I went through T5 recently, no problems with baggage or BA staff. Through a delayed incoming flight I had a tight connection from T5 to T4 and our bags made it. I just thought I would record that.

Doug Walker, Aberdeen, UK

Why didn't the airline realise they were together? Was it that daddy was flying in a different cabin a little closer to the front of the aircraft? There is no mention of the 'friend's' age.
And whose friend? Daddy's or daughter's?

Linda, Susssex, UK

Penny................Its not the likes of your husband the public has a problem with, its the likes of Willie Walsh and the people he employs to run operations.

BA used to be great, but its allowed itself to be dragged down by BAA and the customer service has disintegrated into farce!!

Simon, London,

I wonder if overbooking was ever a problem when Ladbrokes owned the Hilton Hotels brand ? It's a fact of life, otherwise we'd just pay more to offset the potential loss of no-shows. Airlines and hotels "gamble" on some people not turning up - sometimes they lose. Sounds like double standards to me.

Duncan, London, UK

I travelled once on BA from Delhi to London. BA ground staff in Delhi were very polite but onboard cabin crew and ground staff in London were rude, racist and unfriendly. I ended up paying paying demurrage on my unaccompanied luggage because they did not inform me that it had arrived in london.

sam, london, uk

Don't damn all of BA. I have witnessed empathy,kindness and compassion from customer-facing staff in difficult situations. I agree that quality service should be a priority. My husband flies for BA. He wants his passengers to have the best trip possible. I hope you fly with him. BA can be great.

Penny, Ellesmere, Shropshire

BA staff are generally rude and uncaring in my experience.
I

roger, london,

surely in any other walk of life, selling something that you don't have to sell (like more tickets than there are seats) would be considered fraud? How come the Airlines don't have to work to the same standards of probity as the rest of us?

Mathew, Bourne, UK

I went through the T5 debacle and haven't used BA since. Their arrogance beggars belief. Passengers are usually offered a cash lump sum to compensate for being bumped. I wonder if this was done?

John , Newcastle, UK

Bell once said a race was fixed every day without providing any information. Without knowing any Lads employees I cannot comments on what keeps his job but judged on his self righteousness he is a blow hard at the very least.

BA treats rich passengers like any other what a blow to his little ego.

Jon , feltham, middx

interesting collection of comments. There is a sizeable percentage who seem to believe that we, the travelling public, should just accept it when the airlines treat us in a manner anything less than perfectly. We are not victims of the system but paying customers, if unhappy with BA use someone else

Phil Constable, Darlington, UK

B A are hopeless. They treat the aircraft as their own private club and the passengers as a nuisance. My wife and I have had so many awful experiences with BA that we now avoid them whenever possible.

BOB, HIGH WYCOMBE, UK

People moan about BA...try flying China Airlines, Delta, American or Air Asia. Actually BA did lose my bags once.

patrick, The Hague, netherlands

No matter who is right in this incident, Chris Bell has no right to enforce his personal choices to his employees.

End of....

Mr T, London, UK

Anyone suspect that the reason they'd not realised they were all one party is because he was flying the kids at the back of the bus so had booked his ticket separately????

Gary, London,

That's alright if you're the boss of Ladbrokes. What about the rest of us, who get bumped off flights or have to suffer lost bags. BA have lost my bags 5 times and they've never answered any of my letters of complaint. They don't give a monkey's unless you're someone who can hurt them back.

Scott, Manama,

British airways probably is the least customer focused airline among the larger carriers.

imran ahmed, Karachi,

Well done Chris! Its only incidents like this that gives any of us hope that large corporates like BA *might* take just a little more care with a few more passengers so we all might benefit... And I will be ensuring all my gambling spend will be with Ladbrokes in appreciation ;-)

Paul, Basingstoke,

Whilst I sympathise with Mr Bell's predicament, is it right for an executive of a quoted public company to decide that company's policies on the basis of his personal experience?

