EBFF

Hi everyone,

TL;DR
I'm Silver FF. I have got an inbound (return) flight (J class) next week on the 23rd of November that I cannot arrive to, I've tried to amend my order with BA, but they requested 1700 pounds for the change (1400 fare change and 300+ penalty fee?? that one knew to explain)
So after I got 0 solution to that hefty price, I planned to skip my outbound flight and fly with airlines that only wanted 400-600 pounds for the ticket.
So my questions are:
1. Can BA revoke my Silver privileges if I skip that flight?
2. Is there a way to make it less damaging for me? Like give them notice? even get some of the money back on that leg (I know it's a stretch, but I said, maybe)

More length, to share my experience with customer service, the silver line moved me to the changing line that wasn't for silver, and that call center hung up my calls twice when I asked just to speak to a manager (I promise that I was polite - I have it all recorded and I said it's recorded)
On the third call, I spoke to the Silver changing line, and the manager didn't want to talk to me. When I insisted, he told me that I was hung dried on the call cause he thought I would hang up - I'm still in shock.
I was flexible on dates and the cabin, but their solution was to charge me around 600 pounds for changing the date and downgrading to Economy class (for 6! days in a row, they couldn't find me a seat at a reasonable price or that I would need to pay hundreds of pounds on a downgrade!)

Lefly

If it's a return trip and you miss the outbound, the inbound will be cancelled.

drwook

If you miss the outbound, the return is likely to be cancelled. If you're silver, that won't be revoked by missing a flight - people miss flights, it happens. I suspect you can probably get at least taxes refunded.

I've no idea why you can't make your booked flight, but I have heard of BA being flexible if there's an unavoidable reason and a polite request to help rather than a demand. Typically I'd think reasons around health/injury - they probably don't want you onboard if a doctor tells you not to fly, for example...

orbitmic

Do you have travel insurance which might cover change costs if there is a compelling reason for your need to change?

In answer to your first question no, BA won't cancel your silver status or anything just because you miss a flight once or twice. However, as others mentioned, all the following flights in your booking will be cancelled so your suggested move only works if you do not intend to fly any part of your ticket at all.

And no, there is no particularly obvious way to soften the blow. Of course, if you are not planning to use any of the ticket anyway, you might also ask them how much you would get back if you cancel your ticket altogether as of course that might prove less expensive than changing and simply give you some money (if only taxes back) that you can use towards the ticket you want to purchase with other airlines.

corporate-wage-slave

The basic issue is that BA has for obvious reasons made it punitive to flip an inflexible ticket to a flexible one, and the fare difference maybe a product of the time to departure. Clearly you also have the option to cancel the flight for a refund on taxes, probably, depending on the details. The other option is to wade through the various alternative dates to get a fare bucket with a lower difference, using perhaps ITA Matrix to find the lowest option. Without the details on the fare it's tricky to give specific advice.

EBFF

First, I have a small mistake, I cannot arrive to the inbound not outbound, I'm sorry for the mixup
My ticket was at the time of buying the most expensive option (fully flexible), which fare can be higher than that? furthermore, a full fare flexible ticket, why do I need to pay any penalty? even customer service didn't know to answer that

EBFF

I need to go to a funeral. To whom do I present my case? I tried to explain it to everyone at customer service, but there wasn't anyone to listen. They only talked about how they have a tool, this is the tool pricing, and they cannot do anything without it.

Just one mixup I was talking about the inbound (return) flight.

corporate-wage-slave

If this was truly a flexible ticket then I'm not understanding this scenario, which has the hallmark of being an inflexible ticket. If it's a flexible ticket by definition there is no change fee. Did the screen say "Time/date changes permitted at any time for the difference in fare. Changes subject to availability"? And the panel on Service Fees mention a £15 or £30 service fee? Furthermore Flexible Tickets such as "Standard Economy" should allow changes to dates and time online and with zero service fees. So I have say that something is not addiing up here. Now flexible tickets are publicly listed and can easily be seen via ExpertFlyer, Google Flights, ITA Matrix, so you can easily check this, and in most (but not all) cases Manage My Booking will retain some of the screen information shown when you bought the ticket - you may need to swtich to the old layout of MMB by clicking the top area of the first screen.

However the specific information you provided here does give one opening, and as I say, specific details gives specific advice. On the whole when you reprice a ticket after having flown the first flight in the ticket, so the outbound, any future repricing is on historical fares, not current fares. Usually a lot cheaper. There are some exceptions in some markets but that's the 98% position. This means that if you do want to amend your ticket, doing it before the first flight is not recommended.

Dave Noble

Given that there is a GBP1400 fare difference, you cannot have had a ticket at 'full fare' but was a cheaper fare that has a change fee og GBP300

This is something to take to your travel insurance. If this is a situation that is covered by your insurance, it will cover you

Otherwise, your options would seem to be to buy another flight for the inbound journey, pay the change fee/fare difference or you may be able to change and return in a lower cabin and not have such a big fare difference

What is the route and how much did you pay for the ticket?

EBFF

I understand your position here. I'm also baffled by the whole thing. When I bought the ticket I wanted a fully flexible ticket, which I chose, the ticket cost was 2844.1 pounds.
To be fair, they offered me a downgrade, flying economy, a week later, at a 600-pound additional fee (300-pound penalty and 300+ fare change). To pay so much for a downgrade that I paid so much for my original ticket, it's so wired - and I can get indirect business fare on the same price.

LHR-TLV-LHR
Outbound 20th of November
Inbound 23rd of November
I want to go back on the 24\25\26..\28 of November.

corporate-wage-slave

Something has gone wrong there, since the Flexible CW fare to TLV is £4,500, that's in Selling Class J, the highest one. An inflexible ticket, lowest on that sector in CW is around £1,300, and that's in Selling Class I. Now you mentioned you were in J, that's presumably the Selling Class, not a reference to being in business? If so there shouldn't be a change fee on a flexible ticket, but on TLV the typical change fee, for example in D, is indeed £300. So it's possible the agent got it wrong and didn't see you are on a flexible ticket, or you have not in fact got a flexible ticket. Did you click the Flexible marker in the relevant screen on BA.com? Or did you click a panel that invited you to move from an inflexible, no changes I fare to a D fare, which allows changes. albeit with that change fee? But almost certainly the "historical" versus "current" re-pricing rule will apply after flying on 20 November, if you are changing the return, which won't reduce the change fee, but may well reduce the fare difference.

corporate-wage-slave

TLV-LHR is sold out on almost all of those dates. The one exception is the 16:25 from Ben Gurion on 28 November, which currently has 2 places in D class available. Mostly it's J1 or J0.

Anonba

I havent seen any I class recently that are non changeable. BA only seem to do have non changeable fares which are economy hand baggage fares from the US currently.

Dave Noble

Looking at the fare paid and that there is approximately GBP417 in taxes/fares disguides as charges , this gives a base fare of around GBP2427

Looking on Expert Flyer, the only r/t fare around that price seems to be the DNNC00S5 fare - which does book in D class and does have a GBP300 change fee

It seems that the agent is giving you correct information. If you havent yet flown the outbound, it would seem to be refundable subject to a GBP150 cancellation penalty. You could then try rebooking on another airline. There seem to be a lot of options for business class on other carriers starting at GBP1000 r/t for 20-26 Nov

EBFF

Thanks, everyone, for your insights and help - I've learned A LOT from this thread!