Schedule change - BA redemption on QR metal - advice sought
May 21, 2019, 3:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: AFC
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 281
Schedule change - BA redemption on QR metal - advice sought
I am one of the idiotic few who are going to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the Europa League final.
Outbound is fine.
Return, I booked an avios redemption as follows:
30 May: (12:45) GYD - DOH (14:30) (QR, economy)
(15:30) DOH- ARN (20:45)(QR, business)
overnight in Arn and then a cheapo cash fare
31 May: ARN - LGW (Norwegian)
The transit time in DOH was 60 minutes. End of last week (so 13 days from flight) there was a schedule change for GYD-DOH to 20 minutes later (now 13:05 - 14:50). That caused the connection time to go to 40 minutes, less than the 45 MCT in Doha. My DOH-ARN leg was cancelled, and I was re-booked on the next day, getting into ARN at 13:00 on 31 May - roughly 16 hours later than originally booked on, and with an unwanted night in Doha.
The new re-booking causes me quite a few difficulties. For one I am now missing my Norwegian flight, but I do accept that can be a risk when booking on separate tickets (I did think that the overnight / 9 hour gap in ARN did minimise that risk).
More of an issue is that I am now missing a day's work that I had intended to be at, and I need to be at home (north london) by 6pm at the absolute latest, so currently knowing I'm scheduled to be in ARN at 13:00 with no way to get home as yet is making me very nervous! Not even dealing with the fact that flying off to Baku to watch football wasn't the most popular choice in my household to begin with! So let's just say I'm motivated to sort something out.
I called BA on Friday as soon as I knew what had happened. I spoke to both the number that the text message about the rebooking told me to, and then put through to the redemption line. I explained the situation, and was upfront - I needed to get home, and in an ideal world if there was anything they could do to get me on QR5 from DOH-LHR (16:50 - 22:00) that would solve everything. I also said that I'd take any other routes we could work out on the phone. I suggested DOH to CPH, HEL or MXP as they all had flights that I could still connect with. No joy. After many periods on hold to speak to a supervisor they said they couldn't seem to rebook me on anything, but they were referring it to "commercial" and would see what could be done. They said I should call back on Monday if I didn't hear anything. It felt positive and pro-active. I could see they were trying.
On Monday I called again. The person I spoke to could see the notes on the file, but was still having difficulties re-booking me on anything suitable. She said she would chase up commercial again for me, and said she would call me back in around an hour. Sure enough, she did so, just to reassure me she had not forgotten, and would keep trying. at 6pm she called me again, saying she still had not heard, but that she was working the next day, and had taken ownership of it, and would call me on Tuesday.
Today (Tuesday) no call. At around 6pm i called again, and spoke to someone new, and explained the whole situation again. After being put on hold a few times for him to speak to his supervisor, he was very unhelpful indeed. Every suggestion was met by "it can't be done" or "I can't see that flight". At one point, when I was getting frustrated, I said "I presume if we can't work anything out you are at least covering my hotel in Doha as I didn't want to spend the night there". Answer? "I'll have to talk to my supervisor". I also was on my phone searching the ba website during the call, and found 4 flights from DOH-CPH on 30 May, that JUST make the minimum connection time (45 mins) in doha. I said "just book me on that one please", thinking I would either just buy cheap flight from CPH, or have an argument with BA about what I was supposed to do in CPH another day. He just kept telling me the flight did not even exist. I was saying "I'm looking at it on the ba website right now. I could book a redemption on it on the phone while we speak. How can you say it doesn't exist?" "I can't see it" [Sidenote - the only reason I have not cancelled my original booking and rebooked a redemption from scratch, is there is now no GYD-DOH availability... due to the football]
I came away from that call very disheartened. Although Monday and Tuesday's call didn't get anywhere, I felt like they were really trying to come up with a solution. Today it felt like they were just hoping I would shut up and go away, or cancel.
So I just want a bit of advice on how far I can push this. What power do they really have to re-book me on a different route? Is there any chance of me sucessfully getting on QR5 direct back to london or shall I give up on that? Surely the DOH-CPH route is not an unrealistic option?
Keep calling? Complain on twitter? Anything else?
I'm leaving for Baku on Monday, so I am very aware I am running low on time.
Sorry this turned into such an epic ramble - I am tired and a bit stressed!
PP
Outbound is fine.
