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Hi All, I’m hoping for a bit of sanity check here. I made a BAH flights and car hire booking for me and my family during the Easter holidays.
We were all supposed to travel together but I now have to visit the US for work and won’t return home in time (get back a day later). I tried changing my departure date for the BAH booking but due to various factors it’s going to be simply too expensive so I will make my way out to Austria separately.
I’m the lead passenger on the booking so if my wife and kids turn up without me, will there be any issues at the airport? I’m hoping not but assume my return flight will be cancelled so I’ve already made a separate booking for the way home (Avios) just in case.
For the car hire, I’m also the named driver so does anyone know if I’m able to simply turn up a day late (on the same flight number) to collect the car? Friends will pick my family up the day before and it’s not the end of the world if the car hire is cancelled but I wondered if Avis would keep the booking for 24 hrs. I could always contact them separately to advise….
Definitely contact Avis – I’m pretty sure the lead named driver has to sign for the car in the first instance, even though you get a second driver free with BAH’s. I’ve never had a problem making adjustments like collecting late/returning early.
I’m not sure in relation to the flights – have you asked BA Holidays if they can just remove you from the flight element of the booking? I know that it’s no big deal if not all pax turn up on flight-only bookings, but there might be something different in the BAH Ts and Cs about it.
Thanks for your reply. I spoke to Avis earlier and can only add a named driver at the desk. As I won’t be there till 24 hours after my family arrive, that one is out of the window. For the flights, I was a little worried about phoning BAH to cancel myself off as surely that will remove me from the Avis booking too? I floated this idea past them last week and it seems that Avis charge a ridiculous amount to change the lead driver (400+) so with the admin charge for changing the booking, it’s really not worth doing. I thought it would be best simply to take separate flights and collect the car a day later – not turning up for the original flights.
Did you contact Avis here in the UK or the Avis branch in Austria? I think you might have more success if you call the Austrian branch and explain the situation.
If you do nothing I think your specific reservation will be cancelled as you are a no show. That will definitely happen to the flights.
No idea if BAH will contact Avis on your behalf – I suspect not as during Covid I had a BAH booking cancelled by BA and I completely forgot about the car hire and on the day that I was originally supposed to pick the car up the Avis branch (in Tenerife) called me to ask if I was still coming to pick the car up.
I think the rest of your family should be OK on their flights. But as @NorthernLass says BA Holiday bookings may be different.
Another idea (not recommending it but just throwing it in to the mix): could you leave it to the day of travel and then phone the branch and say you missed your flight but will now be arriving the following day? They might not agree to hold the car for 24 hours but people miss their flights – not sure what happens to car reservations in that situation.
There won’t be any issue with the flights. Although everyone is on the same booking they all have individual tickets so one passenger doing (or not doing) something with regard to the flights doesn’t affect the other passengers.
This applies to BA Hols bookings as well as flight only.
Don’t forget that people miss flights all the time for various reasons – sickness, work, relationship breakdowns etc etc – yet we see no complaints about airlines cancelling the rest of the booking when that happens.
[Note the exception to this is on a 2-4-1 where the rules state that the +1 has to travel with the voucher holder]
Thanks for all the replies and I think my plan of attack will be to simply not turn up for the original flight, in full expectation that my return will be canceled. I’ll call the Austrian branch of Avis on the date of the original travel and see if they can hold the car for a further 24 hours. I originally contacted Avis UK who advised that I’d need to add my wife while at the desk which of course isn’t possible if I’m not there with her.
If they can’t hold the card, I can either try to add my wife as a named driver over the phone with the branch or just lose the car hire booking altogether.
As BA Flyer states, I’d hope for a little leniency as people must miss flights all the time (and 24hrs isn’t that late) but won’t count on it either way….
If you do want to subsequently add your wife as a named driver, you can usually just go to the nearest Avis office and do it there as long as she has her licence (and DVLA code if required). They won’t do it over the phone as they have to see ID.
@rossy123 – you ought to be able to add your wife if you have her driving licence to show them when you arrive. We do this quite regularly with one of us not being physically present at the desk.
Interesting to know. OH and I were travelling separately last year and were told we both had to visit an Avis office for him to present his licence to be added as a driver. Mind you, this was in Glasgow where I was also required to provide a DVLA code – the only time this has happened! So maybe Glasgow or UK generally is a special case?!
if OP carries the driving licence should be fine – my OH always goes off and sorts out the car and I’ve never physically had to go to the desk
Did you ask BAH to change the car hire date by one day? Otherwise them holding the car will be YMMV but you should speak to the local office – likely on the day.
As BA Flyer states, I’d hope for a little leniency as people must miss flights all the time (and 24hrs isn’t that late) but won’t count on it either way….
I was specifically answering the points being raised about what happens when one person misses their flight and that the rest of the people on the booking won’t have their flights cancelled.
@samg – yes I asked them to move the car hire by a day but that triggered a huge increase to the overall fare.
Really grateful for all the comments and advice above. I think take my wife’s driving license with me and call the branch on the original day of hire in a hope they will keep the car until I turn up a day later.
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