[MartynSinclair]

In the past (i dont know if its still current) VS would be very accomodating to changes on production of a Dr’s note. Other than that, i agree with VintageKrug (for a change), flexibilty is the cost of a flexible ticket!

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Given that airlines have significant data on the travel habits of their frequent flyers surely it is in their best interests to offer a little flexibility in exceptional circumstances, maybe something like on 5% of occasions would be a good compromise then no one would abuse it as they would hold on to it for the very special occasions as the OP describes.

Just to show it can happen though, I turned up at FCO yesterday booked on AZ on a non-flexible C ticket to LHR, I was early and the previous flight was still about 40 mins from departure. I asked whether a change would be possible – no status with Skyteam at all and an AZ basic card. A phone call was made, a keyboard tapped and a boarding card for the earlier flight produced with a smile and an enjoy the flight sir. All from an airline who many regard as pretty awful but they’ve got my next booking to Italy already.

AZ 1 BA 0

Congratulations powder_flow, I hope the sleepless nights are not too many!

[DClinPsy]

Hi Powder_flow,

firstly, congratulation for your newborn.

I agree BA is inflexible, not only in your case, even as a paying Business Class passengers, changing dates is chargeable, not to mention that, BA “flexibility” option is ridiculously priced!

I have experienced quiet the same situation as you, but not as joyful. It was in 2007 and I was just a blue krisflyer member. I hold a return SQ business class (discounted) ticket to FRA from Jakarta despite of my main destination is LHR to attend a friend’s wedding. However, as the day came closer, I was forced to postponed my flight twice due to personal circumstances and both they changed it free of charge!

As going to FRA now will do me nothing, I asked them if I could reroute to London despite my ticket saying “Re-routing is not allowed”. 1st and 2nd attempt failed with the SQ agent kept apologizing to me, however, on the 3rd attempt when I, my self went to their ticketing office (was in Paragon Singapore back then) and explained my situation to the lady, she told me that it is not possible, but she can try to forward my request to the higher management and asked me to leave my mobile number.

Without any high hope, the next morning she called me and said her boss agreed to reroute my ticket and she then asked me when would I’d like to fly, where would i’d like to be seated and Would i like to book the “book the cook” meal options. she did it in one call on that morning and on that weekend I fly directly to London and what even amazing about it was that there were no charges at all.

Don’t get me wrong, I do heart BA, but in my opinion, their “flexibility” option is just ridiculously high and doesn’t makes sense, same goes to their GBP 200 fee for changing dates for business Class passengers.

[MarkCymru]

Earlier this year, we were scheduled to fly on Swiss in business to Florida for a holiday, using LH Miles & More miles. I became very ill (with a stomach bug) and couldn’t travel. 12 hours before the scheduled departure, I called M&M and told them that I would not be able to travel. I expected to be taken off the flight and told to claim on my travel insurance. Instead, they freed up extra reward seats, shifted the booking by three days and brought us home on LH via FRA (as they couldn’t free up seats on Swiss). I was effusively grateful. They told me that it was “normal” to value their Senator card holders.

Switch to Lufthansa!

[azidane]

A month ago I was flying from LHR to CPH on BA to then get a EgyptAir flight to Cairo (the reason for this routing was that booking the ticket this way was 1/2 price of what it was at the time to fly to CAI from LHR as summer holidays and ramadan had just started) and I arrived at LHR at 2mins before the cut off point and tried to check in at one of the kiosks and it would not let me so ran to a counter and was told I was 2mins late and could not check in and to go to another counter, so I ran there and pleaded with them and they would not let me on but informed me that there was another flight in a couple of hours but it would cost me a £60 change fee and £544 for a flexible ticket (as all other fare classes were sold) so tried few various options but would have been more and with the later flight I would still catch the CAI flt from CPH so did not have any choice and once I went through to airside I went to the customer service desk to complain about the member of staff (not because she charged me but because of her very surly, rude and could not care less attitude) and then explained about the ticketing and the CS rep informed me that it has come down from senior management that they are to be as inflexible as poss when it comes to changes etc and to charge as much as poss and she sympathised with me and as a gesture gave me a pass to the galleries lounge but said apart from that nothing else she could do. I ended up paying £784 (inc the £180 for the original ticket) for a one way ticket to CPH….daylight robbery but I had no choice

[VintageKrug]

…but reward tickets are *always* flexible (subject to availability and the – usually modest – change fee, which is usually waived for top tier cardholders).

GGL is usually pretty good at sorting out stuff like this; with his travel pattern powder_flow must be a GGLer for whom exceptions are more easily accommodated.

[MartynSinclair]

Interesting to see that BA are using entrance to the Galleries lounge as a pacifier!!

Azidane, you seem to have a rough ride, if you tried to check in 2 minutes before the flight closed, not sure why you were refused. Is there anything you can add.

[azidane]

The CSR said as I had paid so much for a economy ticket she would give me a pass to the Galleries Lounge, did not explain more than that.

