-
Hi All
Booked BA Holidays with Car Hire from Glasgow to Phoenix via London Heathrow and Philadelphia in November 2024. LHR to Philadelphia and back in BA 1st. Have received email from BA saying 1st cabin closure to Philadelphia. Have looked at options and found following routing
GLA – LHR – JFK (in 1st) – LAX (overnight in LAX) – PHX and back same route no overnight on return LAX to PHX is AA as no BA code share. Called BA holidays and asked for re-routing left with them for 3+ days (as they said they would review and come back to me). Chased again and was told not possible as I am adding ano leg plus exceeds MPN and overnight in LAX (agent consulted ticketing and supervisor). Only option they offered was routing to LAX direct and then to PHX. This results in major tier point reduction. Original booking was going to generate 1560 TP as BAH holidays booking.BA say accept cabin downgrade and request compensation for down grade after return or accept new routing or cancel. If I want the revised routing they will re-price. Have tried to call you 1st and they pass on to BA holidays and don’t want to deal with this. Have looked at flyer talk and can see other people in same boat however some have successfully managed to change and even add additional 2 legs to booking without charge. Please advise if I have any other options other than to downgrade.
Ah, this is a shame! I would honestly suggest you pursue the compensation route – BA are doing you a favour. Although BA’s F product is not market-leading, it’s head and shoulders above AA on the bits that matter, like food & beverage and service.
Someone more knowledgable than me will be along shortly hopefully to confirm if you’d be able to claim the ORC (original routing credit) for tier points after you fly whichever route. I think this is possible in these cases, though unsure on if double TPs would work.
@Jagkh – a downgrade doesn’t give rise to any statutory rerouting rights, although BAH does have some obligations to provide you with the trip originally booked. BAH will often absorb a fair amount of additional cost but you are asking for an awful lot which really stretches reasonableness – a routing that exceeds the MPM and requires an extra overnight stay makes little sense, adding significant cost and travel time.
The ORC that BA might usually offer becomes a little more complicated when it involves a downgrade because you are asking for the privileges of the class you didn’t fly while seeking large reimbursement/compensation for being downgraded. I wouldn’t necessarily believe everything you read on the internet and even if the alleged free reroutings were true, which two legs were added and did they exceed the MPM?
I can see why you want to go JFK to LAX as you get the lie flat seats on the AA A321 but perhaps a more acceptable reroute to BAH would be to fly GLA-LHR-JFK-PHX return?
The LHR-JFK sector could be in Firat in each direction
The JFK-PHX sector is possible on a direct AA flight which would earn 140TP each way albeit I think it is on a 737Max8. Just make sure its AA metal and not a JetBlue codeshare or Jetblue metal.
ORC is unlikely to be applied here for changes months in advance like this – it’s given for changes on the day or within a few days of travel.
I suspect the re-routing depends on who you speak to, and adding in a leg (or removing a leg) isn’t normally/always a problem after schedule changes, and MPM isn’t generally observed for changes like you asked for – I’m less sure after a downgrade with no change to schedule though, and the BA holiday aspect is another possible problem for you.
I would suggest asking for the flights to JFK then on to PHX, making sure you’re on a BA codeshare on JFK-PHX. It will get you the tier points you were expecting, even if not the bonus 40 each way you asked for. (and I know the flagship route to LA would be nicer, but you weren’t on flagship originally).
@Matt – BAH does offer ORC, including double TP where applicable, even for involuntary changes made months ahead; it’s not the same as BA flight only. The MPM does come into play because BA/BAH still has to put the correct fare construction on the e-ticket for the actual routing to be flown, even for package trips.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
