Impact of November lockdown on BA travel
 

Ok, so I know people might need more than 15 minutes to digest the latest lockdown announcement, but can we please have a factual (i.e., no speculation!) discussion of its impact on BA operations.

I was due to fly QR DOH-LHR on Thursday (5 Nov), and then fly BA LHR-DXB on Sunday (8 Nov). I'm pretty sure that's not in the cards now.

My QR flights are entirely flexible, so I can easily change to arrive on Tuesday (3 Nov). Can I expect BA to offer flexibility for changing my LHR-DXB flight to fly out that night without significant penalties/change fees/fare differences, etc? My ticket is a purchased PE ticket with a UUA to J.

Alternatively, if I arrange to fly DOH-LHR before the lockdown kicks in, can I expect to fly out on my scheduled LHR-DXB flight on Saturday?

I understand that international travel other than for work will be banned.

Who will check your reason for travel?

Possibly. There were some policies along those lines back in March allowing movement of flights to avoid certain deadlines. However I think you would have to wait until Monday and Tuesday to see the details of how travel is restricted and what ba’s policy is.

That's beside the point, isn't it?

I am scheduled to fly on the LHR > BLR route on Thursday.. Do we think this will still go ahead as planned or if it's safer to see if I can move it to Wednesday?

I'm supposed to be connecting in LHR from EDI. Will that be allowed?

I think we will have to wait for some details of the rules of the lockdown to answer those.

I’d question your assumption that your current booked itinerary isn't possible. We don’t know until the rules / regs for this lockdown are released.

If your LHR - DXB is avios on BA, then you’re presumably dependent on the avios rules re. cancellation etc. As a stand-alone ticket, BA is under zero obligation to consider any possible issues with your QR ticket, as far as they’re concerned they’re taking you from LHR to DXB.

I'm not concerned about my QR ticket. I am dealing directly with QR on that, and in fact likely will change it to arrive on Wednesday rather than Thursday to beat the start of the lockdown.

And while BA can always strictly adhere it its T&Cs (whether Avios or otherwise), we have, of course, seen the airlines, including BA, adopt special rules, typically affording greater flexibility, to deal with the Coronavirus and the associated government restrictions on travel. I think it's reasonable that BA will announce some sort of policy related to this most recent lockdown.

As has been said, I really think we need to give the industry some time to get their head around the latest announcement. They found out about it at the same time as us after all...

Why should BA do anything? They’re transporting you from LHR to DXB. How you get to LHR is entirely down to you.

The current formal answer is it depends on whether BA cancels the service. If they do, then you can move to alternative services without issue or extra expense. If they don't cancel you can either travel, if that is allowed, claim the FTV for the cash element, get a potentially voluntary refund on the cash fare component but a refund of the Avios for the UUA. The last option probably isn't attractive, but the thing to watch, if the flight goes ahead, is to cancel the UuA at least 24 hours before departure.

That's very helpful. Thank you.

So my current plan, pending further information from the government and BA, is to change my QR ticket to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday, and fly out on BA as scheduled on Saturday. I'm also expecting that I'll be able to keep my Thursday medical appointment for a PCR test to allow me to travel to DXB.

(I also just realized that my DXB-LHR return flight is for 30 Nov -- which may or may not work, depending on the details of the lockdown -- but I'll deal with that later.)

Thank you for your continued assistance. I think you're completely missing my issue. In any event, I have an interim plan, pending further details from the government and BA.