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BA 2012 Olympics Ticketing Policies/Guidance

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Old Jul 4, 2011, 2:42 am
  #1  
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BA 2012 Olympics Ticketing Policies/Guidance

This, published for trade customers, may be of use for those travelling during or around the Olympic games next year and have an interest in the more nuanced aspects of ticketing.

http://www.speedbirdclub.com/res/en/...%20version.pdf

BRITISH AIRWAYS POLICIES

Peak Dates
The peak dates for the Games are: 16 July – 29 August 2012.
All policies outlined in this document apply between these dates, unless otherwise specified.

Flight Closure
British Airways mainline and BA CityFlyer flights will remain closed for five days once in selling range, for departures 1 July – 14 September 2012. Therefore, instead of flights opening for sale at -355 days, flights will open at -349 days.

Ticketing Time Limits
The following new ticketing time limit rules will apply to a range of published and private/net fares in all cabins on both British Airways and BA CityFlyer operated flights:

Bookings made Ticketing Time Limits
(for payment and ticketing)
Tier 1 F/A/J/C/D/R/I/W/E/T/Y/B fares

1.1 More than 90 days prior to departure
Within 28 days of booking or 90 days prior departure whichever is earlier

1.2 Less than 90 days and more than ten days before departure
Within three days of booking

1.3 Less than ten days before departure
Ticketing must be completed the day bookings are made

Tier 2 H/K/M/L/V/S/N/Q/O fares

2.1 More than 90 days prior to departure
Within 14 days of booking or 90 days prior departure whichever is earlier

2.2 Less than 90 days and more than ten days before departure
Within three days of booking

2.3 Less than ten days before departure
Ticketing must be completed the day bookings are made

Inclusions:

Tier 1 ticketing time limits will apply to tickets booked to fly between:

All destinations to/from London Heathrow excluding GCM/NAS/PLS

Tier 2 ticketing time limits will apply to tickets booked to fly between:

USA and Canada and London Heathrow
South America and London Heathrow
CPT, JNB, NBO, ABV and LOS and London Heathrow
DXB, DOH and BAH and London Heathrow
Far East and London Heathrow
Australia and London Heathrow
Europe and London Heathrow and London City
UK and London Heathrow and London City

Messaging Process
The Ticketing Time Limits will be enforced using the same process that British Airways currently uses for existing Ticketing Time Limits. You will receive a message detailing a date by which the PNR should be ticketed, followed by a cancellation message if the booking is not ticketed by that date, e.g.:

AGT/BA PLS ENTER VALID TICKET NBR BY DDMMYY OR RISK CANCELLATION /IF FARE
RULE HAS EARLIER TICKETING DEADLINE IT MUST BE OBSERVED

PLS NOTE BA TIME LIMIT FOR THIS PNR WILL NOT CHANGE IF REBOOKED. FOR A NEW DEADLINE PLEASE CREATE A NEW PNR

AGT/BA CANXD DUE VALID ETICKET NBRS NOT RCVD BY DEADLINE

Further Notes

Some fare rules that currently apply a more restrictive ticketing time limit will remain unchanged, and where
they differ from the proposal outlined above, the stricter ticketing time limit will apply.
The changes to ticketing time limits will apply to all sectors travelled on British Airways and BA CityFlyer
apart from those outbound sectors that result from an inbound sector completed prior to 16 July 2012.

Last edited by ian001; Jul 4, 2011 at 2:55 am
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Old Jul 4, 2011, 12:47 pm
  #2  
 
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Sounds like a fair policy considering it will be a period of unusual demand which the yield management systems won't know how to manage.
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Old Jul 4, 2011, 1:18 pm
  #3  
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I wonder what's achieved by restricting the on-sale period by 5 days (and only 5 days). It looks like it might be something intriguingly subtle.
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Old Jul 5, 2011, 2:30 am
  #4  
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Anyone know about the Eurostar policies for that time? I wonder if I can purchase a fully refundable ticket now and decide later if I want to go.
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Old Jul 5, 2011, 1:05 pm
  #5  
 
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Anyone know about the Eurostar policies for that time? I wonder if I can purchase a fully refundable ticket now and decide later if I want to go.
Eurostar sell tickets approximately four months into the future but not beyond. I am certain that when they make tickets available for the period around the games, they will have a similarly restrictive policy.
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Old Jul 5, 2011, 1:13 pm
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Eurostar have exceptionally opened booking for tickets between 16 July and 15 August 2012. Booking is by telephone only - Standard and Standard Premier tickets are semi-flexible, Business Premier tickets are flexible.

