senorbob

I'm booked on LHR-SFO this week, and using the Galileo tool suggested on this site, the flight was looking really open. I checked again today and got the following result. Does this mean that my flight BA285 has been cancelled and consolidated with the later BA287? The same availability is showing for the return legs on the same day.

THU 06FEB03 LONDON /SAN FRANCISC *BA
1 LHR SFO 1040 1350 BA 285 FX AX JX DX IX WX TX YX BX HX#744*C
2 LHR SFO 1330 1640 BA 287 FC AC JC DC IC WC TC YC BC HC#744*C

Thanks for any help.

Globaliser

[Replaced by:]

ba.com is now showing that it is the early flight that's been cancelled. So much for my earlier guess.

[This message has been edited by Globaliser (edited 02-04-2003).]

channa

I guess it always pays to reconfirm ones reservation.

Is this common for BA to cancel a flight a few days out? I guess it's better they cancel a reservation a few days before than at the last minute.

senorbob

The flight was cancelled, but I only found out when using telephone check-in. BA say it's due to crew problems, but having been following Galileo for the pasr few weeks, it's clearly a commercial consolidation.

What frustrates me is that had I not used telephone check in, I would not have found out until arriving at the airport. Also, there seems to be no recognition that we have been inconvenienced by this. The choices are a refund (not really viable for a holiday) or take the later flight and lump it.

There really is a "tough luck" attitude from BA, and whilst you can't expect compensation for a timing change, some small gesture would be appreciated for the inconvenience.

I think this is bad customer service, especially not being told before departure when the flight was cancelled 36 hours before departure. Am I expecting too much?

Globaliser

Did they have a way of contacting you? On some of my bookings they would, but on others they wouldn't.

If you had turned up at the airport and found out for the first time, I think they should have offered to buy you lunch there, but at the end of the day it's less than a 3 hour delay in an 11 hour flight. If you'd been unlucky, you could easily have had that on the original flight for all sorts of small reasons.

channa

How was it booked? It's the responsibility of the travel agent to contact you re: a schedule change (since this happened a few days prior, it's a schedule change, not a same-day cancellation). If you booked with BA directly, then it's their responsibility.

Pacha

oh oh, I'm booked on the reverse SFO-LHR on that day, and galileo showed the same thing. it's back to availability now in some classes, but I'll call just in case...