dolfinco

Hi there, i can find the following on Google flights:

30/11/18 - INV to LHR on BA1649
30/11/18 - LHR to LAX on BA269

15/12/18 - LAS to LHR on BA274
17/12/18 - LHR to INV on BA1468

Its quoting £629 on Google.

When i try to replicate it in BA its doing 1 of 2 things.

1) Forcing me into CW on the way home and doubling the price.

2) Making me do a 2 stopper on the way home in Philly and London

Is this just another online glitch and should be available via phone ?

Or is Google flights not reliable for this ?

teledude

Phone BA and ask them to waive the offline fee

Sealink

I think the overnight at LHR on the way home may be skewering things, as I believe this means APD will be applied to the booking.

Without this, I'm getting a £615 rtn on ba.com (allbeit with the two connections on inbound, because the BA274 arrives at 1455, while the INV flight is at 0950)

Have you tried replicating on AA?

dolfinco

I havent as i am looking to UUA so need to go through BA. I will give them a call in the morning and worse case scenario might need to try LAS>LAX>LON>INV

Often1

If it's the APD, I would call BA and have them book this and waive the fee. This is a connection at <24 hours not a stopover, and there should not be any APD. Overnight would be a flaw in BA's programming. As others suggest, you might try replicating this on AA.

Prospero

Yes, the long haul flight on the inbound journey would need to arrive after 5pm for the next day's BA1468 to qualify as a connection (as far as the APD classification goes)

frb98mf

Why is the APD classification relevant on (a) an inbound flight, (b) a sub-24h connection, and (c) one to INV which I thought was APD-exempt anyway? Do all these rules vary for domestic connections? And in any case that doesn't explain the forcing into CW and dramatic leap in price.

Sealink

INV departures are APD exempt.
But flying from LHR to INV more than 24 hours later means that APD is payable from LHR.

The original post has NEVER been a sub-24 hour connection.

JamieABZ

I'm trying to book something similar ex-INV to MIA. On Google Flights it gives an overnight in LHR but on BA.com they always force an overnight in NYC. I need to call to tell them what I want - plus I found coming back to ABZ solved any unsuitable routing coming back. Not that I wanted to come back to INV, but that solved that one for me, and it was the same price - £619.00. Excellent price.

ExpatExp

I had to rebook a JFK-LHR-INV over the phone a few weeks ago and ran into a similar problem. I wanted to land at LHR around 8 pm and then depart on the next flight to INV, which was the following morning around 11 am. Neither the BA website nor the BA phone staffer's computer systems would produce the connection. The BA staffer told me that this is a problem with BA's systems; they won't automatically price an itinerary that includes an overnight connection (not an overnight stopover) at LHR.

The BA staffer had to search for available inventory and then manually enter the booking codes; this required the use of another computer system (I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it) and took five minutes or so to complete. Then the staffer had to ring a colleague to have the itinerary priced, and only then could the change be made.

If anyone knows what this process is called, would be grateful to know so I can ask for it to be used next time.

KARFA

I don't understand this? I have booked itineraries with overnight connections at LHR many times on ba.com.

frb98mf

Perhaps one of us has misinterpreted the OP. I thought those were his departure dates, meaning he only lands at LHR on 16/12.

Prospero

Domestic connections do not follow the flat 24 hour rule - see..

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/air-pass...ic-connections

frb98mf

Okay, so we dealt with the APD issue, which establishes that this is a full stopover rather than a connecting flight. Does that really account for the huge hike in fare and forcing it into CW?

ExpatExp

I don't know either -- but despite being a valid route and connection with the correct available inventory, multiple BA agents have been unable to get my JFK-LHR-INV itinerary to price automatically including an overnight connection at LHR. It therefore seemed like a reasonable explanation when BA told me this is a problem with their systems (and that they are aware of it).

I wonder if it works in certain situations and not others? If so, would be interesting to know what situations those are…