Help with BA Tickets/Opodo Booking

littlereddevil

Anytime I have travelled to a country where a visa is required this has always been checked fully when I check in in the Uk. I had friends refused boarding to India because they hadn't got correct entry visas for india.

M4RKM

i know a pilgrimage is exactly that, and your fare you have is for leisure, but isn't the pilgrimage something you're doing in your leisure time, therefore they can't really say it's not for leisure?

or am in interpreting the rules in your favour... ?!

jr064

doodi_dealer.
did you manage to resolve this issue ?
i am now in the same predicament as you. spoke to ba and they say all is fine. spoke to masterfare (BA GSA agents) and they say if BA say it is ok, then it is ok, but i may still be refused boarding ! what is this all about ?? let me know how you got on and what stage you are at the moment, as it would help me enormously !

doodi_dealer

Hi All

It has been a rollercoaster. I have started an online petition online against these money making scam...but im a new member so i cant post links

lorweld

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bellyjaby

doodi_dealer wrote: »

I will get in touch with the embassy, who are closed at the moment. Although i already know this is nothing to do with the embassy.

I only have one passport, which i will take with me to T5 Heathrow when i travel. I just want to find out if i'm going to be sent home on the basis of having a pilgrimage visa, even though it will be a valid visa from the Saudi Embassy.

I have spoken to BA numerous times, and they have told me on the telephone everything is fine and i have even recorded one of those conversations. However, they refuse to confirm this in writing. The last letter i received from customer relations said, we can confirm your flights but we cannot confirm it will enable you to join the pilgrimage. Which makes no sense!

If anyone could advise me which avenues i could take to get the result i want, i would be really grateful. All i want to know is if my ticket is valid or not in writing. If it is invalid, then i'll take it further from there as that is another matter altogether.

Hi,

I am not a lawyer and I don't know how much this will help but I have been having huge problems with the same company, so have been reading up a little bit about legal rights etc.

1. A verbal contract is as legally binding as a written contract but is obviously more difficult to prove. If you speak to BA again to reconfirm that you are fine to fly on this ticket for the purpose you state, note the time you have called and ask for the name of the person you are speaking to etc. Keep a record of everything.

2. You could get advice from a third party - perhaps Citizens Advice or the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

3. Send a recorded delivery letter to said company (address can be found on the ATOL website under "Check an ATOL") letting them know of any correspondences etc and that 3rd party mediation may be used if you do not receive a fair resolution.

4. I don't know if your MP can advise you, especially if there is any question of religious discrimination.

I don't know if this will help but good luck. Hopefully we will both get somewhere.

doodi_dealer

Hi

I can confirm i have a recording of the telephone conversation in which BA clearly told me my ticket is perfectly valid, even with a pilgrimage visa. I have even got all the relevant bits of info i need in that conversation recorded.

I can also confirm i have two pieces of written confirmation from BA. One which was addressed directly to me, and another which was addressed to my local MP; both stating my tickets are perfectly valid, even with a pilgrimage visa.

Although Opodo - who sold me the tickets - still insist my tickets are invalid. I took advice from Consumer Direct - and just as you advised - all my correspondence was either sent via recorded delivery and recorded if done on the telephone.

The strange thing is, i discovered the person from Opodo who keeps insisting i take a full refund - which was offered to me when now things are just too late to change - and go to Masterfare because BA have told him my tickets are invalid has been corresponding with the SAME person from BA who told me in writing my tickets are totally fine. Which only leaves me with one suspicison, which is that the Opodo customer service rep has been lying to me all the way long and he must be getting some sort of commission from Masterfare; because BA did not tell him my tickets are invalid at all. To further add, when i asked the Opodo rep to give me all this in writing, he refused.

bellyjaby, what problems with BA are you having? Same as mine?

bellyjaby

Congratulations, that is great to hear.

My problem is that we were due to fly to USA this week for our own wedding reception (we got married in the UK but my husband is from US and we were going to celebrate over there) but, to cut a very long story short, due to marriage Visa not coming through in time we are having to cancel.

Opodo terms state that my ticket is non-refundable BUT that it can be changed up to the day before travel to a different date for an admin fee. I called to change to Easter only to be told that I could only use my ticket up to the end of August this year (and with tickets for August now being more than double the cost of when I booked, I would be charges the difference), even though the terms set out by BA and AA (American Airlines would be the actual carrier) in their terms say I have up to a year to use the ticket. When I pointed out that this was not in the contract Opodo told me that "Yes, we leave it out of our terms and conditions because it would be too much information for people". They told me they had done everything they could but that the airlines themselves were refusing to let me fly.

I will of course be following it up. They told me it was not worth contacting the airlines directly...but I think I will be ignoring that little bit of advice, if your case is anything to go by.

Oh, opodo did call back to say, "There is something we can do. We can move your flights to a different airline...but it will cost you £700...but, as a gesture of good will we will not charge our admin fee." When I looked up flights for Easter, what would you know, the cost of booking completely new flights was £700. So, they were just going to make me book more flights with them and not charge me their amendment fee.

There's something not right about all this. I am starting the process of registering a complaint etc and have a plan of action but any ideas from anyone would be welcome.

But, well done again for exercising your rights as a consumer as I intend to with mine. I think the hope is that people will give up before they get this far but it is so wrong that this is happening. I think consumers have so much more protection under the law than companies will allow us to believe.

bellyjaby

P.S. Presumably since it is BA you will be dealing with when you turn up at the airport and you have the letter from BA you will be allowed to fly?!

jetboy

I'd say the authorities are more interested in the reason you coming than than the fare code on the ticket. As long as you have a ticket to leave within the visa expiry limits I wouldn't think they'd care. If opodo have put a narritive on the ticket about pilgrimage then it may get more interesting but I'm guessing they haven't.