[EasternPedlar]

I’m booked to fly to Frankfurt from LHR on Monday, and just have received an e-mail from BA telling me that I can reschedule or cancel without penalty. I’m quite worried as that suggests that my flight might not operate. I simply have to get to Frankfurt that day, and am wondering what my back up plan should be. Suggestions gratefully received.

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Tom Otley

[FrequentTraveller]

[postquote quote=1224131]

I think you are reading too much into the situation, that only your flight has been targeted for this option.

A few weeks ago I took a BA short haul flight and I was given the option to change my flight without plenty at the time of on-line check-in. I declined the change option and checked in. My flight operated as scheduled.

Also looking at http://www.ba.com the following banner is displayed.
”
More flexibility for Heathrow customers
If you’re due to fly from Heathrow on or before 25 July 2022, you can change to another British Airways flight in the next 12 months free of charge, subject to availability. For more information go to Manage My Booking.
”

So everybody is being even the option to change their flight regardless of destination.

The majority of BA flight cancellations have been made months in advance. Last week I had cancellations for flights in September and October.

ba.com is currently showing for Monday 18th July that only the 17:05 departure from LHR to FRA has been cancelled.

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Tom Otley, EasternPedlar

[frustratedflyer]

I have had one of these emails too. Reading it does make things rather unclear at first. The natural reaction is:

1. Has my flight be cancelled and are they just trying to get people to move to avoid compensation?
2. Are are they about to cancel my flight? (and trying to avoid cancellation)
3. Or simply scare people into not travelling.

As we all know this has been stimulated by Heathrow’s rather late decision to cap travellers at 100k per day when airlines have already sold more tickets than that. So BA I suppose is trying to get some travellers to rebook for later so they can perhaps consolidate yet more flights??! But to be clear here I believe LHR are to blame. They ignored the airlines when they suggested likely volumes of travellers and now can’t cope. Sadly it is the airlines (and mainly the Uk carriers that will feel the brunt of this) and not Heathrow (or their Spanish, Qatari, Canadian, US and Chinese) owners.

Will be interesting to see how this battle between the airlines desire to fly and LHR’s desire to restrict will end.

Anyway for those who have not seen BA’s email here it is:

Dear Customer,

We are getting in touch as you are due to travel with us on or before the 25 July 2022.

You may have seen in the news that airports across the world have imposed restrictions on the number of flights that airlines can operate. This week Heathrow Airport has set a passenger limit per day until September 2022. As a result, they have told us to adjust our flying schedule to reduce the number of customers using the airport this summer.

We understand that some customers may want to review their travel plans in light of the current travel challenges. We want to be as flexible as possible so that you can move your flights if you wish.

If you are due to travel between now and the 25 July 2022 and you wish to change your flights, we have introduced a policy that will allow you to easily change your travel dates via our website. This means you can rebook onto a British Airways operated service free of charge to any date within the next 12 months of your original date of travel, subject to availability.

You can do this simply by logging into your booking here.

Alternatively, if you decide that you no longer wish to travel, you can request a voucher for the value of your booking and when you are ready to use your voucher to book new flights, you can do so online. The voucher will be valid for travel before the 30 September 2023.

To request a voucher, click here.

If you have booked via a travel agent, please contact them directly to discuss your options.

If your flight is part of a British Airways Holidays package, you can review your options here.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

British Airways

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EasternPedlar, Tom Otley

[frustratedflyer]

And this is what you get if you do go to ba.com to Manage your Booking

Your flight is due to depart as planned but, in order to offer you more flexibility, we’re giving you the option to move your booking.
So that you can better manage your travel plans you have the following options:
• You don’t have to do anything, you can keep your booking as it is.
• You can change to another flight for free.
• If you wish to cancel your booking a refund will only apply if your fare rules allow it, please contact us to do this.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, EasternPedlar, Tom Otley

[SimonS1]

Translate as “we will get as many people as possible to make a voluntary change before we cancel the flight and face compensation claims”.

2 users thanked author for this post.

EasternPedlar, Tom Otley

[openfly]

…….or we get as many pax as possible to move their cheap fare flights, and then they can resell those cheap seats at a vastly higher price….simples!

1 user thanked author for this post.

EasternPedlar

[TonyR]

I would make contingency plans or leave plenty of time if you have to get there. LHR is bad but only 15th worst in Europe for delays and cancellations. FRA is second worst with 68% of flights delayed and 7.8% cancelled according to Bloomberg data published Tuesday. So there is a high probability of disruption to your flight because of things outside BA’s control. Allow also plenty of time to get through LHR and FRA airport security – the queues are pretty long. Also check your flight number on FlightAware which will tell you the delay and cancellation history of recent flights and enable you to judge the delay/cancellation risk.

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EasternPedlar

[Malachi1]

Option 1: Rebook to the day before

Option 2: Get to the airport for the FIRST flight, and standby for it, unless already on it, then option 1

Option 3: Take the train, with a change in Brussels or Paris

Option 4: Book on LH

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE that covers canceled tickets etc.

1 user thanked author for this post.

EasternPedlar

[EasternPedlar]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Some were very prescient.

“Manage my booking” offered me the option of rebooking at about the same time out of London City and I thought that I’d be better off away from the chaos of Heathrow, so I made the change. I didn’t factor in the temperature – not sure if many of you are aware that the operational load of planes flying out of London City drops by 250kg per 1 degree of temperature above 33! Eight passengers were offloaded from my flight and sent off to Gatwick. Fortunately I wasn’t one of them, but there was a nail biting moment or two! It’s something to bear in mind when deciding to use that airport.

My original flight from LHR did operate, though about 3 hours late. When I last checked, BA were flogging of the seat I’d vacated for about £930, so there is clearly some careful thought behind their messaging.

Security at London City was a delight compared to LHR, but it’s otherwise not a comfortable airport to wait in. I’d gone there a couple of hours before my flight, but 45 minutes to an hour would have been sufficient normally. The facilities including duty free and shops are very basic. T5 would have been a lot nicer, especially with the lounges. Still, I have reached Frankfurt and that’s what matters most in these crazy times.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, Jacob, SimonS1, Tom Otley

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=1225186]When I last checked, BA were flogging of the seat I’d vacated for about £930, so there is clearly some careful thought behind their messaging.[/quote]

Exactly. BA will find a way of making a commercial win here whilst screwing thousands of travellers. “Show me the **** money” as Wee Willie used to say.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Polly

[jsn55]

Yet another lame-brain communication from a travel provider. The originators of this stuff cannot seem to ‘read their own words’ to make sure that their message is clear. Lazy or incompetent, could be either or a combination of both. When composing messages like this, they could just ask the janitor to read it and tell them what it says. Or the host at the cafe, or their hairdresser. No PhD required to understand basic communications.

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Polly, IanFromHKG

[TonyR]

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Polly, CathayLoyalist2

[Author]

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