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Hi All, I’m flying with my children this afternoon with BA. I booked the tickets with Avios a while back and I booked all my childen on children ticket… but when I tried to check in today, it wouldn’t let me as my eldest has turned 12 a couple of months ago… I called BA who after much conversation said they couldn’t change her ticket from children to young adult and it was left at the discretion of the check in staff … I’m obviously a bit stressed out now, does anyone has any experience with a situation like this?
Five ten pound notes should suffice.
Whilst the taxes are the same the fare element for a young adult is higher than that of a child so there could be the are differential to pay.
Didn’t you realise she’d get older? I think you’d be lucky if you get away with just fare difference.
Five ten pound notes should suffice.
Fell off my chair laughing at that….! In the old days, probably. I can’t remember, but if you had to put your childrens’ DOB in the booking then BA are also at fault. If not, then it’s completely on the OP. Sort of on a par with an outdated passport. Hope the OP gets it sorted!
You don’t need to put birth date at booking with BA, just the API data whenever you want.
Whilst the taxes are the same the fare element for a young adult is higher than that of a child so there could be the are differential to pay.
I can’t see check in staff being anxious about that.
This seems contrary to their treatment of toddlers who turn 2 between outward and return, where BA provides a seat at no extra charge.
Yes but n this case they passed the age before the outward journey.
I think if they had been 12 after outward journey a different scenario
Many comments seem to have overlooked that the OP said this was an Avios booking, so there is no fare difference. Would be interested to hear what happened at the airport.
That was my immediate thought. IIRC, children over 2 are charged the same as an adult on RFS fares, so it shouldn’t really make a difference.
I wonder if the confusion is APD used to be nil for children under 12 , now it’s been extended to children under 16. I expect it will take years for systems and perhaps to catch up. A children fare should now be under 16.
But if it’s an RFS reward booking you are not paying the APD as such. You are paying the RFS ‘fee’ which is the same for children and adults.
But if it’s an RFS reward booking you are not paying the APD as such. You are paying the RFS ‘fee’ which is the same for children and adults.
Yes but you assume check-in staff understand all of this avios details. Most tickets they deal with are cash
Fingers crossed you rock up to a check-in desk staffed by an experienced, pragmatic and resolution oriented member of staff who also isn’t dealing with a day where they had a blazing row with the SO last night/ this morning. Got to the terminal on time & without car issues. Etal.
It is slightly nit picking on the CS/ Senior/ Team Lead you dealt with on the phone. In a practical sense there are options open to the check-in staff likely not available to contact centre staff such as listening to your explanation and just waving it off as a non issue. The core rules and systems are, for all intents and purposes, identical and with a senior or higher person(s) consulted I’d have hoped for a bit more than “Turn up with all your kids, have iro day of sale new ticket purchase funds on a card to be safe. failing that prepare your 12 year old to get themselves home and look after themselves while your away and base that on an unquantifiable flip of a coin based on who deals with it and what kind of day they’re having “.
I’m going to at least hope that whilst, based on your post that whilst they decided to pretty much give up on finding the solution, washed their hands of it and left you in the lap of the god’s. That they did at least add a note giving explanation, your attempt to resolve prior to turning up at the airport, briefly what they hoped to do but couldn’t and a suggestion they look on you positively.
Moving forward. You can add each child to your HHA and then add details like passports and DOBs. This should create a conflict at the time of booking if the data contained identifies a similar issue within the future dates applicable to the booking. Fair warning that this is BA IT so this Idea should work but you’ve never got certainty
Thank you all for your messages… so in the end, I went to the airport, explained the situation to the checkin agent who was amazed the staff on the phone couldn’t help. She said the ticketting team should have been able to help.
She went on to proceed with the check-in… and gave the the boarding passes with a big smile: “I didn’t get any error message, it went as normal”
I checked in at the counter on the way back without mentioning the situation and it went smoothly ….
I’m guessing it helped it was Avios tickets as the fare doesn’t change depending on the age of the passenger ?Good to hear you had no problems.
I am very surprised the online helpdesk couldn’t help. I made the exact same mistake on an avios booking, easy to do if you are booking 355 days in advice at midnight 🤣, and they sorted it out for us over the phone, no diff in fare… wish I saw this sooner so would have advised you to call again!
I am very surprised the online helpdesk couldn’t help. I made the exact same mistake on an avios booking, easy to do if you are booking 355 days in advice at midnight 🤣, and they sorted it out for us over the phone, no diff in fare… wish I saw this sooner so would have advised you to call again!
Within 24 hours of departure there is little of anything the call centre can do as the ticket will be under airport control.
In the OPs circumstances calling again would have just gotten them the same answer.
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