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Delay in Ticketing while Processing GUF2; BA refuses old fare

Delay in Ticketing while Processing GUF2; BA refuses old fare

Old May 22, 2017, 8:30 am
  #1  
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Delay in Ticketing while Processing GUF2; BA refuses old fare

Hope the wise people here on Flyertalk have some sage advice. I was trying to redeem my first GUF2 last week and thought everything was all set when I saw my booking online. I selected my seats (1A&B on the 747!) I made reservations for hotels and friends booked flights to join us on holiday. However this morning I receive a call from the Travel Agent that BA is now refusing to ticket the reservation because the fare expired while they were going through the process of getting my GUF2 redeemed.

I have been watching the J fares on this route for quite some time and over the past couple of years, there have been fare sales for around $2,000 for business class (GUF to FIRST). I finally received my Google fare alert that the price dropped to about $2,300 on the route so I contacted the Travel Agency and booked the flights (there was not Z available for both transatlantic flights so had to use a TA). I received a call this morning that there was a delay in ticketing and now the fare has doubled to $4,000. (route is IAD-BLQ in October)

So, now my GUF2 is gone out of my account and I don't know what my options are. The Travel Agency tried to find alternative routes but nothing coming up. I can book WTP and upgrade to CLUB, but the fare ends up being higher that the CLUB fare I got last week (after taxes, etc). Finding good ex-USA fares is tough and if this is what I have to look forward to, then using GUFs from the US is going to be near impossible unless I find a route that has a couple Z class awards and I can book immediately online.
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Old May 22, 2017, 8:34 am
  #2  
 
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Was the delay with BA or with the TA?
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Old May 22, 2017, 8:37 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by Paralytic
Was the delay with BA or with the TA?
Well, I only have the TA side of the story, but they said it was a delay with BA. They said they appealed to try to get a waiver but BA would not budge.
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Old May 22, 2017, 9:11 am
  #4  
 
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From personal experience, that seems about right (timing wise). It is usually 1-2 days for the GUF to get applied. The travel agent puts the itinerary on hold, but if BA doesn't apply/accept the GUF fast enough, the fare expires, and it has to be redone. Basically, from what I have seen, travel agents can't guarantee fares and only way to know whenGUF has been applied is that it disappears from the account.

Not sure how much recourse you will have here, but TA is likely not at fault, I would ask BA if anything...
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Old May 22, 2017, 9:13 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by LondonCanuck
From personal experience, that seems about right (timing wise). It is usually 1-2 days for the GUF to get applied. The travel agent puts the itinerary on hold, but if BA doesn't apply/accept the GUF fast enough, the fare expires, and it has to be redone. Basically, from what I have seen, travel agents can't guarantee fares and only way to know whenGUF has been applied is that it disappears from the account.

Not sure how much recourse you will have here, but TA is likely not at fault, I would ask BA if anything...
According to the TA, BA approved the GUF the same day as the reservation and the GUF disappeared from my account that day.
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Old May 22, 2017, 9:15 am
  #6  
 
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Doesn't a GUF2 simply upgrade an already existing or a new cash or avios booking, so your booking should already be paid, either in cash or avios, before the GUF2 can be applied?
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Old May 22, 2017, 9:18 am
  #7  
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Originally Posted by heartybob
Doesn't a GUF2 simply upgrade an already existing or a new cash or avios booking, so your booking should already be paid, either in cash or avios, before the GUF2 can be applied?
A GUF can be applied at the time of booking or at a later date to an existing booking if the booking was made directly with BA.

For a TA booking the GUF is applied at the time of booking. Basically the TA notes the GUF on the fare quote and then sends it to BA to ticket - more information on the trade support page here https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...d-card-upgrade
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Old May 22, 2017, 9:39 am
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Originally Posted by KARFA
A GUF can be applied at the time of booking or at a later date to an existing booking if the booking was made directly with BA.

