ukdeebee

Okay so eventually i got through (had to give up this morning because i had to leave for work) Very nice guy i spoke to but not a lot on offer, all direct flights to Miami had gone, he tried a few days either side of the 27th and found 3 seats on AA in first but we need 4. He said he had to book me on the same route but then went off to speak to someone and came back with 4 seats to orlando in clubworld on the 28th and then a connection in economy on continental to Miami. The problem is that any other time i wouldnt mind but i had planned so perfectly for this trip with 2 perfect seats together in first and than paid for two seats together in CW i had done a deal with my teenagers that who ever had first on the way out got club on the way back, we were all so excited and really looking forward to our trip. I have had to cancel the two connecting gulf front rooms i had booked at the Ritz Carlton in Naples (the second hotel in our trip but in had the longest cancellation period) I have to cancel the first hotel in Fort Lauderdale by this Saturday (and we wont have heard any news about the 27th by then so i guess i will have to cancel) I dont know whether to sit tight and pray that the strike is called off or just book the orlando flight on the 28th in club and do the annoying connection and lose a day of our precious holiday. Also what is the you first number that some people have referred to, i just wonder if you get a better service, ive just been ringing the exec club blue line. i havent changed the flight yet because once i do i cant change back even if the strike is called off, i just dont know what to do for the best!!

ojs555

Hi ukdeebee...

The service you refer to is "You First" and it was originally discussed on Flyertalk here.

I don't think any of us on here have complete information, but it sounds like travelling in First is as important to you as getting to the destination; so I'm surprised that you don't consider travelling to elsewhere on the East Coast on (say) the 26th? Have you tried checking out availability at either ba.com / aa.com / seatcounter.com?

From what I can see on here, BA appear quite keen to re-route; and sometimes saying "can you offer xyz (specifically)" rather than just a "see what you can do" might get a better response.

tc69

Some joy. Instead of relying on my local Cyprus exec club to change my return flight, I called the UK gold line number (not knowing if I could as I am euro-gold) and the person managed to get me on a Virgin upper class flight Delhi to London on 30 March (in place of my club ticket on 31 March). Hopefully, all goes to plan. It's pretty amazing the difference in service between the UK and Euro (or at least Cyprus) service.

ukdeebee

Thanks for the "your first" link, what a difference i got through immediately, they offered me the same 4 clubworld seats on the 28th to Orlando but then said that i had to pay for the connecting flight on to Miami (original flights on the 27th in first direct from LHR to MIA) Or they offered me city jet on the 26th to JFK but i have to pay for connection to Miami, is this what others have experienced? ive looked into the City jet option (as at least that would be something different that i wouldnt probably get the opportunity to try again and that might slightly make up for missing out on my first "firstclass" experience) but then i would have to stay in New York for the night because i would arrive too late (18.25) to make a connection, so to me it makes more sense to stay a couple of nights and at least make it part of the holiday to enjoy rather than it being a complete pain in the neck!! So i have checked and i can get a very reasonable flight ($68pp) on an airline called Jet Blu from JFK direct to FLL (which is actually better than Miami because we are staying in Fort Lauderdale) but the luggage allowance is considerably less than the BA allowance and each piece cant weigh more than 22kg etc so i know we will have loads more than that. Also im guessing its just like an easy jet plane and its three and a half hours!! has anyone used them? what was it like? Anyway what would you do, Ba to Orlando in clubworld or try the City Jet experience?

ttjoseph

JetBlue is an all-coach airline, very popular in the US, and if I am not mistaken the biggest carrier from JFK. It's fine and probably worlds better than EasyJet. Just double-check the extra baggage costs (http://help.jetblue.com).

Jimmie76

JetBlue have decent IFE (DirecTV via satellite) from what I've seen and it beats the overhead monitors that I had on my last infernal internal AA flight with dire movie.

markdrayton

Have flown Jetblue quite frequently on internals and to Cancun. As well as good IFE, legroom is relatively good. Although it started as a low cost operator the airline has moved up the market. I generally choose in preference to AA or other American operators. Paying for extra or overweight bags is standard now.

Mark

jkg123

Was scheduled to fly London-J'burg March 30. On top of sneaking through strike dates with San Francisco-London March 25. Called regular BA reservation line, waited 3 minutes, after asking several pointed questions, was told I could rebook LHR-JNB from March 30 to March 31. Very nice woman helped. In contrast earlier today was told by another BA rep I could not rebook this flight until next week, at which time it would have been sold out. Moral: call again until you get someone who knows what she/he is doing.

flyingbee

I was thinking that Air France could be a backup to ask BA to re-route me on if my flight on 29th does get cancelled. However, it looks like they will be on a sympathy strike, so the backup would have to be Lufthansa.

From the telegraph

ukdeebee

Thank you for all the positive feedback regarding Jet Blue, they sound absolutely fine so i am not at all worried about flying with them at all (don't know where i found that brilliant price though because i went into check again and they are much more expensive now, particularly if i have to pay for refundable fares, its more like $1800 for the four of us!!) I am still annoyed that BA don't think its their responsibility to get us to our final destination, they will only pay for the first leg into JFK but we were originally booked to MIA. I agree that there is extremely inconsistent information being given to us by the people manning the phones, i realize that its not their fault and they are not being given a clear set of guidelines from senior staff who are i suppose all preoccupied trying to sort out the actual strike details, however everyone i have spoken to has been very pleasant and apologetic about the situation. Lets hope the whole thing gets called off and we can all go back to our original plans!!

JimEddie

Had great 'fun' over the past few days shifting flights around. Was originally supposed to be flying LHR-SFO on 20 March and then PHX-LHR on 30 March. Typically both were on flight days.

As soon as the dates were announced I phoned the Silver Exec line and asked to move my outbound flight to 19 March and at that point leave my return the same.

Over the weekend I decided that it'd make my whole trip easier if I flew into LAS instead of SFO. Spoke to BA again on Sunday afternoon and then followed up on Monday evening. Was told that they'd need to check on Tuesday morning and I'd be phoned back afterwards. Got the call on Tuesday morning to say that I could switch my flight to LAS ^

On Tuesday evening I decided to take the prudent approach and shift my return flight. Unfortunately as there isn't a PHX-LHR flight on a Wednesday (why?) I shifted this to Thursday.

All in all very good responses from BA, and I think I spoke to the same person every time about changing my flights (Valerie), big ^^^ to her for all her help.

packet

I've talked to two BA people about getting on an AF flight. Both said BA has no agreement with AF and thus they wouldn't book me on any AF flights.

Cluster One

Does anyone know if CAI passengers have been re-routed or refunded this weekend? Eldest daughter is hoping to fly next weekend.

Regards

Swanhunter

Nice to see that the entente cordiale is alive and well even in these challenging times.

wilko1

I just phone BA and they saud they are going to release cancellations for the 27th onwards tomorrow at 2pm. Couldn't see this anywhere else on FT, so thought Id add it here.