American Express pushing a ‘buy Avios’ bonus – worth it?

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• Ian says:

  10 Jul10 July 20:57

  My flight tonight from Gatwick to Edinburgh’s just been cancelled.

  Flying with BA.

  Never happened to me before.

  Can anyone help with what I’m entitled to? What to expect from BA before I go to the desk?

  Cheers

  • Shoestring says:

    10 Jul10 July 21:03

    there were big ATC problems tonight at Gatwick so zero compo

    you’d be entitled to re-ticketing (or refund)

    re-ticketing – you get duty of care until your new flight, ie hotel @ £200/ night plus food & drink (no booze), taxi to hotel

    don’t automatically accept some rubbish hotel & a £10 snack voucher – you can choose hotel/ food for yourself, just be reasonable & keep receipts

    • Ian says:

      10 Jul10 July 21:08

      Thanks- so do I just pay for everything then claim after?

      • Shoestring says:

        10 Jul10 July 21:15

        yes

        you might find BA send you to a perfectly nice hotel & give you a taxi voucher, which would be easier than claiming those bits back

        otherwise keep receipts & use the online claim system, normally there wouldn’t be any problems except they don’t like big taxi bills

        • Shoestring says:

          10 Jul10 July 21:17

          they must pay for communications as well, it used to be 2 phone calls a day but I reckon they’ll now pay for wifi if it’s not included

        • Ian says:

          10 Jul10 July 21:38

          Thanks. Joining queue now.

• TGLoyalty says:

  10 Jul10 July 22:00

  No one looking forward to flying in Qatar planes around Europe this summer then?

  • Harry T says:

    10 Jul10 July 22:00

    That would be a welcome upgrade!

• Sam says:

  11 Jul11 July 00:50

  Does anyone know how to tell which BA 777 I’m scheduled on tomorrow?

  I want to know if I have a power socket in my economy seat and apparently this is only on the 777-300 not the 777-200.

  Thanks

  • AJA says:

    11 Jul11 July 09:04

    Hi Sam google search seat guru

    You can enter airline and flight no and date. It will give you a seat plan of the plane you’re flying and give you that info. Helpful also if you have status and can choose seats.

• Adam says:

  11 Jul11 July 06:38

  We’re due to fly business class to Las Vegas with BA on 10th August. Points and companion voucher redemption.

  If a strike was to hit this date and we were offered a replacement flight, would we be given a like for like seat in business or just anything which is available and face a potential downgrade?

  • Shoestring says:

    11 Jul11 July 06:54

    Often both possible – ie you can be offered the first available flight, which could be in Economy. You don’t need to accept it and can hold out for a Business seat but that might mean waiting 5 days instead of 1.

  • SilverInSix says:

    11 Jul11 July 11:14

    Also remember that if you’re downgraded then you are entitled to 75% of the commercial rate for the flight and class you originally booked. Whether it was booked using a 2-4-1 and/or a reward booking doesn’t mean you don’t get the refund if you’re involuntarily downgraded.

    • Adam says:

      11 Jul11 July 12:42

      Well that would pay for the holiday 3 times over!

      I presume, in Shoestring’s example, being offered Economy tomorrow or Business in 4 days does not class as an involuntarily downgrade if we *chose* to take the tomorrow option though?

      • Shoestring says:

        11 Jul11 July 12:58

        Correct – there is a difference between the airline ‘placing’ you in Economy and you choosing Economy when the alternative is to wait for a few days for your Business seat. ‘Placing’ is involuntary downgrade, ‘choosing’ is not.

        You would still be entitled to the difference in fare between the 2 classes of ticket, the problem is BA uses Y class (Economy Flexible) when determining the cost of the Economy fare, which is an expensive ticket – so there might not even be a fare difference.

        • Adam says:

          11 Jul11 July 13:27

          Just checked and Economy Flexible is coming out at £1808 whereas business is £8854. If we chose to take a downgraded Economy seat, would we be entitled to the difference between £8854 and £1808, or a percentage of? I understand the exact figures may be different by the time we get to August.

          Just preempting a strike and what would be the best option for us to take!

        • Shoestring says:

          11 Jul11 July 13:46

          they can’t have it both ways – I think the correct calculation would be Business fare you paid (or equivalent if you used points) minus Y fare, not a % of this. Not sure how they would work out Business £££ cost if you paid in points, probably cheapest.

          Even using the involuntary downgrade methodology (not correct here!), it would be 75% of the Business fare.

          Don’t expect an easy ride if it all comes to be, what with the strike etc – but be prepared to MCOL it and they would settle. Companion ticket must be valued at same as yours, ie probably = cheapest Business fare.

        • Shoestring says:

          11 Jul11 July 13:49

          the other point to note in this theoretical situation is that BA use an internal methodology to work out what you are owed which is often *more* generous that the statutory compo/ refund would dictate, so definitely worth playing it all pleasant to start with.

        • Adam says:

          11 Jul11 July 14:30

          Many thanks. I appreciated your comments.

          It would be interesting to see how they work out compensation based on a points / voucher redemption but I do have my fingers crossed for us all that it doesn’t get to that stage!

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