another BA.com mess
 

I wanted to book a miles ticket for a friend of mine to visit from BUD. I went through the process - selected the flights - put in her details - put in the payment details - pressed the button and then "sorry, our systems are currently unavailable.....". I didn't want to lose the seats, so I went through this process another 4 times with the same results. On the next attempt, somewhat fed-up, I accidently forgot to change the passenger name from the default (ie me) to my friend - and this time it went through. I realised as soon as I pressed the button what I had done and called BAEC immediately - they didn't want to know even though she admitted they had been having system problems - only choice £30 cancellation fee and book again.

OK it was my own fault, but still very frustrating. I would have hoped that after all the hassle I had to book, and the fact I called within 1 minute of the booking, they may have changed the name for free.

There needs to be a cooling off period........

I would put this in writing asking a refund inviting them to check their logs to show all you're saying is correct.

Will give it a go.

Me thinks someone wanted to rebook you and put your booking towards their target.......

I'd personally also quote the name of the agent who refused to do it for free and indicate that it is because this sort of behaviour happens within BA that you feel let down by the company.

a booking which is changeable or that can be cancelled is exempt from the (unofficial) 24hr rule. i doubt that it has anything to do with an agent's targets as the person who would (or wouldn't) make the change will be different from the person who rebooks you. many agents hate making redemption bookings though as unless they can sell you a hotel/insurance/car hire, it adds very little to their overall stats.

if this booking was queued for reissue, there is a strong chance that eticket helpdesk would say 'no' and obviously this then creates a fair bit of bother for the person that stuck their neck out in the first place.

agree that this pretty much sucks.

BMI have one. I have booked in error with them before and they have been very helpful in cancelling the erroneous booking.