I have not a clue what D-D means

Finally found time to contact BA. It took two calls, and both times sadly Indian call centre ...

Eventually I was told that it is a business fare but its a fully flexible economy cabin as the 'cheap' business class tickets on the IB leg had sold out, so therefore I was given a 'business class' ticket in the economy cabin... as this is apparently the best value for me.

It doesn't explain why I am looking at dummy bookings next year for the EXACT same journey and its putting me in the economy cabin on the IB legs (well at least it was a couple of weeks ago when I did the dummy booking). I still think this is an IT problem as dozens of time I have done the exact same journey and its always Business cabin all legs.

Anyway she quoted the upgrade to 'Business' cabin on IB aircraft and it was well over �500 (return). I nearly had a heart attack.

But she did PROMISE that (and this is not an issue for me as I have Silver- for now) my friend who is in the exact same scenario WILL be allowed to access the IB lounge in MAD for two reasons a) we are transferring from (she called it) a Long Haul flight (I did tell her its only LHR-MAD but she insisted that bit is classed as Long Haul and the MAD-ALC is Short Haul- I am not making this s*** up! I wish I could have recorded the conversation!) and because b) the ticket and fare is technically Business Class so will get lounge access.

Never known such an absolute farce.

I would absolutely not bank on that, and it does sound like you are equally doubtful of the claim.

Yes, that's a pile of rubbish from the Engagement Centre, I am not going to bother with dissecting it since she was making it up.

Going back to brass tacks - as I understand it, you booked on the basis of Business + Business? You thought you had Business + Business? You got an e-ticket fairly swiftly and I'm guessing it said Business + Economy? Now you mentioned that you know about the 24 hour cooling off period but decided not to challenge at that point. So I fear that any leeway you have here is going to be constrained by not calling at that point, however the details of my first sentence may give you some leeway - if BA's IT was getting in the way of showing what you wanted to book.

This is where it gets confusing. The e ticket stated Fare: Business x 2 (well x 4 including the return). The online MMB still states that. It was only when I tried to select seats on the IB flight that it became apparent it was ECO cabin.

Whenever this has happened to me, and yes it’s hard to spot, I’ve found selecting Business only from the drop down, rather than leaving it as Economy and then selecting Business from the results page solves this issue.

Very sorry to resurrect this again all, but I still think I have been ripped off.

I have checked in my BA app, and it clearly shows the flights as 'Business'. It is very strange. I have tried calling BA again but the call centre person didn�t have a clue what I was on about, I gave up.

Is there anything I can do to resolve this, or even try and speak to someone who understands? Surely 'Business' means 'Business' !!??

I believe the advice upthread was that it really had to be acted upon asap after discovery, and certainly not two whole months later a week before the flight hoping something would magically change.

Pleased to announce that in MAD lounge access was granted when showing BA booking confirmation showing 'BUSINESS' as ticket booked, along with a bit of schmoozing. So that was a good result.

One thing I was VERY surprised with, was on the Nostrum flights in Economy (which I have never flown before) the leg room is FANTASTIC!!!! I had the Emergency Exit row both ways which was beyond fantastic. But even normal rows knock socks off of BA's leg room, even in Club Europe!! I was very shocked....

Also when the booze trolly came round, they accept CASH! Much more customer friendly overall than BA. I'd actually not dread flying economy on Nostrum in future for short flights, as long as I get lounge access with Status or via my Barclays dragon app thing!

The TP's I have been given for the whole trip, LHR-ALC and return, are pitiful compared to the usual amount when booking this itinerary of 120 given, out of 600 needed for Silver. 20% of the way there....

New tier points I was given was 756, out of 7500 needed for silver. 10.8% of the way there !!!!

Has anyone else found similar?? These new Tier Points are an absolute con!!!!

Your profile says "GGL" and Gold for Life, so it is top OW status. You should have lounge access on all of your OW flights regardless of the cabin. Since you mention trying to get to Silver, I may have misunderstood which status you hold with OW.
Regarding cash payments - I understand why more and more companies do not accept cash. I, personally, hate handling it and am glad that it is cards only for BoB on most airlines, but I understand that preferences differ.
Regarding TPs - they are awarded on the basis of spend now, so to achieve Silver you need to spend GBP7,500 plus taxes.

hungry is having fun, I think - CAMRA is the UK's 'Campaign for Real Ale'

Thank you. I did not know that. I tried googling it before responding but still was not sure if "GGL/Gold" referred to the BAC status or was a play of words.

There was three of us travelling the journey, one all in economy, two of us on what I thought was business but in fact as per up-thread was only business on the LHR-MAD leg and despite showing having booked business in the MAD-ALC, put us in economy cabin. I have status so the MAD lounge wasn�t an issue for me and the one guest in ECO, but it was the other passenger we had problems with. My two travelling companions don�t have any status.

I have done this same route via MAD dozens of times in the past and always booking business class and it has always resulted in business cabin in both legs. No idea why this happened this time. There was availability in the business cabin on the Nostrum flight both ways. I am doing the exact same trip (slight different timings) in a few weeks with the Mrs and we are in business cabin for all sectors of the return trip.

I used to be gold but have dropped to silver recently, and sadly there is a good chance that this may become bronze judging by the abysmal TPs earned here.

It is just too complicated now to try and work out what is needed (travel wise) to retain status. I didn�t have a clue how to work out how many TPs this recent trip would post, until after completed and all sectors TPs posted on my BAEC account.

And yes, I am proud to have CAMRA gold card lifetime membership

This was explained to you a few months ago and I will try again now, perhaps you’ll be more willing to listen.

There is a difference between cabin and class. You bought an I class fare, which can only be booked into the Business cabin when I class is available. It wasn’t, so you were put in economy instead. You had the choice of buying a D class fare, which was available on both legs, but chose not to. There was nothing wrong, and you were not ‘ripped off’.

Upon booking, on BA website, there was no �choice�. Only Economy (whole journey) or Business Class (whole journey). I chose business class and got a half and half. It is most mysterious.