Ridiculous same day change fee
Jun 30, 2012, 12:39 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
Posts: 3,580
Ridiculous same day change fee
Due to some unfortunate incident (see the spend time at GLA thread) I arrived at the airport 7 hours ahead of my scheduled time of departure. I asked for the change fee for my ticket and was quoted a rdiculous £283. Ridiculous in particular because a new one way ticket would have been only £242.
The whole thing made me think: Assuming BA were to offer a somewhat realistic change fee for people going on an earlier flight, painful enough not to discourage people from buying "business UK" fares, but also not so painful that poor stranded souls like myself would rather spend the fee than do an unplanned day in Glasgow and too many hours in the lounge -wouldn't this be very helpful to BA's bottom line?
The whole thing made me think: Assuming BA were to offer a somewhat realistic change fee for people going on an earlier flight, painful enough not to discourage people from buying "business UK" fares, but also not so painful that poor stranded souls like myself would rather spend the fee than do an unplanned day in Glasgow and too many hours in the lounge -wouldn't this be very helpful to BA's bottom line?
Jun 30, 2012, 1:29 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,775
As always, the change fee reflects the price you paid for your ticket.
A fully flexible ticket would have cost you more, but allowed changes with no fee. A middle-of-the-road fare would have allowed a change for £50. A cheap ticket is not flexible at all and I imagine the £283 quoted was not a change fee, but the fare for a new ticket.
As always, the terms and conditions are advised at the time the booking is made. Whilst it is unfortunate that your circumstances required you to take an earlier flight, that change of happenstance cannot be laid at British Airways' door.
A fully flexible ticket would have cost you more, but allowed changes with no fee. A middle-of-the-road fare would have allowed a change for £50. A cheap ticket is not flexible at all and I imagine the £283 quoted was not a change fee, but the fare for a new ticket.
As always, the terms and conditions are advised at the time the booking is made. Whilst it is unfortunate that your circumstances required you to take an earlier flight, that change of happenstance cannot be laid at British Airways' door.
Jun 30, 2012, 1:35 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 712
As always, the change fee reflects the price you paid for your ticket.
A fully flexible ticket would have cost you more, but allowed changes with no fee. A middle-of-the-road fare would have allowed a change for £50. A cheap ticket is not flexible at all and I imagine the £283 quoted was not a change fee, but the fare for a new ticket.
As always, the terms and conditions are advised at the time the booking is made. Whilst it is unfortunate that your circumstances required you to take an earlier flight, that change of happenstance cannot be laid at British Airways' door.
A fully flexible ticket would have cost you more, but allowed changes with no fee. A middle-of-the-road fare would have allowed a change for £50. A cheap ticket is not flexible at all and I imagine the £283 quoted was not a change fee, but the fare for a new ticket.
As always, the terms and conditions are advised at the time the booking is made. Whilst it is unfortunate that your circumstances required you to take an earlier flight, that change of happenstance cannot be laid at British Airways' door.
Jun 30, 2012, 1:39 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: not far from MUC
Posts: 6,620
Yes, but most US airlines allow same day changes for $50 or less. This is a net revenue generator for the airlines. Having to buy a new ticket will simply encourage most people to stick with their original flight. This leaves BA with less income and does not free up seats on later flights for last minute business fares.
I had a MAN-LHR-MUC flight booked, changed my plans, original ticket cost me £126, would have cost £120 (2x £60) to change. I let it lapse and bought a ticket with a different airline, direct, for less than £50.
For some very strange reason, BA credited me with the Avios for the LHR-MUC leg that I didn't fly. I'm not banking on keeping them!
Last edited by shorthauldad; Jun 30, 2012 at 1:44 pm Reason: typo
Jun 30, 2012, 2:43 pm
#5
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Edinburgh UK
Programs: BA Silver, HHonours Gold, Mucci of Pucci, Oyster Card, Nectar Card, Father's Day Card
Posts: 9,372
The change fee is £60 and then on top of that you pay the fare difference - so in this case it sounds like you were paying the sixty quid plus the difference between your fare and full fare.
Jun 30, 2012, 2:59 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: London
Posts: 3,459
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)
Yes, but most US airlines allow same day changes for $50 or less. This is a net revenue generator for the airlines. Having to buy a new ticket will simply encourage most people to stick with their original flight. This leaves BA with less income and does not free up seats on later flights for last minute business fares.
Wow. I bet BA never thought about that.
Originally Posted by riced
As always, the change fee reflects the price you paid for your ticket.
A fully flexible ticket would have cost you more, but allowed changes with no fee. A middle-of-the-road fare would have allowed a change for £50. A cheap ticket is not flexible at all and I imagine the £283 quoted was not a change fee, but the fare for a new ticket.
As always, the terms and conditions are advised at the time the booking is made. Whilst it is unfortunate that your circumstances required you to take an earlier flight, that change of happenstance cannot be laid at British Airways' door.
