Cannot get a resolution from BA - at wit’s end
Dec 12, 2019, 7:06 am
#1
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Cannot get a resolution from BA - at wit’s end
To cut a long story short, I called up a few weeks ago to enquire about the cost of making two alternative changes to my ticket: (1) changing the outbound date and routing, or (2) removing the outbound from the ticket and turning it into a single. They told me they would need to price this manually and would contact me when the quotation was ready.
Some days later, they automatically changed the routing but not the outbound date. They did not check this with me before making the change and it was not one of the options that I asked about.
I have spent close to a week on the phone for 1-2 hours every day, at my expense of course, trying to sort this out. I have spoken to about 10 different people, several of whom put me on hold for 30+ mins while they investigate with their service(?) desk. Three of them promised me callbacks which were never made. Then of course I have to call back, explain the whole thing again, be put on hold for ages while they go and investigate, come back and promise a callback, which again never happens. Rinse and repeat.
I also tried resolving his by DM with the Twitter team who have not been leaving notes on my booking (so I was told by the call centre) and who keep proposing a solution, which I accept, then they come back without implementing it and instead proposing something different. Rinse and repeat...
I am at my wit’s end with this, and the guy I spoke to last night - who I really trusted would call me back this morning as promised, from his tone and everything he said - described the whole thing as down to the person who made the erroneous change refusing to take responsibility for it. I was promised by him that I would get a call back around 9am this morning, with either (1) the back office having fixed it, or (2) failing that, him doing it himself. No call back, and the booking remains the same, of course.
So I am stuck with flights that I did not even book and have no way of getting it fixed... does anyone have any advice about what to do about this or who to ask to speak to? I literally have no idea how to resolve this and have wasted many hours and a fortune on calls to no avail.
edit: I am due to travel in 3 days’ time.
Some days later, they automatically changed the routing but not the outbound date. They did not check this with me before making the change and it was not one of the options that I asked about.
I have spent close to a week on the phone for 1-2 hours every day, at my expense of course, trying to sort this out. I have spoken to about 10 different people, several of whom put me on hold for 30+ mins while they investigate with their service(?) desk. Three of them promised me callbacks which were never made. Then of course I have to call back, explain the whole thing again, be put on hold for ages while they go and investigate, come back and promise a callback, which again never happens. Rinse and repeat.
I also tried resolving his by DM with the Twitter team who have not been leaving notes on my booking (so I was told by the call centre) and who keep proposing a solution, which I accept, then they come back without implementing it and instead proposing something different. Rinse and repeat...
I am at my wit’s end with this, and the guy I spoke to last night - who I really trusted would call me back this morning as promised, from his tone and everything he said - described the whole thing as down to the person who made the erroneous change refusing to take responsibility for it. I was promised by him that I would get a call back around 9am this morning, with either (1) the back office having fixed it, or (2) failing that, him doing it himself. No call back, and the booking remains the same, of course.
So I am stuck with flights that I did not even book and have no way of getting it fixed... does anyone have any advice about what to do about this or who to ask to speak to? I literally have no idea how to resolve this and have wasted many hours and a fortune on calls to no avail.
edit: I am due to travel in 3 days’ time.
Dec 12, 2019, 7:19 am
#2
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Given the urgency, it might be useful if you detailed your initial and changed itin, as well as what you would like.
Difficult to help you without basic information.
I am also based in HKG and find their phone agents quite responsive. It might be that they need to involve HQ, so the time difference does not help.
Difficult to help you without basic information.
I am also based in HKG and find their phone agents quite responsive. It might be that they need to involve HQ, so the time difference does not help.
Dec 12, 2019, 7:23 am
#4
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The lack of specifics mean you presumably are interested in general advice here.
One aspect about asking about changes to bookings is that BA.com and the App will show these changes after speaking to the agent, but they won't actually have happened, that needs ticketing to be completed. And unless you paid for any changes (or a whole heap of other circumstances based on specifics) then your ticket will revert back to its original status at OLCI. You can tell by the presence or otherwise of the ticket number on the App, if it is a BA ticket it begins 125. Sites such as Qantas, Finnair, Saudia (via ticket number only), RJ will also give you more information.
