Mistake fare LHR - TLV [Tickets now cancelled by BA]
Jun 25, 2018, 12:43 pm
#467
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAGGL, A3G, Accor Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, LHW Sterling
Posts: 1,309
To throw some more confusion into this, I've just spoken to Omega travel. The agent offered me a Lufthansa flight instead for an additional £70ish, or alternatively a full refund plus £100 voucher. Apparently the £100 voucher can only be used directly on the BA website, and should arrive by email in the next 3-5 working days. I'm skeptical, but don't want to spend any more time on the phone to Omega than I absolutely have to.
And for what it's worth, Omega was insistent that it was BA who cancelled the ticket, despite what the Silver line told me repeatedly last week.
And for what it's worth, Omega was insistent that it was BA who cancelled the ticket, despite what the Silver line told me repeatedly last week.
Jun 25, 2018, 12:49 pm
#468
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAGGL, A3G, Accor Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, LHW Sterling
Posts: 1,309
I'm in the same situation. In the mail informing about the cancellation, the only info regarding voucher compensation was:
"Airline will also provide £100 voucher per person as compensation"
I've had no physical voucher, nor any voucher code sent electronically. I'm not surprised, the reimbursement that was promised within 3-5 banking days, still hasn't emerged, although passing the time limit.
"Airline will also provide £100 voucher per person as compensation"
I've had no physical voucher, nor any voucher code sent electronically. I'm not surprised, the reimbursement that was promised within 3-5 banking days, still hasn't emerged, although passing the time limit.
It's difficult to be too emphatic on anything in this, as candidly the communication and admin around it is woeful, but I'm as certain as I can be that you won't hear too much more unless you contact the OTA and talk to them. Or just hang on, if you don't have an urgent need to rebook and see how some others progress.
Thanks
Jun 26, 2018, 2:17 am
#469
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 1
I just signed-up to FT today to join this thread. It's nice to be here.
I'm a frequent BA customer taking around three return flights per month plus approx 12 business class long haul flights per year booked via a company travel agent. All my European travel is generally with BA and around half of those long haul are BA - but most are OneWorld. I am a victim of the recent cancellation issue after booking tickets (for a family of 5) to Dubai over New Year.
I've not been to Dubai for over 20 years, so had no expectation of prices. My wife and I began to research flights one evening and noted that for economy tickets, around £300-£400 seemed the norm, so when I saw BA flights at £207 I did question why they were being offered by agents I'd not heard of. I made the decision to book using a credit card (it happened to be a BA branded AMEX) in order to receive their purchase protection, but also that I'd be able to track the booking via BA.com. This was done on 11th June.
Flights were booked, confirmation was received including a BA locator which I could add to my BA account and manage seats, add additional details such as Passport and family Exec card details. I could see the e-tickets numbers. Done deal, I figured. I had little genuine understanding of pricing on that route, but knew that (from the short research I'd done) that I'd got a good deal, but it didn't seem exceptional. I went on to book onward commitments on accommodation.
The cancellation came as a shock and I was first informed a week later by the travel agent who sighted a 'pricing error' and advising I contact BA for details. BA, for their part, took none of the options available to them to contact me, since I'd provided contact details in my Exec account and specifically in the booking. All they chose to do was remove the booking from their system - no other notification. I wrote to Alex Cruz via email and received a boiler plate response several hours later. The reply was from a 'no reply' email address but contained the same vague information about a price error and cancellation. I wrote back demanding a better explanation but haven't received one to date.
I learned from this forum yesterday that the issue is more about ticket class pricing errors, than pricing in general. But even as a regular BA traveller I have little knowledge of the pricing structure of the airline. I did notice that the tier points (140 and air miles rewards were better than I'd have expected but didn't think much of that since I don't know the route or even if it's considered long or short haul).
It's my firm view that the pricing offered by BA via their travel systems available to agents wasn't a 'mandate' error and it isn't reasonable of BA to cancel the tickets causing utter disruption to travel plans. Yesterday I began action against BA initially demanding they overturn the cancellation of the initial booking and if they fail to that against my deadline I'll be making a new booking (probably with Emirates since they offer the current best prices on that route/dates) and will be invoicing BA for the difference. If they do not pay I will pursue through the courts.
Since reading about it here, I'll also review the options available via CEDR, thanks for posting that.
I'm shocked that BA would treat any of it's customers so badly considering they booked a flight in good faith and the whole issue was caused by their error. I'm staggered that I've not received any kind of meaningful response from BA since I'd expect my status to, at least, elevate me to a personal response. To date, I've not even yet received back the money I paid.
I'm hopeful this will be resolved, but it's certainly damaged my view of BA. Yesterday I booked my next transatlantic flight to the US and I instructed my travel agent to book American not BA.
I'd welcome any particular advice or happy to share my activities with any similarly affected people.
I'm a frequent BA customer taking around three return flights per month plus approx 12 business class long haul flights per year booked via a company travel agent. All my European travel is generally with BA and around half of those long haul are BA - but most are OneWorld. I am a victim of the recent cancellation issue after booking tickets (for a family of 5) to Dubai over New Year.
