BA excludes loose cargo on high density routes

Trial run will gauge customer response
JOY ORLEK
IN A move designed to optimise cargo capacity on high density routes, British Airways World Cargo is limiting cargo capacity on the Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and Narita routes to unitised or express cargo on a trial basis for a few weeks. “We have seen excess demand for unitised cargo on these routes,” area commercial manager Africa Patrick Fehring told FTW, “which is why we decided to free up the valuable space and exclude loose cargo on a trial basis.” This will allow the airline to gauge demand, and based on feedback, it will decide its future policy in this regard. According to Fehring most of the airline’s major clients are in the process of being informed. But one of our readers who was unaware of the temporary ruling was landed in a dilemma. Having secured special rates with the airline, he had accepted cargo from a client on this basis. His only option now was to send the cargo express and pay the premium, or use an alternative airline at a higher rate. In both instances he would lose out financially. But according to Fehring, the customer had not booked the cargo in advance. “This customer should have been told that there was no capacity,” he said. “We apologise for any inconvenience he has experienced and for the fact that in this instance we were unable to offer a viable alternative.” He stressed that any decisions on future policy would be based on customer feedback.