Martin, Londom,

If what BA is saying is correct ie 'as soon as it became obvious they were all one party' then Mr Bell is guilty of 'do you know who I am? Syndrome' and shold not be dragging his company and shareholders into this private 'vanity' dispute

Chris Jay, Whitchurch, Shropshire

few years back we missed our connection train because BA flight was 3 hours late to take off due to a problem with the plane.

could not get a penny out of them in compensation ..

we've never travelled with them since

Eugene, Cambridge,

Airlines wouldn't overbook if people turned up for their flights.

Kevin Jones, Windsor ,

Gareth Williams, I am sure the article refers to Ladbrokes' employees not being permitted to fly with BA for work related travel only.

Of course they are entitled to fly with whomsoever they please in their own time.

Sam Cottier, London,

This story smacks a bit of arrogance on Mr Bell's part (that BA would even consider bumping any of HIS family off a flight.) It's clear that once the girls' age had been pointed out, BA said they wouldn't do it. I've always had great experiences flying with BA.

David, London,

This situation is typical of BA's high handed attitude with their clientle, double booking, which often results in bumping, is bad enough but to consider bumping children from a flight is unforgivable, teenager they may have been but they are still minors in a strange country.

Steven Davis, Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas

Good on him....

BA has got to be one of the worst customer experiences I have ever had
Lost ski luggage 3 times to US IN 10 years (at huge cost)
Cut leg & ripped jeans on seat mechanism- 7 month outstanding claim
2 counts, failed to de-ice planes properly taking 2 days off hols due to divert

Chris Thomson, London,

"An employer can't tell an employee who to fly with in their private time and with their own money. "

I imagine it refers to business travel, not flying during personal time, unless of course there's some sort of company-organised discount holiday scheme.

Ben Mortimer, South Woodham Ferrers, England

Mr Bell was able to exert some pressure, other people are treated disgracefully by BA and have no redress. I avoid flying BA whenever possible because of their arrogance. BA no way.

Ian, Frederick, USA

This guy runs Ladbrokes? Does he apply his childish antics in the boardroom?

Come on BA do some wierd and wonderful things and their customer service is useless. We all know that. Personal problem - complain about it and deal with it but don't mix business with pleasure....makes you look stupid

Ian, Edinburgh,

Bell must be panicked at the adverse publicity and has now reversed his stance
He's shown complete contempt for and abuse of his shareholders and has the extreme arrogance that comes from the UK denuding real shareholders/pension savers of their rights in allowing such directors no accountability

David, London,

Re James Grant in France the difference between BA and Ryanair, apart from price, is that Ryanair do not pretend that they care. BA just pretend.
I avoid BA where possible after bad experience but must fly with them soon. I keep hoping things will have improved

Alastair, Troon, Scotland

I agree with Mike, the most alarming thing about this is that the chief executive of a publicly listed company seeks to use his position and the size of the travel budget of the company of which he isto respond to a personal issue. Is it in the interests of the shareholders of Ladbrokes. No

Mark, London,

I think both parties need to sort themselves out. Mr Bell is clearly abusing his power and trying to be the 'big man'. At the same time BA are notorious for incidents like this.

Mr Bell, back down and stop wasting internet space with this charade.

Jamie, London,

How dare any CEO inolve his/her personnel in what is, at the end of the day, a totally private dispute. Is his name Joseph Stalin?

Victor, Canterbury, UK

Somebody can please explain to me :
Did Mr Bell, his daughter and the friend try to board the flight separately so the airline staff didn't understand that
"...that all three were part of one party ..." ?
They finally boarded the flight, so what's the problem ? No red carpet enough for Mr Bell?

Paul, Nice, France

Presumably Mr Bell only refers to the business trips his staff make, which will certainly not be all 14,000 of them. Who they fly with privately is none of Mr Bells business.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

BA has an interesting approach to their valued customers. When I was frequently using the air travel (because my role demanded it) and held a few gold cards BA could not do enough for me. As soon as I reduced my travel it was as if I'd never used them. Now I'm back travelling I avoid them.

