[RichHI1]

Key phrase is “rang BA’s SWEDISH number “. You want good service do not call UK numbers.

[SSTBeliever]

I made a mistake (misread the small text) between putting the passengers BA executive number (my sons) and the credit card holders name (mine) into a BA CE online booking and was left with a booking in my name (I am already booked on the flight) instead of my sons. Although his executive number was put into the booking page my name is in the booking (yes we do both have the same surname and its only one forename different).
I noticed this error even before printing or shutting the booking confirmation page and phoned BA immediately to tell them about my mistake only to be told “there is nothing we can do about it other than change the date within 24 hours otherwise, apart from the refundable tax element, you have lost your money”.
It is not a route I use frequently and I could not decide within 24 hours if I wanted to take a holiday to the same place within the next 12 months.
I know it was my mistake but I wonder how many other FF’s (or even non-FF’s) make mistakes on the online booking forms that end up costing them hundreds of pounds? Not a bad way for airlines to make extra money and double sell seats!
I am not impressed by this absolute inflexibility and, although I understand the rationale behind the fare rules, surly there should be a few minutes cooling off period to cover just this sort of human factors error and eventuality?
Is this another example of rip off Britain and BA??
I am now looking for an online booking system that allows for my human frailty and, when I find one, I will put as much of my (small in BA terms) £100000 annual personal travel spend there.

[RichHI1]

Interesting on two grounds:
1. AA and many other airlines have a feature that stops you making a multiple booking on the same flight on their websites. This is to stop people from holidng multiple seats. This sounds like a possible flaw in the BA booking system. You can book BA flights through the AA system though you can only be from certain countries (including UK).
2. Under the UK distance selling regulations, you have a right to cancel during a cooling off period additionally BA are signatories to the Airline Passenger Service Commitment which allows for a cooling off period. This is not a change but a mistake which will make the booking fail.
Personally I would call back, speak to a manager and continue with this. If you get no joy then you could call your credit card company and contest the charge as they could be seen to be trying to sell you the same thing twice (unless you have sepcified seats). This is personal suggestion and not legal advice.
As a an addition changing the forename is a common practice as many people book flights using nicknames and diminutives which do not match the passport and are susbequently changed to comply with security requirements. These are not treated as changes.

[Charles-P]

“CallMeIshmael” and his idea of a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card for regular customers is one already used by some.

I am a frequent user of the Intercontinental Park Lane, London and only recently had cause to cancel a Non-Flexible, Pre-Paid booking at very short notice. Within 15 minutes I had received a call saying that my booking had been refunded because, “we like to help our regular clients”.

[continentalclub]

I’m afraid that UK distance selling regulations do not apply to travel or accommodation bookings, RichHI1.

Looking back at powder_flow‘s original post, there seem to be two sorts of response that could be useful to him.

Either we can reveal the name of alternative airlines who, as a matter of policy, override their own ticket restrictions in set, specific and consistent situations. That way we can perhaps favour them.

Alternatively, we can provide examples when a carrier has overridden their Ts&Cs in one-off scenarios. That’s interesting, but not a great deal of practical use.

Accordingly, I could reel off dozens of examples of when KLM, US Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific have been flexible, but it’s unlikely that (without going into endless detail about circumstances and providing the names of individuals with whom I might have dealt) any of that intelligence would prove usable to him, or indeed any BT readers.

As I use BA probably more than any other airline, I could also list numerous examples of their having displayed flexibility, but that information is just as anecdotal – and therefore probably useless.

If anyone can recommend an airline that, as a matter of policy, overrides its Ts&Cs for status-holders then that would be incredibly useful; though why a carrier would do that rather than simply automatically making non-flexible tickets booked by status-holders flexible at point-of-purchase, I’m less sure.

In the absence of any recommendation then, the fact must presumably remain that a non-flexible ticket is just that, and we each must make a value-judgement upon whether, overall, and in light of the balance of probabilities, we benefit more from the reduced fares that non-flexible fares attract than we lose out from the odd occasion when an isolated loss is recorded.

