ffly45

i need one for next month between Aug 19-21 to NYC(-ish), but only saw tickets requiring 80k+ miles on AF.
are you seeing these low prices for Aug 2022?

canadavid

no i was trying next February during winter holidays

ffly45

how long does it usually take DOT to respond about stuff like this once a complaint is filed?

guv1976

DOT will send a copy of your complaint to BA, and give BA an opportunity to respond.

I would give it a couple of months.

(You should have received an automated acknowledgement of complaint from DOT almost immediately upon submission of your complaint, but a substantive response is unlikely to be generated until BA has responded to the complaint.)

ffly45

looks like BA is choosing to toss the DOT complaint into garbage can.

their response: "I have reviewed the screen shots you have sent with your correspondence and on the page showing you the tax amount - please note what it says on the bottom in parentheses ( You will see exact cost after you click "Continue")"

As expected, DOT has zero teeth and BA is powerful enough to tell them to go pound sand, while practicing this particular violation for at least 10 years now, as documented in the replies above.

salut0

Trying to search for a one way redemption NYC-LON. The first screen shows these attractive seeming prices (extra seat availability because I am gold, apparently):



The next screen shows these prices which are higher. Why?




Note that the first screen specifically says “Total Price (Including all taxes, fees, and carrier charges)”

guv1976

Nonsense. See Posts 22, 23, 30, and 41, above.

BA's response is not necessarily the end of the matter. If you did not, in your original DOT complaint, specifically mention the prior DOT enforcement action against BA cited in Post 23, now is the time to do so when you submit to BA and the DOT your rebuttal to BA's response. From the link I provided in Post 21: "The Department’s new airfare advertising rule, which took effect on Jan. 26, 2012, requires every advertised price for air fares to state the entire price to be paid by consumers.This means that all mandatory government-imposed taxes and fees as well as mandatory carrier-imposed charges must be included in the advertised price the first time an airfare is presented to consumers." (Emphasis added.) And cauchy, in Post #23, provided a link to the prior enforcement action. You can cite the Docket number of that action, as well as the specific regulation violated (14 CFR 399.84(a)).

Note that DOT cannot direct BA to pay you anything, but it can impose fines on BA for violation of regulations -- and the DOT can suspend some or all of those fines, depending on the actions BA takes to address the violation. I don't think that the DOT would take too kindly to what appears to be a repeat violation by BA after already having been fined for the same misconduct.

In my DOT complaint against Iberia -- described in the link provided in Post #22 -- Iberia's initial response was to deny any wrongdoing. I responded by citing the specific statutory language that applied to my situation. When all I got back from Iberia was an automated reply, I sent an email to the DOT employee handling my complaint, and they followed up with Iberia. Ultimately, I got a satisfactory resolution from Iberia.

Good luck!

guv1976

See the discussion in this thread:

Is it legal for British Airways to raise price on second page of booking?

BA has already been fined once by the U.S. DOT (see Post 23 in the above thread). I encourage you to file your own complaint with the DOT. The more complaints the DOT gets about this deceptive practice, the sooner BA is likely to fix things.

salut0

Thanks. I filed a complaint and await a reply.

ffly45

so that'd be me (with the help of you guys here) doing the DOT's job for them?

guv1976

You should not be surprised by the fact that government agencies rely on members of the public to bring matters of concern to their attention. I would not expect the U.S. DOT to constantly monitor airline websites to check for non-compliance with U.S. regs. It's certainly possible that the DOT analyst assigned to your complaint is aware of the regulation in question, and maybe even the prior enforcement action. That analyst might already be responding to BA's answer to your complaint. But who knows?

Whenever I deal with a bureaucracy, I make no assumptions about the knowledge base, competence, or diligence of the person I am dealing with. I try to make it as easy as possible for them to give me the result I am seeking. Providing the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) citation, and the docket number of the prior enforcement action might facilitate a successful resolution of this matter. And I assume that that is what you want.

guv1976

For those who are interested, here is the thread about the complaint that led to the prior DOT enforcement action against BA over this issue. The original complainant, bedelman, joins the discussion at Post #50.

BA quotes $23 for award co-pay but charges $286 at booking [US DOT filing]

jdhnyc

I'm having the exact same issue. Taxes/fees were ~$65 when I looked yesterday and ~$200 today. Crazy.

ffly45

file a DOT complaint and cite violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712(c)(2), 14 C.F.R. § 399.84(a), DOT Order 2012-10-1, DOT Order 2014-9-2.
and include dated screenshots documenting the continued violations, at least since my complaint 2 months ago.

DYKWIA

Err, no. That's a completely different issue

Your issue seems to be that BA have raised the taxes/surcharges.