Return, I booked an avios redemption as follows:
30 May: (12:45) GYD - DOH (14:30) (QR, economy)
(15:30) DOH- ARN (20:45)(QR, business)
overnight in Arn and then a cheapo cash fare
31 May: ARN - LGW (Norwegian)
The transit time in DOH was 60 minutes. End of last week (so 13 days from flight) there was a schedule change for GYD-DOH to 20 minutes later (now 13:05 - 14:50). That caused the connection time to go to 40 minutes, less than the 45 MCT in Doha. My DOH-ARN leg was cancelled, and I was re-booked on the next day, getting into ARN at 13:00 on 31 May - roughly 16 hours later than originally booked on, and with an unwanted night in Doha.
The new re-booking causes me quite a few difficulties. For one I am now missing my Norwegian flight, but I do accept that can be a risk when booking on separate tickets (I did think that the overnight / 9 hour gap in ARN did minimise that risk).
More of an issue is that I am now missing a day's work that I had intended to be at, and I need to be at home (north london) by 6pm at the absolute latest, so currently knowing I'm scheduled to be in ARN at 13:00 with no way to get home as yet is making me very nervous! Not even dealing with the fact that flying off to Baku to watch football wasn't the most popular choice in my household to begin with! So let's just say I'm motivated to sort something out.
I called BA on Friday as soon as I knew what had happened. I spoke to both the number that the text message about the rebooking told me to, and then put through to the redemption line. I explained the situation, and was upfront - I needed to get home, and in an ideal world if there was anything they could do to get me on QR5 from DOH-LHR (16:50 - 22:00) that would solve everything. I also said that I'd take any other routes we could work out on the phone. I suggested DOH to CPH, HEL or MXP as they all had flights that I could still connect with. No joy. After many periods on hold to speak to a supervisor they said they couldn't seem to rebook me on anything, but they were referring it to "commercial" and would see what could be done. They said I should call back on Monday if I didn't hear anything. It felt positive and pro-active. I could see they were trying.
On Monday I called again. The person I spoke to could see the notes on the file, but was still having difficulties re-booking me on anything suitable. She said she would chase up commercial again for me, and said she would call me back in around an hour. Sure enough, she did so, just to reassure me she had not forgotten, and would keep trying. at 6pm she called me again, saying she still had not heard, but that she was working the next day, and had taken ownership of it, and would call me on Tuesday.
Today (Tuesday) no call. At around 6pm i called again, and spoke to someone new, and explained the whole situation again. After being put on hold a few times for him to speak to his supervisor, he was very unhelpful indeed. Every suggestion was met by "it can't be done" or "I can't see that flight". At one point, when I was getting frustrated, I said "I presume if we can't work anything out you are at least covering my hotel in Doha as I didn't want to spend the night there". Answer? "I'll have to talk to my supervisor". I also was on my phone searching the ba website during the call, and found 4 flights from DOH-CPH on 30 May, that JUST make the minimum connection time (45 mins) in doha. I said "just book me on that one please", thinking I would either just buy cheap flight from CPH, or have an argument with BA about what I was supposed to do in CPH another day. He just kept telling me the flight did not even exist. I was saying "I'm looking at it on the ba website right now. I could book a redemption on it on the phone while we speak. How can you say it doesn't exist?" "I can't see it" [Sidenote - the only reason I have not cancelled my original booking and rebooked a redemption from scratch, is there is now no GYD-DOH availability... due to the football]
I came away from that call very disheartened. Although Monday and Tuesday's call didn't get anywhere, I felt like they were really trying to come up with a solution. Today it felt like they were just hoping I would shut up and go away, or cancel.
So I just want a bit of advice on how far I can push this. What power do they really have to re-book me on a different route? Is there any chance of me sucessfully getting on QR5 direct back to london or shall I give up on that? Surely the DOH-CPH route is not an unrealistic option?
Keep calling? Complain on twitter? Anything else?
I'm leaving for Baku on Monday, so I am very aware I am running low on time.
Sorry this turned into such an epic ramble - I am tired and a bit stressed!
PP
May 21, 2019, 4:07 pm
#3
Suspended
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Posts: 50,262
1. Anytime you get an unhelpful agent, simply politely end the call. Not worth continuing it as it never gets better.
2. Call back. Among your options is to cancel for a refund and then rebook. If you are see redemption space back to LHR and it is in the same range as what you paid for the existing redemption, why not do that and thus avoid the entire reticketing issue as the latter is generally not available, e.g. terminating at LHR when you are currently terminating at ARN.
