British Airways seat booking refund

Ladylusiphur

Hi all,

For the past 2 months I've been trying to get a refund from British Airways without success.

The basic facts are these.

I booked and paid £35 for seats on 2 flights in September. One flight was fine and we were confirmed as receiving the seats we requested.
The other flight was a different story. When I tried looking at our booking online a few days later it said that we were 'unable to pre-book seats on this flight' however they had still taken the payment. (I have proof of 4 x £35 charges on my credit card statement)

After trying again several times before the holiday we tried online check-in but were even told there that we were unable to check in online for this flight. At the airport we were allocated 2 of the leftover seats in the middle of a centre row, and had a rather uncomfortable flight compared with the extra legroom ones we'd originally tried to pay for.

Since this happened I've complained to British Airways who originally said I couldn't have a refund because they couldn't find that I'd paid for seats. I then provided proof and after several exchanges they said it was up to American Airlines to refund as the flight was operated by them. They sent my complaint to AA but they said they had no evidence I booked seats either but that I was 'therefore not eligible for a refund'.

Getting nowhere I tried doing a chargeback via my credit card but they defended it saying that because I'd booked seats in economy and eventually did receive seats in the same cabin that I am not eligible for a refund. They only refund in cases where a booked seat or flight is cancelled apparently.

Now my question is, am I missing something or is there any way I might be able to argue my case? I think their defence that I was 'booked in economy' and 'received that' isn't valid, mainly because they can provide no evidence that any booking was made/taken by them. (I have two emails from BA stating no booking was made)
At no point does it appear I was EVER booked in economy, so they should never have taken the payment in the first place. To me this seems like a different scenario and perhaps I could argue my case along these lines?

Any suggestions would be gratefully received, particularly anyone who has had issues with BA. I've seen on other forums that they can be very unhelpful. I feel like I've wasted so much time but it's the principle now. I probably have no chance but I'll keep going!

wealdroam

Ladylusiphur wrote: »

Hi all,

For the past 2 months I've been trying to get a refund from British Airways without success.

The basic facts are these.

I booked and paid £35 for seats on 2 flights in September. One flight was fine and we were confirmed as receiving the seats we requested.
The other flight was a different story. When I tried looking at our booking online a few days later it said that we were 'unable to pre-book seats on this flight' however they had still taken the payment. (I have proof of 4 x £35 charges on my credit card statement)

After trying again several times before the holiday we tried online check-in but were even told there that we were unable to check in online for this flight. At the airport we were allocated 2 of the leftover seats in the middle of a centre row, and had a rather uncomfortable flight compared with the extra legroom ones we'd originally tried to pay for.

Since this happened I've complained to British Airways who originally said I couldn't have a refund because they couldn't find that I'd paid for seats. I then provided proof and after several exchanges they said it was up to American Airlines to refund as the flight was operated by them. They sent my complaint to AA but they said they had no evidence I booked seats either but that I was 'therefore not eligible for a refund'.

Getting nowhere I tried doing a chargeback via my credit card but they defended it saying that because I'd booked seats in economy and eventually did receive seats in the same cabin that I am not eligible for a refund. They only refund in cases where a booked seat or flight is cancelled apparently.

Now my question is, am I missing something or is there any way I might be able to argue my case? I think their defence that I was 'booked in economy' and 'received that' isn't valid, mainly because they can provide no evidence that any booking was made/taken by them. (I have two emails from BA stating no booking was made)
At no point does it appear I was EVER booked in economy, so they should never have taken the payment in the first place. To me this seems like a different scenario and perhaps I could argue my case along these lines?

Any suggestions would be gratefully received, particularly anyone who has had issues with BA. I've seen on other forums that they can be very unhelpful. I feel like I've wasted so much time but it's the principle now. I probably have no chance but I'll keep going!

Did they get you from A to B?

If so, why do you think they should refund you?

At best, they should perhaps compensate you in some way for not providing the seats you had booked, but as you appear not to have any confirmation on what seats you did book, that might be difficult too.

agrinnall

wealdroam wrote: »

Did they get you from A to B?

If so, why do you think they should refund you?

At best, they should perhaps compensate you in some way for not providing the seats you had booked, but as you appear not to have any confirmation on what seats you did book, that might be difficult too.

Less helpful than your usual answers. Have you misunderstood? You mention not getting the seats that were booked, but the issue is that the seats couldn't be booked. Don't you think that if you pay for something you should either get it or be given a refund? The OP paid for the ability to choose a seat (and has the evidence of charges for that) but wasn't able to make that choice. I'd expect £70 back. Edited to add: The ticket is what got the OP from A to B, the £35 extra was for seat choice and that service was not provided. Seems like an open and shut case to me.

OP, try a Letter Before Action to BA, although my experience of their customer service when trying to get money back was so bad that I no longer fly with them if it's being paid for with my money.

wealdroam

agrinnall wrote: »

The ticket is what got the OP from A to B, the £35 extra was for seat choice and that service was not provided. Seems like an open and shut case to me.

