A few months ago, I had the displeasure of flying British Airways when London was hit with severe…read moreheavy fog and there were major delays on all flights in and out of London Heathrow (LHR). I was flying out of Copenhagen Airport, connecting through London Heathrow, with onward journey to Hong Kong. Knowing my flight would be delayed and that I would likely miss my connecting flight to Hong Kong, I tried to seek help from British Airways with getting onto an earlier flight.
I went through customs early and went to the gate of a British Airways flight that was departing about an hour earlier than mine, but had been delayed and was in the process of boarding. I had asked the gate agent if she could see if there was any space on this flight since I had a connection in Hong Kong that I would miss if I were to take my original flight. The gate agent, who likely was frustrated, said exasperatingly that she could not help me since she needed to get everyone on board and get on going to London. I was a bit disappointed that she could not assist me since I knew I was going to miss my connecting flight (I later had to be rerouted through Düsseldorf, to depart the next day) and she was so unwilling to help. Typically in the USA, airline gate agents will assist customers by putting them on earlier flights if there is space knowing that a later flight may be delayed or cancelled. I guess it's not the same on British Airways in Europe. And at least in Copenhagen, the employees at British Airways seem to have a "it's not my problem, so deal with it yourself" attitude.
From my most recent flying experiences and some of the turmoils of connecting through LHR I faced, I realized that the best option when having to fly on a long haul international flight is to avoid flying through LHR. LHR probably has some of the worst weather conditions of all airports in Europe, comparable to SFO in the states with its fog.
British Airways, I don't think I will fly with you any time soon, and surely not through Copenhagen Airport. Poor service made my journey an displeasing one.