acesflyerSFO

Looking for some advice from folks, but before I start I will definitely not maintain my avios accounts after my next set of flights !! (So frustrated with BA Call Center Agents Globally!)

Like a smart lad I had planned for a family trip using our saved avios 6 months in advance - great i thought, i found availability for 4 people in business with some flexibility and was able to book all my tickets. Ticketing however was a nightmare from hell with most BA agents at the ticketing back office desk (yes the desk that never wants to come to the phone) in India not knowing how to issue the ticket. They finally do, overcharging me on taxes which I dispute, and over several emails and hours off call, one supervisor with the patience to look at things finally ignore his own staff and sends my ticket to the Manchester ticket desk to be re-issued - and behold - they issue me $250 is refunds on taxes (x4 since it was four tickets) - I swore not to touch these tickets and did not since I did not want to talk to another agent again.

Low and behold the airline gods don't want me to be happy, so fast forward 3.5 months (about a week ago) - our last two legs get cancelled *yes the ones that bring us back home" these were on JAL - i had booked DEL-HND-SFO. (booked JAL to avoid the horrendous BA taxes) - and keep my ticket a mileage fare vs a sector base fare. Now since these sectors are cancelled - I suspect like most good airlines BA will make it whole and get you from your origin (DEL) to destination (SFO) in the class you are booked - but low and behold, they refuse to book anything but the "primary" carrier i was booked on - ie JAL - the airline which now has limited service from HND - SFO. The BA system rebooked me automatically from NRT to SFO, but unfortunately for me Japan is still closed to visitors and I cannot transit between HND and NRT by bus/train etc. / BA doesn't care / Japan airline cannot touch a 125 ticket stock.

Which leaves me with more grey hairs than i wanted and "sol" . I have tried "hanging up and calling again" and once an agent got my hopes up and said "sir i can book you on any commercial space, especially on BA" - but then he said let check and came back and gave me the same crap about - we can book only on JAL.

Drama fast forward to this week - and I have obtained emails and phone numbers of BA leadership in HQ and sent a detailed mail - but they are not responding.

So here goes - Can anyone suggest what I can do or any policies you are aware of which I can quote to the agent to get them to book me on any other oneworld carrier - AA, BA, QR - i just don't want to have to rebook our entire vacation - which include 3 destinations and hotels which are confirmed. Thank you in advance for your replies and suggestions.

drwook

JAL seem to fly DEL-NRT; have you tried letting them know you are not allowed to change airport in Japan and asking them to rebook the first leg to NRT too - so you fly DEL-NRT-SFO on JAL? Without knowing dates we can't see if there's a blocker to that plan, but it seems the easiest answer to me.

Personally I'd just be clear and unemotional about it - clearly you're frustrated but unless there are no seats/flights I'd be surprised if they couldn't do this. Maybe have a backup suggestion or two (QR via DOH; BA via LHR) as a "if you can't rebook me on JAL without an airport change in Japan"

sammyg901

My interpretation of

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...#cancellations

"Prime other carrier" Option 1 or 3 should kick in here - either for JAL reroute via NRT or a rebook onto another oneworld flight (search what you want - BA or QR most likely)

If there is a suitable JAL option then you can try ask BA to liaise with them via the Oneworld support desk for a rebooking

acesflyerSFO

DEL - NRT on JAL does not exist; only DEL-HND. date is on June 26. Have tried DEL-DOH-SFO; DEL-JFK-SFO, DEL-LHR-SFO (misconnects) and they are not willing to offer me BOM-LHR-SFO.

acesflyerSFO

This is a great link - thank you. There is no JAL option unfortunately - and the agents don't know how to contact the oneworld support desk for a rebooking - would you have a number for them or is this a backoffice number only (if you have it, please feel free to DM me).

sammyg901

If your transit in Tokyo is reasonable I'd be tempted to sit on this a little bit - I suspect reopening to visitors is imminent and it's an easy bus between the two

Otherwise try calling and quoting that policy and suggest the AA or QR options. They won't change origin

sammyg901

I think it's called "oneworld liason" but you'll need to find an agent or supervisor willing to speak with them. But I doubt that'll be useful if you're looking for a rebooking on another carrier as BA would need to handle it I think

FlightDetective

I had the similar the other day. JAL cancelled HND-SYD which I had booked in Premium Economy on Avios. BA could not put me on anything else (she did call someone to ask). I could go the day before or eight days later on JAL as that was when Avios seats were available.

Online I could see there were QF seats available in Y the same day as my original flight. At the very end of the call, I asked if any other airlines were available HND-SYD and she said yes, she could put me on Qantas in Economy on Avios. Strange she did not offer that from the get go, since the flight is just over two hours later than my original JAL flight. Perhaps because there was no Premium Economy offered. Anyway, I ended up getting a full refund and I booked QF in Y on Avios instead.

corporate-wage-slave

As a general comment, by all means check with this forum beforehand, it may save you a bit of time. But the bit quoted isn't necessarily how it works on third airline redemptions. BAEC in the UK can talk to oneworld liaison to try and get space on alternative services, but the starting point is to replace the booked redemption service with next available redemption service on the same route. They won't necessarily open up commercial space for you. If it was a BA or IB redemption they would go further and rebook into BA (but not IB) commercial space. There is also more wiriggle room on AY and EI, as European airlines. Moreover the issues with JAL were around at the time of booking so there was an element of risk to this. Now I actually agree it may be easier to leave it to see if restrictions will ease in the new few weeks, outside China and Hong Kong SAR that is the clear direction of traffic at the moment. If you would prefer certainty, then it may be better to look at cancel / rebook from fresh, ideally trying to keep the routing as simple as possible and via countries which have already opened up for business.

acesflyerSFO

So i just spent another hour on the phone quoting the policy and they indicated that the third option applies only with 24 hours of departure. So yes I could leave the cancelled flight in my booking, however I am not sure if this would result in any issues with my outbound sectors.