Ah, that helps with my understanding.

The original post certainly did not make that clear.

isplumm

Hi

Did you buy the ticket on the BA website?

This http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds

says that you should ask them for a refund - if they still refuse then I would go back to your cc.

Did you fill the form it talks about?

Mark

Ladylusiphur

Just providing an update just in case anybody has similar problems and needs help getting their money back.

After another unhelpful response from BA I send them a very strongly worded letter about how they were blaming American Airlines for something which was a fault in their system. Using very plain English I explained that if they couldn't book a seat on a plane they had no right to take payment for a booking. I can't be more basic than that!

At the same time I sent a letter to Barclaycard explaining the situation from my point of view, providing the email responses from BA which stated on 2 occasions that I had never had a seat booking, and therefore my argument was that they shouldn't have taken the payment in the first place, regardless of whether I eventually was given a seat at check-in or not. (Had BA contacted me prior to the flight to say 'we can't give you that seat but here is an alternative' then they'd have had a case I think, but they just took my money and did nothing)

I received a reply from Barclaycard who found in my favour and said 'We have investigated and have refunded the money onto your card. We consider the case closed and will not reverse this again'.

Hooray!

Then 2 days later got a 5th response from BA saying 'we have now forwarded your complaint to our refunds team to calculate your refund.'. Ha ha! Finally sending a letter in words a 10 yr old could understand seemed to have worked!
I emailed to say it was no longer necessary but thanks for understanding and please look into how this was able to happen in the first place.

Good result but far too long for British Airways to understand what was quite a simple error on their part.

SuperHan

Thanks for coming back with an update.


It may be worth noting though, your OP doesn't make it clear that the £35 was for the cost for choosing prebooked seats in addition to the ticket price... This may have exacerbated the issues you were having in getting a refund, particularly from the CC company (I assume BA would have known what the £35 was for).


But great news that you got it sorted in the end!

bubble_call

I was very interested in your post as I'm having similar problems with British Airways. I pre-booked a set for extra leg room and flew out on 30th Jan 2017 on a ten hour flight to Tobago only to discover that my in=flight entertainment that came with the seat wasn't working.

After several attempts to try and reset it without any success they then moved me to another seat that had extra leg room only to find that the in-flight screen didn't work either. They then offered to move me again to the back of the plane to seats that had no leg room which I refused.

I made my complaint to the Cabin Manager and requested a refund of the payment that I had paid for the seat. She submitted the necessary paperwork and on my return I had to make contact with British Airways via their online form.

I received a response last week full of apologies and understanding offering me 3,000 Avios to my account. As I have no intention of flying with British Airways again I replied stating that they had totally disregarded my request for a refund and that I did not want the Avios. They have now informed me that they cannot refund me as that is not their policy.
I'm due to call the customer relations department tomorrow to challenge this but in the meantime are you able to assist with any advice please.

Many thanks

isplumm

bubble_call wrote: »

I was very interested in your post as I'm having similar problems with British Airways. I pre-booked a set for extra leg room and flew out on 30th Jan 2017 on a ten hour flight to Tobago only to discover that my in=flight entertainment that came with the seat wasn't working.

After several attempts to try and reset it without any success they then moved me to another seat that had extra leg room only to find that the in-flight screen didn't work either. They then offered to move me again to the back of the plane to seats that had no leg room which I refused.

I made my complaint to the Cabin Manager and requested a refund of the payment that I had paid for the seat. She submitted the necessary paperwork and on my return I had to make contact with British Airways via their online form.

I received a response last week full of apologies and understanding offering me 3,000 Avios to my account. As I have no intention of flying with British Airways again I replied stating that they had totally disregarded my request for a refund and that I did not want the Avios. They have now informed me that they cannot refund me as that is not their policy.
I'm due to call the customer relations department tomorrow to challenge this but in the meantime are you able to assist with any advice please.

Many thanks

Hi

I am not sure that you are entitled to a refund of the seat cost - after all you got that seat - I realise that the tv didn't work, but I suspect that is not guaranteed! I suspect that 3000 avios points is the best you can expect to get.

Post on flyertalk - see what they say - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

Thanks Mark

takman

bubble_call wrote: »

...
After several attempts to try and reset it without any success they then moved me to another seat that had extra leg room only to find that the in-flight screen didn't work either. They then offered to move me again to the back of the plane to seats that had no leg room which I refused.

...

I'm not surprised you refused because if they had no leg room where are you supposed to put your legs?, in the aisle? :rotfl:

DoaM

I once had a problem on a BA flight (to Australia) with the audio jack at my seat only giving sound through one side of the headset. I dug out my repair tools from the overhead locker (remember those days, when you could take a tool roll onto a plane? ), dismantled the seat unit and found that a wire had come off the jack socket.

Unfortunately I didn't have a battery-powered soldering iron with me so I couldn't fix it. So they moved me to a Club class seat for the rest of the flight. :T