londonfog

I have to fly to Italy for family bureaucracy/legal reasons. I am booked to fly back on 9/7 on a ticket that was originally booked for March and re-arranged several times as flights were being canceled. I called the call centre fairly promptly on Friday morning to see if I could change my return date to the 10th to avoid quarantine. There were some issues in giving me a quote to change the date and they promised to call me. Later I was told that they need 72 hours to requote. What would the basis of the requote be? Fares available on Friday 3/7 at 8.30 or whenever they get their act together and send me the quote.
I appreciate that the "circumstances" are still "unusual" but still 72 hours is a really long time to quote the cost of a change of date.

Krisz

I can just suspect that it’s a return ticket and you have already flew the first segment. In that case the price will be used when you booked the ticket and whichever lowest fare bucket available on that price.
thst would explain why they need time to come back with a price.
if I’m reading correctly even if you are coming back on the 9th July you just need to be in self lockdown until the 10th July. Check this first before you pay for your ticket.

Often1

BA is unfortunately not quite as automated as other carriers such as AA. Quoting a ticket change involves a calculation and "look back" once any segment has been flown. For BA this means a live human being researching the old and new fares and then determining any fees and fare differences, all dependent on the fare rules.

It's an anachronism, but one not likely to see an investment anytime soon.

LifeontheBeach

Maybe it's the Covid situation, but my experience has been that I am asked to wait for a few minutes while they calculate the difference in fares, taxes etc. and give a quote after a few minutes.

londonfog

This is an update to 72 hours to get a quote thread (72 hours for a quote to change date)

So, I never get the quote. So, I filled the requested government form and check-in from my flight back to London today. Imagine my surprise to see the notice that my flight for tomorrow was ready to check in just when I was about to set my phone in flight mode (I was already on board of today's BA 0541). So when I arrive I look at my app, the same booking ref. flight BA 0541 on 10/7.

When I arrive back home (using public transport, I live in Central London, so I do not have a car) I call BA. After a long hold, it turns out that the flight on the app was never ticketed. So why was it on the app? Why was I invited to check-in?

The most astonishing part was the reason why nobody contacted me "The difference was too high", what do they know of my financial situation? I had a ticket in CE, not the cheapest hand luggage only economy ticket. This is not a DYKIA moment, it is just that nobody contacted me, they have no idea what I think is "affordable" or "worth the money". The whole episode was just shambolic, from the first time I contacted BA last Friday to this afternoon/

spanishflea

In my experience BA are very poor at call backs. If you want something, unfortunately you need to call them every day to check the status of a request.

Ancient Observer

I agree with spanishflea. Fortunately I live about 20 mins from LHR. I have had to sort out ticket issues by driving there within the 24 hour period of airport control. (Something I learnt years ago from FT)
I am not sure whether or not BA ever intend to give call backs.