Tim, Colchester, UK

Mr Bell has every right to change company policy against using BA for company flights if he perceives that they are a liability (which they are). BA is a shambles. Walsh is directly responsible for what will probably turn in to a total collapse.

Andy, Seattle, USA

So what I want to know is this, was Mr Bell paying for the flights of his party or was Ladbrokes. If it was at his expense then why is he involving Ladbrokes? But if it was at Ladbrokes expense why was his daughter and friend being subsidised by t he Ladbrokes share holders?

Cranford Middleton, Poole, uk

In terms of customer service I have to say that BA has the worst of any airline I have flown. They make you feel that they are doing you a favour by letting you fly with them. I have voted with my feet and so have a lot of other people I know.

Helen, Kingston-upon-thames, UK

Gareth, I believe Mr Bell is referring to any flights booked for business purposes.
For Ladbrokes this does represent a fair amount of the travelling involved by executives

Rob Harris, London,

I was 'bumped' off a flight with Emirates a few years ago. They were extremely polite, offered mea seat on the next flight, upgraded me to business class and gave me a free return ticket to anywhere in the world for future use. I keep hoping it will happen again...

Roddy Campbell, Christchurch, NZ

same thing happened when my sister and grandmother were traveling together, BA tried to split up a 16 year old and a 75 year old, putting them on different planes. My father also has been boycotting BA, but unfortunately he doesn't have 14,000 staff to help him...

chloe, leeds, england,

If you read the article correctly you will see it is business flights not personal flights that were in question. Good luck to Mr Bell, too many times have people paid a lot of money for flights only to find the greedy airlines have overbooked. This does not happen in any other industry.

Kelly Thompson, London, UK

Without doubt BA have the worst customer focus in the industry. Their customer facing staff are brainwashed into thinking BA's policies and procedures take precedence over their customers. I say everyone should boycott them until they realise customers are more important than shareholder

Neil Smith, Shanghai, China

Just a thought, but do BA have a policy of first bumping passengers flights booked with BA miles? I know many frequently-flying execs have more miles than they know what to do with but most have the sense to be discrete when they do use them.

Bill, Ramsey,

I gave up with BA years ago when I was refused entry to a lounge for the 3rd time with a fully paid business class ticket. T4, Montreal and Sao Paulo. I now fly KLM/Air France.

Chris Swann, Warwickuk, uk

It was Bell's responsibility to ensure that the kids weren't stranded, and to inform BA of the kid's ages and that they were all traveling together despite the separate bookings. Also, 14 year olds don't always look 14, especially to a pressured check-in worker dealing with an overbooking situation.

John, London, UK

Anette from Slough: Perhaps you are missing the point. BA stated that "once it became apparent that all three were part of one party, they were all placed on the flight"
Also you seem to be suggesting MR Bell would leave his daughters behind. Surely he would have gotten off as well.

James, Jakarta, Indonesia

I agree that it is greedy for airlines to overbook, unfortunately, it is a standard approach for economy fares across all airlines not just BA.

The silly thing is that Chris Bell is now limiting his staff to smaller airlines who are now more prone to being bumped off with no replacement flight.

R, London,

What complete unprofessional that a Manager of a public listed company organise a private vendetta. The board & shareholders need to get rid of this guy who thinks the company is his private toy.

Mike, DUbai,

I sign on the doll, I can'nt even afford a ticket................ on BA any going free i Could do with a holiday.......

Big T

Tony, HULL CITY, Britsih uk

I'm amazed at so many comments here whose attitude is Mr Bell is abusing his power with "Don't you know who I am?"
No passenger should be bumped off a flight, they bought their seat in good faith that they would be travelling. Overbooking is sheer greed on the part of the airlines

Gopal Varma, Bristol, UK

We were bumped off a BA flight and the staff were dictatorial and rude. How ridiculous can BA get than to bump two young folk off a flight. If they were alone no doubt they would have had anxious parents waiting the other end for them How inept can one company be? I am with the CEO here.

