So… I had a booking that was put on hold (nicely) by BA when my travel companion had mom go through serious health condition.

I was trying to use the amount on that itinerary (around 700 eur) towards a new booking from Europe to the US in F (J+A).

On the website I was seeing my desired dates consistently at ~3100 EUR - but was getting quoted >3500 EUR by the agent on the phone before deducting the previous flight credit. When I asked her to see the price online it was gone (because she was putting my own change on hold and thus taking up that availability). As soon as she released it fare online was back to 3100 EUR. She tells me she needs to refer this to “Fares Team” and nothing she can do even if I wanted to take the 3500. Right now it is on hold. Tried HUCA without luck.

I really need to close that itinerary so I can book other arrangements that depend on me taking those flights but right now I’m in a holding pattern.

Any idea on how long do the “Fares Team” take to respond (can’t they be called?!) and is it true that even though they see a different price on website there’s nothing the agent can do to uphold it?

What are the chances the fares team will honor the ~3100 price vs try to push the 3500 one (before deducting the flight credit)?

One of my first ever encounters with the BA call center so might be newbie questions.

thanks much!!

 

also can’t they issue a voucher? Would make the process a lot easier (I could do it online) and be effectively the same thing ?

 

This is pretty standard practice in this area and it may take around 3 days for them to revert (which will be via the call centre, they can't make outbound calls either). After 4 days it's ok to call up to ask if there is a note on your file about this. In some situations they can issue a voucher, but usually it requires a clean booking for that, otherwise you'll end up with an offline voucher which still needs a call up.

 

thanks for the response ! My main question here is that if they want to quote 3500, even when the website had it at 3100 I might just prefer for them to release the fare and book on the website using the credit later - otherwise a big chunk of the rebate is gone on this alone. But I wouldn’t know for a few days then.

I guess a question is: is it normal that the price on website vs quoted by the call center can be (significantly) different ?

 

For a flat point to point single fare a long way off I would expect the fare to be the same. Add complexities or remove time then it's a fast moving situation and fares go all over the place.

 

I see. Looks like I don’t have many options and can either ask them to release and pay up or hold and hope. Looks like from what you’re saying calling again won’t increase my odds of successful outcome. Thanks for the pointers - much appreciated

 

We could only previously issue vouchers in this scenario if the booking was eligible anyway as per the Covid 19 vouchers eligibility. As this has ended we cant issue evouchers.

 

makes sense, would make it easier but a policy is a policy - but what is unclear to me as a customer (and a tad confusing) is why can’t BA honor a price visible on the website -even by the agent- and has to send the process to a back office team without the assurance of what the final price will be. The “we hold the fare for your booking but can only tell you the exact price in a few days” just sounds odd. to get the 3500 price I had to insist a few times and even then was told it might not be it (nor the 3100 I saw online on that and other dates )
Does that makes sense ? Maybe it’s an industry-wide thing but I had bookings sent to back office for reissuing but never without clear confirmation of final price.

 

and this was on the Gold line for what’s worth

 

I see your profile has you in Portugal, as am I right now. You may be encountering a point-of-sale issue. Which BA centre did you call and which country’s fare are you comparing it to?

In the past I have often found, for example I-class availability from Portugal when the UK-based availability was only from R-class upwards.

 

Good one, thanks ! Yes based in Portugal and that’s probably what the BA website was set for and was showing but I did confirm and we were both looking at J+A - so isn’t exactly different class but maybe different pricing ? Other dates still available at the price point I saw for my dates and apparently agent could see it too, but on the website - not their system.

 

The Fares team (sometimes known as the back office team) which deals with requests made to the UK/US lines will respond in around 72hrs from the request being made. Travelling this week and you'll likely get a reply in a few hours, travelling next April it will be more like the end of the week.

To clarify an above point, all of these types of fare recalculation requests will initially have the cost emailed to the customer. He or she can then either call the contact centre if they wish to go ahead, or they can reply to the email where the Fares team will then ring out within 48hrs to take payment. There's no inbound phone line, but it is definitely the case the Manchester team speaks to countless customers daily for this sort of issue.