BA’s Lime leaves operators sour

OPERATORS have slammed British Airways’ new IT and net fare sales agent Lime Management after a shaky start.

Lime, which took over the handling of scores of operators’ fares on September, has been accused of not having the full range of fares available and bungling administration.

Midconsort chairman and Tana Travel managing director Neil Basnett said: “I’m absolutely livid, it’s what many of us thought – Lime just wasn’t ready.”

Basnett claimed the company did not send an email password until four days after the service went live and only contacted him to set up a direct debit service during the last week in August.

He also claimed the company couldn’t quote him several fares to South Africa because they weren’t loaded into the system.

“This has made me even more determined to sell away,” he said.

London-based Travel Renaissance operations director David Butcher said the service had been satisfactory, although he had ticketed 10 days in advance to give the company a cushion.

He said: “Several operators were concerned the company wouldn’t be ready on its start date so they ticketed forward as a precaution.”

BA apologised for fares not being loaded and said the situation was being resolved. It admitted Lime had a slow start but was now “performing above expectations”.