FrankS

Apologies if I am doing this wrong. I am a new boy.

We have BA/LIAT flights booked in December through BA online from London to Tortola/EIS. Our holiday resort no longer exists. I want to book a holiday (a 60th wedding anniversary) for the same or similar period elsewhere in the Caribbean. Will BA charge a penalty for re-booking? Will they give a refund if the fare is less - for example an onward flight may well not be with a BA partner?

Any advice will be gratefully received.

UpgradeMe

Best advice is to ask BA.

Moderator notified for potential move to BA forum.

FrankS

Thanks. I tried to speak to BA but got no joy. Where is the BA forum? Like I said, I am a new boy and have not found my way around yet.

UpgradeMe

But you expect to find a better answer here?

squeakr

That's a really good question
Did you just book the flights and hotel separately or was it part of a package? I think that might make a difference.

The BA form is here

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...tive-club-446/

And I'm sure the experts there will help you. But what's the challenge in calling BA? Are you not able to get through or they won't give you a straight answer? I might try try through Twitter or email.

84fiero

What are the conditions of your ticket? That will determine the extent to which it can be changed, canceled, or refunded - if at all. As most people don't buy fully refundable, changeable tickets, I'd guess that, at best, you would pay some sort of change fee plus any fare difference - but no one here can say for sure absent more information.

From whom did you purchase your ticket - BA, travel agency, all-inclusive package, etc?

beckoa

Welcome to Flyertalk @FrankS. Please follow the redirect as we move your post.

~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk

flatlander

In general, if the flights are operating, BA will not change them, because they only have to get you there even if all there is to arrive to is a pile of rubble. So you're either looking for some other reason to change, or hoping they are nice to you.

Other reasons to change: Has there been any schedule change? You may be able to ask for a rerouting based on that.

Being nice: There is a clause in the conditions of carriage about cancellation if a journey is in vain; usually this is used for situations like a day-trip where the outbound is so delayed you would have no time at the destination for your business meeting, so it is clearly pointless. If there is no resort to go to and no alteratives nearby, you could argue that the trip is in vain. If you contact BA to ask about this, make sure you've got some proof the resort is gone, like some contact from the resort or a link to their web page saying they're closed, or similar. Also have an alternative itinerary ready, preferably one to a nearby island or a shorter/simpler/cheaper routing.

Do you have travel insurance that covers hotel failure? If so, contact them also - if they will cover it, go via them and let them sort it out with BA.

A P Yu

This is probably one for your travel insurance, unless its a ba packged holiday.

Phil the Flyer

There's hope for all of us.

UKtravelbear

I'll welcome you to flyer talk. Not in the most ideal circumstances though!

We do need some more info from you though to give you the best advice.

You say you booked your flights through BA but what about your hotel? If it was done in the same transaction (generally you selected a flight then a hotel and hit the 'pay' button once and were given the option to pay a deposit and the balanace later) then you have a BA Holiday and different rules can apply. If this is the case you need to speak to BA Holidays not 'normal' BA. The number will be on your confirmation email.

But as flatlander says if you choose not to travel - rather than not travelling being forcced upon you because the flight is cancelled - then you will have to bear the cost of any changes to your flights. If you simply bought BA flights then their oligation is to get you to your destination safely.

When you did speak to BA what did you actually ask them to do?

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum FrankS, sorry to hear about this. Those living on Tortola will have had an appalling experience here but I imagine part of their longer term problems will hinge around the difficulties of restoring the tourist trade so that they can properly welcome people like you and your partner.

I can't add much more in the way of specifics, since there are too many variables at play here. I appreciate there may be good reasons in your case which may have limited insurance cover, nevertheless if you do have insurance then that may well be the best starting point. If you can give more information about how exactly you booked and paid for this trip then there may be other pointers.

FrankS

Re post 11.

We booked flights on the BA websitefor both legs, i.e. BA and LIAT.

We booked at the Bitter End resort separately.

I telephoned BA and asked what the position was for a change of flights enforced by the destruction of the resort. All I got was a statement from the BA person that they were considering what to do. As we want to re-book, I was interested to know if anyone else in our position had more information.

I had already spoken to my travel insurer who said that I should speak first to the airline. As you may have gathered, we are not in the first flush of youth and may be a little slow on the uptake never ever having to use travel insurance.

Andriyko

According to the policy in effect, passengers who are ticketed to fly to EIS through 14/10 may change their destination in the Caribbean (plus CUN) free of charge or use the value of their tickets towards purchase of a new ticket to anywhere else.

This policy may change to include later dates, however, as things stand now BA will abide by the fare rules if you decide to change the ticket.

FrankS

Oops. I have just remembered. I did book with BA but it was by telephone. Confirmation was by email. It was a while ago before we went sailing for the summer.