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Family of 4 (2adults, 7yo & 4yo) off to Orlando today with BA all supposedly in Club.
Booked with Avios midnight t355 days ago.
Today is my actual 40th birthday. Couldn’t check in online so arrived 4 hours early at the airport to be told we’ve been split 2+2 with half of us involuntary downgraded.
I’m a oneworld sapphire status on the booking as noticed by checkin agent. The same checkin agent confirmed we were the 3-6th tickets booked on the plane.
I asked why we were targeted for the downgrade given the above and her conclusion was the fare type!
We’d obviously all prefer to be in Club together, is there anything cabin crew can do onboard?
What compo can I expect please?
Happy birthday! Not a great start for you but I wouldn’t expect crew being able to do anything on board as the flight is obviously full or you wouldn’t be downgraded. You can always ask as there might be a couple of no shows.
Did you still manage to get everyone into the lounge? I would expect that as a minimum.
As for BA refunding you are entitled to downgrade reimbursement (don’t ask for compensation) for both passengers of 75% of the Avios for a one way flight plus any YQ fees paid ie excluding APD. BA should reimburse within 7 days but you will probably have to fight for it especially as you used a companion voucher. So you may need to go to CEDR.
Forget about it until after the holiday though.
Just noticed you are travelling with children so was it one adult and one child downgraded? If so then the 2nd passenger 75% figure would be the child fare.
Also might be possible to swap seats half way. That way all of you experience Club though that might complicate the downgrade reimbursement.
Happy Birthday 😎
That sucks, but the computers do not care unfortunately.
There are a good few threads on here dealing with downgrades and “what to do if”
But have a look here:
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/08/13/british-airways-first-class-downgrade/
Compensation percentages per ticket type are listed in the above link.
Hope you have a happier birthday, regardless of downgrade shenanigans.
I had a quick look and everything else is full today even the reasonable connecting options.
I’d ask the crew if under the circumstances they’d mind you swapping half way and of course apply for your 75% downgrade reimbursement once you get back
Hope you have a great trip!
Thanks all.
How does it work with RFS since it’s a flat fee now – (90k Avios, 1 Amex voucher and £225 each we paid) for the outbound sector?
Happy Birthday 😎
That sucks, but the computers do not care unfortunately.
There are a good few threads on here dealing with downgrades and “what to do if”
But have a look here:
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/08/13/british-airways-first-class-downgrade/
Compensation percentages per ticket type are listed in the above link.
Hope you have a happier birthday, regardless of downgrade shenanigans.
It will probably not pay much from the RFS fee of 225 as the APD is pretty much all of that and no difference between WTP and CW. But in theory you should get 75% of the £225-APD plus 75% of 90k Avios per passenger ie doubled as it is two passengers downgraded.
BA might say it is only payable for one passenger but that is not the case
Am I reading https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-allowances-for-air-passenger-duty correctly, APD is £194 of that £225?
Yes and Heathrow departure fees so I would just forget about the cash you’ll be worrying about £1 or so refund.
Instead just focus on 75% back of the 90k Avios
@AJA the difference between WTP and CW is irrelevant as it’s 75% of the fare paid less actual taxes and genuine fees that matters.Or is the APD halved as it’s only the outbound sector we’d claim for?
Or is the APD halved as it’s only the outbound sector we’d claim for?
APD is only for the flight departing the U.K.
So nope full £194 needs to be taken off on any long haul exUK flight in anything but economy (£88 for eco)
Btw that’s 75% of 90k for each person downgraded the voucher should be considered as having had 90k value. There are other threads in this forum which talk about this in length but I’d forget about it until your holiday is done and focus on enjoying yourself.
That’s pants, happy birthday and enjoy the rest of your holiday.
Yeah I make it about 68,000 avios back for the 2 seats. As good as zero cash. Due to the APD as it was the outbound leg and very minor airport fees soaking it up.
So 34,000 per seat is all BA has to give you.
You were just too cheap a target for BA to downgrade. No punishment at all really.
Especislly as you have 2 children with you going on a holiday they will remember all their lives, Happy Birthday, enjoy the holiday with them, keep positive and let them see you handle adversity gracefully.
