4-30 AM. In eight minutes, I was through security (and had to wait until 5 AM for a lounge to open, just so that I could have breakfast). One more time, the AA lounge at ORD is perfect, and serve a high-end breakfast.

The arrival was on time, I took Uber to the consulate – it was way earlier than my appointment, and I asked whether I can come earlier. They suggested I come at noon (my appointment was at 12-40). I went for a walk, and I realized that I was just five minutes away form the Gugenheim Museum, so I went there (I had to wait for ten minutes for it to open). A big portion of the museum is closed for renovation, which was not bad, because I didn’t rush and focused on individual paintings. Then I walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir, and returned to the consulate by noon. No line, no Russian TV in the waiting room, they took my papers, took my picture, and my payment in cash. Twenty minutes later I was out. The security surprised me saying: see, it’s even before your appointment time! Now you can relax, sit down at the cafe and have a glass of wine! I replied that I better go to LaGuardia and have a glass of wine in the lounge, and called Uber. There was almost no traffic, and I actually had time to relax, to order an exquisite cocktail and to make several calls.

The flight was on time, and when I took my seat in the aircraft, I texted my neighbor that I will meet her at the Lyric Opera House at 7 PM. Everything was still fine, we were going to land ten minutes ahead of schedule, and a flight attendant already asked us to stove away our laptops and fasten our seat belts, and the plane was already descending, when, all of a sudden, we heard another announcement: we are going to land in Milwaukee!

What?!

It turned out, that a sever storm broke out of nowhere, and it was so bad that we could not land! it was also very swift, but since we already landed in Milwaukee, it took us another hour to get back in the air, including refueling and maps reloading :). It was for the first time in my life that something like that happened!

We landed at ORD at 7-15, and by the time I reached Lyric, it was 8-25, time for the intermission. And I was in such a rush, that I didn’t even stop tp grab a bite to eat at the airport, and when I was already at the Lyric, there were long lines to all concession stands (and there was no real food anyway!)

I still think that there was more of success than not on that day, but it was one of the longest and the most eventful days in my life!

Flying Back And How Did This Week Go

Flying back from Brussels was equally interesting. Since I had three separate reservations, I still had to fly back through Helsinki, but I also could not have a short connection in London because the next flight wouldn’t wait for me, and I didn’t want to lose one more day in transit. We took the last Sunday flight from Brussels, which arrived in Helsinki at 10:30 PM, which meant going to bed at midnight and getting up at 4 AM to get to the first flight to London.

It turned out that the border control in the Helsinki airport didn’t open till 6 AM, so I had to wait for about 20 min, which I could spend sleeping :). Also, British Airways didn’t issue me a boarding pass online, which meant I had to get it in Terminal 5 at Heathrow, just before the security checkpoint, and then I had to wait for my flight to Chicago for six hours.

Fortunately, the lounges in Heathrow are great, so that was not a problem. That was the first time I took a shower in the airport., and I found out that they had absolutely everything; there was no need to unpack. I will know for the next time!

That’s a picture from the Brussels Finnair lounge – they had a real mushroom soup!

Now, a short review of what was going on during the last four days. My flight landed ahead of time, but then we couldn’t get to the gate for 40 minutes, and the line for passport control was very long, so I ended up coming home at 9-30 PM, and I had to get my mail from my neighbor, unpack, and on Tuesday at 7-30 AM I was already in the office. On Tuesday evening, I was at the Opera (I will write about this performance separately), and my neighbor and I had dinner before the opera to celebrate her birthday. So once again, at home at 10-45 PM.

On Wednesday, I attended a meetup after work (good, productive, great networking, but once again … late night). On Thursday, I finally went to see my mom after work, attended an online yoga class, and made a couple of phone calls. And on Friday – a Valentine’s Day musical, “Twisted Love,” at Above the Law Theater.

Don’t take me wrong, it’s all great; just trying to catch up with life! Oh, and also, I am about to leave to another opera!

Other Travel Matters

That was the first time I booked Economy Premium. I fly business class occasionally when it is company-paid, or when I get an upgrade, but the latter one mostly happen when I travel within Europe. This time I knew I would have to work immediately upon arrival, so I needed some decent sleeping conditions, but I was not ready to purchase business class on my own.

Economy Premium is indeed right between Economy and Business class. In Economy, you sleep almost vertical, in Business, you sleep horizontally, and in Economy Premium, you sleep diagonally. My initial feeling was that it’s still not comfortable enough, but I ended up working for the whole day with no problem, so I guess it was not that bad. The seats are definitely more comfortable, however, the foot rest prevents from placing your backpack under the seat in front of you, so I had to put everything into the overhead.

The food is still bad. Since last year’s sharp decline in the quality of the in-flight food, the only decent meals are in business class. When I fly economy and it’s BA or AA, I try to eat in the lonuge and then sleep through the in-flight dinner. If I fly Finnair, it’s not an option, because the Finnair lounge in ORD is really bad and has virtually no amenities. This time, it was BA, but since the departure was at 5 PM, I had to leave the lounge by 4 PM, sort of too early for dinner. Besides, I was hoping that the food in Economy Premium will be better.

