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Hello
So I got an email from BA saying that my flight to TYO in April had a schedule change. It’s now departing 15 mins later, still landing at the original time. The email says that if I’m not happy I can call in to change flight.
I’m pretty sure they won’t swap me on a flight the day before, but as I’m flying first, do I get special treatment? I have a feeling the answer is still no, but before I call in and waste my time I just wanted to check here. 🙂
Thank you
I think BA only allows change of flight if the time change is for a lot more than 15 minutes. Not sure I’d want to change anything for 15 minutes. Taxiing at LHR takes longer than that.
The only reason I would do it is to leave a day earlier and secure seats with avios when there’s no availability.
I think it used to be 2 hours and might be 4 hours now, before a change allows you to move flights. That said, if you can come up with a good reason why that 15 minute change is impossible for you then you might be able to persuade them….
It used to be as little as a five minute change (used that in 2018) and I also benefitted from a change in the flight number when the timings remained identical (LCY-EDI) in 2020 pre-pandemic. It also allowed you to change the return leg FOC.
But as Matt says they changed the threshold. Interesting that they said “if this doesn’t work, call”. I’d be tempted to give it a go, Worst they can say is no.
The ‘call for other flights’ message is entirely generic and makes no difference to what you are or aren’t entitled to.
I did get a free change after a 30 minute reschedule last year, on the grounds that it made it uncomfortably tight to catch the last train home. It was already marginal, which was a calculated risk I’d taken, but would certainly never have chosen to book half an hour later.
The official guidelines for a free change (or move to a flight without Avios availability) require a schedule change of over two hours unless on a same day return, joining/leaving a cruise or the time change rendering a connection invalid.
That’s what I thought. I could still play dumb and call up and see what they say… will think about it. Thank you!
Had a time change for return LHR-SFO a couple of years ago on a cash F flight – only a few hours. Quick call to First and not only did they change the flight but also allowed us to change the return from SFO to LAX. These were cheap cash tickets.
I suspect that because the SFO return was mostly full they were happy to change to the “less busy” LAX flight. Or maybe we just got lucky. But as our family mantra says… “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”.
I have a booking now that changed domestic time by an hour (earlier) and it is giving me the option to rebook. This was in September and flight is not till march but will let me select new flights free of charge.
My advice is check your booking on the website as that’s where my message to rearrange appears
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