BA clamping down on missed final ex-EU sector [?]
 

Albeit hearsay, I thought the below would be of interest to FTers:

http://www.headforpoints.com/2015/07...ex-eu-tickets/

It's interesting that the author speculates that an immediate missed connection is less risky than a connection missed some distance into the future.

Good luck to BA enforcing this in a German court of law. Will be very embarrassing for them indeed.

Totally unenforceable. Would love to see a test case on this soon so we can draw a line under it. Would love to see the judges face as BA try to argue their case. Maybe this would be the push the industry needs to sort out what is a ludicrous situation, including the more outrageous scenario of one ways costing more than a return on the same flight. Never mind dropping the last sector, I've often dropped the entire return portion (and got the taxes back on that!) 'cos it was cheaper than a one way fare.

The article only speculates that it would be court action. What's more likely is that they would close down tour BAEC account and you lose all of your Avios, TPs and status. That's not difficult or embarrassing for BA at all.

I find it hard to believe that the airline would be unable to force payment based on the journey actually undertaken rather than what was paid for. Trying to avoid paying the correct fare for the journey doesn't seem to be something that would expect courts to support

They could, but what happens when they close my account for missing a flight, and it turns out I broke my leg that morning and was in hospital? Would they want to risk that publicity? Would I have to send a note from my mum every time I miss a flight from then on?

In practice it's very complicated if one isn't BAEC member. Collecting the fare difference requires that they have enough information (address etc) to be able to send the bill which they often won't have if tickets are bought through OTA and paid through online banking.

Not really, when booked through a ta (online or not), airline just sends a debit memo to said ta. It is in fact the most common recovery case. Individual travellers are more problematic as it's hard to force them to pay and taking to court has reputational risks.

As Raffles says, the cards that are marked are people who have delayed the return leg. (Although paradoxically I would have thought they are the ones who are most likely to fly it having changed it to a convenient time?)

As to enforcement: all BA need to do is 1. No TPs for that particular trip (good luck sorting that out 'in court' or 2. No more avios or TPs for you ever (again, the problem becomes the passenger's to try and beg forgiveness). If you've broken your leg and can't fly I'm sure BA will be happy to reverse their decision on production of medical evidence.

Oh, I was actually joking about the note from my mum.

Also, I don't think BA can just say you can't earn Avios anymore. You're either a member of BAEC, or you're not. And if they decide you're not, that opens a pretty big can of worms.

If it is paid directly, the airline has details of the form of payment and should have addresses et al

If booked through an agent, it can send the agent an ADM and then leave it to the agent to address with the company/passenger that booked it

We had a similar scare with CX http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...itinerary.html . Nothing came of it since that discussion to date.

And if you're a different OW member, how would they prevent you from earning Avios with them?

Whilst I didn't mention it in the article, BA is also planning to suspend travel agents who sell a disproportionately high number of 'dropped leg' flights, in the belief that the agents are actively encouraging such behaviour.

BA clamping down on missed final ex-EU sector [?]
 

If these are ex-Germany tickets I would assume it ends up in a German court. They have a history of shredding unfair airline terms and conditions, Lufthansa got a bloody nose a few times (they got a beating for just assuming that a ticket should be flown in the order in which it was ticketed).

As for closing down accounts. I wonder if BA would really send a CCR card holder to the competition over a missed segment. But ultimately it is their call and business judgement.