I tried the kiosk 2mins

[RichHI1]

There are many issues here which are getting mixed up.
1) if you are travelling on a restricted ticket and force majeur occurs in the shape of family illness, injury etc then airlines which do not make accommodation may be within their rights but I would question whether it is sensible to fly with them. After all airlines are very quick to claim force majeur when they hit problems. Suggestion Fly another carrier.
2) If you buy a restricted ticket you get it cheap so you should not expect the same flexibility as with a more expensive ticket. If you get the same why should you pay more? Arriving two minutes before cut off on a multi leg intercontinental trip is not the cleverest thing to do. If you had checked in on the net or your blackberry you would have got on the plane (although your bags might not have made same flight). Internet check in saves the airlines money and makes life easier for late running pax. Suggestion try to arrive in good time and check in on web.
3) Different airlines have different business models and treat their elite frequent flyers differently. Some airlines treat them with kid gloves adn cater to their every wish, some airlines try to milk them for every penny and others sit in the middle. If you do not like the BA approach then fly on another airline. Saying it is not fair achieves nothing but flying on SAA or SK when enough people do it will make changes happen. Nothing changes airline policy quicker than losing share to other carriers. Suggestion swap to a carrier that appreciates elites to the standard you like. Most carriers will match a level of elite standing if you can show your flying pattern.
The resolution to the issues here lie with the BA passengers.

[VintageKrug]

The cut off is 35 minutes, and you must have cleared security (well, the initial BP scan) by that time.

Arriving 35 minutes before an international flight really isn’t enough time; however having done this once myself (though on a domestic, primarily due to a nightmare tube journey) once you’ve done it once, you’ll never do it again!

The policy is well publicised on the website, in MMB and online check in:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/terminal-5-changes/public/en_gb

It can catch people out, but it’s there for a reason.

Having the 35 mins “conformance threshold” has hugely improved BA’s on time stats (I used to fly bmi domestically where possible due to BA’s previously lacklustre on time performance, now BA is officially better than bmi is, despite a hugely more complex route network).

[rferguson]

I’m with you on that one VK. With all the options of checking in now: online, via phone, printing your own boarding pass, downloading it to a smart phone, the only thing you really have to worry about is making sure you are at the airport 40mins before departure and your boarding pass scanned at the security checkpoint -35mins. If you can’t manage that, there is something wrong and BA definitely shouldnt be liable to put your non-flexible ticket onto the next flight at no charge.

In regards to the thread starters situation. Well yes, a non flexible ticket is a non flexible ticket. There are definitely situations that would warrant one buying a flexible ticket…like when you are expecting a birth. Saying that, I do think there should be a once every few years ‘get out of jail card’ in the respects of our frequent flyers. An exception really should have been made to a gold card holder of six years.

[RichHI1]

As indicated in my post, I agree with VK and referguson.
The improvement in BA timekeeping in European flights since they imposed realistic close out times has been dramatic.
The whole point of force majeur is it is without your control and unforseeable. Cutting it fine does not qualify to me as transport delays (M25, Tube, Heathrow Express) are not unforseeable..

[azidane]

For the sake of clarity my flight was at 06.45 and I arrived at the check-in kiosk at approx 06.02 so I do not think its a 35mins cut off, according to the staff its a 45mins cut off

[RichHI1]

I think there is confusion on the cut off here. BA check in closes 45 mins before and internet 1 hr before (as it says on website). I suspect VK is referring to a cut off for clearing security or presenting yourself at the gate. Internet check in opens 24 hours ahead so you can print your boarding pass or have it on your phone.

[Senator]

Hello all,

This story may make poor powder_flow less happy, but I’ve now had two instances with BA on completely inflexible tickets where they have offered a solution:
March 2011 – I come to ARN in taxi, discovering I have left wallet at home. I have some backup cards in my laptop case, but call BA to see if I can travel later. I am offered to rebook for the following morning at £60
This week – I’ve looked at some US destinations for Dec/Jan from the BA Sale. Then I needed to go to the UK the next two weeks, so I booked my usual ARN-LHR-ARN in CE none-flex with weekend in between, and LHR-ZRH-ARN-FRA-BHX on LX/LH. Since I did this in haste, I had booked a return from LHR to ARN for 19 Jan, 2012 rather than 15 Sept, 2011 as planned. I believe this was due to me playing around on BA.com for deals, but it was entirely my fault. I have also by the way, booked a hotel with an error of one week, a restaurant with an error of one week during the past five days. So obviously, I am having a heck of a time keeping track of dates currently 😉

So I rang BA’s Swedish number this morning, told them the story of my complete inability to book correctly. A swift check with the supervisor, and voila! rebooked for the 15 Sept at a cost of £25. So complete inflexibility, not in my experience. However, I would have not picked a fight if they would have said no, this was my own fault all the way

That said, I do have a great deal of empathy for powder_flow’s predicament, and in this specific case I think BA could have shown some flexibility.

[Author]

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