BA changed my positioning flight for free.. was I just lucky?
May 24, 2019, 3:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: BAEC OW Gold/Emerald
Posts: 538
BA changed my positioning flight for free.. was I just lucky?
Booked a positioning flight LHR – DUB in July. This was to start an ex-DUB trip to Salt Lake City via ORD.
Due to AA cancelling one of my flights, the new flights were inconvenient, and BA allowd me to change my DUB-SLC itinerary for free departing 24 hours earlier. When I spoke to the BA agent at 0630 this morning, I asked if she could help me with my positioning flight too? She understood that my separate ticket was only to get me to DUB to catch the SLC booking but said that she will see what can be done.
A few minutes of BA soundtrack later, she announced your flight is changed and at no cost.
I was very happy and told her to take the rest of the day of.
There was no reason why I should not have been charged a fee to change, so was I just lucky?
Due to AA cancelling one of my flights, the new flights were inconvenient, and BA allowd me to change my DUB-SLC itinerary for free departing 24 hours earlier. When I spoke to the BA agent at 0630 this morning, I asked if she could help me with my positioning flight too? She understood that my separate ticket was only to get me to DUB to catch the SLC booking but said that she will see what can be done.
A few minutes of BA soundtrack later, she announced your flight is changed and at no cost.
I was very happy and told her to take the rest of the day of.
There was no reason why I should not have been charged a fee to change, so was I just lucky?
May 24, 2019, 5:00 am
#3
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,157
Yes.
Protection is not required to be given across multiple tickets but I do know that BA is making efforts to improve their service image for frequent passengers, so it could be connected with that. You do of course need the good fortune to reach a competent and empowered agent for this. Personally, I do think that BA allowing that change is only reasonable as the 2 bookings are definitely related.
Protection is not required to be given across multiple tickets but I do know that BA is making efforts to improve their service image for frequent passengers, so it could be connected with that. You do of course need the good fortune to reach a competent and empowered agent for this. Personally, I do think that BA allowing that change is only reasonable as the 2 bookings are definitely related.
May 24, 2019, 5:02 am
#4
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,726
I'm guessing your (unstated) status may have helped here. I'm not surprised, but you can't take it for granted, formally BA see it as two separate contracts.
May 24, 2019, 5:04 am
#5
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,369
Yes.
Protection is not required to be given across multiple tickets but I do know that BA is making efforts to improve their service image for frequent passengers, so it could be connected with that. You do of course need the good fortune to reach a competent and empowered agent for this. Personally, I do think that BA allowing that change is only reasonable as the 2 bookings are definitely related.
Protection is not required to be given across multiple tickets but I do know that BA is making efforts to improve their service image for frequent passengers, so it could be connected with that. You do of course need the good fortune to reach a competent and empowered agent for this. Personally, I do think that BA allowing that change is only reasonable as the 2 bookings are definitely related.
OP doesn't appear to be a BA FF or elite. What sort of agent would the OP have reached at 6:30 am, presumably London time? Would a British call center be open at that time?
May 24, 2019, 5:43 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: BAEC OW Gold/Emerald
Posts: 538
I am silver card holder and rang that number but they were not open at 0630 but took advice of recorded message about if your call is urgent... The agent was very pleasant, chirpy and helpful. I would have asked for her name to thank her publicly somehow but the CEO Alex might not have approved of this generosity and loss of Ł126 change fee 😋
May 24, 2019, 7:53 am
#7
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: London, United Kingdom
Programs: British Airways Gold
Posts: 2,635
May 24, 2019, 8:22 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
The agent's identity would presumably also have been recorded on the other itinerary that was changed for you. I wonder whether one safe option might be to send in a welldone referring to that itinerary and saying in general terms just how pleasant and helpful she had been when helping you with that itinerary. I may be being too naive, but my instinct is that such a compliment wouldn't raise anything to trigger an audit by BA of all of the other itineraries that she had dealt with that day to find out whether and what she'd done wrong somewhere else.
May 24, 2019, 8:58 am
#9
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 159
Possibly slightly OT but recently flew with QR to SIN ex-MXP (to take advantage of incredibly competitive J fare), positioning with BA. On the return, a delay ex-SIN meant that I misconnected at DOH (and would have missed my MXP-LHR positioning flight). Don't know if it was linked to OWE status but service with re-booking at DOH was superb... when they found out my ultimate destination was London they didn't hesitate to re-book me onto a direct LHR flight, and indeed would have put me on a service which would have arrived before my MXP-LHR flight were it not full...
May 24, 2019, 9:32 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: WAW ✈ LHR ✈ GLA
Programs: BA GfL/GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,498
Possibly slightly OT but recently flew with QR to SIN ex-MXP (to take advantage of incredibly competitive J fare), positioning with BA. On the return, a delay ex-SIN meant that I misconnected at DOH (and would have missed my MXP-LHR positioning flight). Don't know if it was linked to OWE status but service with re-booking at DOH was superb... when they found out my ultimate destination was London they didn't hesitate to re-book me onto a direct LHR flight, and indeed would have put me on a service which would have arrived before my MXP-LHR flight were it not full...
May 24, 2019, 2:58 pm
#11
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver, Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles Platinum
Posts: 2,374
I should be in Johannesburg right now, but I'm actually lying on my bed at home in London.
I called BA to change my trip, and due to the multiple reasons of changing my trip, the really lovely agent suggested that it may be easier for us to cancel it completely, to refund every single penny - she specifically mentioned the exact amount to be refunded to me - allowing me to rebook when it suited me.
She also mentioned that this was something not normally done but was offered due to my silver status.
I called BA to change my trip, and due to the multiple reasons of changing my trip, the really lovely agent suggested that it may be easier for us to cancel it completely, to refund every single penny - she specifically mentioned the exact amount to be refunded to me - allowing me to rebook when it suited me.
She also mentioned that this was something not normally done but was offered due to my silver status.
