waz123

Hi Friends,

I'm due to travel with a friend on a flight to Europe where I'm the one travelling on the companion voucher. (They are the card holder & booker).
Due to a family death my friend now won't be able to travel with me, but I still need to fly.
If they don't cancel their flights, and instead just don't show up for them, am I going to be able to fly? Or will BA need the primary booker/exec club member to be there?
Got about a week to sort this one out. Any experiences helpful thanks!

AJA_

This is a tricky one. Ordinarily you wouldn't be able to fly as the T&Cs of the companion voucher state that the voucher holder has to travel with the companion but BA has been known to be flexible in the case of emergency and family bereavements. I suggest that the voucher holder phones BA and just asks them to convert the booking to you alone. They should get a refund of their taxes and fees. It may rely on cancelling the whole reservation and booking again which would only work if the reward seats go back on sale. Do you know if there is still reward availability for a single seat? If so then they can get the whole thing refunded and buy you a separate seat.

Joeykins

In theory they should be able to ask to have the 241 voucher and their own taxes and fees refunded

PGberkshire

They should cancel the booking and get a full refund minus upto £35pp. You can then rebook your own ticket.

Joeykins

That's if there's reward inventory and/or reasonably priced cash fares

waz123

Thanks. But then that would leave me without a valid ticket right? We're less interested in getting the Avios or 241 back, just that I'm able to fly.

waz123

Flight is in 5 days, so what should be a £150ish euro flight is now priced at £600+ with no reward availability.

waz123

Yeh that makes sense. It's just that its only a few days out and flighst are very expensive and no reward availability unfortunately... so would be ideal to use this existing booking (minus lead booker).

Joeykins

So, the transaction has been that your friend has given BA the taxes and fees for 2 tickets, the Avios for 1 ticket, and a 241 voucher for the other ticket. If you're still going to travel, then the fair way of correcting this situation is that BA returns the 241 voucher and the taxes & fees for the 1 ticket, and then you arrange things between each other.

IAMORGAN

I do not believe in practice BA would cancel everyone’s tickets as no show if one passenger flew. There is no requirement to check in together and in fact it is quite possible to check in separately. I appreciate the Ts and Cs but in practice I suspect it would be the person who failed to show whose ticket would be invalidated, and the 2-4-1 forfeited.

A phone call should enable the booking to be split, the voucher & relevant taxes refunded & OP allowed to fly on the Avios already paid. However, you may or may not get an agent who will do this.

I was lucky in slightly different circs where a great amount of goodwill and flex was shown to me. It did take time to process & required emailing in proof of the death (ie death certificate / coroner’s certificate).

JessicaB

Probably would be sensible to call and advise that the two passengers will be checking in separately then - that will at least ensure that you can check in and get the flight. Once you are checked in, I think it's very unlikely that they will remove you from the flight if you friend doesn't travel. May be a bit more tricky on the return sector though (presuming there is a return).

spidmack

I wouldn’t chance turning up on your own. You could risk loosing everything spent on this ticket & anything spent like accom at your destination.

If I was in your situation I’d ask the person who booked the flight to call BA.

I think it’s unlikely BA will be able to split the booking. The only way you will know is if your pal calls.

If BA can’t split the booking or make the existing one just a regular booking for you. They will cancel. Refund the 241 & taxes/fees minus £35 per passenger.

The seats might appear back available to book. From experience I have seen this happen but take a couple of hours to do this. They of course might not appear.

One final thought is. If the 241 ticket is cancelled & no replacement avios seat is booked. Contact your travel insurance if you have it. Maybe they will cover the cost of the ticket given the circumstances.

I had appartment accommodation booked for myself in Chicago a few years ago. It was for my girlfriend & me. I had travel insurance (with SAGA) & she didn’t . One of her family members fell ill & so she was unable to travel with me. Even though she wasn’t on my policy. There was a clause in my policy that went along the lines if I my holiday was dependent on someone else being there & they couldn’t make it. I was covered. I was paid back the full cost of accommodation minus my £70 insurance excess.

Thinking about it. One other final thought. If you have accom booked at your destination. It’s perhaps worth a call to see if they will move the date or refund given your circumstances

Best wishes getting something sorted

waz123

hey thanks for all your info, it's very helpful. We ended up calling BA and they made the ticket split, with a bit of messing around, the assistant didn't really know how to do it at first but we got there. Thanks again!!

spidmack

That’s great they managed to do this. :-)

QUOTE=waz123;34952584]hey thanks for all your info, it's very helpful. We ended up calling BA and they made the ticket split, with a bit of messing around, the assistant didn't really know how to do it at first but we got there. Thanks again!![/QUOTE]