bmi diamond club - Advice please : award booking unexpectedly re-ticketed but now has error

Would appreciate some advice from the "old hands" on this forum. Should I handle this problem now with BMI? Or should I wait in case it would be more readily handled later perhaps by another route.

Unexpectedly received a re-confirmation email today of my award booking sent by BMI which I had not changed.

I had DUB-LHR-EDI-BRU...BCN-GRU booked for next year. BRU...BCN is overland (or cheap flight still to be obtained by me). First and second legs are now BA flights. EDI-BRU is still BD. After this unrequested re-ticketing the LHR-EDI flight lands too late to catch the EDI-BRU flight following, that still appears on the booking. Someone just doesn't appear to have checked the ticket when re-issuing.

There is a later BD flight EDI-BRU same day. But this arrives too late to make it from BRU to BCN in time for the following morning flight BCN-GRU by any method of transport other than teleportation ;)

I can't find any award combination still available on *A that will get me to BCN in time to make the flight. Ideal would be just to ask BA for an LHR-BCN award link into this booking instead, but I don't believe BA will ever take responsibility for this booking.

Do you think I should just cancel the whole award ticket, get the miles back, port them to Avios, then can I get DUB-LHR-EZE on BA Avios? I had been looking forward to catching up on at least 3 of the latest movies and a great flight on the SQ BCN-GRU flight. I was prepared to do BCN-GRU in Y on SQ, but I'm less keen to do it in Y on BA. But I'm now wondering is the tax/cash combination potentially cheaper on this route on Avios anyway? Or, is there any benefit to just wait a few months before raising this issue in case a better possibility arises - or in case any precedents are set involving BA as owning airline having to pick up these types of issues left by BD and solve using their own award flights?@:-) "Old hands" advice appreciated please.

I had DUB-LHR-EDI-BRU...BCN-GRU booked for next year. BRU...BCN is overland (or cheap flight still to be obtained by me). First and second legs are now BA flights. EDI-BRU is still BD. After this unrequested re-ticketing the LHR-EDI flight lands too late to catch the EDI-BRU flight following, that still appears on the booking. Someone just doesn't appear to have checked the ticket when re-issuing.
Not sure what you were thinking with DUB-LHR-EDI-BRU...BCN-GRU - seems excessively convoluted, and the chances of a misconnection hugely increased. Maybe you can convince BMI to drop all the pre-flights and just leave you with BCN-GRU. Then get to BCN yourself. Aer Lingus maybe. Surely the cost of that flight will be cheaper than all the extra YQs and airport taxes needed for all the connecting flights?

edit: dropping the pre-flights sounds like a change - which I guess are no longer allowed. Others have posted about being moved onto BA flights due to schedule changes, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of LHR-BCN as an option. Guess you wont know until you call BMI, point out the problem, and see what they suggest as a fix.

you may want to check this thread
Schedule Changes For Star Alliance Awards after May 2012 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1353370-schedule-changes-star-alliance-awards-after-may-2012-a.html)

thanks cmcbugg... I've been following that thread. But I can't see clear answer on whether it might be smarter to leave it a while before I raise this as an issue, raise it now or whether it's better to just cancel the whole lot and re-book on Avios.

I should clarify that the reason for the convoluted booking was due to the lack of Star Alliance flights from LHR to BCN. It did not help that LH group award flights were off limits by the time I made the booking. LHR-BCN would always have done fine but was not available on *A. Yes, I had same thought as you that cancelling the earlier segments might mean I get told I have to cancel the lot anyway. BCN as a departure point is also Z2 and currently the booking goes out of Z1. Changes were not previously allowed to include a change of zone on either departure or destination although perhaps a ticketing error could be referred to to try to get a dispensation on this when asking for a resolution.

I'd rather not lose the BCN-GRU unless a cancellation and re-book under Avios is best solution as well as definitely available. I'm guessing that even if the points and cash might be a good match, availability of awards on BA might be an issue...?

It depends on your dates of course, but I find much more availability Europe - Brazil with Oneworld than with Star Alliance. I'll travel that route on Iberia, to save about 300 GBP of taxes and fuel surcharges per person.
Points and cash with BA is not a good value, it's similar to buying the points.

Did you need to be in BRU? It just seems strange why you have this ping-ponging DUB-LHR-EDI in there first.

I'd go with the advice given earlier, try to scrap all those, start from BCN, and get yourself on a separate paid DUB-BCN Aer Lingus flight the night before. Surely the same scenario as having to get a separate paid Brussels Airlines flight from BRU-BCN - but without all that ping-ponging first!!!

