Can I purchase a specific fare class on BA?

[barracuda]

If this has been covered before apologies – search did not bring up a result.

Q: Is there a way to purchase a specific fare class on BA?

There are a number of flights I need to purchase for travel over the next few months – at the moment a few of these are in the lowest fare class “Economy Lowest” and as such they earn the lowest number of TPs – not great. I am happy to pay extra to get into the “Economy Low” fare class but the BA website doesn’t support this as far as I can tell.

I know I can wait for BA to ticket other passengers and wait to purchase in a higher fare class that way – but that also means that I 1) have to keep checking daily. 2) Other flight segments then run a very real risk of getting more expensive – when they are already in the lower end of the “Economy Low” or “Economy Flexible” fare class.

One option I guess is to call BA up and ask them to book me into a certain fare class but that then incurs the admin fee – so not a fan.

I am aware of using: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search with the poweruser plug-in but, BA’s website overrides this and defaults to the lowest available fareclass. I am also aware of https://bookwithmatrix.com/ – and copying the JSON in – but I cannot get the OTA to indicate the Fare Class or change the baggage.

Why do I want to do this – increase the number of TPs in the year to avoid a TP run later on.

Would appreciate some help from anyone knowledgeable on the matter.

Thanks in advance

[Richie]

I needed to do this a few years ago, I asked at the ticket desk at Gatwick and they did it there and then. It really was very simple. If it can’t be done on ba.com, I don’t see why they charge you if you telephone them.

[memesweeper]

I’ve only needed to do this once, and asked a high-street travel agent to price it and book it, who then did it with a few button presses. Obviously no question of a telephone fee in those circumstances. Took under five mins with the code I’d ripped off of ITA Matrix.

[barracuda]

Richie wrote:

I needed to do this a few years ago, I asked at the ticket desk at Gatwick and they did it there and then. It really was very simple. If it can’t be done on ba.com, I don’t see why they charge you if you telephone them.

Will try and get through to them tomorrow – but the call loads are still frustrating.

memesweeper wrote:

I’ve only needed to do this once, and asked a high-street travel agent to price it and book it, who then did it with a few button presses. Obviously no question of a telephone fee in those circumstances. Took under five mins with the code I’d ripped off of ITA Matrix.

I did think about this – our office’s agent said they would do it for a £20 fee (thought it will sit on company records when its a personal trip so not a fan) – though could walk to an agent at lunchtime with a printout and see if they do it fee free – but I’m skeptical

[gtellez]

I have done it a couple of times with IB over the phone (since IB only allows avios upgrades for certain fares) and it is very easy for the agent. As previously mentioned you shouldn’t be charged extra as it can’t be done online.

[John]

Use a different browser to hold some dummy tickets until the next fare class is ready to be sold.

I’ve done it with star alliance airlines but not with BA

[SamG]

You can make it quicker on the phone (especially for multiple passengers) by booking online and then calling and changing fee free within 24hrs

Have had to do it a couple of times to get a fare class (N?) for avios upgrade from Euro Traveller to Club Europe

[jjoohhnn]

SamG wrote:

You can make it quicker on the phone (especially for multiple passengers) by booking online and then calling and changing fee free within 24hrs

One imagines you could do this, book enough seats for the lower fare class online, then make a new booking – the one you actually want to do going in to the correct fare class – then cancel the first one within 24hrs. Might just be easier to just call up though.

[memesweeper]

john wrote:

then cancel the first one within 24hrs.

that cancellation would involve a call, wouldn’t it? Honestly waaaay easier just to call up for the booking in the first place than play that game.