Book it Danno! Involuntary Downgrade Chaos at City Airport
Index:
- A Rock, A Hard Place and Tier Points
- To Birmingham Airport, Ryanair FR693 Birmingham to Dublin
- A morning around Dublin
- Dublin Airport, BA4467 Dublin Airport to London City Airport
- Travelodge, London City Airport
- A Morning at London City Airport
- British Airways BA001 London City Airport – Shannon, Shannon to New York-JFK
- Über Takes on Manhattan
- Holiday Inn Express, JFK
- JFK T8, US Airways Flight US510 New York JFK to Phoenix, Arizona
- US Airways Club/Admiral’s Club, US694 Phoenix Sky Harbour to Honolulu
- The Aston Beach Waikiki
- Travel Plus… Doing – Exploring the Diamond Head Trail
- Travel Plus… Doing – Pearl Harbour and The USS Arizona Memorial
- The joy of British Airways Rebooking
- Honolulu Airport, American Airline Lounge, US693 Honolulu International to Phoenix
- US425 Phoenix to New York-JFK, Economy Class
- JFK Omnishambles
- BA002 JFK to London City Airport
- Involuntary Downgrade Chaos
- BA4462 London City Airport to Dublin
- A Five Hour Dublin Layover
- BA0837 Dublin Airport to London Heathrow Airport in Club Europe
- Homeward bound
- Aftermath: Points and Reflections…
Once off the bus, it was time to clear UK Immigration. And the UK Border Force were in a picky mood, bossing the passengers into queues.
Nothing like “Welcome to the United Kingdom” there.
With immigration done and dusted, I headed past luggage claim (as it was through checked through to Dublin), and headed out into the public area.
Luggage Claim… and that is pretty much the sum of it at London City – you won’t be waiting long here for luggage!
Arrivals
As there is no direct airside connection at London City Airport, it was simply a matter of heading up to departures and clearing security again.
Once through, I found a point to perch at… and settled into the morning.
And I might had got the camera out.
With 54/71mb connectivity at London City Airport, I managed to upload a few videos to YouTube, pop a post online about the go-around that morning and do a little admin in the “real world” (sadly, I was back in the UK, I needed to connect with my real world job and check certain things were working reasonably… that and reduce my mail queue).
54mb down/71mb up? I’ll take some of that…
Time wandered on, and I really couldn’t be bothered to get a coffee or anything – rather I waited for the clock to count down. A bit too late it seems as I started heading to the gate at FINAL CALL.
Oops.
The waiting Embraer E-170
This way to the plane!
I got to the gate, and my boarding pass was taken from me… and a new one issued for 15B.
What?
It appears that I had been involuntary downgraded as the e-ticket record was corrupt, so instead of retaining my 1A seat, I had now been chucked to the middle of economy class without a “sorry”.
I’ll be blunt. I was livid at that moment. Thankfully, I controlled myself and didn’t flip out. I explained the situation, and the agent looked at me, stating they had to fish for my luggage as it was on a different e-ticket record.
It gets better you know.
Eventually, I was moved further forward to seat 5B for “weight and balance purposes”, but it seems the curse of the messed up e-ticket had hit again on this trip.
Yes, I know it’s a 1 hour 30 minute flight, but it’s not the point – I paid for a business class ticket, so I’d expect a business class service!
So – the situation – I was now in an involuntary downgrade situation not of my making, in economy class.
I give up. And I need to check tickets more when agents re-issue them to ensure they’re in the right cabin in the first place.
Boarding was called, and it was a mass scramble to the plane.
Not in the happiest of moods – I headed for the plane.
Next: BA4462 London City Airport to Dublin
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to European readers.