Caveat emptor would therefore apply.

[LuganoPirate]

I know from personal experience that Swiss will allow you to change a booking made online if a genuine mistake has been made without charge even for inflexible tickets, provided you call them within the hour of making the booking.

They acknowledge the “fat finger” syndrome can sometimes lead to mistakes

[VintageKrug]

I have also had a change made on AA when I booked the wrong date (caused by UK/US date differences) and they corrected it FOC, mainly though I think based on status rather than any act of goodwill.

BA have also done this for me, but always best to call up IMMEDIATELY if you have made an error; it looks suspect if you wait a day or two to claim you made an error.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

I must say that I have not suffered frmo inflexibility with BA recently.

Nor have I endured the lousy ground service of recent years – with unempowered employees referring me to Suffolk for even the most minor of issues, the misplaced baggage or the pure incompetence of my credit card being triple charged for a single fare.

On the other hand, I have not flown BA for several months.

Do you think there might be a lesson in this?

[barnacles]

I think Loyal_BA’s comments are the most apposite here. BA check-in staff, faced with genuine emergencies and a smile from the prospective passenger, are a helpful bunch, and often, in my experience, go out of their way to assist. Face-to-face negotiation, conducted with civility, is often best. The exception, ironically, can be JNB, where BA have recruited some idiots who wouldn’t know what customer service was even if it came in the form of an offer from the ANC of free housing for life and unlimited grants of prime farmland to go with the accomodation . . .

[LuganoPirate]

Barnacles, I think to call the BA staff at JNB “idiots” is very unjust and unwarranted. The problem in S. Africa is that staff are told to obey the rules. This makes them seem very inflexible but in reality it’s their training and the fact they are fearful of losing their hard to come by jobs.

I’ve come across this seeming intransigence throughout S. Africa but 9 times out of 10 a request to speak to a supervisor will resolve a problem to ones satisfaction.

If you have an understanding of S. Africa’s history and development in the past 20 years you would know the reasons behind this.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

It’s not just SA where BA staff must follow orders, only last year a very frustrated CSA told me that she could have sorted out my problem in 2 mins in years gone by, but now had to refer me to the service centre in Suffolk.

I don’t doubt her sincerity nor the accuracy of what she said.

[barnacles]

LuganoPirate – I did not mean to offend. I think my point is that (and I have seen it at JNB) BA frontline staff are only rarely and in certain outstations especially intransigent and unhelpful, when it is they who should be the opposite, and they who should be voluntarily summoning a supervisor to try and sort any problem out, rather than alienating pax with a mindless blanket ‘NO’, along the lines of “the computer says ‘no”’. By and large they are a super bunch, however.

In purely objective terms it seems idiotic (defined in my dictionary as ‘foolish or senseless’) to offend pax, and you make my point for me by referring to recent South African history; the shining example of the last 20 years there, Nelson Mandela, admirably demonstrated that, in the end, compromise and understanding of an adversary’s situation (you feel like an adversary faced with BA’s JNB check-in staff, believe me) are probably better than constant emnity!

[zippy64]

I work for a top ranked Asian carrier and hear these kinds of complaints on the odd occasion. With all due respect its up to the traveller to give him/herself plenty of time to complete checkin formalites at the airport. When we advise you to be at the airport three hours before departure we arent doing it to p*** you off its for security reasons. Blaming BA for your
tardiness is not BA fault.

[RichHI1]

Interesting. Exemption for airlines on distance selling. Who says lobbying doesn’t pay. Have to say BA may flatter your ego in First but AA is far more focussed on elites. Not the world’s best airline but trounces BA for elite service.

[LuganoPirate]

How true is the last sentence Barnacles, I’ll remember that. I must confess that I often feel like I’m banging my head against the brick wall here in SA trying to sort things out, where “no” or “can’t be done” seems the easiest route for the staff to take rather than look for a solution to help solve a problem.

Flying back to Europe tomorrow to Zurich where no doubt I’ll have to face Swiss (people, not airline) intransigence and blinkered attitudes!

[Author]

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