BA: 250% Fare Increase Due to New Covid Restriction—Extortionate or Just Bad Luck?

DuckMcScrooge

Just before Christmas Germany put the UK on their red list with very little notice so I needed to bring forward my flight. I was expecting to have to pay a bit more but £250 extra for just one leg of the flight when the original return fare was £200? I contacted BA customer service three times but was given nothing—not even a £10 voucher. I think there should be a cap on such increases, especially when the reason for the change is to do with something like COVID which is outside of anyone's control. 

What do you think? Is this extortionate or do I just need to "suck it up"? I really feel like never flying with BA again but maybe you've had similar experiences with other carriers as well and as travellers we're simply powerless. 

Sandtree

Why are you looking at one way rather than a return? 

BA don't do the two singles approach like some budget airlines and so you can find a one way ticket (especially if into the UK) can be as much as a return

Westin

I guess demand and available seats very quickly fill up the planes before the travel restriction came into place.  You presumably accepted the price when you rescheduled your travel.  I can't see that anything can be done about this now.

Thrugelmir

 DuckMcScrooge said:

J I think there should be a cap on such increases, especially when the reason for the change is to do with something like COVID which is outside of anyone's control. 

Who pays then? Cost of aviation fuel has rocketed in past 12 months. 

Grumpy_chap

Wonder if it will be a return of the days of the fuel surcharge.

eskbanker

DuckMcScrooge said:

I contacted BA customer service three times but was given nothing—not even a £10 voucher. I think there should be a cap on such increases

If everyone who felt that ticket prices were too high decided to contact the airline repeatedly about it, then their overheads would keep increasing - see if you can guess what that would do to ticket prices....

Westin

Grumpy_chap said:

Wonder if it will be a return of the days of the fuel surcharge.

That’s a thought that recently crossed my mind as well.

I am not sure the old fuel surcharges were ever dropped.  I think the charges morphed into ‘carrier imposed surcharges’ or similar.

Upsidedownandaround

DuckMcScrooge said:

Just before Christmas Germany put the UK on their red list with very little notice so I needed to bring forward my flight. I was expecting to have to pay a bit more but £250 extra for just one leg of the flight when the original return fare was £200? I contacted BA customer service three times but was given nothing—not even a £10 voucher. I think there should be a cap on such increases, especially when the reason for the change is to do with something like COVID which is outside of anyone's control. 

What do you think? Is this extortionate or do I just need to "suck it up"? I really feel like never flying with BA again but maybe you've had similar experiences with other carriers as well and as travellers we're simply powerless. 

If there was a cap on such increases then your original £200 return flight would no longer exist and you would have paid more in the first place for your flight.

You don't get cheap fares at low demand times booked in advance if you place a cap on increases at high demand times booking on very little notice.

They also wouldn't offer things like flight change fee waivers or future travel vouchers.

I know what system I'd prefer.

Grumpy_chap

Westin said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Wonder if it will be a return of the days of the fuel surcharge.

That’s a thought that recently crossed my mind as well.

I am not sure the old fuel surcharges were ever dropped.  I think the charges morphed into ‘carrier imposed surcharges’ or similar.

As this article explains (or not):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35311224

Let's hope the airlines don't try to impose a fuel surcharge on top of the carried imposed surcharge 

mattyprice4004

It’s demand based pricing, and how many businesses operate. 

Lots of demand for the same reason as you wanted the flight plus short notice = higher ticket price. 

DuckMcScrooge

Thanks a lot for everyone's opinions. I think I now understand the business (numbers) side of it, but still feel as part of the "flexible Coronavirus pricing policy" BA advertised, there could have been a cap on any price differences during (and in this cased related to) the pandemic. 

I've now booked the same route with Eurowings to make me feel better. Won't be bothering with an online petition though after the reactions here...plus the proverbial horse is already galloping away!