It was not, and also, they asked everyone to lift up their seat during the dinner service, so I won’t be able to sleep anyway. The only thing which was better than in the Economy was that there was a choice of meals, but by the time they got to my row they were out of chicken, and I didn’t like much the other two choices. We’ll see how things will turn out on my flight back!

One shocking thing on this flight was that there was a young woman on the left of me who spoke on the phone all the the time since she sat down, and through al of the safety instructions, and takeoff, until she lost connection and some point. Over an hour total!

While I was typing this post, I got a notification that our flight to Brussels was rebooked for a day earlier. I guess that’s the Universe’s response to my over-scheduled life!

Forgetting Things

The number of things I hav forgotten recently tells me that I am trying to do too many things. And that’s to what Boris reminded me about recently, and what I resolved to address.

The most recent things:

I signed up my mom for her COVID shot for the wrong location, and I had to find a new place right there on the spot.
I forgot the departure time of my flight to London, and only realized it the night before (and thanks goodness, I realized it not right before departure, but the night before, because it was 1.5 hours earlier than I thought!
And the last thing which prompted me to write this post: today, I forgot my iPad at the security checkpoint (yes, I had two laptops, an iPad, an iPhone and Apple watch, but still!

One more time, the FindMy app saved me: I spend some time wondering around in the duty free zone, then I went to the lounge, and when I got my breakfast and set down, I noticed the notification, that I left iPad behind. At first, I thought that it was one of those “I moved away from my bag,” but them I looked closer and saw the notification time was just ten minutes earlier, so I realized what had happened.

It was not so easy to find the way back to the security, and when I got there, I asked the personnel for assistance. Thankfully, they found my iPad and when I demonstrated that I could unlock it, they happily gave it back to me.

But it not for FindMy, I won’t realize that I do not have my iPad until I would be inside the aircraft!

Also, just learned that our flight to Brussels is cancelled due to the strike – we were hoping for th better, but unfortunately, that’s the case, and we still didn’t hear from Finnair what they can offer instead.

Flying To Prague

The last time I flew business class across the Atlantic was when I worked at Pepsi Americas and had that long business trip to several European countries. Interestingly, it was also American Airlines—lots of very nice food and an option to sleep horizontally for several hours.

The Clarion congress Hotel is integrated with the shopping mall, so I am not sure whether this part is still considered a hotel lobby or not 🙂

The most common business trip story: the only time you see the city if after dusk!

Finnair

My flight to Helsinki was a disappointment. It was the first time in a while that I took a direct flight, and although Boris mentioned that recent service changes were for the worse, I didn’t fully believe him.

I do not like complaining at length, but I wanted to mention a couple of things;

Not specifically related to Finnair, but the lounge they share with Qatar Airlines is indeed miserable (last time, I was in the BA lounge)
The food on the flight became way worse and less. The dinner does not include bread or crackers, or cheese; there is only a “snack” before arrival, not breakfast, as it used to be. Also, I didn’t see any duty-free shopping.
The rows are way closer to each other, even in the 30-s rows, than they used to be. The last time I was so uncomfortable was several years ago on SAS flights, and I remember how happy I was to find a different situation on Finnair. I decided not to put any luggage under the seat in front of me, although my DRW backpack fits, because I thought I would have trouble stretching my legs, but even with all the space available, my knees hurt badly in the morning.
Not related to Finnair: my neighbor on the left was horrible; I couldn’t imagine a tiny quiet middle-aged woman could be such a horrible neighbor: not “excuse me,” no “could you please,” not “thank you,” just multiple demands.

Well, enough of that! I am in Helsinki, I have a new bike, and today is a day off work, so I will have an actual vacation day!’

Coming Back From Helsinki

There will be no more direct flights to/from Helsinki until the end of March, and I forgot what a pain it is to fly with a connection! I made it more difficult for me by reaching Finnair Gold – to maintain it, I need to choose Finnair whenever possible, and Heathrow is not the fastest connection and not the most comfortable airport. I will respond to their request for review and tell them why it is not the best option :).

The connecting flight was delayed one hour and forty minutes, and when we arrived at ORD, there was no gate for us, so we had to wait for another thirty minutes. But when we finally arrived, a miracle happened. First, the gate was the closest to the arrival hall, and then there was no line for passport control at all! They said – go to any officer! Also, although they didn’t restore the automated passport control, you do not need to fill in a paper slip anymore. The officer gives you a paper slip with his marks, and you go to customs and give it to them. Not sure what’s the purpose of this, but it is better than using a pen :).

This trip was my first after I earned Gold status with Finnair, and I have to admit that the ability to use the lounge is essential :). If not for the lounge, waiting at Heathrow would be way more miserable! Although sometimes, the lounges are so crowded that it might be challenging to find a seat!

On the left, there is a list of calories for all food and drinks

And I want to mention that an office worker needs less than that!

Trying To Beat The Cold Weather In Vienna

We toured the Schonbrunn Castle (and decided not to tour the gardens). Any photography inside is strictly prohibited, which felt surprisingly good 🙂 – we could focus on looking at the rooms!