Refused refund following flight cancellation
#16
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA CCR/GGL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,483
Except if, as the OP said, it is 100 cheaper! I'll take my chances in that case booking through Expedia!
#17
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
#18
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Mexico City
Programs: Life Miles, Miles and more
Posts: 518
Presumably the above final para by Often1 should read "yet another reason not to deal with third-parties such as Expedia". As a matter of interest, I'd be interested to know why on a simple return booking the OP, or indeed anyone, chooses to use Expedia and takes the risk of such complications if anything goes wrong?
Statisticaly only 1% of flights or something will have problems. Using an agent may save you easily more than 10-20% on the ticket. It makes sense. Remember, and apparently it needs explaining in this forum, 100 quid may be the difference between a flight being affordable or not.
#19
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: RTW
Posts: 675
Perhaps someone with T/A knowledge could explain why BA sells a ticket through Expedia for a flight which is not available on its own website & also undercuts the operating carrier's own best available fare by GBP 100 (which is a fair chunk on a short route like LON/ORK)?
#20
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,475
Perhaps someone with T/A knowledge could explain why BA sells a ticket through Expedia for a flight which is not available on its own website & also undercuts the operating carrier's own best available fare by GBP 100 (which is a fair chunk on a short route like LON/ORK)?
BA being cheaper than Aer Lingus, on the other hand, is no surprise, codeshares have different sales bucket and sometimes there are temporary but large glitches. For example an extended family may have just made a booking on Aer Lingus just before the OP and the system may over swing to bump up fares for the next purchaser. Aer Lingus also has its own IT infrastructure and revenue management issues. Usually Aer Lingus would be cheaper, but occasionally not.
#21
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: somewhere north of stateside...
Posts: 4,118
I find that BA also adjust availability depending on point of sale more than some other airlines. I've often found prices less expensive on Expedia.co.uk than on Expedia.com - given seats are open in lower fare buckets - but not being UK-based makes these difficult to book online. I've directly called the UK call centre and booked at the lower price, but this isn't always intuitive.
OP, given that you've called Expedia a few times, I'd simply initiate the chargeback with American Express at this point. You've made best efforts and are clearly in the right here, so it should be a pretty simple process.
OP, given that you've called Expedia a few times, I'd simply initiate the chargeback with American Express at this point. You've made best efforts and are clearly in the right here, so it should be a pretty simple process.
#22
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London
Programs: Many. Too many. I came here to cut them down. I failed.
Posts: 2,998
- They get nett fares (think 20 a ticket) cheaper than airlines sell direct, from the airline - why wouldn't they - they sell millions and millions of tickets on airlines
- They get kickbacks, which can be substantial (i.e. if they hit x00'ks worth of sales they will get an extra 20 per ticket, or a set figure, or marketing money)
- For Tour Op's (an industry I work closely with) they can book multi-centres with some airlines (i.e. BA) a hell of a lot easier than you, or him, or that bloke over there on Flyertalk who thinks they are all knowing as they have a $100 subscription to Expert Flyer
- They get the ancillary sales
For benefit of doubt, a huge OTA I used to work with customer service was horrendous (wasn't expedia), but the more niche Tour Op businesses I now work alongside would not let the above happen if they'd booked the ticket. Well, it would happen, but then they'd take over responsibility and get it sorted. Personally I can't stand the big OTA's, but needs must, and they are successful, but work with tiny margins (which is why you are dealing with someone on 4k a year normally working in Delhi/Bangalore/Manila).
#23
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,074
I'd process a chargeback, failing which pursue the small claims court route.
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: From ORK, live LCY
Programs: BA Silver, EI Silver, HH Gold, BW Gold, ABP, Seigneur des Horaires des Mucci
Posts: 14,177
It's highly unlikely that the availability was not available on BA.com if it was on Expedia, that was probably a short term IT glitch. We've all had our BA.com experiences, usually leaving it an hour or two, or calling up, resolves that sort of thing. Expedia is looking at the same underlying GDS as BA, both companies just jump through different hoops to get there. Very, very occasionally a TA will sell a fare bucket which has actually sold out, due to latency issues on the systems - in that case BA and Expedia have a communication channel to resolve difficulties. Also occasionally, OTAs use different Points of Sales, that may make a particular fare a bit cheaper, but on simple fares such as LHR-ORK it's unlikely to make a difference. On complex fares it certainly can make a bigger difference, but complex fares are also the ones to go wrong, or just get rescheduled, and it's worth calling up to see if a skilled BA agent can find a way around it. They often can.
BA being cheaper than Aer Lingus, on the other hand, is no surprise, codeshares have different sales bucket and sometimes there are temporary but large glitches. For example an extended family may have just made a booking on Aer Lingus just before the OP and the system may over swing to bump up fares for the next purchaser. Aer Lingus also has its own IT infrastructure and revenue management issues. Usually Aer Lingus would be cheaper, but occasionally not.
BA being cheaper than Aer Lingus, on the other hand, is no surprise, codeshares have different sales bucket and sometimes there are temporary but large glitches. For example an extended family may have just made a booking on Aer Lingus just before the OP and the system may over swing to bump up fares for the next purchaser. Aer Lingus also has its own IT infrastructure and revenue management issues. Usually Aer Lingus would be cheaper, but occasionally not.
#25
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,705
ba.com does now sell standalone Ba marketed and EI operated flights between the UK and Ireland.