BA not ticketing reservation, AGAIN!
Oct 29, 2018, 1:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 46
BA not ticketing reservation, AGAIN!
This summer BA almost left me stranded in Italy after someone failed to ticket the return portion of my itinerary. In October I booked a pan awards booking for 2 in Club using avios and a companion coupon. An eticket was issued. Later, I changed the return from Club to First. What happened in the summer made me cautious about BA’s ticketing delays, especially since BA claims they do not keep credit card info for long periods. However, I noticed BA still had not deducted the extra avios and the massive fee increases, so I called BA. The excuse given for the change not yet being ticketed was there was a credit card decline when BA attempted to make the ticketing change. Like many fellow travelers I use credit cards to earn miles, and ALWAYS pay off my balances, so BA claims about the credit card decline is not only untrue, but insulting. Moreover, in the summer BA claimed an email was sent to me about the ticketing issue. No such email appeared in my inbox.
This tiime no attempt was made by BA to contact me. If BA claims they do not keep credit card info on file for long periods, it often do not ticket award reservations for weeks how does BA ticket award reservations that are made almost a year in advance? Has any else had this problem?
This tiime no attempt was made by BA to contact me. If BA claims they do not keep credit card info on file for long periods, it often do not ticket award reservations for weeks how does BA ticket award reservations that are made almost a year in advance? Has any else had this problem?
Oct 29, 2018, 1:51 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,193
Credit cards get declined for reasons other than not paying the bill or having a large outstanding balance. Telling you that the card was declined was therefore not an untruth nor insulting but a statement of fact. Merchants don't get told the reason for the decline just that there was a decline of the transaction
Oct 29, 2018, 2:17 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: London
Posts: 726
Interesting. I too have experienced delays recently re-ticketing an Avios booking, and after 3 days called in to find out why. The person I spoke to - who was very nice! - said my credit card had been declined given there were additional charges that needed to be levied.
Given its my day-to-day credit card I called MBNA and they had no record of any declined transactions.
I think its likely some sort of system issue within BA which - for whatever reason - is flagging a failed ticketing as "credit card declined", or some staff mention its a credit card issue given its not something customers will question.
Given its my day-to-day credit card I called MBNA and they had no record of any declined transactions.
I think its likely some sort of system issue within BA which - for whatever reason - is flagging a failed ticketing as "credit card declined", or some staff mention its a credit card issue given its not something customers will question.
Oct 29, 2018, 2:21 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Credit cards get declined for reasons other than not paying the bill or having a large outstanding balance. Telling you that the card was declined was therefore not an untruth nor insulting but a statement of fact. Merchants don't get told the reason for the decline just that there was a decline of the transaction
As someone said, often it is "declined" but when you call the credit card company they will say there was never a request.
In reality, when a merchant says it is "declined" it can be anything from "our internet connection was bad so it didn't go through" to "the credit card company said no, and will be contacting you about a fraudulent charge soon"
Oct 29, 2018, 2:28 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
Oct 29, 2018, 3:23 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hotels.com Gold
Posts: 576
Oct 29, 2018, 3:42 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: somewhere north of stateside...
Posts: 4,153
I believe that BA only keep the CVV security codes in their system for something like a week or two, and then no longer have access. So, if they don't complete the ticketing change within that time, that's why it does't go through. This may have been your issue (a couple of times, it appears).
Oct 29, 2018, 3:48 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,203
I believe that BA only keep the CVV security codes in their system for something like a week or two, and then no longer have access. So, if they don't complete the ticketing change within that time, that's why it does't go through. This may have been your issue (a couple of times, it appears).
Oct 29, 2018, 3:51 pm
#9
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 18,611
I believe that BA only keep the CVV security codes in their system for something like a week or two, and then no longer have access. So, if they don't complete the ticketing change within that time, that's why it does't go through. This may have been your issue (a couple of times, it appears).
