Mistake fare LHR - TLV [Tickets now cancelled by BA]
#212
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Contact BA?
#213
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Tbh I would wait and see what happens first. You will get a refund - although you are beholden to whatever TA you booked with as to how long the refund process takes. Also the voucher seems to be coming directly from BA to the affected passengers not via the TA. I would suggest waiting for others to receive theirs and if you still haven't got anything perhaps contact BA directly at that point.
Last edited by KARFA; Jun 18, 2018 at 4:37 am
#214
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You will notably recall that when the Scandinavia-West Coast excellent WT+ (Y UP) fare was introduced, for weeks, a majority of people on this forum claimed that it was a mistake too especially as the bucket did not seem to match the booking class which is not something that used to be done by BA. It took much longer to figure out that we were wrong and that this was, in fact, a genuine fare.
There is no doubt that someone who would claim they thought it was a mistake thought that it was one, but to say that anyone who has looked at a thread was convinced that this was a mistake is a big assumption to make IMHO especially where people were precisely not aware of the booking class and simply bought an "economy standard" ticket.
In fact, even in the case above where someone would have claimed/believe that this was a mistake fare, this may not, in and by itself, make it a manifest error. If I remember correctly, the usual definition of manifest errors in law is that they are "obvious and indisputable" so even if you believed that you may be benefitting from an error but are not sure about it, it may not be enough to make it manifest even though it is presumably something that company representatives would try to use.
Last edited by orbitmic; Jun 18, 2018 at 4:51 am
#215
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I can only agree with KARFA's advice, the refund under the travel agent's control rather than BA, since BA has amended the bookings to allow for full refunds. Some travel agents are very good in this area - faster than BA - and others are very slow. If they are in the low margin end of the market they aren't going to invest in back office resources. You may need to nag them however you can at some point call on your credit card issuer (and many debit cards too) to reverse the payment. So keep your paperwork and records up-to-date.
#216
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I am going to say this - I have often wondered when these sort of incidents occur, whether they caught on because of all the noise on here? We can never prove that, of course, but I do wonder nevertheless. Promotions and sales are one thing, but mistakes are another. I remember those feeding frenzies over some of those error fares - the Scandinavian one comes to mind. I forget which country it was, but it did cause a lot of upset. That is not a criticism of anyone, but I do wonder whether we kill these in our eagerness?
That said, I am indebted to some of the wrinkles that have been unearthed here and for some of the help and advice freely and willingly given to me.
That said, I am indebted to some of the wrinkles that have been unearthed here and for some of the help and advice freely and willingly given to me.
Prior to the abundance of blogs that are currently out there, it was FT that earned itself the reputation of being "The place good fares go to die".
There are loads of examples of these fares flying under the radar for years (those of us who used to use the ex-CMB F fares on EK will attest to that), and then within days of appearing on FT the fares were pulled. Ultimately, a small amount of people booking doesn't raise a flag, but once hundreds (or thousands) of people are booking F/J tickets from a remote destination on the same day, someone in fare management gets their arse kicked and it's gone.
Now, that being said, I have benefited from fares which I found out about on FT, so I personally take the 'win some, lose some' approach to these fares. Plus with the sheer amount of blogs peddling all these deals to their followers, FT is a drop in the ocean these days.
#217
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Sorry 'selective memory,' , FTers were mostly booking because early in this very thread the mistake fare was disclosed as booking as "fully flex class B' fare earning highest available TP+Avios. Whereas a correct low end sale priced gbp200-300 fare would be a truly inflexible low earning Y sub-class and not interest many.at all to purchase/
IMO this thread individual posts acknowlege it was a 'B fare ticket and supports BA's stance this was a mistake fare
IMO this thread individual posts acknowlege it was a 'B fare ticket and supports BA's stance this was a mistake fare
#218
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Sorry 'selective memory,' , FTers were mostly booking because early in this very thread the mistake fare was disclosed as booking as "fully flex class B' fare earning highest available TP+Avios. Whereas a correct low end sale priced gbp200-300 fare would be a truly inflexible low earning Y sub-class and not interest many.at all to purchase/
IMO this thread individual posts acknowlege it was a 'B fare ticket and supports BA's stance this was a mistake fare
IMO this thread individual posts acknowlege it was a 'B fare ticket and supports BA's stance this was a mistake fare
#219
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Except you couldn't tell it was a full flex ticket until you booked. I just wanted a trip to TLV to meet the other FTers. I don't need TP for next year, as my planned are already at 1600, though the Avios would have been nice.
