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Ba have changed my flight times on the 27th July that won’t work for my train connections. I decided to postpone to next May. I called up BA and was told I could not rebook beyond 20th August this year because I booked the original ticket 20th August last year and the ticket is only valid for a year. They explained this is set out in their terms and conditions.
I can’t get new train tickets before the 20th August because they are all booked up. BA suggested my only option is a refund. Has anyone got any thoughts on this situation?
How much have they changed the flight times by and is it just flight times that have changed or has the flight number changed as well?
They’ve changed both flights by a few hours making train connections impossible. Flight numbers have not changed.
If it’s the same flight numbers on the same day with a time change then I don’t think you’ve any other option than to refund and rebuy the ticket for May
Apologies- I just checked and the flight number was changed
It helps to get specific advice if you give specific information.
BA policy is if the schedule has changed by more than 4 hours you can request a refund
For schedule changes less than 4 hours it will rebook onto flights within 2 days.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/10/24/british-airways-schedule-change-refund-4-hours/
Given you booked last August then you have the option to take a voucher and use that towards your new flighs next year.
Is the voucher better than a refund?
If the flight number has changed then surely that is considered a cancellation and so should fall under eu261 rebooking? (which BA ofcourse will refuse to follow) It sounds like theyre trying to pass off a cancellation as a re-timing?
If the cancellation/retiming was received today for a flight on the 27th, does that count as within 14 days and so would be due compensation?
If its a flight number change/cancellation then EU261 rights would come in which have no such 12 month ticket validity rubbish but would almost certainly require you to book a cash ticket for when you want to fly and then do the whole take BA to MCOL thing
If it was a cash ticket then I dont think theres any reason to take a voucher over a refund, but also I wouldnt take a refund until youve established what your rights are in this instance.
Is there much of a cash difference between what you paid and the date you now want to travel?
My thoughts were this was a flight cancellation so would fall under EU261 rebooking. I did receive notice several weeks ago but tried to get new train tickets without success. So no compensation due there. But the 12 month validity argument just didn’t sound right.
As you said I’m trying to figure out what my rights are before I go for the refund.
The new price is double the price of old tickets in business class..
Not sure how to take BA to MCOL
Can’t help you fully @rk1 unless you tell us the route.
Also are the train connections you are struggling with to and from the UK airport for the flight?
For a start, if you wtill want to do this travel do not take any refund.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Route is London to Vienna.
I do want to travel and I remember a previous posting on this site (maybe from you Lady London) not to take a refund until all options are explored.
Train connections are from/to Vienna.
As a update, I played around with change dates online for May 2023 and it turns out I can change the dates free of charge but not on the exact dates (not sure why that is as flights are available). So I will tweak dates by a few days and I think I might be ok. Not sure why this works online when BA were insistent my ticket was only valid one year from booking (20 August 2022) and refused to make any changes beyond August 20.
The online functionality does sometimes let you go past their ticketing policy but only into the same fare class. So I imagine you booked into I or R and those dates are the ones where that is available next year.
If you can make it work then that will be the most simple option by far !
You could be right. I managed to change the booking online to May 2023.
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