2. Call back. Among your options is to cancel for a refund and then rebook. If you are see redemption space back to LHR and it is in the same range as what you paid for the existing redemption, why not do that and thus avoid the entire reticketing issue as the latter is generally not available, e.g. terminating at LHR when you are currently terminating at ARN.
May 21, 2019, 4:10 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: London Stratford, E7
Programs: BAEC Gold! Thanks to FT
Posts: 3,369
You could try tweeting them now the team are there 24/7, sounds as if they are liaising with a team to gets seats released from QR. Hope you get it sorted soon, if anybody can help the twitter team can.
May 21, 2019, 11:19 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: AFC
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 281
Among your options is to cancel for a refund and then rebook. If you are see redemption space back to LHR and it is in the same range as what you paid for the existing redemption, why not do that and thus avoid the entire reticketing issue as the latter is generally not available, e.g. terminating at LHR when you are currently terminating at ARN.
May 21, 2019, 11:24 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: AFC
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 281
May 22, 2019, 12:20 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,457
I had what might be a similar issue a couple of months back: wanted to change the final leg of a multi-partner from DOH-LHR to DOH-AMS and the website was saying space was there (as were AA and QF) - agent said she “couldn’t see it in their system”, despite replicating the website search and finding it. No luck with a manager either.
I’m afraid I don’t have a solution for you though, as I managed to find a different route home on CX. Good luck.
I’m afraid I don’t have a solution for you though, as I managed to find a different route home on CX. Good luck.
May 22, 2019, 4:22 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci, BA, AF
Posts: 10,125
The award would likely be unavailable as GYD-DOH-ARN, even if GYD-DOH and DOH-ARN are both available. I've never managed to get around this, and even QR can't break the rule if BA were to ask them to do so (or at least that's what a BA agent told me he tried to do).
I don't see how you could look for availability that actually exists online, unless you were to search for GYD-DOH-xxx and hope that GYD-DOH is available on one of the combinations, always a possibility. ba.com is a bit poor in this regards, try aa.com perhaps.
BA must bring you back though (not talking about EC261 which doesn't apply in this case, more about a general contract rule), but it can be pretty hard to convince them. Perhaps try getting an agent to keep you on the existing GYD-DOH, book you on BA122 DOH-LHR and then a BA flight to ARN which you would conveniently miss?
May 22, 2019, 5:07 am
#11
Join Date: May 2005
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Posts: 7,683
BA must bring you back though (not talking about EC261 which doesn't apply in this case, more about a general contract rule), but it can be pretty hard to convince them. Perhaps try getting an agent to keep you on the existing GYD-DOH, book you on BA122 DOH-LHR and then a BA flight to ARN which you would conveniently miss?
May 22, 2019, 5:19 am
#12
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,888
If this was a reward flight on BA metal the rebooking allowance is for any suitable alternative BA flight regardless of reward availability. Unfortunately when on partner metal it is up to the partner’s policy. CX are similar and if you have a BA avios booking on CX and there is a cancellation CX only allow rebooking on other flights with reward availability.
Last edited by KARFA; May 22, 2019 at 5:35 am
May 22, 2019, 5:46 am
#13
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: AFC
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Posts: 281
BA must bring you back though (not talking about EC261 which doesn't apply in this case, more about a general contract rule), but it can be pretty hard to convince them. Perhaps try getting an agent to keep you on the existing GYD-DOH, book you on BA122 DOH-LHR and then a BA flight to ARN which you would conveniently miss?
twitter was no use. They sent me a polite DM that reading between the lines was just “unlucky, nothing we can do other than cancel”
May 22, 2019, 8:11 am
#14
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OP's final ticketed destination is ARN, not LON. Generally speaking, unlikely in the extreme that BA will work to reticket to LON. That is the unfortunate consequence of booking separate tickets.
Unless BA can be convinced to reticket to LON, this is not worth pursuing further through BA.
A skilled TA with preferred access at BA might be able to have the inventory currently "occupied" by your ticket for the first segment held while it tickets an onward segment to LON. Some high end TA's will do this for a fee which might be quite high because it involves having a skilled worker sit on hold.
Unless BA can be convinced to reticket to LON, this is not worth pursuing further through BA.
A skilled TA with preferred access at BA might be able to have the inventory currently "occupied" by your ticket for the first segment held while it tickets an onward segment to LON. Some high end TA's will do this for a fee which might be quite high because it involves having a skilled worker sit on hold.
May 22, 2019, 9:55 am
#15
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: AFC
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 281
But even that is coming back as “computer says no”...