snaxmuppet

Normally I would just go onto BA.com and change my booking online but my current booking was paid for with an eVoucher and I used a GUF2 voucher to upgrade from WTP to CW so I am afraid that if I try to change the booking online (assuming it will even allow me to change online!) that something will go wrong. In this situation it makes sense to call, and I would, but the Gold Helpline is not accepting any calls at the moment and I am afraid that the availability in CW will go (needed to use my GUF2 - it needs booking class I availability) and then I would lose the flight.

Any advice... ?

At the moment I can't call and I am scared to make this change online.

Would it allow me to make the change online and if it did then how do you think it would be processed? I don't want to have to pay any more cash (the new flights are cheaper!) and I don't want to risk losing the GUF2 or losing the ability to use it on these flights.

Lioneye

I changed a booking via twitter yesterday.

Follow BA & message them with the PNR.

snaxmuppet

How long did it take for them to reply?

snaxmuppet

I DMed them but it is a bot

snaxmuppet

OMG! How difficult it is to deal with British Airways... it is an embarrassment calling them British!

I FINALLY got through on the phone... before I called I priced my flights up online and the price was the same... she priced it and the price was over £200 more. She said it was a change in the base price between when I booked and now... The funny thing is that if I do an online booking for the same flights the price comes out to exactly what I paid. We discussed it for ages but eventually I realised that I was getting nowhere so I accepted the extra cost... only to be told that I can't pay for changes with an eVoucher! AAAGH! Only choice to cancel my original booking and convert it into an eVoucher and then make a new booking for the new dates. The problem is that there are very very few seats available. Cancelling the booking might mean someone else gets in and takes the last booking class I seat and then we would be stuffed without a booking. My fear is not just hypothetical, I already had to change the day we returned because all the booking class I seats had gone between this morning and when I called - there was availability this morning but it has taken me the best part of 6 hours of regular calling to get through and they sold in that time.

I am fed up with BA. The only reason I booked with them is that I have eVouchers and a GUF2 voucher to use otherwise I would have flown Delta to Detroit, which is my final destination but BA don't fly there without an internal AA flight from ORD to DET.

I think that is now the very last straw for me... No more BA unless there is no choice!

Tafflyer

Unfortunately it's not just the time taken to reach a real person at BA which is the problem, but the quality of the agent you get once connected. I find it particularly disconcerting when the agent is very helpful, friendly and apparently professional but peddles incorrect information. I had this on the YouFirst line last week when I called during the UK evening time. I called back the next day and got what I wanted without having to question the agent's information.

Tafflyer

Perhaps you should screen-shot that information and claim back the difference under the price guarantee. BA guarantee that you can get the lowest price by booking online with them.

snaxmuppet

We shouldn't have to do that. It is stressful and time-consuming enough to organise our first flight since 2019 (the 4th time of asking!!!) without having to do all that as well.

Tafflyer

I totally agree, but if you want your GBP 200 back, this might be a plan. It can be done online without having to hang on the line for anybody.

Anonba

the guarantee is only for new bookings not changes.

snaxmuppet

I refused the change so I am back to my original dates... which cost me nothing

Tafflyer

If the online price is still available for your new dates, then book it before cancelling your original flight. Once booked you can cancel the original booking to an FTV. This would get you what you want with no net additional cost. Of course, it leaves the original amount tied up to a voucher, but I would expect a complaint with details of the transaction to result in a refund. You're right that it should not be necessary, and the cynic in my is convinced these hoops BA makes us go through were at least originally designed to keep as much cash in BA as possible. You can of course always leave the original booking until closer to the date where any combination of weather / IT-snafu / Covid might result in a cancellation allowing a free refund.

snaxmuppet

Thanks. I really don't want to tie up any more money in BA... this flight was paid for with an eVoucher from a cancelled flight in early 2020... rebooked 3 times! I really want to spend vouchers... not collect more of the buggers! I don't have a lot of confidence that I'd get any refund... BA don't seem too forgiving at the moment.

Thanks again for your suggestions... good of you to help

KeaneJohn

You just need to book flights that will be cancelled so that’s any UKmor European flight next weekend or Good Friday or Easter Saturday when the next IT outage will be..

Sorry to be flippant but vouchers whilst on the face of it seem good and the BWC great but it’s just so complex. I ended up getting refunds for my cancelled flights as it was a nightmare to identify them as they morphed into other flights. That said I can’t be the only person to take an FTV and rebook the same flights for less getting a balance FTV for the difference so vouchers not all bad.

Lioneye

If you type 'speak to an agent'.....you are transferred to a human.