Check the fare conditions of what you have booked. If its a flexible fare then you could subject to availability, if not then there will either be a fare difference and change fee, or no change allowed.
Check the fare conditions of what you have booked. If its a flexible fare then you could subject to availability, if not then there will either be a fare difference and change fee, or no change allowed.
100£ change fee and since this would be last moment there would most probably be a hefty fare difference.
I am looking for tricks of the trade of a freebie change (e.g. if the late flight is pretty full it makes sense for them to send me earlier)
All weekday flights next week to HKG are quite empty, with I9 availability for all except the Friday flight which is I6.
I highly doubt they would let you standby or change to the earlier flight for free. BA wouldn't know if the flight was full until the flight actually closes, as people misconnect, no show etc. And even then, they would upgrade people first rather than bump them.
100£ change fee and since this would be last moment there would most probably be a hefty fare difference.
I am looking for tricks of the trade of a freebie change (e.g. if the late flight is pretty full it makes sense for them to send me earlier)
People's experience on here suggests that BA are almost always inflexible in such cases, unless as you say the later flight is overbooked and it is advatageous for them to move you.
All you can do is ask and hope for the best, chances are you will be disapointed but there is no harm in asking.
Showed up for the late SQ LHR - SIN a few weeks ago around 2pm. Asked could I check in early. They said "no, not until 630 pm (iirc) but why don't we just move you to the earlier 630pm flight?"
Why indeed? Customer service perchance?
Same happened with CX last summer just checking in early.....
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poxball
Showed up for the late SQ LHR - SIN a few weeks ago around 2pm. Asked could I check in early. They said "no, not until 630 pm (iirc) but why don't we just move you to the earlier 630pm flight?"
Why indeed? Customer service perchance?
Same happened with CX last summer just checking in early.....
And BA used to do something like that too once upon a time.
When there were 3 flights between SFO and London (2 to LHR, 1 to LGW) I had bought tickets which went through LGW, where we would have had a long delay connecting to HAM. When we came to SFO to checkin, BA service person looked at our tickets "Why don't I move you to the LHR flight, your connection time will be much less time." We didn't ask for it, we certainly appreciated it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poxball
Showed up for the late SQ LHR - SIN a few weeks ago around 2pm. Asked could I check in early. They said "no, not until 630 pm (iirc) but why don't we just move you to the earlier 630pm flight?"
Why indeed? Customer service perchance?
Same happened with CX last summer just checking in early.....
With Air New Zealand it's built into the airport kiosk check-in process. We had inflexible flights and when I called two days before to see about a change to an earlier same-day flight the price was going to be extortionate (change fee + fare difference). However, on the day it was possible to change to the earlier flight FOC without speaking to anyone at the ticket counter.
I'm not suggesting BA should do it, just pointing out a different approach by the airline of 'Middle Earth'.
My experience is that you get more luck at the outstations than at LHR. I have been successfully put on stand-by at check-in and then given a new boarding card in the lounge for an earlier flight from JFK twice, and once at YYZ they did it at check-in. This happened twice on I-class and once on a W+UUA=J, so clearly not the ticket type that allowed it. Being a GCH and terribly British and apologetic about even asking probably did help
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poxball
Showed up for the late SQ LHR - SIN a few weeks ago around 2pm. Asked could I check in early. They said "no, not until 630 pm (iirc) but why don't we just move you to the earlier 630pm flight?"
Why indeed? Customer service perchance?
Same happened with CX last summer just checking in early.....
Personally I think BA is showing good customer service to me and many of its other passengers by not offering flexibility for "free" (the cost of which flexibility would be borne by other passengers in higher fares across the board) and encouraging those passengers who really need flexibility to purchase a fare appropriate to their needs.
Personally I think BA is showing good customer service to me and many of its other passengers by not offering flexibility for "free" (the cost of which flexibility would be borne by other passengers in higher fares across the board) and encouraging those passengers who really need flexibility to purchase a fare appropriate to their needs.
*dons asbestos suit*
No, I think you're right on the money here - it's a cheap ticket for a reason, and the discounts for giving up the flexibility aren't exactly small. However, once you're at the airport they really should make a judgement call - be that to do with loads on later flights or beer consumption in the lounge
I'm off to HK next week, albeit on CX. At the time of booking, the 6pm flight wasn't available, so I went for the 8pm. If I get finished up in London early, I'll be chancing my luck on the 6pm - the 8pm is now 0's across the board in J, so as it stands, it may work for them as much as it does for me to move me onto the earlier departure.
100£ change fee and since this would be last moment there would most probably be a hefty fare difference.
If travelling in economy class, if the flight isn't busy there may be no fare difference. BA's economy fares to HKG seem not to have any advance purchase requirements
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I take the late BA214 out of BOS regularly and I'm often checking in when the earlier BA212 is closing. Occasionally I've been asked if I'd like to dash through security and catch this flight although I've never accepted the offer.
for SQ
