[rossy123]

The thought did cross my mind!!

[rossy123]

Thank you for the very quick reply!

[rossy123]

@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.

[rossy123]

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….

[rossy123]

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.

[rossy123]

Flew back from JFK yesterday and we did it in 5.50. it was pretty smooth for most of the flight too. Glad I didn’t take the paid upgrade to Upper this time as there was little time for a nap!

Looking on flight radar, the fastest we’re on Monday – one virgin flight did it in 5.28!

[rossy123]

Thanks all – I thought it might be something to do with the recent change in the way you earn avios but wasn’t sure. It’s just strange that the other two holidays bookings show correctly but if others are experiencing the same thing then it’s more likely a glitch in the BA matrix!

[rossy123]

Thanks all – following your replies I called the Gold line to save some embarrassment and was passed to the UC team as none of the regular handlers knew the answer (my kids are 8 and 13). They actually spoke to the supervisor at the wing and confirmed it would be fine. They were really nice about it and went out their way to answer the question so I hope this helps others on the forum!