Oct 29, 2018, 4:13 pm
#10
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,659
The problem is when you say the merchant is being truthful you mean their definition of "decline".
As someone said, often it is "declined" but when you call the credit card company they will say there was never a request.
In reality, when a merchant says it is "declined" it can be anything from "our internet connection was bad so it didn't go through" to "the credit card company said no, and will be contacting you about a fraudulent charge soon"
As someone said, often it is "declined" but when you call the credit card company they will say there was never a request.
In reality, when a merchant says it is "declined" it can be anything from "our internet connection was bad so it didn't go through" to "the credit card company said no, and will be contacting you about a fraudulent charge soon"
Oct 29, 2018, 4:23 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,387
I too would have thought that but from what I read on this forum it appears that BA staff are so loyal that they use hours of their own time to construct elaborate cover stories to protect their CxOs and shareholders.
Oct 29, 2018, 5:10 pm
#12
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,659
Interesting. I too have experienced delays recently re-ticketing an Avios booking, and after 3 days called in to find out why. The person I spoke to - who was very nice! - said my credit card had been declined given there were additional charges that needed to be levied.
Given its my day-to-day credit card I called MBNA and they had no record of any declined transactions.
I think its likely some sort of system issue within BA which - for whatever reason - is flagging a failed ticketing as "credit card declined", or some staff mention its a credit card issue given its not something customers will question.
Given its my day-to-day credit card I called MBNA and they had no record of any declined transactions.
I think its likely some sort of system issue within BA which - for whatever reason - is flagging a failed ticketing as "credit card declined", or some staff mention its a credit card issue given its not something customers will question.
If payment is attempted and fails the E-ticketing team will send a general email asking you to contact BA and then add notes in the booking to say payment fails and the error they got. If someone calls up we would then read the notes they entered.
So i would suggest neither option you suggest is very likely.
Seeing things from the inside i certainly dont see any conspiracy. In fact i would say that it would be far more effort for someone to make up stories about declined card rather than actually just be honest!
Oct 29, 2018, 5:20 pm
#13
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Hertfordshire
Programs: BA Gold, Accor Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 553
Had similar earlier this month. Booked 2 O class fares to LYS and VLC and called up immediately after booking to change them to N class. The LYS change went through straight away, but had nothing for the VLC change up until T-5 days and there was no ticket number showing in the app.
Called BAEC and after hanging on for ages and giving them my CVV again, they had it sorted in about 2 hours. Once again, I think the moral of the story is that their systems are just woeful.
Called BAEC and after hanging on for ages and giving them my CVV again, they had it sorted in about 2 hours. Once again, I think the moral of the story is that their systems are just woeful.
Oct 29, 2018, 6:39 pm
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 46
No email received and Checked with credit card company
The reality is that the E-ticketing team attempt payment then once the authorisation has been gained they then manually reissue the ticket using the authorisation. So i dont think as you suggest that failed ticketing is picked up as card declined as the payment process is first and separate to completing the reissue.
If payment is attempted and fails the E-ticketing team will send a general email asking you to contact BA and then add notes in the booking to say payment fails and the error they got. If someone calls up we would then read the notes they entered.
So i would suggest neither option you suggest is very likely.
Seeing things from the inside i certainly dont see any conspiracy. In fact i would say that it would be far more effort for someone to make up stories about declined card rather than actually just be honest!
Oct 29, 2018, 6:45 pm
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 46
The last time this happened a BA customer service agent claimed an email was sent, but none such email came. This time no email has been received either and it has been almost a month since the change.
Imagine being in a foreign country being told you do not have a ticket and the flight is now full, but somehow you have managed to select seats and a meal for the LHR SEA portion of a flight you no ticket for, very strange indeed!
Imagine being in a foreign country being told you do not have a ticket and the flight is now full, but somehow you have managed to select seats and a meal for the LHR SEA portion of a flight you no ticket for, very strange indeed!