windowontheAside

Managed to snag a pair of scarce redemption seats at 3am this morning. I thought it would be a nice surprise for Mr W and planned to tell him when I get home later this week.

I did note that I didn't receive a receipt immediately but didn't think anything of it until he mailed me this morning, forwarding the receipt and asking what was going on.

Yes, I put his BAEC no on the booking, but I didn't realise that gives him the right to see how much (and how) I paid for this trip. Isn't sending that sort of information a privacy breach even if we're travelling together?

Just to be clear, I am the lead passenger on the booking and I paid for it using my voucher and my credit card. I still haven't received a receipt directly from BA (and presume that I won't).

I'm really annoyed about this (yes - I know it IS a #fwp ). I'm curious to see what BA have to say about it. Any bets on how long it'll take to get a reply? And how many attempts it will take to get them to acknowledge/understand the problem?

Deltus

The key to booking surprise trips is to not add the BAEC number until OLCI, in my experience...

shefgab

That does seem incorrect given that you not him is the customer.

I can't comment on the legailites of what has happened, but I can say that 100% of the time when I book a trip with a non-status friend, and pay for it myself through my account, I am always assigned the middle seat/non-window, despite window being in my profile preferences. Maybe BA has something against the card holder?

I hope he enjoyed the surprise anyway, and appreicated the effort!

Swibbz

You sure his email wasn't accidentally entered as the contact email when making the booking?

I've never had a confirmation email sent to someone as a result of their BAEC number being added.

rossmacd

If you do get a reply, it will be nothing meaningful.

Honestly, in the current climate, I doubt they will care (which, of course, they should).

navylad

Oh dear! Sorry to hear that your surprise was ruined by BA's IT.

Indeed, if you put their BAEC number into the booking, it should generate an email to both parties. This can be useful at times, but not in your circumstance and with hindsight, I'm sure you would have withed your partner's BAEC number until you had surprised them.

Please let us know what BA say, I can't find it mentioned in their privacy policy, although they may argue that their definition of 'you' includes you and any person named on the booking since you entered their personal information (or by virtue of entering their BAEC number linked to that personal information).

In any case, I hope you have a great time!

windowontheAside

Yes, I'm quite sure. The email he uses for his BA account is one that I didn't even know existed.

Ancient Observer

It has happened to me. SWMBO has no interest in anything to do with aeroplanes, and would happily sit in the middle of 3 at the back of a United plane.
So I do all the bookings.
A couple of times she has received the BA emails, and just regards them as junk mail......

Data Protection? Personal confidentiality? Huh!!

gms

Could this issue be linked to a household account? Maybe the OP could confirm if they have a household account and who is the lead member?

WorldLux

Just be careful when booking flights, hotels, etc. Cookies can be a b!tch too. Many OTA/airline remember the mail address used during the last booking and sent mails to "remind you" that you haven't completed the booking. A simple redirect from Google flights is enough to trigger that email.

Dave Noble

I don't see that BA did anything wrong at all - indeed , I would say that it may have done right by the member

A member's FF number was used without his knowledge and the email informed him of such - on another situation, this will could be a distinctly good thing

Fly2Where

Just my personal experience. I did 3 sets of ba.com bookings yesterday, my wife (and my children), we all have different emails on profile. I am the only one receive the confirmation/receipt. Why I am sure? Because, she asked me about the itin, and I just forward the confirmation to my wife.

flatlander

Was the redemption from a household account?

If so it is not unreasonable to send an email to both passengers if both their Avios accounts have been debited, as would happen with a HHA redemption.

For cash bookings on BA.com, only I (as the booker) usually gets sent anything; if Ms Flatlander is on the booking also, she does not get anything.

malkie

The exact same thing happened to me once. A CW MFU (as it was then), which was a surprise for my partner at the time. Despite BA saying they wouldn't send an email confirmation (it was an openjaw booked over the phone), she got an email within minutes. We don't have an HA.

I took it as my issue for adding her BAEC number - but I did that to ensure all correct spellings, preferences, and passport number were added.

Won't do that again!

chistery

Even if there was no email, by adding a BAEC number it will appear online in their account, so not the best way to stay covert?