corporate-wage-slave

It looks very much to me to be a matter to pursue with Iberia, who have a different ticketing system and process to BA. IB sell tickets on BA's flights under the 075 series. It's possible IB set up the ticket correctly and it then lost sync with the BA booking, but that is very easily resolved at the airport and I don't think that was the cause. So unless I'm missing something here, this will need to be pursued againt IB. IB's website does make a big play about email conformation of e-tickets (and they do come through in my experience). The fact that the IB cost was lower makes me wonder whether IB sold inventory that didn't actually exist and therefore they didn't ticket as a result.....

The point of about checking ticketing is important, it's not just a BA issue. I must admit I don't bother checking on bog standard, unchanged BA.com bookings, but anything odd or changed needs a beady eye on it. OLCI should still have worked from IB to BA, so that would have been the other clue that something was wrong.

Though this wasn't mentioned by the OP, the handling agent for BA in BIO is Iberia, I would have hoped that would have helped.

For the OP's mum - so long as the tickets were paid for initially, she will get her money back, that's certain. They may also have a case for Denied Boarding under EC261 (but probably not if they flew on their original flight anyway, or rather I can't see BA paying for that!).

FLY, incidentally, is a Departure Control System, and has very little to do with ticketing.

LondonElite

This is the issue, and has less to do with IB and/or BA. Was the credit card charged? This should be easy to determine by checking the statements. If no payments were taken, then this would not have been ticketed. The airline should have told you at the time, but very often (almost always) they don't. It's not going to be popular, but if the payment wasn't taken, then it's not really the airline's fault or responsibility to follow up.

Incidentally, when my TA makes a booking for me, I'll pretty much immediately get a booking reference on BA.com, but I know he has not paid for it because he waits for a clear confirmation from me first. If I did not send him this, he will not pay, the booking is not ticketed, but the PNR stays where it is. A business partner learned this the hard way when he showed up in FRA where LH said that the booking (never ticketed) was automatically cancelled a few hours earlier as control of the flight transferred to the airport.

corporate-wage-slave

48 hours before travel. I know this gets some people jittery, but ticketing is done by departure date priority. You become a priority at this point, but not before.

GreatBritishBAECOff

Indeed, Honeymoon jitters... Thanks CWS

jackr27

Sorry for not answering questions about payment - I don't know for sure if it went through BUT he did get emails and a working pnr, at no stage was it suggested to him there was a payment issue. He got the usual BA email informing him to check in yesterday.

I understand it is important to check ticketing details, I fly regularly and always do, they fly at most once every two years, so assume if the booking process goes through, they get tickets details, and can choose seats, that there is no issue. I do think that's a reasonable assumption.

If there was a problem I'd expect a six month booking to be cancelled and manage my booking to show errors/be cancelled. If there was an issue and he'd been contacted he'd have resolved it straight away. They went to the airport believing nothing was wrong.

As it is their 25th wedding anniversary has been ruined, so I do want to see if there is anything to be done, but am not hopeful and the moment is ruined now anyway.

I'm meeting them here tonight as it was supposed to be a celebration weekend, so will try and work out exactly what has happened.

agehall

The question is if they will get their money back for the expensive economy tickets they bought (and used) or for the unused club tickets... I certainly hope the former...

I'd say they have a very good claim for denied boarding even if they eventually flew on the same flights. Otherwise, what would stop airlines from just flat out denying random people to board and telling them they have to buy a new ticket first?

No, assuming that the issue is resolved and IB/BA accepts the blame for what happened by refunding the economy tickets, they should also be slammed with a denied boarding claim.

obduro

Going back to the "average flyer" theory though, if they went through the motions booking a ticket, got to the payment screen and received a message on screen saying "Payment successful" as well as a booking confirmation, would the average person then think "Oh I'd better check my statement to confirm I've paid them"?

The confirmation of the booking would be enough for the average person to believe the booking had been made and paid for. True, it is responsible to check payment has been deducted (as we all would here I hope ) but for plenty of people they wouldn't. That in itself for me isn't enough to say it's not the airline's fault - they shouldn't be providing confirmation of payment if payment has not been deducted.

Just my 2p

obduro

Completely agree. Keep us updated, hope it all irons itself out eventually.

Can I help you

Their wedding anniversary is only ruined if they allow it to be, this can be sorted out and hopefully they will still have an unforgettable time.

LondonElite

If there is a receipt for payment or if payment has been taken (these can easily be mutually exclusive) they have a claim. If neither is the case, they don't. I know it sounds awful, but a booking confirmation isn't a ticket. You don't need to check every time whether the payment was actually taken, if you have a receipt this is superfluous, but caveat emptor does apply here and ignorance won't fly with the airline, I expect.

corporate-wage-slave

For the expensive economy tickets. This does happen quite often, and so if it's confirmed that the initial tickets were paid for, I fairly confident they will not be out of pocket, and indeed they should get the CE cabin on the return flight (not sure why they bought return tickets, but that's another matter).

Well the regulations firstly state you need to be ticketed, and secondly that you are denied boarding. The claim would be against BA, even if it was IB who screwed up, so you can assume BA will use these reasons to deny IDB payment - though the courts take the view that BA could ping these costs on to BA's ticket agent, it's not the passenger's issue. If the parents had refused to pay up, or had accepted a reroute then their case would be stronger, even more so if the aircraft was full: Airlines generally - and incorrectly - regard IDB as meaning "oversold". So I can't really agree with your view they have a very good claim.

710 77345

Under that premise, the fact that they travelled in ET suggests downgrade compensation would apply

corporate-wage-slave

Yes I see where you're coming from. I've no doubt the actual answer would have been to buy CE tickets and ping that cost to Iberia, but one can understand that the OP's parents were in risk limitation mode.

BLHD

If Dad got the Check in email, did he try to do it? Did it error?

henkybaby

Think that this assurance by the BA agent that it was all ok is part of the frustration. I am assuming here (maybe incorrectly) that what his dad was trying to do was checking in.