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Hi all, I booked a BA Holidays package to Istanbul earlier this year as part of the double tier points offer. Yesterday I received an e-mail that my return flight IST-LHR on 14 June at 20:05 has been cancelled. The e-mail didn’t contain any option to re-book and merely states that I should expect to hear from them later. I went to MMB on BA.com but at that point I’m confronted with a single page that shows my outbound and now cancelled return flight, clearly marked as such. One cannot navigate anywhere from this page, for example to amend or cancel the booking, or even merely to accept an alternative flight. Guidance says to call if I want to get in touch with them….
Having checked flights still on sale, there is a departure leaving some 2 hours earlier in the day that I would be keen to book onto. The alternative is an 0800 departure the following morning, necessitating another night in a hotel and an early start, or a later flight that gets me into London too late for work commitments that day. My options are therefore somewhat limited without re-booking the entire trip for a different set of dates, for which I gather I would be on the hook to pay the considerable price differential between the original package price and the new one?
On the subject of money I’ve lost the ability to pay the balance as one could do in MMB and this is due by 12 May; failure to settle by this date as I understand results in cancellation and the loss of my deposit. If I cancel voluntarily more than 28 days before departure (my outbound date is 9 June) would I get back my £120 deposit or is that never refunded on BA Holidays?
Many thanks for your expert advice!!
I would call BA Holidays to discuss your options. As BA has cancelled you have EC261 rights to cancel, reroute at the earliest opportunity or travel at a later date. You are not entitled to compensation as you’ve been notified more than 14 days before. The trouble is as a BA Holiday you may have to pay extra costs for hotel if you choose to move the entire booking to a later date.
If you have identified flights you are comfortable with then talk to BA Holidays to see if they can move you,
If you choose to fly the next day then BAH should pay for the extra night hotel bill under the duty of care element of EC261.
If you decide to cancel you should get the deposit refunded as this is due to BA cancelling your return flight.
Many thanks for the excellent and transparent summary! If anyone has anything to add please do stick your oar in.
If I am refunded because I choose to cancel, is this likely to be in cash (deposit plus balance paid so far) or will it be a FTV, which I understand cannot be used to fund the YQ on reward seat bookings?As this is a BA Holiday you need to call but as this trip starts in Turkey you can call the BA Hols Bremen Office rathet then the UK one. I don’t have the number to hand but it should be in your booking somewhere. The Bremen office is excellent to deal with (but has limited hours)
Until you have been rebooked the pay button will be blocked out.
As they have cancelled you can get a full cash refund of whatever you have paid already if that is your desire. The 28 days applies if you cancel and claim an FTV but does not apply when BA cancel within that time.
Re changing the dates I think you can shift them by -3 / +14 days of your original and only have to pay any difference in hotel price but the phone agent can advice on that.
Remember Holidays have different legislation to flight only.
Thanks again for the great advice! Note that my booking is LHR-IST-LHR so I don’t think the Bremen office can help me.
Ah I misread the trip order. So no as it’s a UK booking then its the UK office.
I’ve finally received a follow-up from BA in the shape of a text message (no e-mail). It contains a link that takes me to a page that lays out options, but they are all theoretical. For example, I can request to re-booked onto the ‘next available’ flight, but it doesn’t specify what this is. It appears to be nothing more than a wish list for them to process in the fullness of time, having finished fighting fires elsewhere. Logging into MMB still shows a simple page indicating that my return flight is cancelled with no further options available.
I tried calling BA Holidays and getting through via different option routes, each time I get a recorded message telling me to make changes via MMB and I get automatically cut off. This is ridiculous. Until I’m rebooked, I cannot pay the balance to BA and they will cancel my booking if the balance is not paid by May 12. It’s almost as if they would prefer me to select the refund option now and proceed to re-sell the seat to someone for a higher price than the implied price I paid in the sale earlier in the year?
Is the text from telephone no +44 786 002 2933 ?
If so have you tried replying to the text with the flight number you’d prefer to fly on? Looking on BA there is a flight departing IST at 17:50 (flight no BA677) still on sale for 14 June. If that suits you just reply to the text saying please rebook passenger(s) LondonSteve (and LondonSteve 2 if applicable) on PNR xxxxx on to flight no BA677 on 14 June 2022
The message doesn’t display a number at all, it just says BA Holidays. There is no indication I can reply to the template text message and anyone will read it.
Regarding selecting options the page that opens from the link in the message states, “We will follow up selections of Options 1 and 2 in travel date order but due to the high volume of changes this may not be until close to your travel date. Thank you for your patience. Refunds are processed within 7 days therefore the quickest way to change your dates or destination completely is to select Option 3 and rebook on Ba.com.”
Option 1 is to ‘Accept changed flight’, which is not appropriate to me as I haven’t been offered one. Option 2 ‘Find alternate flight’ which is what I would be tempted to select, but for the fact I have no idea when this alternate flight might be and when I might hear from them. Option 3 is the option that states ‘Request a refund’. Surely if you do that you might rebook quicker but you’ll pay current advertised price and it’s nothing to do with your existing booking. Strikes me as quite a disingenuous thing to say to someone that might merely want to move the date of their existing booking.
Experimenting with further phone options always leads me to the same voice message. Essentially that they are busy and would appreciate it if I can call back another time, as they are prioritising passengers that are travelling within the next 8 weeks (my departure is nearer than this and they have no idea when I’m travelling anyway). Then the call is cut off. Diabolical.
Still cannot get through on the phone. To be honest I’m considering capitulating and taking the full cash refund on the balance paid thus far. I already had visions of having to engage in a protracted battle to get my double tier points like others have, further deteriorating the overall experience. I’ve started to wonder what’s the point in even qualifying for Silver on such a terrible airline, surely my life will be more enjoyable if I just avoid them at every opportunity? As for visiting Istanbul, I’ll book into the front of a TK 777 out of LHR at a later date and it’ll be a zillion times nicer.
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