This does put into perspective sll the flights chosen with BA to get the avios, all the credit card fees snd spending on the BA card for the voucher. It feeks like a broken promise really.
“British Airways looks forward to welcoming you on board again”.
Sigh, yet more voucherholder targeting by BA. And status seems irrelevant too, which leads me to wonder about the CIV score being a determinant.
As I always say in these circumstances, as a typically solo traveller I’d much rather the option of waiting a day for a seat in my originally booked class than flying the downgrade. Indeed if my hotels at the other end were flexible, I’d prefer a refund and walk away from the trip entirely. But I have no right to either, and this low cost way of dealing with passengers remains for airlines.
@LL it’s 75% of 90k each. Which is 67.5k each and 135k Avios for two seats.
We wish Orlando return in J was 90k and £225 maybe in 2014. It’s 180k + cash return off peak these days.
@BWS WTP on a day flight while getting c£650 worth of Avios back isn’t the end of the world. I absolutely wouldn’t be cancelling any trips or losing days of holidays to sit in J instead.
downgraded 1 way though? I had assumed 90k was a return.
still too cheap though unfortunately not to put a target on your back for BA when they’re looking for pax to downgrade.
Must be some high paying corporate customers with a late booking?
Strange that they couldn’t offer J seats on alternate routings on the Atlantic JV partners. Maybe to avoid splitting the family? Could they not find anyone else travelling alone or a couple?downgraded 1 way though? I had assumed 90k was a return.
still too cheap though unfortunately not to put a target on your back for BA when they’re looking for pax to downgrade.
180k per person return. If reward seats weren’t cheaper than revenue tickets, we wouldn’t be in the game. So sadly, always going to be near the top of the list for downgrading. Suppose got to take the tough with the smooth.
downgraded 1 way though? I had assumed 90k was a return.
In 2014 perhaps lol
Yes and Heathrow departure fees so I would just forget about the cash you’ll be worrying about £1 or so refund.
Instead just focus on 75% back of the 90k Avios
@AJA the difference between WTP and CW is irrelevant as it’s 75% of the fare paid less actual taxes and genuine fees that matters.What I was trying to say is that if there had been a difference in APD between WTP and CW you should be able to reclaim that difference in addition to the 75% of all other cash element as APD is a departure tax and if you don’t fly in the cabin you bought you should only pay the APD for the cabin you actually fly in. If you cancel you can actually claim that back less an admin fee but in this case it is irrelevant since APD is the same for WTP and CW.
Sigh, yet more voucherholder targeting by BA. And status seems irrelevant too, which leads me to wonder about the CIV score being a determinant.
@BWS – status only counts for two people in downgrading/offloading situations. I’m not sure there is really any evidence of voucher targeting and the number of reports is relatively low in the context of the number of HfP readers that must be using vouchers and the huge number of vouchers in circulation.
Sigh, yet more voucherholder targeting by BA. And status seems irrelevant too, which leads me to wonder about the CIV score being a determinant.
As I always say in these circumstances, as a typically solo traveller I’d much rather the option of waiting a day for a seat in my originally booked class than flying the downgrade. Indeed if my hotels at the other end were flexible, I’d prefer a refund and walk away from the trip entirely. But I have no right to either, and this low cost way of dealing with passengers remains for airlines.
the criteria was posted the other day – https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/amex-241-flight-downgraded-from-club-world-to-wtp-at-checkin/page/4/ – a few different variables but for a blue/bronze member, without additional needs, reward seats are the first pick for downgrade. If the 241 books you into ‘I’ class, potentially a bit more protection over a standard reward seat
BA state they guarantee 4 club 2 PE and 8 economy seats available for avois bookings on every flight . A lot of us book at t-355 to make sure we get the promised seats.
Given Orlando is a hugely popular route and it is half term hols , I can’t imagine BA releasing any extra other than the 4 CW promised. So if @Jonathans ( at midnight t-355) booked and got the 4 promised seats, he shouldn’t be turfed out of them so that BA can slot in a high cash passenger. ( if that’s the case). To my mind the guaranteed 4cw avios seats should be protected from downgrades. Otherwise are BA actually fulfilling their promise?
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