'Channel fee' - what's this?

[darthlemsip]

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to cancel an Avios+Money booking online and couldn't - instead of prompting me for my credit card number used in the booking, it asked for an e-voucher number (???)

I rang the gold line and explained, and they said that you can't cancel an Avios+Money booking online (this I know to be tosh as I have done it several times previously when plans have changed) and they would do it for me. Avios got refunded straight away, money as usual would take a little while.

This morning I got the refund receipt come through and I have an €80 channel fee applied to the refund - what is this? Is it the phone fee?

Nothing was said about any charges, the guy just said "I'll cancel that now for you" and it was done.

Have I got any recourse for getting this back? It's only €80 at the end of the day, but I still would have liked to have been told I was being charged something.

[Tobias-UK]

As a Gold EC Member you shouldn't be paying any fee.

[Land-of-Miles]

Originally Posted by Tobias-UK

As a Gold EC Member you shouldn't be paying any fee.

You do pay a fee for booking by phone £5 per ticket even via GGL. This is at least explicitly mentioned. This cannot be avoided even when you have no alternative to a phone booking (because the online booking platform will not support a complex booking for instance). The only way to avoid this seems to be to use a TA.

I too have noticed many other attempts at sneaky charging of various fees which are not disclosed at the time of booking. The fact that the ticket receipt does not properly itemise the fare and additional cost components makes it very easy to attach small additional fees unoticed.

[lawrenson1]

Hi,

theres a charge calculator here:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_gb

Cheers,
Karen

[Tobias-UK]

Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles

You do pay a fee for booking by phone £5 per ticket even via GGL...

For a redemption booking???

[missdimeaner]

I still have no clue to what a 'Channel fee' is

Does anyone ???

Cancellation fee in Euros seems to be 30......

[Land-of-Miles]

Originally Posted by Tobias-UK

For a redemption booking???

For a redemption booking I presume not but for a cash booking there is a mandatory £5 fee. I wouldn't bet against this fee extending to cover all bookings now that it is unavoidable for cash bookings.

[Tobias-UK]

Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles

For a redemption booking I presume not ...

The OP's booking was a redemption (Avios + Money rather than UuA) so there should be no fee payable.

[Land-of-Miles]

Originally Posted by Tobias-UK

The OP's booking was a redemption (Avios + Money rather than UuA) so there should be no fee payable.

Unless BA has chosen to treat Avios and Money as commercial bookings not redemptions or has decided to extend the fee to cover Avios bookings too?

Is the absence of booking fees for Golds a documented benefit? I know it has become normal custom but if it isn't a firm documented benefit then this could surely change.

[Paralytic]

Originally Posted by missdimeaner

I still have no clue to what a 'Channel fee' is

Does anyone ???

In retail, a 'channel' is a route to market for customer purchases. So the phone line is a channel, as is the web, as is chat etc etc.

So I presume the channel fee is the fee for using the telephone channel.

I thought telephone fees were waived for Golds, but i'm not 100% sure if this is the case for Avios + Money bookings.

[darthlemsip]

Thanks all - have sent an email asking them to investigate. The website wasn't working properly (giving the e-voucher thing), so as I understand it, the fee should be waived.

The €80 ammount doesn't seem to fit in with any of the charges I've seen either, so it's all very odd!

[Tobias-UK]

Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles

... Is the absence of booking fees for Golds a documented benefit?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles

Unless BA has chosen to treat Avios and Money as commercial bookings not redemptions or has decided to extend the fee to cover Avios bookings too?

Then that would be a breach of the BAEC T&Cs.

[missdimeaner]

Originally Posted by Paralytic

In retail, a 'channel' is a route to market for customer purchases. So the phone line is a channel, as is the web, as is chat etc etc.

So I presume the channel fee is the fee for using the telephone channel.

I thought telephone fees were waived for Golds, but i'm not 100% sure if this is the case for Avios + Money bookings.

Thanks for that, it was beginning to drive me potty trying to figure it out

[Land-of-Miles]

Originally Posted by Tobias-UK

Yes.



Then that would be a breach of the BAEC T&Cs.

I have just had a browse through the T&C's and I can't see any reference to fees either way. In which section of the T&C's is this benefit detailed?

[daftboy]

At the bottom of the page linked to below it states "Fees don't apply to Gold Members and infants"

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...l/public/en_gb

However, the other service fees page linked to upthread doesn't include that wording...