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Trying to book a return flight from NCL-MTY in October in PE. BA website was showing a great deal, £1.272 return, just £50 more than economy +. (PE only applies to the LHR-DFW leg as no PE class on the short flights).
I get all the way through to payment and when it gets to the final step I get a “these flights are no longer available, someone else may have booked them” etc. message. But every time I try the original prices still come up.
Called BA silver helpline and their system was ‘down’ so it’s been passed to e-ticketing to try doing it manually. The price I was quoted over the phone was more than double (£3k+) what was showing online.
Is this false selling or something? I’ve screen grabbed the original quote. Any advice on how to proceed?
Thanks!
Surely the most obvious explanation is that the price you are seeing online is wrong, and the system is working that out by the time it gets to validating the payment.
Surely the most obvious explanation is that the price you are seeing online is wrong, and the system is working that out by the time it gets to validating the payment.
I’ve been getting the same price online and on the app for the past 5 hours, it all goes through until final confirmation (after I’ve entered card details and done bank verification).
In fact I’ve just had a “don’t let these prices get away” email from BA quoting the same price I’ve been getting.
Clearly their “systems” are not fit for purpose. Quoting a price and then not honouring it must be a trading standards issue. Anyway, have saved all the details, look forward to the ongoing negotiation.
If there is some incorrect data in there somewhere then it will continue to behave the same way until it is fixed. Accidental error is far more likely than deliberate miselling, and they are not bound to honour genuine mistakes.
If there is some incorrect data in there somewhere then it will continue to behave the same way until it is fixed. Accidental error is far more likely than deliberate miselling, and they are not bound to honour genuine mistakes.
Not sure how advertising a price on your website (and a follow up ‘did you forget something’ email quoting the same price) can be classed as a “genuine mistake”. More like mis-selling or false advertising. Or a website that is not fit for purpose. Which it’s not as I can’t even book the flights I want.
If you use a system like google flights do you see other OTAs with such a good price too?
If you can, I found the Amex travel website is a good way to check if a price is actually bookeable (for instance when you use ITA matrix to create a trip and then want to book for real).
Have you tried paying the deposit for the price to lock it in for 24 hours? Then calling to pay the full fee? That might get it through
Funnily enough, I’ve been having the same problem. A saw a similar comment on FlyerTalk as well. Even BA was unable to book the flights.
IT SNAFU ?
If you use a system like google flights do you see other OTAs with such a good price too?
If you can, I found the Amex travel website is a good way to check if a price is actually bookeable (for instance when you use ITA matrix to create a trip and then want to book for real).
There’s definitely PE flights available near that price at the end of October showing on Google Flights. NCL-DFW-MTY. £1287 on BA and £1924 book on American.
If you use a system like google flights do you see other OTAs with such a good price too?
If you can, I found the Amex travel website is a good way to check if a price is actually bookeable (for instance when you use ITA matrix to create a trip and then want to book for real).
There’s definitely PE flights available near that price at the end of October showing on Google Flights. NCL-DFW-MTY. £1287 on BA and £1924 book on American.
Avaialability doesn’t seem to be the issue, it’s the purchasing where things fall apart. My experience is the same, multiple attempts at selecting everything, entering credit card details for the deposit and then at the point where it starts to take the payment it throws up a red message saying that none of the flights are available.
Clearing the cookies, using a different browser: same outcome.
Yes all falls apart at purchasing so tricks like clearing cookies etc not working either. Didn’t think to try booking with AA … flights are now showing up at more than double the original price (almost £4K), same on AA. BA were supposed to contact me yesterday but didn’t.
The agent did hold the flights and gave me a booking reference and the flights are showing up in my bookings on the app. I received a ‘don’t let these flights get away’ email *after* the flights were held so let’s see if they’ll honour it …
Thanks for all the tips. This has now been resolved. Seems the issue was the codeshare AA flight from LHR-DFW which was showing availability for discounted PE fare but disappeared from the system when agent tried to book.
Spoke to a *very* helpful agent (Omar?) from the Newcastle call centre (always the best service) who, after trying a lot of workarounds, got me on a flight via IAH for the same price. Irritatingly it required a connection back to DFW to pick up the same flight to MTY I was originally trying to book (!)
Didn’t fancy the extra leg so will book a separate direct flight to MTY with UA. (Though means losing 2 flights towards my total to retain silver so might reconsider).
Thanks for the update @rolo55. What a nuisance that BA can’t sell the flights that it proposes as part of an itinerary. I’ll give them a call next week. Or give someone a call. To be honest, the nuisance of dealing with BA’s IT doesn’t make me want to bother!
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