For a TA booking the GUF is applied at the time of booking. Basically the TA notes the GUF on the fare quote and then sends it to BA to ticket - more information on the trade support page here https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...d-card-upgrade
Good info ^
GUF2 seems to have many loopholes which make it both very useful but also mysterious. Can you book a fare on ba.com and then get a TA to upgrade it later into a revenue class?
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Old May 22, 2017, 9:46 am
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Originally Posted by srbrenna
Can you book a fare on ba.com and then get a TA to upgrade it later into a revenue class?
No, a TA cannot take over a booking made directly with BA or another TA. BA can take over a TA booking but usually won't do so until with 24hrs of departure (or if UuAing a TA booking).
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Old May 22, 2017, 10:45 am
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So now getting different stories from BA and the TA. I called BA to see if there was anything they can do and they said that the TA failed to ticket the reservation within 3 days which was one of the rules of the fare I booked. I then asked for my GUF2 back and they said BA cannot return my GUF2 since it was approved for the upgrade and applied to the booking already. I need to work with the TA to get it back. The TA says I need to work with BA to get my GUF2 back.

So, round and round we go.
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Old May 22, 2017, 11:01 am
  #11  
 
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But if the TA didn't ticket the reservation, the booking would in effect not exist anymore? I have that happen once, and the GUF came right back (since there was no booking to attach it to). The TA may have screwed up, but the GUF responsibility stays with BA from what I understand... That won't help you to get your booking reinstated, but I would certainly Oy not worry about the GUF
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Old May 22, 2017, 11:07 am
  #12  
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If the TA failed to ticket this promptly, they should cover the additional cost. If they did everything properly, they should still advocate for you with BA. One of the reasons for using a TA (and paying them money, even if you don't pay them an explicit service fee or retainer versus just commissions) is that they should handle such problems for you.
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Old May 22, 2017, 12:08 pm
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by FFMilesJunkie
I then asked for my GUF2 back and they said BA cannot return my GUF2 since it was approved for the upgrade and applied to the booking already. I need to work with the TA to get it back. The TA says I need to work with BA to get my GUF2 back.
This is unusual because the GUF is fairly easy for BA to redeposit as long as flight time hasn't passed. I'm guessing what is happening here is that the TA is still holding the space in case you agree to ticket at the higher fare and BA, seeing that the PNR is still in the works and not cancelled, are leaving the GUF in limbo until either the PNR is ticketed or cancelled completely.

Here are the TA guidelines for booking and cancelling a GUF: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...d-card-upgrade. To redeposit the voucher, the TA just needs to call BA...
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Old May 22, 2017, 12:41 pm
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by FFMilesJunkie
Hope the wise people here on Flyertalk have some sage advice. I was trying to redeem my first GUF2 last week and thought everything was all set when I saw my booking online. I selected my seats (1A&B on the 747!) I made reservations for hotels and friends booked flights to join us on holiday. However this morning I receive a call from the Travel Agent that BA is now refusing to ticket the reservation because the fare expired while they were going through the process of getting my GUF2 redeemed.

I have been watching the J fares on this route for quite some time and over the past couple of years, there have been fare sales for around $2,000 for business class (GUF to FIRST). I finally received my Google fare alert that the price dropped to about $2,300 on the route so I contacted the Travel Agency and booked the flights (there was not Z available for both transatlantic flights so had to use a TA). I received a call this morning that there was a delay in ticketing and now the fare has doubled to $4,000. (route is IAD-BLQ in October)

So, now my GUF2 is gone out of my account and I don't know what my options are. The Travel Agency tried to find alternative routes but nothing coming up. I can book WTP and upgrade to CLUB, but the fare ends up being higher that the CLUB fare I got last week (after taxes, etc). Finding good ex-USA fares is tough and if this is what I have to look forward to, then using GUFs from the US is going to be near impossible unless I find a route that has a couple Z class awards and I can book immediately online.

OP I am sorry for the stress. I know how it feels to have planned a trip and all the details worked out especially with your friends. All that hard work and now your tickets won't ticket.

