Problems with British Airways Part 2

---

The BA customer service call center is open between 6 am and 8 pm UK time so we wait until midnight Mexico time and call them from our hotel room. I ask them to call me back on the hotel phone. I expect that it will be a long call and do not wish to be paying a pound a minute to rant at them. When they call me back I tell them the story of our quest for replacement tickets and ask how we can resolve the situation. At first the customer service operator suggests posting the tickets to us. I point out that this is no good as our flight is in a few days time. She is not sure that she can help but says she will call the ticketing office and talk to them about it. She attempts to put me on hold but cuts me off in the process. She calls back a little later having spoken to the ticketing office and informs us that we can get the tickets re-printed at any BA ticket office and that she has added notes to the system instructing the BA ticket office in Mexico to do so. The BA ticket office is open on Monday between 3 pm and 9 pm and closed on Tuesday so we have to get back to Mexico City a day early. It's 1.30 am so we decide to call the airport in the morning to see if we can get a flight back.

I wake up the next day and call the travel advice office who inform me that there is a flight at 12.10 and another at 9.50. We miss breakfast and book a taxi to the airport as there is no transfer available to us as we promised when we bought the tour. Lou begins to complain and ask for the contact details of the tour operator in Mexico. The man at the desk is less than helpful he either does not understand or does not want to understand and wishes us a good holiday. This doesn't do much to pacify Lou but luckliy for him the taxi is waiting and we have to go and catch our flight. AreoMexico charges us five hundred and twenty pesos for the tickets, over two hundred pesos less than the price quoted by the travel advisor so I guess they are on a fair bit of commission.

We arrive at Mexico city just after the BA ticket office was due to open at 3 pm and are told by a que attendant that it will probably open around 4.30 pm. We go for coffee and return at this time.We give Lucinda, the ticket sales reperasentaitive for BA our booking refernece number and explain the situation to her. She looks confused and goes to talk to her supervisor. I take a breath and count to ten. She returns and asks me if I have left the tickets at home. 'Yes, but BA have approved the re-issue of them. There should be notes on the system'.

'Yes, but you have to pay'.
'OK, how much'
'sixty dollars per person'
'fine'

I hand over my credit card. All this has taken a while and there is a shuffeling, huffing que behind me. Lucinda does not have some forms that are apparently essential to re-issue the tickets. She asks a colegue to get her some more from the office. The collegue saunters off at a pace that has no urgency whatsoever. The que huffs, puffs and grumbles to little effect. Ten minutes later we leave tickets in hand more relieved than happy. The nightmare is over or so we thought...........

---