Tickets from Belgium are here, must be an equivalent from France and maybe the UK (for people escaping..?)
http://www.eurostar.com/UK/be/leisur...012tickets.jsp
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Old Jul 5, 2011, 2:03 pm
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Originally Posted by Morland
Eurostar have exceptionally opened booking for tickets between 16 July and 15 August 2012. Booking is by telephone only - Standard and Standard Premier tickets are semi-flexible, Business Premier tickets are flexible.

Tickets from Belgium are here, must be an equivalent from France and maybe the UK (for people escaping..?)
http://www.eurostar.com/UK/be/leisur...012tickets.jsp
That's useful information. There isn't an equivalent UK page for those escaping!
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Old Aug 31, 2011, 4:39 pm
  #8  
 
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Do these ticketing time limits apply to bookings from now until July 16 2012? Or just for those bookings for travel taking place after July 16, 2012?

We're buying First Class tickets for departure from the US in three weeks (September 18th, 2011) and our agent is telling us we must ticket tomorrow or they will be cancelled by the airline and our seats will be released. As First Class passengers, we usually don't have to ticket until 3 days prior to departure.
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Old Aug 31, 2011, 6:08 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by DesertChildAZ
Do these ticketing time limits apply to bookings from now until July 16 2012? Or just for those bookings for travel taking place after July 16, 2012?
The special rules should only affect bookings for travel between 16 July and 29 August 2012 (see first post).

Have you asked your TA why they are insisting on you ticketing earlier than you say you're accustomed to doing? They're the people most likely to have the definitive answer as it applies to your specific case.
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Old Aug 31, 2011, 6:37 pm
  #10  
 
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Originally Posted by IMH
The special rules should only affect bookings for travel between 16 July and 29 August 2012 (see first post).

Have you asked your TA why they are insisting on you ticketing earlier than you say you're accustomed to doing? They're the people most likely to have the definitive answer as it applies to your specific case.
He's saying their general ticketing policy has changed but I see nothing published to suggest that.
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Old Sep 1, 2011, 5:23 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by DesertChildAZ
He's saying their general ticketing policy has changed but I see nothing published to suggest that.
This should do you; 28-day ticketing deadline on all FCJDWY reservations and ARIETB as well to the extent there is not already a more restrictive deadline. However, reservations made within 28 days of departure can be ticketed whenever.
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Old Sep 1, 2011, 8:56 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by stifle
This should do you
My poor pre-dinner search skills didn't get me to that page yesterday. Thanks!
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Old Sep 1, 2011, 9:56 am
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by stifle
This should do you; 28-day ticketing deadline on all FCJDWY reservations and ARIETB as well to the extent there is not already a more restrictive deadline. However, reservations made within 28 days of departure can be ticketed whenever.
Thank you! I could not find that ANYWHERE during my search yesterday. I guess he's right. I was hoping he was misapplying the 2012 London Olympic rule to all bookings.

Oh, well, looks like we'll have to wait until 28 days prior to departure to make our bookings. Hopefully the First Class seats our executives prefer are available or we'll probably end up flying another airline.
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Old Sep 10, 2011, 7:36 am
  #14  
 
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Any ideas about award tickets? I'm trying to get a few of us from USA- FCO for a cruise in late Aug.

Award availability was great this year but I fear next year.
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Old Sep 10, 2011, 7:51 am
  #15  
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Originally Posted by mileshound
Any ideas about award tickets? I'm trying to get a few of us from USA- FCO for a cruise in late Aug.
Depends how many people you're describing as "a few", and which class of travel you're interested in, of course, but I'm not seeing anything unusual in the way August 2012 availability across the Atlantic is opening up.

I just quickly checked JFK-LHR and IAH-LHR and for both routes could see several dates with two seats in J or F (or both), for example. You could also look at AA (although obviously their late August availability hasn't even started loading yet) or IB.
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