Congratulation on wringing such a weirdly non-standard itinerary out of DC:eek: I thought the no-stopover rule in Z1/2 included breaks of journey/surface sectors: but clearly not.

BA's award mindset is based on sector redemptions. I can't see them having much sympathy for your predicament.

I think sticking it out until the last moment to see what happens is a seriously bad idea. It will play havoc with your nerves: and by the time you reach crunch point there may be no availability under any programme.

If flying the SQ sector is so important, you could ask DC about the chances of cutting out the preceding silliness. A DUB BRU ticket (I'm assuming you need to be in Brussels) shouldn't set you too much out of pocket compared to the charges attached to the award sectors. And I note you intended to fly yourself between BRU and BCN.

If they can't do that, I'd vote for cashing in the award and looking to Avios and BA/Iberia/partners. But there you'll need to keep it simple :D

[QUOTE=IAN-UK;
If flying the SQ sector is so important, you could ask DC about the chances of cutting out the preceding silliness. A DUB BRU ticket (I'm assuming you need to be in Brussels) shouldn't set you too much out of pocket compared to the charges attached to the award sectors. And I note you intended to fly yourself between BRU and BCN.

If they can't do that, I'd vote for cashing in the award and looking to Avios and BA/Iberia/partners. But there you'll need to keep it simple :D[/QUOTE]

not clear from OP but I suspect SQ sector is Y, if that is the case I would just get te whole thing cnxled and look for a more direct option. SQ Y is still Y and it is about 10 hours... I have seen cheapo TK J fares to GRU which might be a better option than Avios plus cash..

Thanks to all for the good advice.

Sounds like you're all in agreement that options are less as time goes on, not more. I've checked out alternative paid positioning flights ex-Lon and ex-Dub to BCN. You're right, currently those are available for cash and cost a bit less than taxes.

I shall chat to the ICC and see what is their proposed solution. Based on your good advice and my own checking it seems the ICC will advise me there is no longer any award solution available that can be booked by BMI to get me to Barcelona in time for the leg BCN-GRU. The problem seems to have been introduced by a schedule change on one of the flights. So it seems I will have to either ask them about making an exception to the rules by changing the ticket so it now starts in Zone 2 (BCN) instead of as now Zone 1 (DUB), or cancel the ticket due to this issue that now makes it impossible to use (presumably without charge).

I'll think about this for a few more days, then will post what happens. Thanks again for all the advice.

if you are looking to save money, check out the options with Iberia. There was a post on One Mile At a time last week that said IB charge minimal YQ on avios awards (at least compared with BA).
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/2012/06/14/redeeming-british-airways-avios-points-for-travel-on-iberia-without-fuel-surcharges/

thanks soy

Notwithstanding the fact that the taxes may be more than a positioning flight to BCN, they accepted the booking via the convoluted route above to get you from DUB to BCN. Providing there is award inventory they should still honour this. As this is a *A award there will be no *A inventory but the change is forced by the rescheduling of flights by BA, who therefore are the operator responsible for rescheduling, so the fact the ticket miles were lodged with a *A carrier is really neither here nor there. As BA operate DUB-LHR and LHR-BCN, I would have thought there was a case for insisting that they offer this route providing there are OW award seats available, which on these routes there almost certainly will be. You already have a combination of BA and *A flights on the itinerary so replacing one BA connection with another shouldn't really be an issue. I would at least give that argument a try if its what you want. However, I agree the option to drop the flights to BCN and keep the rest of the itinerary as is should be available to you if you prefer this.

Notwithstanding the fact that the taxes may be more than a positioning flight to BCN, they accepted the booking via the convoluted route above to get you from DUB to BCN. Providing there is award inventory they should still honour this. As this is a *A award there will be no *A inventory but the change is forced by the rescheduling of flights by BA, who therefore are the operator responsible for rescheduling, so the fact the ticket miles were lodged with a *A carrier is really neither here nor there. As BA operate DUB-LHR and LHR-BCN, I would have thought there was a case for insisting that they offer this route providing there are OW award seats available, which on these routes there almost certainly will be. You already have a combination of BA and *A flights on the itinerary so replacing one BA connection with another shouldn't really be an issue. I would at least give that argument a try if its what you want. However, I agree the option to drop the flights to BCN and keep the rest of the itinerary as is should be available to you if you prefer this.
From what I have read and experienced I agree with this approach. BA has caused your problems and BA has it within their power to resolve them (by making award inventory available on their flights). So I would approach them first - and HUACA as often as you need unless you are absolutely convinced it's a lost cause. Once they have added the flights you want to the booking, DC can then re-issue with your permission.

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