New enhancements to British Airways' website, ba.com, are making the journey even smoother for customers requiring special assistance. The improvements follow feedback from customers who require special assistance, in particular regular flyers, who told the airline they didn't want to keep detailing their needs every time they make a booking. The enhancements enable customers to enter and find out more information about the service they require when using the 'manage my booking' tool.

Customers booking online can now select from mobility and wheelchair assistance; assistance for those who are visually impaired or hard of hearing; or assistance for those with learning disabilities. A full breakdown of the assistance these customers can expect is also provided on the website.  Previously, customers had to book most types of special assistance by making a phone call to the airline's contact centres.

Ba.com users now have the option of saving their special assistance preferences, making the booking process even easier the next time they make a booking.  Updates can be made to the saved preferences at any time if the situation changes.

Caroline Brooman from British Airways' customer experience team, said:  “We provide assistance to more than 400,000 customers with reduced mobility or disability per year, 30,000 of whom are frequent flyers.  We are working closely with customers who require assistance to review their experiences and ensure that we provide appropriate help and guidance throughout the whole journey - from the point of booking to the final arrival.”

Rob Thorne, British Airways' customer data manager, said:  “Previously customers requiring assistance had to re-enter their details every time they booked.  We've now developed the technology to store this information in a profile so that it's available automatically.  Each time a customer rebooks all they have to do is to confirm that they want us to use those details for that booking.”

About British Airways

British Airways' route network currently serves more than 170 cities in 75 countries. British Airways has been flying to Australia for over 75 years and currently operates a daily service between Sydney and London Heathrow via Singapore. British Airways is now the only European airline to continue servicing the Australian market.

The airline operates from the state-of-the-art Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, which is exclusive to British Airways' and Iberia Airlines' customers and is capable of handling 30 million customers a year. In March 2014, Terminal 5 was named by Skytrax as the Best Airport Terminal for the third year running, based on surveys of 12 million frequent travellers. T5 also won the Best Airport Shopping award.

In September 2013, British Airways was awarded the Best Airline, Best Short-Haul Airline, Best Business Class and Best Frequent Flyer Programme by Business Traveller following a survey of the magazine's readers in the UK. Recently, British Airways was named the UK's Consumer Superbrand of 2014, securing the top position against 1,500 other brands and becoming the first airline or travel brand to win the prestigious title. For further information on British Airways, please visit ba.com.