ABOVEANDBEYOND

I wanted to drop you a line having just devoured the [September-October 2020 UK] magazine, thank you for that.

We travelled to France as soon as the Foreign Office lifted restrictions and travelled back via train from Angoulême and with British Airways from Paris Charles de Gaulle on a redemption flight. We went out from London Stansted on Ryanair, but its return price went from £26 (US$34) to £200 (US$260) in three days so we opted to come home for £1 (US$1.3) and some Avios on BA.

Arriving at Angoulême rail station with plenty of time to spare for a direct train to CDG, we faced a delay owing to abandoned luggage at Bordeaux station. As time ticked by, it became clear that we would miss our flight. Out came the phone and, in these troubled times, I managed to speak to a human after 40 minutes.

I stated my name – Timothy, but please call me Tim, as only my mother calls me Timothy when I have done something wrong. That got a laugh. I explained that we would likely miss our redemption flight and could he please fix us up one for tomorrow? I was put on hold for a few minutes and, to my complete amazement, was told that we would be moved to a flight the following day. I had been prepared to burn the missed flight and grab another for further Avios.

He advised that we would need to check in at the airport, not online, and kindly offered to look at what hotel availability would be like for Avios bookings. We were blown away and could not thank him enough for digging us out of our train delay hole.

He then said that he was about my age and had a son called Tim, who was only called Timothy when he was in trouble. Serendipity? Unlikely. Worldclass customer service? Certainly. Above and beyond. I never expected to be telling this story, but I am delighted to report someone paying it forward in these troubled times. Thank you, British Airways, you played a blinder. Probably the best short-haul flight I have ever taken.

It gave us the opportunity to experience the Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport during Covid (not bad at all), CDG (a zoo), the BA flight (very, very professional and enjoyable), Heathrow (a complete serene delight) and Stansted and Ryanair (very pleasant).