Workie Ticket

Hi

I have been tracking BA281 for Friday 31/8/2018 since we booked it. Currently, it is not available on BA booking system and there is 0 availability on EF. Is this a precursor to cancellation? I have rang the BAEC silver line and they say it is still scheduled, but with the other recent cancellations I have my doubts.

If it is cancelled what would be the better alternative to try if we get a choice? We are in W.

BA 744 in W?
AA 772 in Y?
AA 77W in W?
BA A380 in W?

If it was just down to timing, then the AA 772 would be better as we can stick to our original flight from NCL, but that would be in Y. We could change plans and arrive 4.5 hours later and take the A380 if that is likely to be the better journey. It would also mean an extra 4.5 hours at LHR as I wouldn't want to catch the later flight from NCL to LHR and then miss the last direct flight from LHR - LAX.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

jwhite9185

Having found myself in almost that exact situation, I went for the A380 flight.

cwagsg

I have a similar(ish) puzzle on 31 August LCY-EDI. I'm booked on the 1730 flight and it's available to book on ba.com, but on EF it doesn't show on availability search (flight line is missing) but it still shows in a flight detail and seat map search. Not sure what that's all about. I doubt it's related, but the date felt too coincidental not to mention.

corporate-wage-slave

This has come up before quite recently. From looking at this, and in particular the WTP seating configuration, it seems to be just a sold out aircraft. Given the route, given the time of year, it's not entirely surprising. Due to the timeframe I doubt anything is awry here since if forward planning would have identified an aircraft shortage, they would have done that analysis more than 2 weeks before departure. From that point until 3 days before departure the flight isn't allocated to a particular aircraft anyway, so if there was going to be an equipment shortage the next trigger is still someway off. I would keep an eye on your email, assuming you booked directly with BA.com, since nearer the time you may be offered the option to move to other flights if you wish. If there are no seats available on the aircraft in any cabin the flight won't show up on the sales computer at all - that is a long standing position going back decades - but it will show up on BA.com/arrdep and the Timetable links (hotlink ba.com/schedules).

As it happens this flight is now visible on ba.com/arrdep (Flight Status) and it is there all present and correct. The first clue there would be a problem or cancellation would in this screen, and the emails would appear automatically to direct bookers within 10 minutes.

So in summary, keep calm, carry on (and perhaps avoid overthinking it).

Now that is different and others have reported problems / bugs here, with the odd flight missing in EF but visible in BA.com. As you will see, you are in truly excellent company:
BA shows one thing but it's not on Expertflyer

cwagsg

Thanks CWS, I noticed that thread this morning and indeed feel truly honoured

Pilot37

Workie Ticket

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

Just had email and text notification that it has been cancelled. I booked it before I discovered this site and after reading this site I thought it would end up being cancelled.

Re-booked onto the later flight and first time on an A380. It would have been the first time on the 789. I wanted to avoid the 744 so that was achieved.

corporate-wage-slave

Well I got that one wrong then, but thanks for reporting back and WTP in the A380 is even better than the 787 series, so hopefully you will have a good flight. The 747 isn't an entirely bad option if it is SuperJ, since the IFE is the Panasonic and perhaps a chance of an upgrade.

Scotflyer80

corporate-wage-slave

Thanks for the update. I see some Customer Guidelines for BOM and DOH but not for the others yet. The Customer Guidelines are not particularly interesting for India - rebook on other BOM service or rebook to anywhere else in India, the usual 3 days before, 14 days after, or thereafter if the bucket is available. DOH involves rebooking on QR as long established.

Workie Ticket

The arrival time on the 747 is better for us, but there wasn't the required availability. There's 3 of us in WTP and 2 in WT. EF is showing the following BA283 on 31/8:

F2 A1 J9 C9 D9 R5 I0 W4 E0 T0 Y3 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

However, when I spoke to the BA call centre they had availability in WTP, but nothing in WT. Any idea why this is happening?

windowontheAside

I think your pax in WT will appreciate the switch to the 380 even if they don't realise it. 787s are horrible in WT.

corporate-wage-slave

These are the sales buckets (which rapidly change) and while BA maybe willing to sell 3 new tickets in WT, given usual no shows and duplicate bookings, they may be unwilling to put 2 definite travellers into what is probably on oversold flight. But I agree the A380 is a much better travel experience for the WT passengers, one of the best economy options available in longhaul aviation so if you have ended up there then that's not a bad outcome. Having said that, if the 747 is really much better for you then keep an eye on the situation since this will be chnaging very rapidly. If you so see the Y figure go up a lot, or B becoming available, it may be worth another call. On paper you're only allowed 1 involuntary reservation change, but you may be able to argue for a second go if things change.

alanjhett

o.O cancellations for the LAX is getting way too close to my flight :S