BA - take care when booking

Becles

I booked some flights between Newcastle and Gatwick as connections for our recent holiday.

When we arrived at Newcastle, there was a problem checking in. My 2 sons both have names that begin with the letter J. When I'd made the booking, I'd accidentally entered DS1's name again, instead of DS2's, so there were 2 Joshua's on the booking, although the second one had DS2's DOB! It was an e-ticket, so there was no paper ticket issued to check the details, and I'd not noticed the mistake when I printed off the e-mail confirmation when booking.

At the airport, I was unable to check in until they had changed the name from Joshua to James. I was moved onto another desk, where a lady tapped on her PC for a couple of minutes. They charged me £25 to do this :eek:

I had no option but to pay, as they wouldn't let us travel without the name change, and we had to catch the holiday flight from Gatwick.

While I appreciate it's my mistake, I think £25 is an excessive charge for a job that took minutes to do.

Take care when booking as it will cost you if you make a mistake!

stratford_2

Not good, but at least it wasn't the £45 Ryanair charge for a name change!

Horasio

Sorry to hear about that - that is the trouble with any budget flying costs, they get you somehow to recoup any losses:(

richardw

Some airlines correct errors for free within 24 hours of booking, no frills airlines won't do this.

plane_boy2000

Granted that £25 does sound excessive, but it was your mistake. BA are generally quite good with things like that - have you tried emailing them to explain that you feel that the charge was excessive for a 2 minute job? My experience with there customer service is that they are pretty helpful and understanding. There is alink on their website.

WiseInvestor_2

It's not the physical time it takes to resolve your mistake that costs £25 but the time and resources to make such facilities available. BA could choose not to employ the agent who helped you, instead leaving you with a wasted ticket. Writing and maintaining the computing systems also costs money and is it fair to charge everyone else for your mistake? I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but I'd rather keep the low fares low and let those who need extra services/facilities pay for them.