MSE News: BA cancels passengers' cheap tickets to Middle East blaming 'exceptionally rare' pricing e 18 June 2018 at 4:56PM in Flights, Currency & Car Hire 12 replies 3.1K views

Former_MSE_Megan_F

Travellers who snapped up bargain British Airways flights to the Middle East have had their tickets cancelled, after the airline claimed it got the fares wrong...

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'BA cancels passengers' cheap tickets to Middle East blaming 'exceptionally rare' pricing error'

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fifeken

MSEers affected here already.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5857063

VT82

If it is as few customers affected as BA is trying to spin it, they would have been better off just honouring the tickets (offside by, what, £300 per ticket max, less the compensation they are now paying anyway?) than taking the PR hit. My guess is there are a lot more tickets sold than they are letting on.

harshitguptaiitr

If BA canceled flight within 24 hour of booking then I don't think there is much a customer can do.
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If BA canceled the flight AFTER 24 hours of booking, then BA MUST honor the contract or pay for cancelled booking, consequential losses in form of cash and not travel vouchers.

Although how can BA claim this is a rare pricing error? It is well known among travelers that flight prices are dynamic and hence a rare cheap price would look like a deal and not a pricing error that the customer should have spotted. If a passenger books a ticket at higher price, can he/she cancels it because it was a rare pricing error and usually the tickets are cheaper?

CKhalvashi

harshitguptaiitr wrote: »

If BA canceled flight within 24 hour of booking then I don't think there is much a customer can do.
.

If BA canceled the flight AFTER 24 hours of booking, then BA MUST honor the contract or pay for cancelled booking, consequential losses in form of cash and not travel vouchers.

Although how can BA claim this is a rare pricing error? It is well known among travelers that flight prices are dynamic and hence a rare cheap price would look like a deal and not a pricing error that the customer should have spotted. If a passenger books a ticket at higher price, can he/she cancels it because it was a rare pricing error and usually the tickets are cheaper?

In addition to this, I can’t see how ‘£2-300’ for a flight to Tel Aviv is particularly cheap. Wizz come in at £145 and Easy at £237 for a return flight on random dates next month.

On similar dates Virgin to Dubai come in at £342. BA want almost £500.

So it’s may have been rare, but certainly not exceptional, and the prices weren’t that low in reality compared to other carriers.

silvercar

CKhalvashi wrote: »

In addition to this, I can’t see how ‘£2-300’ for a flight to Tel Aviv is particularly cheap. Wizz come in at £145 and Easy at £237 for a return flight on random dates next month.

On similar dates Virgin to Dubai come in at £342. BA want almost £500.

So it’s may have been rare, but certainly not exceptional, and the prices weren’t that low in reality compared to other carriers.

Exceptional for BA, though not for other carriers.

silvercar

If BA canceled the flight AFTER 24 hours of booking, then BA MUST honor the contract or pay for cancelled booking, consequential losses in form of cash and not travel vouchers.

Not true. An airline would not be liable for consequential loss in these circumstances. They will refund and apparently are also offering a £100 voucher

magyar

silvercar wrote: »

Not true. An airline would not be liable for consequential loss in these circumstances. They will refund and apparently are also offering a £100 voucher

I'm not sure why that would be the case. Under common law, a company is liable for consequential loss that it either knew about or should reasonably have expected to know about. So if someone missed out on a huge business deal because BA didn't get them to Tel Aviv, BA couldn't have know about that. But it's perfectly reasonable to assume that after receiving a confirmed booking for a flight, someone might book a hotel somewhere - in which case covering any cancellation fees would be reasonable.

A £100 voucher is effectively worthless if you can't use it - which appears to be the case.

shlom

I've just received an email from my OTA asking me to choose between a full refund or a full refund plus voucher??? Surely the choice is obvious, why are they asking, what are they playing at??? Are they just trying to make me the one to settle so i can no longer complain???

Caz3121

shlom wrote: »

I've just received an email from my OTA asking me to choose between a full refund or a full refund plus voucher??? Surely the choice is obvious, why are they asking, what are they playing at??? Are they just trying to make me the one to settle so i can no longer complain???

not everyone will want to book another BA flight through the same agent before end July. There is no physical voucher, the agent will deduct the £100 from the new booking. I guess they are asking whether you are going to be making a replacement booking

magyar

Caz3121 wrote: »

not everyone will want to book another BA flight through the same agent before end July. There is no physical voucher, the agent will deduct the £100 from the new booking. I guess they are asking whether you are going to be making a replacement booking

You're probably right, but it is a rather sneaky way of getting you to agree you've 'accepted compensation'.

There's a long thread on Flyertalk about this.