[openfly]

I need a seat from JNB to CPT single in July. So, I looked at BA.com for an Avios seat in Business. Yes, lots of them. The flight I decided on was 15.000 Avios and “total fare” £48. Moved to next page and the “total fare” had increased to £70. Why? I phoned the Exec Club and a helpful lady looked at the same flight and said that she was looking at £85 for the same flight! So she called fares and was told that the fare they were seeing was £70. Def not £48….?!
I then looked at cash for the same flight on BA.com in Y…R1393 was the price. After previous experiences, I checked Skyscanner…same flight R973. So I went for this via Skyscanner which took me straight to BA.com and I paid the R973! The moral is to check Skyscanner or similar before buying direct on BA.com.
I told the lady at the Exec Club of this and she was very honest…it happens frequently that BA fares are cheaper on these indirect sites.

5 users thanked author for this post.

ASK1945, handbag, Montysaurus, alanred13, FaroFlyer

[Montysaurus]

I had this about 2 or 3 weeks ago on a domestic flight booking. BA.com said £119 but wouldn’t let me complete the booking despite several attempts and BA Exec Club lady said it was because the price really was £168. BA twitter contact said there was a problem with BA.com and a day later said there wasn’t a problem at all! Still on sale on BA.com at £119! So £50 out of pocket. It is less the £50 that annoys me – it is the fact that I was misled either by one BA twitter party not knowing what the other was saying or deliberately.
Grrrr!

[capetonianm]

it happens frequently that BA fares are cheaper on these indirect sites.

Fares are very complex, as we all know, and are dynamically updated according to demand and point of enquiry, amongst many other criteria, it is almost impossible for a single source to be fully updated at a given time.

However, most major airlines have a ‘full content’ agreement with the GDSs which means that a customer should see, and be able to purchase, the full range of publicly available fares on the airline’s own website/app. The exceptions to this would be where an OLTA has a negotiated fare agreement with a carrier, such fare only being saleable through the agency site/app.

There’s not much point in me making negative comments about BA’s appalling IT, I would merely be reinventing the wheel.

[SwissExPat]

This is not confined to BA.com

I often use Skyscanner.net to find flights (particularly to the USA ex europe). Often a flight will appear using American Airlines and when I click through the skyscanner link, I get landed into the AA website with the flight and fare as displayed in Skyscanner. So far so good.

However, If I start off in AA.com and seek the same flight and fare, it is not available or even offered.

On a similar matter, often these flights are operated by BA (somethimes all sectors) and the same combination of flights on BA.com either never show as available or show at a higher price point.

[Author]

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