[hi_flier]

Hi everyone. Not a business travel question but hoping to tap into forum experience here. I have 4 x Club World tickets on BA from LHR to JFK booked for late October to attend the NYC Marathon. Whilst the event has not yet been cancelled, I really can’t see it going ahead.

Does anyone know whether British Airways allows you to rebook to a new destination (and effectively use the existing credit towards this new destination)? For example, would BA allow me to rebook to a new destination of, say Boston, in early 2021? My ticket says it’s non-refundable but changeable subject to fees (and changes in ticket prices I assume).

Unfortunately their more generous change/voucher offer comes to an end long before November.

Any suggestions/advice/experience greatly appreciated!

[capetonianm]

It depends entirely on the ticket fare basis what restrictions and fees apply.
It sounds as if you have a ticket which should be changeable for a fee, but without knowing the fare basis it’s impossible to check the rule, other than working it back from the existing itinerary and matching that to a fare, if it’s a published fare.

[hi_flier]

Thanks capetonianm. I guess it’s a case of calling up BA once I have clarity on plans.

[VMR Travel UK]

While your tickets will not qualify for BA’s Book With Confidence (BWC) policy it is not unlikely that it can be changed. Almost all their fares except most fares in I Class ( lowest business class level) allow changes to routes and dates for a fee plus any difference in fare. You will have a hard time getting through to BA at the moment so my first question you is whether you have looked at your options under ‘manage my booking’ at ba.com . If that does not get you anywhere have a look at your e-ticket and see if you can identify the fare basis and fare as suggested by Captonianm. Feel free to post it here and I will have a look at it and provide you with any information i can get. Regards, Martin

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Yes on 99% of tickets you can reroute. You pay the change fees as per the normal fare conditions plus any fare difference (if applicable) and any new / extra taxes for the route you intend to fly (which if staying in US should be minimal).

Done this hundreds of times so I’d be surprised if you’re unable to do this. Only point is that ticket validity to change outbound travel is normally 1 year from date you issued the tickets. So if purchased in on 1st Jan you’d have to use outbound by 31st December – though some allow for changes 1 year from original date f outbound travel and BA maybe more flexible on this given current situation.

[capetonianm]

You’ve got three offers to help, and if you post the fare basis, routing, and dates of travel may help, one of us will jump on it for you. There is no confidential information specific to you in this.

It will be up to about 8 characters and will start with J C D R or I for business class, and look a bit like this : DH1MGB and will appear somewhere on the document they have issued you.

One of us will then be able to look up the Voluntary Changes conditions which apply to the fare and give your answer.

[hi_flier]

Thanks all for your help.

Trying to find the fare basis hasn’t proven to be the easiest thing as the e-ticket confirmation doesn’t explicitly call this out. So I’ve stitched things together from this document and from Manage My Booking. The outbound selling class is “I” (which is discounted Club World) and the return is “A” (which is discounted First).

The endorsements are as follows: Pax ******/l/adt/ba-ib only non-ref/non-end -bg:ba (Pax number removed in case this was a personal identifier of sorts).

I genuinely can’t seem to find a neat fare basis code anywhere on the ticket or in MMB.

Thanks again for all your help.

[VMR Travel UK]

So we know it is I class out ans A class back and you know you can change against a fee plus fare difference.
None of the fares out there currently restricted changes to date and time only so my educated guess is that you will be able to change the destination.
You will still have to get in tocuh with BA but your chances are good that this will work out in your favor. All I suspect is that the change fee applies to BOTH sectors, out and back. But BA will clarify for you. Good luck!

[hi_flier]

Thanks VMR Travel UK!

I need to see what happens over the coming weeks anyway but sounds like I may have options.

[VMR Travel UK]

Always a pleasure!
Let us know how it worked out in the end !
Martin

[capetonianm]

hi_flier : You are correct, I’ve looked at some of my old BA confirmation emails and they don’t appear to show the fare basis. It should be on the ITR (Itinerary Receipt) and on the E-ticket but how you display those from the traveller side I’ve no idea, and I don’t have any forward bookings to play around with.The usual way to see the ticket details would be to have the 13 digit ticket number (125-nnnnnnnnnn) as a clickable link which would then display the details.

I think you’ve got your answer, but if you really need a specific answer here, you’ll need to post your itinerary, dates of travel, and the fare you paid, so that it can be matched up.

If you’re worried about the security aspect of doing that, it that won’t reveal any personal or specific information about you, it won’t enable anyone to find your actual booking unless they had a vast amount of time and patience to check every combination of flights and then they would have to have full access to the BA system. Even then unless your booking was to and from somewhere well off the beaten track it would be almost impossible.

[FaroFlyer]

Hi_flier,

I just checked my only booking with BA and the selling class is not on confirmation e-mail or e-ticket. However, if you go into Manage my Booking then go to look at each sector there is a click on line titled “More flight information”. Click on this and there is a pop up which states Selling Class such as I or A or W etc.

Hope this helps

[capetonianm]

The selling classes are sub-classes within the same cabin. There can be more than one fare basis per selling class, for example J C D I R in the Business Class cabin. Knowing the selling class is a step in the right direction but doesn’t in itself give the full answer.

[hi_flier]

@FaroFlyer – thanks. And yes, that’s exactly what I did after doing a bit of research. But as Capetonianm says, it doesn’t unfortunately give the full picture.

@Capetonianm – I’m going to see what happens with the NYC marathon over the coming weeks and then make a call. May end up just heading out there on these flights even if the event does get cancelled. All my other long haul plans have been cancelled this year and it would be nice to travel again!

[Author]

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