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Heads up to everyone, bA is changing sales from Point of Sale to Point of Commencement. Saw this thread over on FlyerTalk posted by Corporate Wage Slave.
Copying the post text as it explains it well:
This post is of interest to those who are aware of how Point of Sale works – where availability fare buckets, and thus fares, are linked to the Point of Sale. If you are in Germany, call up BA on their Germany telephone number, then you will get German Point of Sale availability, rather than (say) UK. Sometimes it makes no difference, sometimes it can make a huge difference.
BA is now moving commercial bookings from Point to Sale to Point of Commencement. So in that example above, if the German traveller actually starts their trip in Vienna then the availability will go from German to Austrian. If you are booking online, then PoC already happens, but the result of this change is that PoS won’t be the issue anymore, it will be PoC. For redemption bookings, these are tied into BAC address membership country, and I don’t think that is changing. PoS now looks a bit historic in this global market, so I can see why it is happening, but it was sometimes useful to know about it if trying to eek out niche pricing.
The change happens in a week from now, 24 June, and during the transition it may be that only flexible grades will be available for sale (so F, J, W, Y), for a few hours. It wouldn’t surprise ,me if this needs several evenings to get right, the changes are due to happen at 22:30 hrs BST. So if you see silly high fares, probably best leave it a few hours.
@AJA – as I posted in your other comment on this topic, PoC is absolutely nothing new for anyone booking with BA online as the quote above also confirms. People often report this when booking two one ways as opposed to a return.
Yes but my point was to warn that people may see strange pricing with only expensive fares available for sale while BA makes the change.
Several posts over on FT where this is happening.
There’s a note now on BA’s homepage re: higher prices. No reward bookings either:
Due to planned software upgrades, some flights may only show availability in the higher fare classes. This means some prices may appear higher than normal across a range of routes and cabins. It also means that it will not be possible to book Reward Flights during this time.
Should you wish to ensure the best price available, please return later once the system changes are complete. Our colleagues in our contact centres have access to the same pricing, so won’t be able to offer you any alternative fares during this period.
Normal service will resume shortly.https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/travel-news/
I love that final sentence. SNAFU applies!
They may have removed that post as the link takes you to this message:
There are no current travel news stories.They may have removed that post as the link takes you to this message:
There are no current travel news stories.Because they have finished the maintenance and prices have reverted to normal!
@AJA – I have just posted a comment in reply to your posting in another thread (daily chat?). I tried to book yesterday evening. It’s now possible to buy an economy basic ticket, but I wouldn’t say they have reverted back to normal as they all seem higher than they were at the weekend!
@LD27 I think that may be because BA had a sale which just ended and I think previously you may have been viewing sale prices.
@AJA – thanks. Not sure when sale ended and was about to book EasyJet, but found an Avios ticket this morning for the date I wanted (couldn’t access last night).
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