Chandni

I am currently in the middle of a trip and I have to return to London urgently for a health emergency.

My ticket was booked with Avios.com using a Lloyd’s upgrade voucher. I have flown the outbound and was therefore looking to change the return to tomorrow’s flight which has availability.

However both BAEC and Avios are saying that neither of them can make any changes on the booking now I have flown the outbound.

1. Is this correct?
2. Is there anything I can do short of buying a new ticket and claiming the cost of doing so through my travel insurance?

thanks!

GeezerCouple

If you've got travel insurance that *will* cover this (please double check the terms and conditions, if the health is yours, a family member, etc.), then what is the problem? That's what travel insurance is for, after all.

But try to document that you were unable to make changes, or work with the insurer. Perhaps they have other ways to coordinate this.
If they tell you to just buy a new ticket, then that's what you should do, and get home when you *need* to.

Good luck!

GC

corporate-wage-slave

Generally the return leg can be moved if you are more than 24 hours from the original travel time and there is availability - as in redemption availability. If you are under 24 hours then the redemption is inflexible, again the reference point being the original booking (so you can travel within 24 hours if the booking was say 48 hours away).

On the other hand if BA know the exact reason for the medical emergency, they have been known to exercise some discretion, if the situation falls within the scope of their policies in this area. Usually you to describe that in some detail to the agent, and be prepared to back it up with documentation.

It may well be easier to use insurance, I guess it is there for this sort of scenario.

Chandni

Thank you for the advice!

I am not having the best time with my insurance so I do have concerns that they might not pay a claim, so I was looking at ways to do things as cheaply as possible just in case, but I have no option but to get home regardless of the cost.

i did explain the situation to the BA agent and he wasn’t able to help on account of it being a booking made on the old Avios scheme with a Lloyd’s upgrade voucher, apparently they treat it as a third party booking.

It it all seems very odd to me but I don’t think they would lie either.

mec72

Agree, claiming through insurance takes time and effort, and is not always 100% successful, so easier to get this sorted out with the airline if possible.

GeezerCouple

Once you get home and get through the health issues, you should look carefully into choices/types of travel insurance that would be available to you. This can differ dramatically depending upon your country of residence.

Good luck!

GC