Forums › Frequent flyer programs › British Airways Executive Club › Advice please
-
I have provisionally been asked to do some work in Texas next year. I have had an email from the company concerned which inludes this sentence:
“Would you be willing to let us purchase flights for you–exactly per your request–so that in case anything goes wrong and we have to cancel, we could reuse the flight credits in the future? Let me know.”
Would an arrangement such as this make any material difference to them or me? The flights will be in J – presumably I can add my BAEC number once I have the booking and my only “loss” is the AmEx points for the cost of the flight. Thank you.
lol at them thinking there wold be any soert of ‘flight credit’ if there is a voluntary cancellation.
If they want flight credits in those circumstnces then they need to book you on AA not BA
Advantage of them booking is you don’t have to put up any of your own cash and await reimbursement.
No issue with you adding in your BAEC number etc
Thank you very much – I did think it a rather odd question, as you say, and appreciate your feedback.
If they have a corporate contract they may have more favourable cancellation terms. Almost certainly they will be booking on or through a US airline.
They’ll also very likely get a kick-back (depending on volumes) so financially advantageous to them. No issue from your perspective I can see.
Be careful some travel agents they may use could be incompetent or you could end up ticketed badly due to company or their travel agent incompetence or targets. Tickets may end up with suboptimal routings when better is available cheaper, or restricted in various ways that you won’t find out till it matters.
I let a US client purchase my ticket as the cashflow and not having to wait for reimbursement is tempting only to find that:
1. Ticket was via JFK to Detroit adding 6 hours to the journey. When easy cheap direct flights were available weirdly, on same major airline and another one
2. Ticket price was about 50% more than the pricing of most other options including the direct ones
3. On calling Delts on a minor query ahead of the return flight, having put my Virgin Gold number into the booking, the agent mentioned I had been upgraded on the overnight flight back and she would just process thst also. Then she said uh oh no she couldn’t process the upgrade, as the US travel agent had issued the ticket [at the much higher price] with no changes allowed.
So their pet travel agent chose an unnecessary indirect route, at 50% higher price to my client than they should have paid, so much higher than the price of (changeable) nonstop flights that were available, and had unnecessarily made the ticket non-endorseable, ie non changeable, as well, ripping off his client and losing my upgrade.
To say I was spitting bricks was an understatement. Couldn’t object timely as it was very much a family company and I had a feeling to get away with such liberties there was possibly a personal connection between travel agent and someone important. But quietly mentioned it at a different time.
Thank you very much indeed for these kind, helpful responses. I have said yes with the caveat that I choose the airline and the route which they have agreed to so I am happy.
The only issue I could see (assuming they book what you want competently) is that in the event of a downgrade, the reimbursement would likely go to them, not to you.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
New to Head for Points?
Welcome! We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.
Latest Forum Posts
- Guernsey Globetrotter on BA business or Virgin UC to Maldives
- Lumma on Chat thread – Wednesday 6th November
- can2 on No longer able to pay with debit card through the app
- Ally on Best Christmas Market in central London
- TooPoorToBeHere on Chat thread – Wednesday 6th November
- Richie on Chat thread – Wednesday 6th November
- CJD on 2nd Companion Voucher in the same year
- berneslai on Chat thread – Wednesday 6th November
- Alan TJ on Chat thread – Wednesday 6th November
- jj on Chat thread – Wednesday 6th November
Check reward flight availability instantly for free!
Booking a luxury hotel?
Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.