I would first start off by asking the Travel Agent to pull the ticket history on their GDS reservation system. Ask them when was your payment posted? When was your ticket ticketed? Was there a change in the schedule. A travel agent is the middleman and BA will not talk with you as this is a conflict of interest.

This is the reason why I book all airline tickets directly with the airline. Travel Agents don't generally get any incentive for booking tickets. Unless its a consolidator airfare or you got a really good rate elsewhere I would not go with Orbitz, Expedia or the Travel Agent down the road.

In your instance there are more steps involved than you just going online and purchasing the ticket. If there is a problem the Travel Agent gets an e- mail. How do we know that the e-mail goes to an unmonitored e-mail address?

I like to book directly and then look at the reservation a few times a week just in case of a problem. When I book a ticket I will go onto the website of the airline and plug in my PNR# a few hours after and hope that its ticketed. Airlines have 72 hours to ticket the reservation and if the payment is not approved then your reservation will cancel and a good airline would contact your travel agent to resubmit the payment or if you were the one who booked the reservation the airline would call and ask you to call them back to resubmit payment within 24 hours or your ticket is subject to cancellation.

As for redeeming your first GUF2 that would give me all the more reason to book directly with British Airways as I would want to be sure I am booked in the proper fare code. Travel agents may have different fare codes and BA could restrict the fare codes or third party bookings from any upgrades. Even if it costs me $200 more to book directly I would.

Lets say your outbound flight is delayed or you need to change the itinerary even if the airline owns the reservation its still better to have it booked directly with the airline.

Please keep us posted. I hope you have learned your lesson that any ticket using miles or upgrade certificates should be purchased directly through the reservation department or mileage department where you can ask questions such as does fare such and such work to use the GUF2. Travel agents are not expected to know every single rule about being eligible for upgrades mileage accural. While a good Travel Agent reads through the Fare Rules most are too lazy to do so.

Whenever I book a ticket online I will read through the fare rules and if I have any questions call up the airline directly to have them decipher the fare rules. I don't mind paying the phone booking fee especially if its on a premium ticket so that I can be sure I am getting the right ticket and if the wrong ticket was issued or the airline had a problem or the agent did not follow the proper booking procedure at least I have a paper trail and can get it fixed.

The airline does have a paper trail from Travel Agents but its just easier to book directly as for the most part the fares are exactly the same . Sometimes package holidays airfare are booked in such a low fare code that they cannot be upgraded etc.

To me I would much rather book everything separate. I have found that unless I am taking a tour it best to book the airfare separate, hotel separate and car separate because then I can control every aspect of my vacation and if I need to cancel the hotel the airfare is not affected as the cost can go up if you unbundle or change any aspect of a package.

Other FTers can weigh in but this is my 2 cents. Again please keep us posted and we can try to help you.
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Old May 22, 2017, 12:42 pm
  #15  
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Originally Posted by JAXBA
This is unusual because the GUF is fairly easy for BA to redeposit as long as flight time hasn't passed. I'm guessing what is happening here is that the TA is still holding the space in case you agree to ticket at the higher fare and BA, seeing that the PNR is still in the works and not cancelled, are leaving the GUF in limbo until either the PNR is ticketed or cancelled completely.

Here are the TA guidelines for booking and cancelling a GUF: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...d-card-upgrade. To redeposit the voucher, the TA just needs to call BA...
I spoke with the TA and found out a little more. The fare I booked was only in the system for under 24 hours. It wasn't necessarily a mistake fare ($2,300 return), but it could have been a sale that was posted in error that they pulled. By the time the GUF was approved and they sent it for ticketing, the fare had expired (pulled). So, in essence, the 3 day ticketing window was a moot since the fare didn't exist when they tried to ticket it. BA would not make an exception and we are stuck with a reservation we cannot ticket.

The GUF will be returned after the reservation clears out of BA's systems. I guess that can take a day or 2. So, now it's back to Google Flights fare alerts to see if this route goes back on sale. There are a few advantages to having BA Gold here in the US, but it's definitely not for the fare sales!! They are few and far between!
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