If you can't OLCI, and the ticket isn't reissued then you can usually call up at that point and resolve anything outstanding.
If you can't / don't want to do that, then you can try to resolve it at the airport, but it depends on the airport and routing as to how successful this will be. Your greatest chance of success is to present the e-ticket email and ask them to provide the service on that.
If all else fails, you can of course raise a dispute with BA or the credit card company after travel, and try to recover any losses at the same time. You just need a fairly clinical approach to this, and there is a raft of legislation in many countries which may protect your consumer rights. Mostly they work on the basis of reasonable measures by both you and indeed the airline.
Generally speaking, again depending on specifics, removing an outbound essentially means cancelling the ticket and starting again, anything changing the outbound details on an inflexible ticket rarely works well. Inbound is a whole different story.
One aspect about asking about changes to bookings is that BA.com and the App will show these changes after speaking to the agent, but they won't actually have happened, that needs ticketing to be completed. And unless you paid for any changes (or a whole heap of other circumstances based on specifics) then your ticket will revert back to its original status at OLCI. You can tell by the presence or otherwise of the ticket number on the App, if it is a BA ticket it begins 125. Sites such as Qantas, Finnair, Saudia (via ticket number only), RJ will also give you more information.
If you can't OLCI, and the ticket isn't reissued then you can usually call up at that point and resolve anything outstanding.
If you can't / don't want to do that, then you can try to resolve it at the airport, but it depends on the airport and routing as to how successful this will be. Your greatest chance of success is to present the e-ticket email and ask them to provide the service on that.
If all else fails, you can of course raise a dispute with BA or the credit card company after travel, and try to recover any losses at the same time. You just need a fairly clinical approach to this, and there is a raft of legislation in many countries which may protect your consumer rights. Mostly they work on the basis of reasonable measures by both you and indeed the airline.
Generally speaking, again depending on specifics, removing an outbound essentially means cancelling the ticket and starting again, anything changing the outbound details on an inflexible ticket rarely works well. Inbound is a whole different story.
Dec 12, 2019, 8:29 am
#5
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What is the exact routing and has anything been re-ticketed? All on BA?
It may well be that if new tickets have not been issued, that the agent simply held space on new flights and that all you have is a reservation. If that is the case, fighting about the past may simply be eating up your time when all you need is for your new routing to be issued.
It may well be that if new tickets have not been issued, that the agent simply held space on new flights and that all you have is a reservation. If that is the case, fighting about the past may simply be eating up your time when all you need is for your new routing to be issued.
Dec 12, 2019, 8:42 am
#6
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Yes, I am just looking for general advice. For example some alternative number I could call or manager I could ask to speak to who would have the ability to sort it out. I’m not interested in submitting a complaint, I just want the thing sorted. Thanks a lot for the comprehensive walkthrough!
As an update, I just received a call back from the guy I spoke to yesterday. He said there is still no update from the back office and will call me back again later today, although I am sure he said yesterday he would do it manually this morning if the back office had not fixed it. To be honest I get the strong impression that this guy, and a woman I spoke to a couple of days ago, are doing their best to sort it, but things are breaking down in the back office or with whoever can actually process a change to rectify the error. The number I call each time is 0344 493 0787 (again, there doesn’t seem to be a proper linkup here with the Twitter team who I believe are based in Newcastle. The Twitter team proposed a solution and said if I call up and clear security, they could process it immediately. They didn’t give a number to call so I called the above number, and they had no record or notes of what the Twitter team had proposed...)
I was told yesterday and the day before that due to the error made, and the fact they did not generate a quotation for me within a few weeks, they would change my outbound to my requested date (16 Dec) free of charge. I am totally fine with that and thanked them for it but the problem seems to be with actually ticketing it. The new flights (16 Dec) were indeed added to my booking 3 days ago (visible on the app, as you mention corporate-wage-slave) but not ticketed.
I am indeed a bit worried that this is what is going to happen and I am stuck with flights I didn’t pay for, but which were erroneously ticketed by the back office (and which the back office does not seem forthcoming in undoing).
