Agent Rebooked me on to Earlier Flight than Asked for
Feb 8, 2020, 5:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EDI
Programs: FB Plat, BA Bronze, Hotels.com
Posts: 400
Agent Rebooked me on to Earlier Flight than Asked for
Due to fly EDI - LDN on Thursday. Called BA to change to 735am departure to LCY rather than 1040 to LHR. Call went fine, flight chnaged, payment madse, job done.
Realised today when looking on phone agent booked me on the 705 EDI to LCY. Called up to ask them to ammend it to 735 per my request and the agent wasnt able to. Call was passed onto a supervisor and he refused to make the change.
Original call was handled in a German office. They dont know the agent who took the call. They know it was an agent in Germany. Because it was Germany, the dont have a recording of the call. They have the agents notes which say he took read out the updated iteneray details ahead of finalising the booking.
Supervisor was "very sorry" but as his colleague in Germany has written down he read the iteneray details back to me, i would have to pay for the change. Said there's no one i can complain to before I travel. I would have to travel (pay the change fee) then submit a complaint.
So the supervisor would prefer to take his anonymous colleague's word ofer my word.
There's actually no fare difference, only the change fee of Ł60.
Thoughts on next steps? Just paying it isnt an option my end.
Realised today when looking on phone agent booked me on the 705 EDI to LCY. Called up to ask them to ammend it to 735 per my request and the agent wasnt able to. Call was passed onto a supervisor and he refused to make the change.
Original call was handled in a German office. They dont know the agent who took the call. They know it was an agent in Germany. Because it was Germany, the dont have a recording of the call. They have the agents notes which say he took read out the updated iteneray details ahead of finalising the booking.
Supervisor was "very sorry" but as his colleague in Germany has written down he read the iteneray details back to me, i would have to pay for the change. Said there's no one i can complain to before I travel. I would have to travel (pay the change fee) then submit a complaint.
So the supervisor would prefer to take his anonymous colleague's word ofer my word.
There's actually no fare difference, only the change fee of Ł60.
Thoughts on next steps? Just paying it isnt an option my end.
Feb 8, 2020, 5:53 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Not much you can do at the moment. However on the day you may be able to do a same day change for free. I assume SDC applies to LCY flights. However, if it is an economy basic or not a point to point flight then you won’t be able to.
Feb 8, 2020, 6:00 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
If you can't or won't pay the change fee, then I agree with the suggestion of getting up 30 minutes earlier.
Feb 8, 2020, 11:42 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EDI
Programs: FB Plat, BA Bronze, Hotels.com
Posts: 400
Call centre agents have, IME, a pretty standard routine of reading out the flight number, date and times off the screen that they're looking at when they do the job for you. If you haven't got a written record of that read-out yourself, showing that the agent read out one thing when his screen was actually something else, then it seems unlikely that the agent did that.
If you can't or won't pay the change fee, then I agree with the suggestion of getting up 30 minutes earlier.
If you can't or won't pay the change fee, then I agree with the suggestion of getting up 30 minutes earlier.
Do BA have any other contact points that are accessible around pre-flight customer service?
Feb 8, 2020, 11:57 am
#7
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,059
Not sure how much a written record would help. As it happens, I have a scribble in my notebook with 735am and the new booking code (new code as booking was split, original booking was with a +1 who wasn't changing flight). But I doubt that's of any use.
Do BA have any other contact points that are accessible around pre-flight customer service?
Do BA have any other contact points that are accessible around pre-flight customer service?
Feb 8, 2020, 12:03 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,517
Did you not get an email confirmation after the phone call? If so - and it states 7.05, ba will understandably say that you should have checked and contacted them immediately if there was a mistake (under 24 hours they would have fixed it). If you didn’t, on the other hand, I’d say they are for not sending you a written itinerary confirmation.
Feb 8, 2020, 12:42 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EDI
Programs: FB Plat, BA Bronze, Hotels.com
Posts: 400
Did you not get an email confirmation after the phone call? If so - and it states 7.05, ba will understandably say that you should have checked and contacted them immediately if there was a mistake (under 24 hours they would have fixed it). If you didn’t, on the other hand, I’d say they are for not sending you a written itinerary confirmation.
I also need the receipt...
Feb 8, 2020, 1:21 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EDI
Programs: FB Plat, BA Bronze, Hotels.com
Posts: 400
Have sent them a DM on twitter.
Feb 9, 2020, 4:25 am
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
If you write down what the agent says, it would be some evidence that the agent looked at one thing on his screen and said something different. That's a high hurdle to surmount, given that the agent would have had to have seen one flight number on his screen and told you a different flight number, and then seen one departure time on his screen and told you a different time - and then the wrong flight number and the wrong departure time happen to match. But it's not impossible that that's what he did, and some written evidence from you would be better than none if you need to try to show that he got it wrong.