BA Holidays booking not going through
Nov 14, 2021, 11:57 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,440
BA Holidays booking not going through
I have seen an amazing deal through BA Holidays, once in a lifetime kind of deal.
However, once I press book and pay I get “We are very sorry, there has been a problem confirming your booking”
Now the phone lines are closed and I can’t book online. Any tips before the price shoots up?
However, once I press book and pay I get “We are very sorry, there has been a problem confirming your booking”
Now the phone lines are closed and I can’t book online. Any tips before the price shoots up?
Nov 14, 2021, 12:07 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,440
Nov 14, 2021, 12:10 pm
#4
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,248
Nov 14, 2021, 12:16 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 285
You do not have a contract with BA at this point. If they’d taken your cash and issued the ticket and then cancelled the contract you could sue for breach. False advertising is something along the lines of “this aftershave will definitely allow you to get dates with hundreds of women” or “drinking this drink will make you run a mile in four minutes” sort of thing
Nov 14, 2021, 12:24 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,440
BAeuro PM me the details of the holiday, I will try and book it and report back
I have managed to get through to BA now and they also see the same price as me…but are unable to book it. They have said it’s a problem at the hotel end and I could book an alternative hotel for £££ more.
I appreciate what others are saying, I really do, but it is not my fault if the website has mistakes on it. And if the website is able to trip up a booking when it knows the price is incorrect, then it shouldn’t display the price in the first place.
Nov 14, 2021, 12:44 pm
#8
Join Date: Jan 2019
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 146
I get what you are saying but equally it probably isnt BA's fault either, prices probably come in from all sorts of data sources, its not a chap typing things into a spreadsheet. So chances are it a data stream from a hotel chain thats messed things up.
Nov 14, 2021, 1:38 pm
#10
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: 30,526
I understand that you do not wish to share details in case you manage to book this, but once it is "too late" (ie they have fixed the mistake), please do let us know what it was as I am sure i am not the only one being curious! 
Nov 14, 2021, 1:45 pm
#11
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,558
This has happened to me before - as I understand it, BAH get a feed every day of availability and prices, which is what is used to generate the quotes we see. But booking then triggers a live pricing/availability lookup, and if that's changed, you get this error.
Happened with other TAs as well, most don't give 'live prices' from the point of first quote, so it's annoying, but not a specifically BA thing... and certainly not actionable under contract law...
Happened with other TAs as well, most don't give 'live prices' from the point of first quote, so it's annoying, but not a specifically BA thing... and certainly not actionable under contract law...
Nov 14, 2021, 1:57 pm
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,440
This has happened to me before - as I understand it, BAH get a feed every day of availability and prices, which is what is used to generate the quotes we see. But booking then triggers a live pricing/availability lookup, and if that's changed, you get this error.
Happened with other TAs as well, most don't give 'live prices' from the point of first quote, so it's annoying, but not a specifically BA thing... and certainly not actionable under contract law...
Happened with other TAs as well, most don't give 'live prices' from the point of first quote, so it's annoying, but not a specifically BA thing... and certainly not actionable under contract law...
Nov 14, 2021, 3:00 pm
#14
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,387
In my experience BA holidays online hotel availability is not accurate and I have had bookings fail at the payment stage with unclear errors messages. On phoning agents have confirmed that the hotel is not in fact available although the online booking engine says it is.