aristoph

A few weeks ago BA cancelled our flight NCE-LGW, which departed at 1135h. When I logged in to see the alternatives being offered, it was 730am or 730pm into LHR; the nearest equivalent, 1235h to LHR, was unavailable. We (reluctantly) took the 0730h but now I see that ba.com is selling the 1235h for EUR899, one way in economy!

I get that availability changes, and I am not suggesting that BA held back the prime slot from us…. But do I have any right to ask to be shifted to this flight which matches our original flight much more closely, or (as I suspect) am I stuck because I am deemed to have taken an acceptable alternative?

KARFA

You can try, but strictly speaking you have exhausted your involuntary change now.

aristoph

Yeah that’s what I expected. The cynic in me thinks they filled up the unsociable hour flights and kept back the prime slots to sell for an extortionate amount…

plunet

Agree with the cynic in you, but with customers being given flexibility to move the dates and times of any flight over the next few weeks, it's very possible someone has vacated a previously booked seat, and at €899 you can assume it's probably the last available seat or two.

aristoph

It is Y2 per ExpertFlyer, so yes. But it is a bit unfair that it is one and done when BA cancels on you and you end up with something less satisfactory than your original flight.

corporate-wage-slave

No, it's a point I have made multiple times in recent weeks with different words - if you get a cancellation DO NOT RUSH! And certainly don't rebook on to services you don't like. I know it seems counter-intuitive to many on here but bookings are not a one-way street, it's positively tidal in how things ebb and flow. Rebooking quickly will very frequently give you the least choice with the least flexibility. Now I don't know if that's the royal We in the original post, but clearly you would need 2 seats. But if they are for sale, even at twice that price, then you could be rebook into those seats even with the cheapest Basic fare.

If your original service is restored, you can be rebooked back to that, but otherwise, it's only one free rebook.

aristoph

I get the principle but when you are told they are cancelling your return flight home at the end of a 2 week holiday, and you can see that several alternative flights that day are already sold out, you take what you can!

orbitmic

You have experienced first hand why many of us recommend to be careful before accepting/confirming a rerouting for a cancelled flight if you have not found an alternative that truly works.

you only get one free change and once that’s confirmed, your ticket goes back to original change conditions and and change fee/difference/cancellation becomes payable.

of course there is an issue if flights are very busy (as they are now indeed) and Ba hasn’t proactively proposed a replacement, but if they have and have saved a confirmed seat for you on another flight so you have a safety net, I find it best not to confirm any change till much nearer the time if the options available are not ideal as availability May more than occasionally emerge in the final week or days.

ps: cws beat me to it!

corporate-wage-slave

Learn to resist! The longer you leave it you have more flexibility (e.g. rebook for a second trip and use LCC for this trip). The sooner you rebook the sooner you get boxed in again.

aristoph

They hadn’t booked us into any alternative, and the 1235h flight disappeared between me logging in and discussing it with my partner (maybe an hour later).

Quark999

I have to agree with aristoph - in the current situation, where alternative flights quickly fill up to the point we’re none are available at all anymore for the same day, surely there is no benefit in waiting for another option to magically appear two weeks later? Flexibility is great if that’s what you want, but there is surely a case to be made to just get where you wanted to be reasonably close to the time you were originally booked for?

flygod

Think of someone flying transatlantic to connect to NCE.

Their TA gets cancelled/changed, so they decide to cancel whole trip. All of a sudden, a LGW-NCE-LGW becomes available.

Or a domestic to LGW gets cancelled - there have been a few of these! - so LGW-NCE-LGW becomes available as the domestic pax rebook on a LCC.

|It is very fluid situation out there!

Mr. Vker

I recently had some IRROPS with AA. The app offered two alternatives-both sucked. I checked as if I was buying new tickets and some some much better options. I called and switched to one of those. They offer what they want you to take-not what might be best for you.