No charge for the change was mentioned or appeared on my credit card statement. There was no new ticket generated, I just received an email from “British Airways Back Office Europe” stating “We would like to inform you of a schedule change in your itinerary, booking reference... please click here to view your itinerary.”
As an update, I just received a call back from the guy I spoke to yesterday. He said there is still no update from the back office and will call me back again later today, although I am sure he said yesterday he would do it manually this morning if the back office had not fixed it. To be honest I get the strong impression that this guy, and a woman I spoke to a couple of days ago, are doing their best to sort it, but things are breaking down in the back office or with whoever can actually process a change to rectify the error. The number I call each time is 0344 493 0787 (again, there doesn’t seem to be a proper linkup here with the Twitter team who I believe are based in Newcastle. The Twitter team proposed a solution and said if I call up and clear security, they could process it immediately. They didn’t give a number to call so I called the above number, and they had no record or notes of what the Twitter team had proposed...)
I was told yesterday and the day before that due to the error made, and the fact they did not generate a quotation for me within a few weeks, they would change my outbound to my requested date (16 Dec) free of charge. I am totally fine with that and thanked them for it but the problem seems to be with actually ticketing it. The new flights (16 Dec) were indeed added to my booking 3 days ago (visible on the app, as you mention corporate-wage-slave) but not ticketed.
Dec 12, 2019, 8:50 am
#7
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What is the exact routing and has anything been re-ticketed? All on BA?
It may well be that if new tickets have not been issued, that the agent simply held space on new flights and that all you have is a reservation. If that is the case, fighting about the past may simply be eating up your time when all you need is for your new routing to be issued.
It may well be that if new tickets have not been issued, that the agent simply held space on new flights and that all you have is a reservation. If that is the case, fighting about the past may simply be eating up your time when all you need is for your new routing to be issued.
Original (outbound) routing: LIN-LHR-GLA, 21 Dec
Requested quotations for: WAW-LHR-GLA, 16 Dec OR cancel this part of the ticket altogether and retain inbound
”Schedule change” appeared without me agreeing or asking for it to: WAW-LHR-GLA, 21 Dec
Added to the booking without ticketing: WAW-LHR-GLA, 16 Dec (WAW-LHR-GLA on 21 Dec remains ticketed)
Promised repeatedly that WAW-LHR-GLA would be ticketed for 16 Dec free of charge but they never actually do it.
All on BA.
Hope this makes sense...
Dec 12, 2019, 9:50 am
#8
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ticketing is done in 'priority' order
as your flight is not until the 16th then i suspect that your ticket is not yet at the top of the pile, they are probably probably working 14th and 15th at the moment.
as your flight is not until the 16th then i suspect that your ticket is not yet at the top of the pile, they are probably probably working 14th and 15th at the moment.
Dec 12, 2019, 7:12 pm
#9
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BA's systems are unfortunately antiquated. The fact that something as simple as this has to be sent to "the back office" and can't be reticketed by a front line agent is absurd. People are used to relatively instant service and BA is still back in the dark ages.
You will just have to stick with it. Perhaps call BA and see if they can't at least tell you what is in the queue to be ticketed?
You will just have to stick with it. Perhaps call BA and see if they can't at least tell you what is in the queue to be ticketed?
Dec 13, 2019, 7:49 am
#11
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Interesting to know about a queue for ticketing. If they simply told me this and said, for example, it won’t be ticketed until 2 days before departure, I could relax a bit. However every day I am going through a long process of waiting in queues while the agent tries to work out what is going on.
The last couple of days it is actually the same guy calling me, and I appreciate him calling me back. Nevertheless I have been told half a dozen times now that the back office will call me “later today, and if not, definitely tomorrow morning” (which never happens) that I no longer know why I am promised this on a daily basis. Yesterday he called me in the afternoon to ask if the back office had contacted me, and when I said no he let out a sound of exasperation (apparently directed at them, not me).