I've not been to Dubai for over 20 years, so had no expectation of prices. My wife and I began to research flights one evening and noted that for economy tickets, around £300-£400 seemed the norm, so when I saw BA flights at £207 I did question why they were being offered by agents I'd not heard of. I made the decision to book using a credit card (it happened to be a BA branded AMEX) in order to receive their purchase protection, but also that I'd be able to track the booking via BA.com. This was done on 11th June.
Flights were booked, confirmation was received including a BA locator which I could add to my BA account and manage seats, add additional details such as Passport and family Exec card details. I could see the e-tickets numbers. Done deal, I figured. I had little genuine understanding of pricing on that route, but knew that (from the short research I'd done) that I'd got a good deal, but it didn't seem exceptional. I went on to book onward commitments on accommodation.
The cancellation came as a shock and I was first informed a week later by the travel agent who sighted a 'pricing error' and advising I contact BA for details. BA, for their part, took none of the options available to them to contact me, since I'd provided contact details in my Exec account and specifically in the booking. All they chose to do was remove the booking from their system - no other notification. I wrote to Alex Cruz via email and received a boiler plate response several hours later. The reply was from a 'no reply' email address but contained the same vague information about a price error and cancellation. I wrote back demanding a better explanation but haven't received one to date.
I learned from this forum yesterday that the issue is more about ticket class pricing errors, than pricing in general. But even as a regular BA traveller I have little knowledge of the pricing structure of the airline. I did notice that the tier points (140 and air miles rewards were better than I'd have expected but didn't think much of that since I don't know the route or even if it's considered long or short haul).
It's my firm view that the pricing offered by BA via their travel systems available to agents wasn't a 'mandate' error and it isn't reasonable of BA to cancel the tickets causing utter disruption to travel plans. Yesterday I began action against BA initially demanding they overturn the cancellation of the initial booking and if they fail to that against my deadline I'll be making a new booking (probably with Emirates since they offer the current best prices on that route/dates) and will be invoicing BA for the difference. If they do not pay I will pursue through the courts.
Since reading about it here, I'll also review the options available via CEDR, thanks for posting that.
I'm shocked that BA would treat any of it's customers so badly considering they booked a flight in good faith and the whole issue was caused by their error. I'm staggered that I've not received any kind of meaningful response from BA since I'd expect my status to, at least, elevate me to a personal response. To date, I've not even yet received back the money I paid.
I'm hopeful this will be resolved, but it's certainly damaged my view of BA. Yesterday I booked my next transatlantic flight to the US and I instructed my travel agent to book American not BA.
I'd welcome any particular advice or happy to share my activities with any similarly affected people.
Last edited by fekker; Jun 26, 2018 at 2:25 am
Jun 26, 2018, 2:20 am
#470
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,545
Welcome to Flyertalk and the BA forum Fekker! Unfortunately, the circumstances for your joining are not so great and I think everyone is still waiting to see how things work in practice but you have joined the right place to continue sharing experiences on this and other future travel!
Jun 26, 2018, 3:03 am
#471
Join Date: May 2013
Location: LHR
Programs: AA EXP, DL DM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,033
Welcome to FT and good luck in your dealings with BA! I just wanted to comment on one thing you said:
Unfortunately you're still giving BA the same exact amount in doing this - AA and BA have a transatlantic joint venture, meaning revenues and costs are shared proportionally for every flight regardless of which carrier you fly. Want to really vote with your wallet? Fly Virgin/Delta/United.
Unfortunately you're still giving BA the same exact amount in doing this - AA and BA have a transatlantic joint venture, meaning revenues and costs are shared proportionally for every flight regardless of which carrier you fly. Want to really vote with your wallet? Fly Virgin/Delta/United.
Jun 26, 2018, 3:56 am
#472
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London
Programs: Many. Too many. I came here to cut them down. I failed.
Posts: 2,999
fekker - also like to add that this is the right place to find support and advice.
There are quite a few people here who bought tickets fully aware that they were mistake fares, but it's obvious that most people who bought tickets didn't, yourself included. I think most people with an interest in this thread will be very keen to find out how your case goes, so do use the valuable resources and insider knowledge from people here, but please also keep us up to date with the response you get from BA.
My personal involvement was that I was made aware of the Dubai tickets you bought, but couldn't replicate the price through BA or an agency I would personally trust, or any other sources so backed away. I knew they were cheap, but thought it was an agency error rather than a BA filing error as I do not thing the pricing was cheap enough to be classified as a 'manifest error'. I suspect we're going to get some very cheap pricing on the route similar to these prices from Royal Brunei over the coming weeks as they will be bypassing the Dubai stopover from LHR towards the end of the year.
There are quite a few people here who bought tickets fully aware that they were mistake fares, but it's obvious that most people who bought tickets didn't, yourself included. I think most people with an interest in this thread will be very keen to find out how your case goes, so do use the valuable resources and insider knowledge from people here, but please also keep us up to date with the response you get from BA.
