MPH1980

In my case - changes were allowed but with a fee associated.

I agree - if you book non-flex - expect non-flex, but no harm in asking really. If you're standing at a gate, and there's a flight about to go and it has empty seats, ticket sales have closed, you are HBO and you could get on it, what is the possible benefit to the airline to say no? The only benefit to the airline is to say yes! Why? Because a) they keep me happy as a customer and b) they get a chance to sell my seat again.

I get the arguments about 'but if you wanted to be on the flight at x time you should have paid for it' arguments. Fine. But they aren't losing income here - the seat is leaving empty or it is leaving with me in it. There's no additional income to be gained by leaving the seat empty. There IS additional income to be gained by letting me move because now my seat can be resold. You might argue - ah - but if you let people get on any flight earlier just because there's an empty seat - they'll book the cheapest flight of the day and ask to move.

Well - guess what - BA let you do that now. I book the cheapest plus fare of the day which is after my expected departure. I pretty much do that on every european flight I take. Then as I get near the airport - I move the flight forward to the next flight with seats (exactly what I was asking to do in DUB). In this case - I only knew I could make it when I was stood at the gate. And in some cases - it's been cheaper to book the plus fare than the basic fare.

I have no problem with "your ticket doesn't allow changes" - I have problems with rubbish excuses which are simply not true because the person doesn't want to do it. And no - she didn't know whether my ticket allowed changes or not - she never got that far.