Cathy, Bury St Edmunds, England

You are all missing the point.
2 x 14yr olds were off loaded without an adult ignoring the wishes of the parent/guardian.
It is not about the money. You cannot leave minors in a strange country or anywhere else, certainly nowadays.
As responsable adults you should all be aware of that.

ANNETTE HERBERT, SLOUGH, UK

Leave the guy alone, - B.A. are plainly at fault here.
Poor attitude of B.A.staff to try and bump 2 x school girls from an over subscribed flight,go for the weakest
British Airways desevere all the bad publicity they get.
Get your act together Willy Walsh or get out !!

Malcolm , Watford, U.K.

What a pathetic employer Ladbrokers must be. The CEO is there to represent shareholders not use the company as a personal fiefdom to settle personal disputes.

Rahul, London,

You think BA is bad try RyanAir and then you'll have something to really complain about regarding customer satisfaction.

james grant, Chalons en champagne, France

I don't suppose Mr Bell would have taken the same action had it been anyone other than his own precious daughters. Can he really use the company he works for to punish BA for a private matter?

James, Jakarta, Indonesia

BA is an international joke, can we make Virgin the UK flag carrier instead ?

Gavin, London, UK

I can not see anywhere in the story that Mr Bell has mentioned private flights by his employees. I expect this refers to corporate flights. The problem is what the airlines can - and can not do -, under the Montreal Convention. Am I right?

Pete, Dunstable, Bedfordshire

The problem with B.A. is their "corporate arrogance"!

They have lost sight of the customer, a very dangerous business model to follow, they deserve all the criticism they get.........................................

Malcolm Stacey, Watford,

Sounds to me like he's spat the dummy out in attempt for some free publicity for Ladbrokes at a time when so many people have contempt for BA. Probably a clever move.

David, Leeds,

The company should use the best value airline.

Too many plc directors run companies for their own egos and gain - not for shareholders i.e. pension savers, who have no real say. Fund managers are in on the gravy train of high remuneration for poor performance and it is not their money at stake.

David, London,

BA recently removed 137 passengers flying to Lagos Nigeria because they complained about the treatement of a deportee on the plane. http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050275.html

Sokari, London,

I've suffered at the hands of BA's 'bumping' policy. The staff were far from apologetic. I formed a legitimate expectation when I completed the contract it would be fulfilled. Deliberately oversubscribing a flight doesn't constitute a 'force majeure' it amounts to treating customers with contempt.

Johnny Law, London,

Ladbroke's isn't Mr Bell's personal property, it's a public company. By seeking to settle a minor and petty grudge, he is misusing his position and failing in his responsibilities to the shareholders and the employees. He ought to be dismissed.

Bob Shore, Buffalo, NY

This is an abuse of power by a "don't you know who I am". Labrokes staff should fly on whatever airline is the cheapest and most convenient. The shareholders in Labrokes should replace Mr Bell with someone who is more suitable to running a public company.

Jeffrey Ellis, Zurich,

Whatever it takes to get BA to listen to customers rather than a 100% focus on shareholders. My 13 year old was told to wait for a subsequent flight after we had checked in and had boarding cards issued for us all seated together. Somebody has to get BA to focus on us the customers.

Nicholas, Brussels, Belgium

The problem is airlines always overbook because some travellers do not show.
Solution if the passenger doesn't show his ticket is void with no refund, if the airline has no space on the flight it should pick up all the costs of the passenger, refund his ticket cost and book him on the next flight.

r payne, macon, france

I'm glad that Mr Bell is teaching a big airline a lesson.
I have been treated badly myself and know what it is like and would have loved to be in an influential position like Mr Bell.
James Bradley

James Bradley, Southampton,

If Ladbrokes have used BA so much in the past presumably they must represent value and not charge over the odds?