I would have been happy with non-flex to be honest (40TP/5500Avios).
I would have been happy with non-flex to be honest (40TP/5500Avios).
#220
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Message from Netflights:
"We have been informed by British Airways that on the evening of the 11th June through to the following morning an error was made by them on the filing of their Fares to certain destinations over various departure dates including your booking. Although we have tried to get them to honour the fares, British Airways have advised today that they are cancelling all bookings that were made on the incorrect fare level. British Airways have advised you will be refunded in full and they are offering a compensation voucher to the value of £100.00 per person and we pass on their apologies for the inconvenience caused. (details about the process of this voucher will follow from BA)If you wish to escalate this matter further, we ask you direct all complaints to British Airways.com, via their online complaint form or phone them on 0344 493 0787."
"We have been informed by British Airways that on the evening of the 11th June through to the following morning an error was made by them on the filing of their Fares to certain destinations over various departure dates including your booking. Although we have tried to get them to honour the fares, British Airways have advised today that they are cancelling all bookings that were made on the incorrect fare level. British Airways have advised you will be refunded in full and they are offering a compensation voucher to the value of £100.00 per person and we pass on their apologies for the inconvenience caused. (details about the process of this voucher will follow from BA)If you wish to escalate this matter further, we ask you direct all complaints to British Airways.com, via their online complaint form or phone them on 0344 493 0787."
#221
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I'm aware of a similar DXB fare - about £215 or so that was floating about but seemingly not mentioned, did anyone book / get impacted by this? I would have booked that for sure just couldn't replicate.
That triggered my thought that there were fares mistakenly loaded. I certainly don't see somewhere that Easyjet fly to and BA offering £198 fares for a 4 1/2 flight as anything but a chance to knock down the loco airlines - mistake fare didn't cross my mind until I came across mention of Dubai. Still, i've 100% of my mistake fares on BA being cancelled and 0% of other airlines (1 vs 4) I hope that no-one here was financially impacted by booking non refundable ancillaries.
That triggered my thought that there were fares mistakenly loaded. I certainly don't see somewhere that Easyjet fly to and BA offering £198 fares for a 4 1/2 flight as anything but a chance to knock down the loco airlines - mistake fare didn't cross my mind until I came across mention of Dubai. Still, i've 100% of my mistake fares on BA being cancelled and 0% of other airlines (1 vs 4) I hope that no-one here was financially impacted by booking non refundable ancillaries.
#222
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Recently cancelling a BA reservation myself within the 24h grace period. Reimbursement on my CC account the next day. This TLV fare will be re-paid, but only after I send in an application to have it made, and with 3-5 working days delay. In this instance, BA admitted a "glitch" , but nothing wrong done .
A year and a half ago, there was an AZ business fare, IIRC PSA-DUS, with unlimited routing. All on AZ stock cancelled,some on KL/AF stock honored. Many pax with AZ tickets cancelled had to wait months for reimbursement.
Interest-free loan to an airline struggling not to go bancrupt as a business plan? Adopted by a struggling OTA as well?
A year and a half ago, there was an AZ business fare, IIRC PSA-DUS, with unlimited routing. All on AZ stock cancelled,some on KL/AF stock honored. Many pax with AZ tickets cancelled had to wait months for reimbursement.
Interest-free loan to an airline struggling not to go bancrupt as a business plan? Adopted by a struggling OTA as well?
#223
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So they are not going to refund you until they get the money from the airline, which in all practicality could be up to 90 days.
The OTA is not holding the money, the airline is. It's not responsible to state that an OTA would be unnecessarily holding onto your money because of financial issues.
#224
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OTA's will pay airlines by BSP (Billing & Settlement Plan) which is a monthly payment to airlines, simplifying everything. Refunds similarly come from BSP.
So they are not going to refund you until they get the money from the airline, which in all practicality could be up to 90 days.
The OTA is not holding the money, the airline is. It's not responsible to state that an OTA would be unnecessarily holding onto your money because of financial issues.
So they are not going to refund you until they get the money from the airline, which in all practicality could be up to 90 days.
The OTA is not holding the money, the airline is. It's not responsible to state that an OTA would be unnecessarily holding onto your money because of financial issues.
#225
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OTA's will pay airlines by BSP (Billing & Settlement Plan) which is a monthly payment to airlines, simplifying everything. Refunds similarly come from BSP.