shadowline

Having gotten married without any hitches over the weekend just gone, and booked my wife and I's honeymoon at T-355, my wife has woken up this morning with some serious food poisoning. Doc en route for a home visit.

We're due to fly on tonight's BA251 to SCL at 2155. Tickets booked as an Avios redemption using a 2-4-1.

Currently not sure what our options are - can we delay to tomorrow's flight? BA currently selling 3 seats in F. Likelihood of opening them up for a pair of redemption tickets?

I know I could call BA and ask, and I will. But I thought it might be worth asking the collective wisdom of FT before doing anything rash and/or incorrect.

Thank you in advance.

SWISSBOBBY

Check with BA, the worst they can say is no...

Check Travel insurance, normally covers illness, will just need doc note normally
Also check with your credit card to see what is happens to cover too.

rapidex

Call BA. They can be particularly helpful in situations like this. They are used to the occasional crew member going sick with this down route.

Congratulations on your marriage. My sympathies for your wife. Mrs rapidex and I were both down with food poisoning at the weekend. It is rather unpleasant.

windowontheAside

I think you can only really tell by calling BA. They can be amazingly good in emergencies - we have seen various good outcomes reported here, where the official policy was waived. Just be upfront, and offer proof and ask for their help.

Congrats to both of you on the wedding. Food poisoning can be horrendous - hope your wife recovers soon. You might be best to wait a few days - she probably won't fancy most of the F experience tomorrow night either.

gms

Once the doc has seen your wife I would call BA and see what they can do. I think your chances of getting them to move you to the next day's flight are slim if there are just 3 seats left for sale. But you can only ask. I guess you know that technically there are no changes allowed once in the 24-hour window before a flight, but maybe someone at BA will be kind. Failing that it will be down to what your insurance covers. I don't think there is much else you can do.

SWISSBOBBY

PS congratulations, and let us know how you get on with BA

pauldb

Beyond good will you are relying on, from BA's COCs

3c4) If you need to change any aspect of your transportation because of events beyond your control, you must contact us as soon as possible. We will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next stopover or final destination, without re-calculating the fare.

I would question though whether the doctor will today give you a statement that your wife cannot travel today but can travel tomorrow (for her own health and risk of contagion). BA probably won't look at rebooking until she is fit to fly?

Often1

Make certain that you have clear guidance from your doctor. As others note, BA's concern is that someone not fit to fly today perhaps ought not to fly for a few days.

BA may well help you. I would be prepared with options beyond F on tomorrow's flight.

747_not_777

Huge amounts of good luck to the OP. This is something I dread whenever we are due to travel as a family - I really hope it works out for you, and congratulations on your marriage.

shadowline

Thank you all for the good wishes and the reassurances.

It's been a mixed morning of ups and downs.

Initially, I was told that we can cancel and rebook as soon as we have a fit-to-fly letter. So we waited on the doc, who has given us a not fit to fly letter to use if we so wish.

However, after calling BA to confirm the situation and to cancel our flight tonight, I was told that any rebooking would need to be done as per Avios availability. Apparently BA are not flying SCL for much beyond next week, and all Avios seats are zero'd out across all cabins. We booked on 16/9/18, so need to use our outbound before 16/9/19.

I asked about opening up other seats, and was told this wasn't an option.

Don't really want to fly tonight as things stand, but if it's fly tonight or not fly at all (including losing the non-refundable hotels, etc), then we might have to.

I am a lowly Blue BAEC member, so I can't see anyone pulling us any favours.

I am assuming there isn't much else that can be done at this point?

ng1265

HUACA? :-)

UKtravelbear

calling again is unlikely to get a different answer - more than likely the phone agent made notes on the PNR

In general if BA have reason to change / cancel a flight then reward seats don't need to be avalable. If the passnger wants / needs to change then there does.

Please don't fly tonight if your wife is ill especially if you have a 'not fit to fly' note/

windowontheAside

Do you have travel insurance? Do you know what that would cover?

I think I might be tempted to try a different agent, but the risk is that your not-fit-to-fly status has already been noted on your booking. So even if you try to travel you may run into problems without a fit-to-fly.

As above, unless your wife makes a very rapid and full recovery please don't consider flying tonight. It's grim travelling long distances when you are ill, and it's irresponsible to do so in confined spaces if you still have any symptoms.

ETA: Maybe the thing to do is to call and ask BA if they will protect the return if you buy a separate one-way ticket (see if your travel insurance will cover that). With a bit of luck a sympathetic agent *might* help you out and if not, then at least you only have to figure a way to get there.

You may end up not going in F if you have to rely on a cash fare, but maybe you'd save much of your planned trip.

pauldb

I would certainly try another call, and if you get the same answer be a bit more direct with a supervisor about the terms I quoted above: that you don't believe BA are making reasonable efforts to reaccomodate you.

If waiting a few days suits your wife, there are 2 avios seats on IB MAD-SCL on Tuesday, not a bad way to get there. If you have an IB+ account, the best option would be to ask BA to protect your return leg and then book it yourself (150k+£174 for two, booked through IB+, so not horrendous compared to your F leg) and buy a cheap seat to UK-MAD.

JAXBA

Sorry pauldb, "events beyond your control" is defined by BA as 'unusual and unforeseeable' i.e. force majeure, not just illness.

CoC would not apply in this case.