Perhaps Ladbrokes shareholders should sell their shares if Mr Bell's show of petulance is going to affect profits? What might make him waste cash next time?

Fred Sly, Elgin, Scotland

I have never understood how an airline can abrogate its contractual obligation to carry a paying passenger. A theatre can't 'bump' a ticket-holder from his seat at a performance because they chose to overbook. The fact that the passenger has forked out money means there's a contract in place. Odd!

David Garfield, London, UK

As far as I know Mr Bell does not own Ladbrokes (who deal mainly in misery anyway), so surely as a CEO he should stick to maximising profits for the company. In this case Ladbrokes got the sharp end of the knife.

Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

wah wah wah we ALMOST couldn't get on a flight. You ALMOST bumped us off. Don't you know who I am??!!! I'm going to tell my employees not to use BA just because the plane was ALMOST over subscribed.

Childish stunt and abuse of power. WHat do you think shareholders?

Luke Faichney, Robin Hood's Bay, England

I suspect that that BA might have the last laugh in this case - the airline's arrogance fades in comparison to that of Mr Bell, which inevitably reflects badly on Ladbrokes. I suspect Mr Bell is about to do some serious backtracking.

Jimmy, London,

Sadly, all airlines overbook and this practice has extended to hotels, such as Travelodge. However, BA do seem to deal with these situations very badly. I think they believe their own hype and think they can treat passengers however they like.
I voted with my wallet a long time ago.

Paul Feagan, London, England

i am a ladbrokes shareholder and it is quite wrong for him to use his position at ladbrokes as a director for which is a personal dispute.
i think mr bell should stop and think whats personal and whats business.

dave, enfield, uk

Fat cat "don't you know who I am?" arrogance. Ladbrokes shareholders should fire any senior officer who treats their money/purchasing power as his own. Disgraceful misconduct.

Drew , London,

I too voted with my feet. I was a gold member and sat up the front in first or business. But I got fed up of BA treating me like an anuity. After they wouldn't get us seats together for a family trip I just stopped using them. Haven't regretted it a bit.

Bil, London, UK

Sounds like BA's problem really was the mis-handling of the subsequent correspondence, given that the girls were indeed allowed on with the dad once it was made clear.

Having said that, it would be pretty stupid to expect two fourteen year olds to hang back on their own in a foreign country.

Pen Moor, Congleton, Cheshire

If this had been the other way around - Miss Bell was allowed on becaase of her father purchasing power - then there would be even more anti-BA rhetoric. I say thank you to BA for trying to be fair to everyone, and treating her differently because her father is rich.

Samuel Pickard, Montazels, France

Perhaps Mr Bell should spare a little thought for the two people who were finally bumped off the flight to accomodate his daughter and friend.
Too full of his own self importance me thinks!

Tony Philipson, Weybridge, UK

Overbooking on any airline should be banned by law. They encourage people to do this because of ther idiotic rules and the fact that one isn't guaranteed a flight. BA, KLM, etc, should be forced to pay a fine if this happens.

Graham, Doha, Qatar

We all are equal, aren't we?

If this was Joe Average, nobody would want to hear.

A clear abuse of employees rights by a small minded, 'can't keep my private things private' employer. Next BA will tell its staff not to go to Ladbrokes

Ring the BELLs of shame BAng BAng BAng BAng

Henry, Notts,

Gareth, it's highly unlikely he is telling staff not to use BA in their private life. He is, though, perfectly entitled to tell employees not to use BA if they are on company business.

Sarah, London,

Good on him! It's about time BA realised that they don't have to be so high handed - they tried to bump me and a work party off a flight from Kenya, despite the fact that we had written confirmation of our seats - and then offered us a measly £5 per person off our next flights with BA!

Rona Hunnisett, Croydon, UK

As the Chief Exec of a plc should he be using his shareholder's resources to fight a personal battle? Think his Chairman should be having a word with him.

