BA Comair through-fare glitches persist

PASSENGERS travelling
domestically on BA
Comair and connecting
to international flights are
frequently unable to check
luggage through to their final
international destinations or
to receive their international
boarding passes.
Pamela Passmore, managing
member of Wings Worldwide
Holidays, said she frequently
experienced this problem
with BA Comair add-ons.
Her passengers have been
affected when travelling
internationally with Ethiopian
Airlines, Air Mauritius,
Lufthansa and Air France in
the past.
Amy van Rensburg from
Talk Travel in Cape Town also
has passengers who were
affected on an Air Mauritius
ticket issued with BA Comair
add-ons last month. “They
were pretty stressed out as
their connection in Joburg was
only about two hours long,”
she said.
According to a Port Alfredbased
agent, the problem also
extends to online check-in of
through-fares when paired with
BA Comair add-ons.
“Our clients now have to
collect their bags at ORTIA
domestic, take them across
to international and stand
in another queue in order to
check in for their international
flights. We have received
no communication from BA
Comair about the issues
and are therefore not able
to advise passengers when
to expect that problems may
arise or to specifically book
longer connecting times for
affected airlines,” he added.
Another UK-based passenger
told TNW that, despite booking
a London-JohannesburgDurban
through-fare on British
Airways and BA Comair, her
family had had to collect their
bags and check them in again
at ORTIA.
“Worried about the short
connection on our return leg,
I spoke to two different call
centre staff. One said it goes
all the way, the other said we
have to collect it and re-check
it through for our connecting
flight. As you can imagine
this caused unnecessary
stress before we had even
started our journey, especially
as we were flying with young
children,” she said.
Luckily, following
engagement with call centre
staff, the passengers’ bags
were eventually checked all
the way through to London for
the return leg.
TNW initially contacted BA
Comair about this in February
but was told that it was not
an ongoing problem. Luane
Lavery, brand communication
manager British Airways,
BA Comair and kulula.com,
said it was BA Comair’s policy
to through-check baggage
wherever interline agreements
were in place. However
she added that occasional
problems related to the
system that was used at
check-in.
“The system has
agreements with certain
airlines, which allows through
checking of baggage and the
printing of boarding passes.
If the system does not have
agreements with an airline,
the process is denied,” said
Luane. However BA Comair
was not able to provide TNW
with a list of airlines that were
affected by these problems.
When TNW contacted BA
Comair again this month
about ongoing complaints,
Luane advised: “We are
aware that there have
been occasional instances
of human error and have
implemented training to
refresh staff on the policy of
through-checking at all airports
at which we operate.”