bluegreen2

Sorry if this is in the wrong area, but as it partially deals with the BA call centre I have placed it here

This is an example flight constructed on the ITA Matrix.

• London (LHR) to New York (JFK) — Tue, Jul 4
• New York (JFK) to Baltimore (BWI) — Tue, Jul 11
• Baltimore (BWI) to London (LHR) — Fri, Jul 14

So that is the itinerary, but the ITA Matrix shows this:

Fare 1: Carrier BA LJX7S4C1 LON to NYC (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare[*], booking code L
Covers LHR-JFK (Economy)

Fare 2: Carrier BA LJW7S4C1 NYC to LON (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code L
Covers JFK-BWI (Economy), BWI-LHR (Economy)


3 flights, but it only shows 2 fares. Does this mean I would not be able to collect my bags and get off in Baltimore, and instead have to wait for 3 days in the terminal?

And finally (the BA related question), are the phone booking team familiar with complex bookings, should I use fare codes or simply say my itinerary and preferred travel class on each leg?

JAXBA

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluegreen2

3 flights, but it only shows 2 fares. Does this mean I would not be able to collect my bags and get off in Baltimore, and instead have to wait for 3 days in the terminal?

You can visit Baltimore, don't worry! The fare being broken this way just means that it's cheaper to price as LONNYC plus NYC(BWI)LON instead of LONNYC plus NYCBWI plus BWILON. You're just getting a fare that allows you to stop in NYC and BWI.

Quote:

And finally (the BA related question), are the phone booking team familiar with complex bookings, should I use fare codes or simply say my itinerary and preferred travel class on each leg?

I'd start by asking for the specific flights you want and seeing what they quote you. If they quote the same, then there's no need to go into detail. If it's higher, then you ask to check other flights that have L class available, etc. Keep it simple to begin with and go from there.

corporate-wage-slave

If I'm keen to get a particular fare, and not really interested in alternatives, I simply say "Can you book BAxxx on [date1] in L then BAyyy on [date2] also in L". So long as you're not mixing too much up it tends to work OK.

bluegreen2

Ok thats cool to hear, so I would end up with 3 different boarding passes and luggage tags with BA and the internal US airline.
The reason I ask is that some of the prices seem too good to be true on ITA matrix, which is why I worry that there is a catch in the ticket rules or that the BA booking team would have a problem searching for the fare I find.

Calchas

The fare construction is irrelevant to where your bags go.

Anonba

yes this makes most sense as the agent would build the itin by selecting the flights and booking class then the system generates the applicable fare. The agent does not search by a specific fare basis.

madfish

I, and I am sure many others, have called BA to book much more complex fares than this. I've had 9 flights in one booking before and know this is nowhere near being the highest. The agent hardly batted an eye at that.

Calchas

It depends on the agent. Some are better than others.

MarkFlies

You've mentioned the fare basis is BA for outbound and return. This suggests the transatlantic flights have BA flight numbers.

There are BA flight numbers for some JFK-BWI services (operated be AA). If the timings of one of these suits, you should be able to use the multi-city function on the BA website. This will work for BA flight numbers only.

So find what you want on ITA Matrix. Select the flights on the BA multi-city thing. No prices will be offered until you click through to the end. The fare should correspond to that of ITA.

bluegreen2

Thanks for this. Is BA's booking centre available 24/7?

nbevan

07:30-21:45 in UK

nbevan

A general warning that BA call centre is not always the cheapest place to purchase (slightly) complicated (ita matrix) tickets.

Case 1. Flying LHR-KUL-KUA (Kuantan) returning KUL-LHR. BA call centre could not quote me the through fare connecting on MH to KUA that was found by ita matrix. No idea why, Trailfinders had no problem.

Case 2. Flying BA: LHR-MEX, few days later AA: MEX-CLT-DCA, few days later BA: IAD-LHR. BA call centre quoted me about the same price as ita matrix, but using the ITA-Matrix-PowerTools script in Firefox, two links lead me to an economy fare that was about £180 cheaper.

Each segment was shown as an N fare, and the fare was the same as quoted by ita for an N fare for that route without the extra £125 for a stopover in WAS. So either its a mistake fare or the two companies offering it (carltonleisure and travelup) have more creative ways of constructing fares than the better-known OTAs.

Calchas

Some fares have a stock restriction (e.g., AA's -UP- fares must be issued on AA 001-numbered ticket paper for technical reasons). BA will always issue tickets on their own 125-numbered stock. ITA can be instructed to use a certain stock with the ticketing-carrier flag. A TA can use the stock of any airline with whom it has signed an agency agreement.

Some fares may not be sold in certain locations, although usually geographic restrictions tend to apply to countries with currency problems or to domestic fares for residents. Availability may differ based on sales office. ITA assumes (unless you instruct it otherwise) that you are purchasing at the point of origin. If you call a help desk, generally the point of sale will be where that office is based. This may also interfere with married segment calculations.

Travel agents may have access to private/corporate fares which BA won't sell directly to the public and ITA cannot see.

Sometimes the call centre is simply not up to the job.

frb98mf

Yep, my record is 16 legs

Luckily my local BA call centre staff have got used to my zany routing requests by now!

T8191

I've booked several multi-sector flights to the US by phone with BA, flying sectors on BA and AA ... and even AA only, ex-DUB

With the Matrix printout before me, I just narrate the various legs and (usually) BA comes up with the same price.