BA won’t rebook into Qatar
 

Hi all,

Been hit with a cancellation of our return flight from the Maldives. We haven’t been offered any alternatives and they are only offering a refund of what we paid which doesn’t help.

They are claiming their is a new policy that stops them booking into Qatar so we are stuck.

I think this is all rubbish and they have an obligation to get us home but why are they being so difficult?

Any advice?

There are a few questions first: are you there already, or are you yet to fly out? Did you book through BA or a TA? Was it a packaged holiday or simple there and back booking?

Check the Impact of November lockdown thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...travel-26.html

Someone has managed to do just that from MLE, seems very much dependent on the agent you speak to.

And one more question if i may, is this a cash fare or reward booking?

Thanks for the replies.

We are already out here as this was direct as a reward booking.

Yes, you are right, different agents are saying different things.

GGL seems to count for nothing at this time too. They were pretty rude.

Ok thanks. Firstly BA do have an obligation to reroute you and get you home. They can't simply leave you there and provide no plan for your return flight - or at least of they do they are responsible for duty of care beyond when the flight should have happened and I imagine the cost of a hotel after a few days will soon eclipse any cost of rebooking you on another carrier. Are they expecting you to stay there until whenever the route resumes in December or 2021?

There is a policy to rebook on QR, but it does not cover rewards, and I think this may be why they said no. However, I think that's unreasonable if the result is they are not providing you with any options at all. Perhaps the approach is to point out my comments in the first paragraph?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/I66oWf.png

Do you need to get back? If not, just stay there at BA's expense until this bloody lockdown is over and they can get you home.

In that case, BA have an obligation to get you home, end of. It might mean buying a ticket yourself and pursuing a refund after the fact but there's no getting out of it for BA.

I can't find the post now but someone posted that BA are planning "repatriation" flights where they can't reroute everybody and Male was mentioned, which would make sense considering how many full plane loads of people they've carried out there recently...

Might be worth waiting and seeing if you can be a bit flexible - especially as a direct option will avoid quarantine vs a flight via a hub. Sense will prevail eventually, no way they're just going to leave people in the Maldives or Seychelles for a month on the hook for duty of care!

EDIT: found it - HfP comments - https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/1...ge-2/#comments

Some excellent points here. Thank you very much. I have no reason to rush back and am happy to stick it to BA and hold out. They were even trying to wriggle around the duty of care, etc.

My in laws are with us and are a little more eager to get back.

I’ll give BA time to call me back but at the moment they are looking at quite the bill either way.

Thanks. I am sure you know, but just to emphasise duty of care applies regardless of how much advanced notice was given or the reason for the cancellation. Extraordinary circumstances is only relevant for compensation. When it comes to their obligations for rebooking and for duty of care these will apply and BA cannot get out of those.

Good luck!

It was me from the other thread who had the exact same problem! First agent we spoke to was so rude and unhelpful, I quoted off their site and CAA website regarding their obligations to get us home, he got very flustered at me, put me on hold for ages and then came back to say they were having to review the policy with BA because at the moment we can’t go mle-doh! After getting off the phone and posting on here and researching and contacting some more people with more knowledge than me I was certain our rights were to be re routed with QR. Rang again, got through to a super helpful guy who without even much conversation knew what needed doing and booked us onto QR flights for the same day as cancelled booking and apologised and said newer staff don’t understand how to override codes etc to help so just say it can’t be done! Weather you are cash or Avios booking makes zero different to your rights as I’ve found out since. Ring back and demand to be put onto QR flight, your can quote off their own website if you look up cancellation rights/right to re routing and quote EC261/2004 which states BA are responsible to route you on another carrier or pay your hotel/food expenses until they get you home.
I’ve had really helpful advice over on the other November lockdown thread if you look there too! Good luck!

We were stuck in the Maldives on a BA 241 during the Icelandic volcano event. They offered us the option of staying at our remote island resort (seaplane flight) and claiming a daily allowance, which was significantly less than the $1000 or so per day it would cost us to stay there, or moving to a resort island (power boat ride) closer to the airport and they would pay full board and laundry plus 50% of our bar bill. We were there for a week and the bar bill was substantial...

When are you supposed to be flying back? If it’s not in the next day or two it might be worth being a bit patient. BA will know who’s there and will be formulating a plan to get them home. This will involve contacting other airlines to ask for help and planning repatriation flights when required, and I imagine they’ll have an update soon enough. They can’t be expected to have this ready immediately for every single route.

Why do things like this never happen to me?
The best I've had is 2 nights in a snowbound Holiday Inn in Edinburgh during the snow of 2010.

so glad I opted to book our award flight next week from ATL-MLE using both AA and Qatar, rather then the BA option offered...
all qatar keeps doing is dropping cities out of the USA that fly to DOH...

It nonetheless pays to have a Plan B to return. Neither AA nor QR are EU carriers nor do your flights depart from the EU. Thus, no EC 261/2004 duty of care should you become stuck because rapidly changing circumstances force a cancellation or limit your ability to transit DOH.

Repatriation was a mess in the first go around because it was a massive task for which carriers were not prepared. But, they were also not in dire cash circumstances. Now, they are better prepared and I am fairly certain that both BA and QR have contingency plans for all routes. But, cash is at a premium and I would not expect to have bar bills picked up any longer.

That would be a fun thread to start, but what to call it? “What has BA given you that you didn’t pay for?” I might just do that.

Weird isn’t it? I called up and they rebooked me onto Qatar no problem and it was an Avios booking and I haven’t even left yet!

There may have been reward space available on QR

It is also possible that there is some flexibility available, but not everyone has got the memo.

