B747forever

About to book a ARN-LHR-DFW-LAX ticket in J. Currently I am looking to book the DFW-LAX segment on a 787 which will mean a longer than necessary layover in DFW so I can get on the 787. As the flight isn’t until December, there is a high risk for equipment change. What is BA’s stance if the flight changes from 787 to A321 as the hard product is vastly different? Free change of the routing to shorter connection at DFW or maybe direct to LAX?

rossmacd

BA will not make a change for equipment swaps. Book with AA, who are infinitely more flexible.

Between now and December, I can (almost) guarantee at least 2 schedule changes to happen for your AA flight(s).

flatlander

AA are more flexible with ticket changes but give you less Avios. Tier points are the same. It's up to you which is more important.

YacozA

This. There will be schedule / equipment changes; and might give you the chance to change... but could be "worse" equipment.

madfish

I believe AA will allow changes based solely on equipment changes. But keep proof of the equipment atvtime of booking. I believe @KARFA had this exact experience earlier this year but was able to resolve it in his favour.

gcuk

I've also been allowed a route change by AA when a 787 was swapped out for a 737. That was an AA booking and I'm sure it's even in their terms and conditions that that's a valid reason to change.
To be honest, for that journey the equipment wasn't really an issue, but I agree that there will be schedule changes before December, and resultant permissible changes/re-routes can be advantageous

KARFA

Yes, international 767 swapped for a 757. AA does explicitly allow changes due to changes of equipment. In my case they took some persuading the aircraft had changed as their records showed it was always a 757 - very annoying. I pointed out the seat I originally had does not exist on a 757 so that couldn't be the case. They changed it in the end.

etiene

This should be resolved by getting BA codes on an AA ticket, I would think? Best of both worlds...

Edit: If it'll priced out, of course - though I think powertools has managed to at least stick the landing on AA with no AA segments for me.

Often1

AA is infinitely more flexible far outside the COC and fare rules. This is no guarantee because equiptment swaps alone are not a basis to demand a change, but reasonable "asks" tend to be honored when possible.

A 787 on that route is not part of any AA strategy. Rather, it means that the aircraft either has the downtime to fly DFW-LAX-DFW before it is required or it is required in LAX and is at DFW. Thus, if a higher-PRASM oppotunity arises for its use, including DFW international scheduling, it will be swapped out. The greater risk and there is nothing to be done about it is that it is almost certainly a spare. Thus, if there is a mechanical issue on an xDFW international route, the LAX aircraft is subbed in and LAX gets whatever is lying around.

If it is the thrill of the 787 which you seek, this isn't the route be to be assured of it, to the extent that there are ever assurances.

KARFA

B747forever

Thanks for all the replies.

Will try to price out the same itinerary as a AA ticket instead. In the past I have had AA change my ticket due to equipment changes, so I am pretty confident they will work with me if the 787 is downgagued.

orbitmic

They will. As KARFA rightly pointed out, AA makes it explicit that an equipment change gives you a right to rerouting (though of course, this becomes rather pointless if no flight on your city pair gets the equipment you wanted - as when MIA-LAX lost all of its long haul aircraft). By contrast, it is not BA policy to consider an equipment change as reason to wave ticket change or cancellation rules and if you wish to get another flight following an equipment change on BA, you will have to pay the change fee and price differences that would be incurred by any voluntary changes.

Lefly

It happened to me exactly when, as orbitmic noted, MIA-LAX lost the wide body planes... and I had a red-eye on that route.
BA didn't accept it as a reason to change flights without fees. I had to wait for an AA schedule change big enough to convince a very unsympathetic BA agent to let me reroute.

KARFA

flatlander

Yes if you can get that. Both AA and BA tend to sell their own flight numbers on their websites so to get the other airline's flight codes you tend to have to phone up.

With AA, the trick used to be to phone up, get an itinerary set up with the flights you wanted, then ask the ticket to be held for 24h for free so you could "ask your partner" or something similar. You could then pay online without being charge the phone booking fee. However, I'm not sure if that works any more