My personal involvement was that I was made aware of the Dubai tickets you bought, but couldn't replicate the price through BA or an agency I would personally trust, or any other sources so backed away. I knew they were cheap, but thought it was an agency error rather than a BA filing error as I do not thing the pricing was cheap enough to be classified as a 'manifest error'. I suspect we're going to get some very cheap pricing on the route similar to these prices from Royal Brunei over the coming weeks as they will be bypassing the Dubai stopover from LHR towards the end of the year.
Jun 26, 2018, 4:18 am
#473
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 18
Hey guys,
Has anyone had much luck in redeeming their 'goodwill' vouchers? I am having a horrendous time with the agent Crystal travel. The booking was initially for 10 passengers, 2 of the passengers couldn't get the cheaper advertised rate so had to pay extra for them (i.e. the correct fare). I then find out the tickets are cancelled and thankfully they didn't give me too much hassle for cancelling all 10 tickets. I was only offered compensation for 8 of the passengers as 2 were booked under the correct fare, ridiculous, but that's not the worst of it. I wanted to re-book LON-TLV and sent a screenshot of the flights that I wanted.
I was told that those fares were no longer available and tried to offer me a flight 4 days prior to the one that I wanted, and outbound was a 5 hour night flight (not a great idea when 3 of the passengers are two year olds), then asked for £500 on top of the fare that I am waiting to be refunded back to me, with use of these bloody vouchers.
I tried to call the general call centre to see if I would have much luck. First I get through to a guy who apparently could not hear me when I said TEL AVIV four times, then when I said Israel, he says 'okay one second' and then we got disconnected. Lovely. Maybe there is a genuine chance we did get accidentally disconnected at that precise convenient time, but I don't think I am being paranoid. I am very close to telling the agent where to shove these 'goodwill vouchers'.
Oh yes also they told me the flights I wanted were available, for just £1000 more than what is shown on BA direct.
Has anyone had much luck in redeeming their 'goodwill' vouchers? I am having a horrendous time with the agent Crystal travel. The booking was initially for 10 passengers, 2 of the passengers couldn't get the cheaper advertised rate so had to pay extra for them (i.e. the correct fare). I then find out the tickets are cancelled and thankfully they didn't give me too much hassle for cancelling all 10 tickets. I was only offered compensation for 8 of the passengers as 2 were booked under the correct fare, ridiculous, but that's not the worst of it. I wanted to re-book LON-TLV and sent a screenshot of the flights that I wanted.
I was told that those fares were no longer available and tried to offer me a flight 4 days prior to the one that I wanted, and outbound was a 5 hour night flight (not a great idea when 3 of the passengers are two year olds), then asked for £500 on top of the fare that I am waiting to be refunded back to me, with use of these bloody vouchers.
I tried to call the general call centre to see if I would have much luck. First I get through to a guy who apparently could not hear me when I said TEL AVIV four times, then when I said Israel, he says 'okay one second' and then we got disconnected. Lovely. Maybe there is a genuine chance we did get accidentally disconnected at that precise convenient time, but I don't think I am being paranoid. I am very close to telling the agent where to shove these 'goodwill vouchers'.
Oh yes also they told me the flights I wanted were available, for just £1000 more than what is shown on BA direct.
Jun 26, 2018, 4:27 am
#474
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: London, UK
Posts: 120
So i was supposed to be flying today - Ticket cancelled around 10 days ago but no sign of goodwill voucher or refund...
Has anyone received them yet?
Decided to postpone my trip (but glorious weather in the UK so don't feel so bad not being on Tel Aviv beach)...
Has anyone received them yet?
Decided to postpone my trip (but glorious weather in the UK so don't feel so bad not being on Tel Aviv beach)...
Jun 26, 2018, 4:28 am
#475
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London
Programs: Many. Too many. I came here to cut them down. I failed.
Posts: 2,999
Oh dear. It looks like BA have seriously screwed over the goodwill of the agencies involved by putting the emphasis on them to make things good, and even stump up for the compensation and then reclaim from BA.
See if you can raise this to a supervisor. If you can see the fare on BA.COM they can book it give or take £20.
But i'm not sure that compensation would be due if they booked the correct fare?
See if you can raise this to a supervisor. If you can see the fare on BA.COM they can book it give or take £20.
But i'm not sure that compensation would be due if they booked the correct fare?
Jun 26, 2018, 4:41 am
#476
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 18
Hi Sam,
Yes, possibly gave them pressure into getting people to book the more expensive flights, including add ons such as baggage etc. Or maybe the agents know that it will be a hassle to reclaim the vouchers from BA so trying to overcharge on certain fares. I'm far from impressed on this whole experience.
Yes, possibly gave them pressure into getting people to book the more expensive flights, including add ons such as baggage etc. Or maybe the agents know that it will be a hassle to reclaim the vouchers from BA so trying to overcharge on certain fares. I'm far from impressed on this whole experience.
Jun 26, 2018, 9:15 am
#479
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold; LH FTL; IHG Diamond; Marriott Gold; ALL Gold
Posts: 1,758
Jun 26, 2018, 9:18 am
#480
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,991
absolutely no code received, and no email with any information on how to use the £100 voucher. Tbh I am relying on the information kindly provided by Woodbinerich upthread. I don't hold out too much hope of success though based on my dealings with them so far on the phone.