I am just anticipating problems as this moves closer to Monday, the date of departure. With a 4 month old baby on the ticket, I really am not in the mood for turning up at the airport and getting into arguments / long calls to customer service trying to sort this out. It is beyond belief that I have spent at least an hour on the phone to BA every day for a week now simply to get this ticketed. The back office seems to be in such disarray that the agent is now calling ME to ask if any progress has been made (to which the answer is invariably no)...
The last couple of days it is actually the same guy calling me, and I appreciate him calling me back. Nevertheless I have been told half a dozen times now that the back office will call me “later today, and if not, definitely tomorrow morning” (which never happens) that I no longer know why I am promised this on a daily basis. Yesterday he called me in the afternoon to ask if the back office had contacted me, and when I said no he let out a sound of exasperation (apparently directed at them, not me).
I am just anticipating problems as this moves closer to Monday, the date of departure. With a 4 month old baby on the ticket, I really am not in the mood for turning up at the airport and getting into arguments / long calls to customer service trying to sort this out. It is beyond belief that I have spent at least an hour on the phone to BA every day for a week now simply to get this ticketed. The back office seems to be in such disarray that the agent is now calling ME to ask if any progress has been made (to which the answer is invariably no)...
Dec 13, 2019, 8:00 am
#13
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I think you may be trying a bit too hard.
The fact that ticketing is done by priority order is very well established and at this time of year it's not unusual for the back office right up against the wire.
Personally (and I know this sounds counter-intuitive) I would let it go, until OLCI opens at T-24. Because of the toddler it may not work anyway, but if OLCI falls over completely then calling a contact centre at that point should force the agent to stay on the line to the mysterious back office (even I don't know where it actually is) until it is ticketed. Because you are at OLCI you are top of the queue then. Calling regularly may actually make matters worse.
Also, ignore that delay, again that's overthinking it. By the time you get to Monday that delay should have cleared. It will only persist if BA keeps all the aircraft in sequence until then, but obviously they can shuffle aircraft around and almost certainly will do so.
The fact that ticketing is done by priority order is very well established and at this time of year it's not unusual for the back office right up against the wire.
Personally (and I know this sounds counter-intuitive) I would let it go, until OLCI opens at T-24. Because of the toddler it may not work anyway, but if OLCI falls over completely then calling a contact centre at that point should force the agent to stay on the line to the mysterious back office (even I don't know where it actually is) until it is ticketed. Because you are at OLCI you are top of the queue then. Calling regularly may actually make matters worse.
Also, ignore that delay, again that's overthinking it. By the time you get to Monday that delay should have cleared. It will only persist if BA keeps all the aircraft in sequence until then, but obviously they can shuffle aircraft around and almost certainly will do so.
Dec 13, 2019, 11:42 am
#14
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Dec 13, 2019, 12:41 pm
#15
Original Poster
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I think you may be trying a bit too hard.
The fact that ticketing is done by priority order is very well established and at this time of year it's not unusual for the back office right up against the wire.
Personally (and I know this sounds counter-intuitive) I would let it go, until OLCI opens at T-24. Because of the toddler it may not work anyway, but if OLCI falls over completely then calling a contact centre at that point should force the agent to stay on the line to the mysterious back office (even I don't know where it actually is) until it is ticketed. Because you are at OLCI you are top of the queue then. Calling regularly may actually make matters worse.
Also, ignore that delay, again that's overthinking it. By the time you get to Monday that delay should have cleared. It will only persist if BA keeps all the aircraft in sequence until then, but obviously they can shuffle aircraft around and almost certainly will do so.
The fact that ticketing is done by priority order is very well established and at this time of year it's not unusual for the back office right up against the wire.
Personally (and I know this sounds counter-intuitive) I would let it go, until OLCI opens at T-24. Because of the toddler it may not work anyway, but if OLCI falls over completely then calling a contact centre at that point should force the agent to stay on the line to the mysterious back office (even I don't know where it actually is) until it is ticketed. Because you are at OLCI you are top of the queue then. Calling regularly may actually make matters worse.
Also, ignore that delay, again that's overthinking it. By the time you get to Monday that delay should have cleared. It will only persist if BA keeps all the aircraft in sequence until then, but obviously they can shuffle aircraft around and almost certainly will do so.