gcuk

I have a simple LHR-EU return and the return has been cancelled and I've been offered a flight 2 days later in MMB.
I called to change the itinerary to a destination within 300 miles per the cancellation/change of gateway policy but have been told that as of 21 July, only the cancelled flight can be changed. If I change the outbound, the ticket is repriced which would now cost me considerably more.

I can't see many of us wanting to change only the return to 300 miles away as that isn't really practical for a short trip.

The bit I don't get is that rather than move me to a BA flight to a nearby destination with empty seats, they would rather:
- pay for my accomodation, meals etc for two days under duty of care, and the extra two days is really inconvenient
- presumably allow me to request they rebook me on LH/LX
- refund me the fare when presumably they would like to preserve cash.

The policy change doesnt make a lot of sense to me.

Anonba

I havent seen anything about a change, think this is a mistake.

gcuk

It was confirmed by two agents today and one yesterday. One of today's checked the policy with her supervisor. Apparantly published 21 July according to the one agent who I deal with regularly and is usualy excellent.

efincomputer

This also doesn't hold with my own experience yesterday. Had a cancellation on the JFK-SFO leg of a DUB-LHR-JFK-SFO-LAX return trip, and while rebooking to new flights which suited better than those suggested, I was able to change my start and end point from DUB to GLA. No issues - the agent just went through the flights, and then had them re-ticketed. Maybe I was just lucky, given this change apparently came in on the 21st (this was booked as a BAH, so it was one of their agents I was dealing with), or it's another of BA's consistently inconsistent policies!

KARFA

There doesn't seem to be any mention of a change on ba travel trade either.

The change of gateway policy has been a very long standing one and is part of the standard guidelines, so nothing has changed on this with regard to covid.

gcuk

It's so frustrating when you are told something you now to be incorrect, call back, another agent confirms it and then checks wth her supervisor when you challenge the advice the second time and the supervisior confirms it as well. How do the general public cope? At least we know (or think we know) what the rules are.

1Aturnleft

Not only that but why should it be down to a customer to convince a group of employees who should know or have access to the correct policy to do so? Supervisors included. At what point do you accept you might be wrong? Because in your scenario I would have done.

gcuk

Called again and a third agent confirmed policy has changed. She also gave me the policy ID number issued on 21 July.
(presume not appropriate to publish the policy ID no. here)

E14 26C

so why is it affecting an old booking and yes publish the policy number so we can try and find it on travel trade

Anonba

This has changed and it would apply to all bookings.

JeffBHD

I was hoping to move my mid-August cancelled LHR-Bologna to LHR-Split, but with my open-jaw return Venice-LHR still running, this change in policy well and truly scuppers that plan. Looks like a refund is the only solution, unless Italy changes it's position on entry from UK fairly swiftly...

zanderblue

Looking for some clarity if possible. I’ve just had a cancellation notified by BA where the cancelled flight is the second sector, the first sector is a domestic connection. Would I be in or out of scope of the new policy if I wanted to change the departure airport on the domestic leg?

tia

KARFA

It sounds like the the domestic flight itself would have to be cancelled for you to be able to move it.

gcuk

I queried the policy change with GGL and they have responded as follows. Based on this, it is confirmation the new policy is only to allow a change on the disrupted sector:

Dear Mr gcuk,

Thank you for your email.

Our 'Change of Gateway' policy was recently amended on the 21st July 2021.

What you have been advised over the phone is correct. As per our updated 'Change of Gateway' policy, we are only permitted to rebook within a 300 mile radius on the disrupted sector.

Please feel free to let us know if we can help you with anything else.

Kind regards
[Agent's name redacted]
British Airways Gold Guest List

gcuk

..and to be fair to BA, they probably do have a case for clamping down where people are using a disrupted sector later in an itinerary to change a starting point, particularly for something like changing INV to EDI or LHR on an international trip where BA will be liable for additional departure taxes.

The collateral damage in my case, is for a simple LHR-EU return where they have cut frequency, my return flight is cancelled and the next one is 2 days later. I have the flexibility to change my whole trip to a destination with 300 miles to get back on my original return date but as the outbound flight isn't cancelled, the reprice is �700 more. So I can either bear the cost myself of getting from the original destination to a new gateway to return on my original booked date, or BA can pay duty of care for hotels, meals etc while I wait for the next flight two days later. Although it's inconvenient to stay an extra two days, on principle I'm not going to be paying extra to fix a problem BA have created. And let's not forget the ill will the whole thing causes....