EXCLUSIVE: British Airways cancels return to Kuala Lumpur with four weeks notice

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• Matt says:

  11 Oct11 October 21:16

  My fly for 12/11 on a way back to London was cancelled and I spent 3,5h on a phone to find out that there’s no options for me ffs

• meta says:

  11 Oct11 October 21:17

  Rebooked on JAL and they helpfully changed my QR/BA in KIX-DOH-LHR (J+WTP) to NRT-FRA-LHR all in J. I did extensive research before calling. I think they agreed because KIX-DOH-LHR required more Avios than NRT-FRA-LHR.

• LondonFoodie says:

  11 Oct11 October 22:12

  Thanks Rob! Got the email a bit late, but after an hour or so on the phone managed to rebook our LHR-KUL-LHR for 19/12-4/1 via Doha. Less idea connection-wise but still quite fast connection and flights are with QR. (econ flights with 241).

• Kai says:

  11 Oct11 October 22:46

  Booked Club World MAN-LHR-KUL on the 2-4-1 voucher – will they rebook me on QR or JL business class?

  • executiveclubber says:

    12 Oct12 October 00:13

    Yes

• Andy says:

  11 Oct11 October 22:57

  I have had 4 return flights in business booked with Amex vouchers & avios for December for a family holiday just cancelled. I suppose they will be refunded but what chance of booking somewhere else at such short notice & vouchers likely to expire. Any chance of extending or getting priority elsewhere do you think?

  • meta says:

    12 Oct12 October 01:21

    You can rebook your tickets without any extra cost, just call BA.

• Numpty says:

  11 Oct11 October 23:28

  From past experience if anyone finds out the memo guidance reference number once it’s published it might be good to share it on here.

  I rebooked a flight once and quoted the BA procedure reference to the advisor after they’d refused to rebook. They went and checked, then said they were just back from holiday and hadn’t read all their updates! Flight rebooked!

• Kam says:

  11 Oct11 October 23:40

  Please can anyone advise, on 241 to KL business 3rd Dec , called in and was offered same day flight via Doha. Was asking for bassinet and CS advisor said she would call me back in an hour woth options. No call back so called on again. 3rd Dec gone offered 5th December. But when went to book that was gone too said my only option is refund. Surely that can’t be right. Any advice??

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 23:45

    You are entitled to be rebooked on an equivalent airline at the same time as your original flight. BA has no choice but to do this and is acting illegally by forcing a refund on you. Once you accept the refund you lose all legal rights. Do not do it.

    • Kam says:

      12 Oct12 October 00:11

      Oh really! Okay thank you. We told categorically there are no flights are available and our only option is refund. So should we just wait,sorry a bit dumb but I don’t really understand if there are no flights options now how will there be some later? Also my hotel and onward flight from KL are all non refundable. Will BA compensate me for this? The CA advisor said I could make a claim but if I get a new flight I can’t..I’m so confused. The CS advisors were also quite horrible.

      • Rob says:

        12 Oct12 October 00:16

        Have you actually gone onto Skyscanner and looked for flights between London and KL on your dates? You’ll find loads.

        Find one you want, get BA to tell you in writing that they won’t rebook you, go and buy the flights you want and then sue via Money Claim Online for the money.

        Or just call back in 3-4 days when they’ve agreed a deal with Malaysian and move across to their flight.

        • Kam says:

          12 Oct12 October 00:26

          I went on to BA website and checked during the call and asked to.be put on one of the other flights showing as available and they said no, only the times he suggested on the call that he subsequently couldn’t book 🤷🏽‍♀️
          I will call.and ask for it in writing then. Thanks so much.

        • marks7389 says:

          12 Oct12 October 00:39

          It sounds like the call centre agents have been left to make it up as they go along, and some are (incorrectly) limiting people to Avios redemption availability. Don’t worry – it will get easier once they’ve finalised a policy and communicated it to the agents. In the meantime, as Rob says the worst thing you can do is accept a refund. Whatever you’re told they would have no obligation to compensate you for other losses if you do that, and you’d be unlikely to get any.

        • JDB says:

          12 Oct12 October 00:52

          @Rob – while it’s sensible to wait for BA’s formal rebooking policy, the MCOL route also suggested is highly risky. It involves the passenger putting up the cash for new tickets/court fees and being out of pocket for 6 – 12 months and pre-supposes some fair ability to manage a legal claim. It’s very different to making a simple MCOL claim for e.g. missing cancellation compensation.

          It’s also quite unusual to be able to get BA to put into writing a refusal to reroute and in my experience, when one sees transcripts of conversations where BA agents have allegedly refused rerouting, it’s often rather or much greyer than passengers suggest. The rules don’t give the passenger the right to pick a new flight from an à la carte menu and the reasonableness of both parties in offering / rejecting options will be considered. Cases are easily lost either by the facts and/or mismanagement.

          It is not an option anyone should take lightly and should be an absolutely last resort. There is also a slight catch-22 because if a passenger struggles to negotiate a rebooking by negotiation/agreement, they are probably also going to find mounting a legal claim tricky. There is also the option of CEDR which is simpler, but it is limited to £10k per PNR.

        • meta says:

          12 Oct12 October 01:30

          It’s a question of HUACA (hang up and call again). You’ll eventually get to the agent that will know what they are doing. You can usually tell from the first interaction.

          Also waiting is not sensible as the flight is on 3rd Dec. This is in month and a half, so awfully close and while @Kam is waiting the options are becoming more limited as everyone else is being rebooked by more comptentent agents. I’d be inclined to wait for flights from January onwards, but this side of the year, I’d try to rebook asap.

        • Kam says:

          12 Oct12 October 03:41

          @marks7389 As it’s 241 though am I limited to only the reward seats? There are business seats available on the normal booking system but if. I book with avios there are none so I think that’s what they meant by no flights available. At the time I was in a panic so didn’t think to ask about premium economy or economy.

        • Darren says:

          12 Oct12 October 09:24

          @Kam
          You’re not limited to reward seats, as Rob mentioned check out skyscanner or Google flights and look at what is available in business on your dates, remember to select business class.

          An alternative is to fly via Singapore, I managed to get this last night and it suits my trip.

          If you have a couple of alternatives to give to the CS agent it works better as you’ve done the work for them. Hope it works out ok.

• David perl says:

  12 Oct12 October 00:48

  We received the same email when our Doha flight was cancelled for February 25, this was scheduled to be on a 777

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