Originally Posted by
KeaneJohn
BA holidays normally issue a ticket on booking and just reissue the e-ticket evrytime you make an instalment payment. Nothing to suggest that they only ticket on payment of balance.
That's a very unusual business practice if that's true, and I can't see why they would. They naturally have full access to BA's Tour Op fares which require ticketing 31 days (form memory, might be 28) prior to departure. When they issue a ticket they pay BA in full within 31 days via BSP. This implies that they will pay out more than they take in from a deposit when they don't need to, which is a business risk. It also limits changes, and is more costly to administer. The only advantage I see is that they are not subject to paying additional taxes / YQ should they go up.
Some airlines have Tour Op fares that need issueing within x days - a special with early ticketing date (Thai, Qatar particularly culpable), but BA typically don't.
If booking within 10 weeks of departure I could understand.But I can't see a valid one. I'll drop one of my friends a line as obviously i'm missing something if true, and that will bug me!