Sorry to hear of this. It doesn’t sound like a very accommodating way to deal with any customer, yet alone a GGL member.
Hope you get it sorted.
Perhaps call back and try a different agent?

As an aside, I frequently hear of people on this forum saying that GGL (or even standard Gold) is an asset to have for when things go wrong. Is that lip service?

I have only ever faced one rebooking crisis during snow disruption and then the fact that we all had Gold status meant absolutely nothing.

Overall, sounds like a farce.

(Adapting 4 Yorkshireman sketch) - Edinburgh? You were lucky - I got stuck in Wakefield for 2 days during the snows of 2010. Hotel bar ran out of booze...

Normally we can only use QR to rebook when its on certain routes where BA have codeshare agreements.

However there are additional policies now due to corona virus (like the one KARFA posted) which gives extra flexibility compared to normal. However as noted looks like it doesnt cover Avios bookings

GGL service generally great and a lifesaver for disruptions. As you can see not all the agents are good however but if you call back you will get someone else who are going to be helpful.
when there was mass cancellations at Heathrow and the queue for ticketing were outside the building I still managed to call GGL and rebooked to a flight. So it does help.
It does sound like a farce I had issues like this when there was a strike and BA rebooked me onto Air France. I had to push it but they did at the end.
it is possible to get rebooked to almost any carrier even non one world one however agents tells you different stories time to time.
Good luck for the OP I’m sure BA will take them home either Qatar or Emirates. (Most likely Qatar)

I dont think this is down to the agent, if the policy says we cant use QR for redemptions they are simply following policy.

So they have moved me in to a different Qatar flight without further prompting which is good I suppose. However it’s now almost 2.5x the travel time and a downgraded class and now with a test/quarantine requirement.

obviously getting home is the priority for the airlines but I am curious what our rights are here?

trying to decide if we want to fight for an extra couple of weeks here to fly back as intended when they open up again or just get the first reasonable flight home?

Were you originally travelling in World Traveler Plus or First? Otherwise why should BA downgrade you during rebooking?
If your final destination is LHR and you are flying MLE-DOH-LHR, you would not need a COVID test but need to self-isolate upon arrival.

By the way, after arriving at DOH, visit the Flight Connections desks before security, the agents over there might do a goodwill gesture and might be able to rebook you on an earlier LHR flight if there is availability.

Also, if you are involuntarily downgraded, you are eligible for a downgrade compensation through EC261/2004. I know that delay/cancellation compensations are not given because of COVID but I am not 100% sure wheater overbooking and downgrade situations are still eligible for compensation.

KARFA Do you happen to have any rerouting guidance for VS? We are stuck in Barbados (could be worse I suppose?) but need to get back. BA full but VS selling seats even in J (which we originally booked). Agent in Indian call centre says no can do.

Thanks in advance!

BA will almost certainly not rebook voluntarily on VS but it does have a duty to get you home.

Its a definite no to rebooking on Virgin unless flight cancelled on day of travel.

There are no policies that allow using them if flight is cancelled in advance.

We are booked in first, hence the question if we have grounds to stand firm and ask for them to keep us here or find a first class flight at our earliest convenience?

I think the issue here is that F is only on the A380 on QR

pre-covid, but we were stuck in Barbados at the time of the BA strike (Autumn 2019). BA routed is via Miami and Madrid on AA and IB; VS were flying direct but we were refused that option.

?? Better to fly via MIA and MAD :confused:
Sometimes I really don't understand why BA agree to rebook to such multistop itineraries when there are direct flight available and even offered to you.

EDIT: Thanks for the heads-up. sorry I misunderstood. It was the opposite situation described. Pls disregard.

Read the post again carefully...

Which are grounded indefinitely.

If it’s any consolation, you will almost certainly have a much better experience in QR J (especially Q Suites) than BA at present. Take the downgrade compensation and enjoy in my view.

Under the legislation, airlines can downgrade people, that's provided for, so long as the appropriate reimbursement is paid. If a flight is cancelled then you can ask to be re-routed under comparable transport conditions, but my reading would be that you can't then expect the airline to pick up the hotel bill (this is an interpretation, as a caveat). Logically you could wait if the cost of the hotel is less than the cost of the downgrade reimbursement, which if we are talking a day or two may be valid. But if it's a longer period, pragmatically it seems to me reasonable for the airline to offer a reroute in Business class with reimbursement on the day of travel. So It think the options are
- insist on First, wait until BA or QR offer it, accommodation for own expense
- accept rebooking on Qatar in Business and then pursue reimbursement under the Mennens formula (details in the EC261 thread).
- Accept the involuntary refund on the return half and sort out your own arrangement on another airline(s).
Note that when BA and/or Qatar resume more flights, we can't assume a sensible First product would be available.

I'd happily take QR Business vs BA First in normal times. In the current circumstances, given QR is operating a near normal Business Class whilst BA is operating a vastly reduced F service, I'd accept QR J in a heartbeat. In addition, as CWS notes above, you would also receive reimbursement for the 'downgrade' which is probably actually a substantial upgrade in the circumstances.

You have to realize that there is a severe crisis.
There is little chance that BA or QR will fly F in the coming months (zero for QR). Insisting on F might get you stuck in Maldives for a long time and QR J is better than BA F.
You are on an award ticket and are not a priority for BA. You would get the some reimbursement if downgraded on QR.
Note that there is always the risk that the situation could worsen rather than improve. BA flight resumption cold be postponed to a later date. The covid situation in Maldives could worsen significantly. I am sure that you have heard of horror stories about holidaying pax in some nice countries. I had some friends booked in a hotel that got closed because of some covid cases there. Then an odyssey started.
I don't wish to scare you, but I believe that now is not the time to be flight picky.