A fully flexible ticket would have cost you more, but allowed changes with no fee. A middle-of-the-road fare would have allowed a change for £50. A cheap ticket is not flexible at all and I imagine the £283 quoted was not a change fee, but the fare for a new ticket.
As always, the terms and conditions are advised at the time the booking is made. Whilst it is unfortunate that your circumstances required you to take an earlier flight, that change of happenstance cannot be laid at British Airways' door.
Jun 30, 2012, 2:59 pm
#8
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,724
Yes, but most US airlines allow same day changes for $50 or less. This is a net revenue generator for the airlines. Having to buy a new ticket will simply encourage most people to stick with their original flight. This leaves BA with less income and does not free up seats on later flights for last minute business fares.
Jun 30, 2012, 4:03 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
Posts: 3,580
In my particular case BA not only lost money (feeding me in the lounge for way too many hours ain't cheap...) but also lost out on additional revenue. I'd happily have shoved over £100 and have eaten half.
Wise business model? Don't think so. One of the previous posts mentioned the middle ground. That is exactly it. Surely a company that comes up with sophisticated load prediction algorithms would be able to calculate the change fee that hits the "not scaring off flexible customers but also getting money from the others" mark.
Wise business model? Don't think so. One of the previous posts mentioned the middle ground. That is exactly it. Surely a company that comes up with sophisticated load prediction algorithms would be able to calculate the change fee that hits the "not scaring off flexible customers but also getting money from the others" mark.
Jun 30, 2012, 4:30 pm
#10
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Herts, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL, HH Diamond.
Posts: 3,191
Ridiculous same day change fee
I've had the same, arrived at t5 early and asked about an earlier flight to be advised of a crazy change fee it more than my original ticket.
I'm not In a position where I actually need flexibility, but once I an at the airport it would just be nice to go earlier. But not hundreds of pounds nice!
I'm not In a position where I actually need flexibility, but once I an at the airport it would just be nice to go earlier. But not hundreds of pounds nice!
Jun 30, 2012, 4:50 pm
#11
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Battleaxe Alliance
Posts: 22,128
One thing I wish for is for GGL members to be given a couple of "let them change the short haul ticket just for the fare difference even though it's not really changeable, including to an earlier flight" voucher when they qualify/requalify. I think it's a nice addition that may not cost BA a fortune.
For plebs like me I'm quite happy to take responsibility for my own actions of booking restricted tickets and wear the waiting time or the cost of changes.
For plebs like me I'm quite happy to take responsibility for my own actions of booking restricted tickets and wear the waiting time or the cost of changes.
Jun 30, 2012, 5:34 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Quite close to NQY
Programs: BAEC Silver,clubcard,clubcard plus, BA Amex................ And Mucci x3 ;)
Posts: 9,488
It works both ways, on occasion if you turn up at the airport early and they have the space they will ask you to fly earlier, but generally only if the later flights are full or overbooked.
There is also a case for letting the lounge staff know when you go to the lounge that your prepared to fly earlier if needed, having hand luggage only helps
cs
There is also a case for letting the lounge staff know when you go to the lounge that your prepared to fly earlier if needed, having hand luggage only helps
cs
Jun 30, 2012, 7:45 pm
#14
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: NYC, SLC, LAX
Programs: AA EXP, UA Plat
Posts: 3,952
Well often you can fly when you're too late if you're polite and honest about it. BA isn't THAT bad.
It is a fine line of course. I have been offered earlier flights at various points (esp at JFK) but have never been able to change to an earlier one for free on my request (except, again, at JFK
- notice a trend?)
BA has models that definitely predict the usage of such a feature balanced with people buying flexible tickets and have probably decided the way they do it now is more profitable for them overall.
It is a fine line of course. I have been offered earlier flights at various points (esp at JFK) but have never been able to change to an earlier one for free on my request (except, again, at JFK
- notice a trend?)BA has models that definitely predict the usage of such a feature balanced with people buying flexible tickets and have probably decided the way they do it now is more profitable for them overall.
Jun 30, 2012, 7:51 pm
#15
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Join Date: Aug 2010
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Posts: 50,262
In my particular case BA not only lost money (feeding me in the lounge for way too many hours ain't cheap...) but also lost out on additional revenue. I'd happily have shoved over £100 and have eaten half.
Wise business model? Don't think so. One of the previous posts mentioned the middle ground. That is exactly it. Surely a company that comes up with sophisticated load prediction algorithms would be able to calculate the change fee that hits the "not scaring off flexible customers but also getting money from the others" mark.
Wise business model? Don't think so. One of the previous posts mentioned the middle ground. That is exactly it. Surely a company that comes up with sophisticated load prediction algorithms would be able to calculate the change fee that hits the "not scaring off flexible customers but also getting money from the others" mark.