dylanks

Overview

If you fly enough and care about the quest for reaching levels of status on BA, then you're bound to run into irregular operations (IRROPS) at some point over your tier point year, whether it's on BA or a One World partner.

Many people ask how to get credit for the ticket they purchased, but if this is not explained clearly, you may get the run around.

This guide covers this topic, known as Original Routing Credit (ORC) on both BA and other airlines such as AA. Many even report that AA is difficult to receive ORC, but this is contrary to my experience. This short guide will give advice on how to request ORC. Feel free to provide your own tips and suggestions to make this useful to others.

Criteria

If you were rerouted or downgraded, but remained on a OneWorld airline, wait either until the reduced amount of tier points have posted, or until 8 days after the flight was flown.

If you were moved to a non-OW airline, send in your email after the flights were flown.

In all cases, you contact BA for original routing credit if you are crediting the flights to BAEC.


Making a call

If you prefer the phone, here are my tips for making a call:

1. Get all of your background information in order, including the following for both the travel that was booked, and what you were rerouted on: Confirmation number, flight numbers, flight dates, ticket numbers
2. Call the BAEC number. Explain that you are seeking Original Routing Credit (ORC) for your flights that suffered from a disruption/IRROPS.
3. Give the BA agent the information as succinctly as possible. Calmly stick to the facts (the less they have to process, the more efficiently they can help you)
4. They will tell you that it will take 4 weeks. In practice, 10 days seems to be typical.
5. Call back 7-10 days later to check on the status of your request.
6. If you receive an email from BA denying your claim, call BAEC again, explain that you have an open request for missing avios and tier points for a flight disruption on AA, and you are confused by a status update that you received.
7. Be patient, calm, friendly, courteous, and persistent, and you should eventually receive credit for the ticket you purchased via BAEC, regardless of whom AA rebooked you on.
8. Remember that it is not the BA agent's fault that the system is imperfect, so the more you can do to make it easy for them to help, the more likely you are to get a positive outcome.

Writing a letter

I generally prefer writing a letter instead of a call, especially in the case of a more complex disruption. I would write something like this:

You should of course customize this into your own writing style, as most of you are probably not Americans.

Send the email to general BA email (or GGL email if you have this status).

AA and ORC

Note that I recently had IRROPS on AA, so I took this as an opportunity to ask AA for their stance on Original Routing Credit. I received what I consider to be a favorable response:

Keep calm and be persistent

Yes, it may be frustrating that this type of crediting does not happen automatically. But if you remain calm and polite, even if you get an initial rejection as a response, a bit of polite persistence will get you the tier points and avios that you should have received with the ticket that you purchased. In the rare case that I do get an initial rejection, a nice phone call is usually enough to get things resolved. And remember to keep your inquiry simple and clear, so the lovely people working at BA can help you as efficiently as possible.

UKtravelbear

Why not start with a phone call to BAEC?
.
It's what I did when my AA flight was cancelled (sick pilot) on a BA booking and AA moved me to VS

I just phoned them up (Newcastle) told them what happened and gave the booking refs and in a couple of days the avios and TPs were in my BAEC account.

No letter or email required!

dylanks

That's of course possible as well, but I think many like me feel like a phone call is a last option rather than a first option.

I've gone ahead and added a section on that.

UKtravelbear

yes 1,2,3 and 4 are exactly what I did.

47Chits

Just got off the phone with the GGL line.

Apparently ORC is given only when you are rerouted and are claiming points for the fare originally paid and booked.

Situation... Flew Point A to B on American. Had a meeting, so wanted a same day turnaround.

There were a few connections.... flight went technical partway through outbound, delay caused a missed fight that caused the missed meeting, etc. American said they could just fly me home.

I didn't even make it to the destination. Would this qualify for the ORC, or am I stuck claiming with American for a "trip in vain"?

For the record, 2/3 GGL phone calls were positive about ORC, this last one was different (trying to stay positive here!) and completely different story.

KARFA

On an AA or BA ticket?

KARFA

For reference for this thread is the section of the BAEC terms which relates to ORCs.

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/...and-conditions

47Chits

It was booked on AA, and rerouted on AA, all AA related.

KARFA

Then your likelihood of getting ORC is very low since it is up to AA as the awarding airline. AA usually just give you what you fly. Had this been a BA ticketed itinerary ORC may well have been possible.

By all means try, but don't hold your breath.

47Chits

The terms and conditions don't have a clause for a return to original destination.

Going to give it a week or so and go from there. Personally, I would rather have the points/avios, instead of a refund going into the company account.

My company, for the record, in case you think I'm trying to double dip.

KARFA

Yes, but as I noted the bigger issue is this is AA ticketed, so BAEC will refer this to AA and AA are very unlikely to give you a credit for flights you haven't flown.

Had this been a BA ticket your destination issue may be more relevant as a deciding factor.

If you go ahead it would be great if you can report back with the result.

47Chits

I've actually had this credited before. Which is why I stick to BA, even though this past year AA flights have been popular for us. The last GGL person I spoke with was a bit aggressive, talked over me. I was wondering if something had changed with the policies, but I'm not seeing the policy per se.

I guess this could justify the accountants being able to write off a few days at a destination in case American can't get their planes off the ground in time. Again.

47Chits

And... success!

It took two phone calls, but three weeks later all is credited.

dylanks

As noted above, I had a very clear statement from AA that they do provide ORC in the case of IRROPS when you claim via BAEC. Glad to hear you had the same result that I've had, after a bit of persistence!

dylanks

Figured I would quickly confirm that my most recent ORC worked as it should. A quick summary:

• was scheduled to fly DCA-PHL-PHX
• upon checkin at the lounge at DCA, was pro-actively rerouted DCA-STL-PHX as PHL-PHX was showing a lengthy delay (2+ hours)
• had some issues with the seat on AA, so asked them to verify that ORC would be applied, they confirmed they have a process with BA and it would not be an issue since I made a booking and was rerouted due to IRROPS
• made an online request with all relevant details after DCA-STL-PHX posted, received an email from the GGL the next day (convenient how a general request gets rerouted to them!) letting me know that the request was in process, and that it could take up to 28 days
• had another discussion with the GGL list on another topic and asked about it. I was told that AA has 20 days to respond before BA can ask again
• in day 19, the tier points in my account were updated with ORC

While there are no guarantees in life, my experience is that ORC on AA seems to be reasonably credited to BAEC when the routing changes due to AA and a bit of polite persistence. That seems fair as you should receive for the route you paid for and attempted to fly. The case where it would not happen is when you request a different routing for your convenience.

I'm still puzzled why several others seem to not have similar experiences, unless this is a relatively new improvement by AA.