Peter Pease, Hexham, UK

It's about time that someone with the financial clout stood up to BA. Their attitude towards their customers can at best be described as cavalier. And as for the U-turn once they realised the girls were travelling with an adult, what's that about? Bumping two lone 14 year olds is nigh on criminal

Mary Allen, London, England

I agree with James from Glasgow. It is quite wrong for this man to use his company position in a family dispute.

Mr Walsh, BA should value and respect all passengers equally - not just those who (ab)use their privileged social status to get preferential treatment.

Jenny, Guildford, England

A corporate culture of arrogance !!
This comes from the top down.!
You only have to look at the T5 debacle to see the arrogance of the senior management, this then filters down to all levels of staff.

Malcolm , Windsor, U.K.

Mr Bell should grow up and should be a better example to his daughter.

Prithiraj , Bromley, UK

Hmmm.. this sounds like a case of 'don't you know who I am?'.

This happens to thousands of people every year. At least they all got to fly together in the end. Get over it.

Kate, Surrey,

I wonder if Mr Bell would have taken the same action if one of his customers had been bumped off a BA flight? Funny how the well off squeal when its their turn to be abused by the system.

Cromwell, Leeds, England

Delta once tried to do this when I was travelling with my wife and baby daughter- I was supposed to leave them behind. I will never fly Delta again

NigelC, London,

He doesn't have a problem he's just not spending his companies money at BA anymore, his choice I believe.

Andy, London,

Does that mean we can't get odds on Mr Walsh leaving BA?

David Masu, Zürich,

Gareth, Richmond - I believe he has ordered the agency who handle Ladbrokes business-travel arrangements not to use BA unless there is no other carrier available, rather than any personal travel boycott.

Richard, Oxford,

Ladbrokes is a public company accountable to its shareholders. This is a private dispute between the CEO and BA. He has no right to dictate that the staff do not fly with BA.

V Tan, London,

I got bumped off and watched whilst several off duty BA crew boarded the flight plus their families.
Presumably they weren't fare paying passengers.
Can this be right ?

Chris, Reading, UK

WHat is his problem? As soon as BA realised they were part of one party, they were all on the flight. So why was he incensed? Surely it was a lack of communication. Why were they compensated? They didn't suffer. People have far worse experiences with flights, and not just with BA.

Jo , Nottingham, uk

Bumping is a fact of life and will happen to any frequent traveler every now and again. That in itself wouldn't be enough to make me boycott BA. There are several other things which would, though (e.g. higher than average fares, Heathrow).

Leo, York, UK

The arrogance of BA is amazing. Last flight with BA I was grounded in Geneva for 90 mins as the pilot had failed to complete the correct paperwork. After 60 mins they offered the economy class passengers some free.....water. They even treat business class passengers with contempt. Just boycott them.

Laurence Dare, London, UK

Is it in the best interest of shareholders of Ladbrokes for its chief executive to try and settle a personal dispute with BA using shareholders' funds. There is no doubt that in some circumstances BA will repersent best value for money and the best option for the staff of Ladbrokes who are required

James, Glasgow,

We were flying to Nice and we, and a lady of about 90 who was being met by her son, were arrogantly told the flight was full and we would be re-routed through Paris.The greedy Airlines overbook flights by 10% to allow for " no shows". We GOT LOUD. They had to beg another airline to take us.

Wes Bland, Bexleyheath,

This can't be right? An employer can't tell an employee who to fly with in their private time and with their own money.

Any attempt to enforce this would be a breach of the contract of employment exposing the employer to legal claims.

Gareth Williams, Richmond,

I had an unfortunate experience about a booking with BA 14 years ago when they tried to overcharge £ 20 and I ,nor any of my family have travelled with them since. I guess they have lost in excess of 150 return trips from this family alone. Vote with your purse.

Adrian, London, UK

Whats he holding out for free long term seats ,
This happens all the time with airlines overbooking seats.
however i am concerned that BA would not allow a minor to fly they should be priority

Jeff Kay , warrington, Cheshire