Dont be tempted to find an alternative flight unless youre prepared to waive your full refund

dbottoms

Just been through a long process of trying to get a full refund out of BA after they cancelled my flight back in 2020. As the flight was 'key' to getting me and my family down to London to start a package holiday (ie just connecting flight), I was desparate to try and find an alternative flight and the one BA suggested would have meant I would have missed my connection. Told them I would try and find a suitable alternative flight - they said fine. By travelling the prevous evening I thought we could be ok, so checked out the flights from Newcastle to Heathrow - advised only a few tickets left - do you believe them or not?  - but thought I would reserve them on the basis that I could back out if I needed to.

When I discovered the overnight accommodation costs at Heathrow were eye-watering - decided the flights would not be a realistic alternative. Tried to claim a full refund only to find by agreeing to an alternative flight, I had effectively waived goodbye to it. BA's view was although they were responsible for cancelling the original flight, once I took over trying to find an alternative, I was then responsible for cancelling the replacement flight booking. I was (and still am) pretty peeved - I felt this should have been made clear when I was in phone discussions with them about alternative flights. Took my complaint to the CEDR but they took the view that it was all in the small print and no reason for BA to point this out to me. Think its the end of the line for the dispute now.

 

Personally I feel if you need to look for an alternative flight because your 'carrier' is responsible for the cancellation of your flight - if within a given timespan (1-2 days) you find that alternative flights that seemed ok and were booked on the basis that only a few tickets remaining - should you need to back out you can do so with a full refund - similar to any other purchase where you are allowed a cooling off period. If this were not feasible I certainly think the carrier should be proactive in letting you know that you risk losing a full refund of you reserve and alternative flight and then back out.

Anyhow just thought others should know and interested in any comments ?

Sandtree

In normal times, absolutely what I'd expect... you've multiple resolutions and after you've selected one you are locked to it, you cannot chop and change. You can't agree to have a discounted refund when your 2 year old TV dies, wait for them to take it away and then tell them you've changed your mind and you'd rather them repair it instead.

Given you are talking about covid times however I'd expect their covid promise to apply so you could cancel for a voucher or change it for free. Not an automatic refund unless you'd originally booked a flexible ticket.

onashoestring

Did you actually cancel the Newcastle to Heathrow flights when you changed your mind - or were you a no show ? 

Sandtree

onashoestring said:

Did you actually cancel the Newcastle to Heathrow flights when you changed your mind - or were you a no show ? 

Sounds like they rebooked after BA cancelled the original flight, then went to book a hotel and thought it was too expensive and so went back to BA to say they've changed their mind so can they undo the rebooking and instead take the original offer of a refund instead at which point BA said no.

Its not clear what happened after this but the OP believes it should be made clear that choosing between rebooking or a refund is final and you cannot revise your decision later.

CKhalvashi

Sandtree said:

onashoestring said:

Did you actually cancel the Newcastle to Heathrow flights when you changed your mind - or were you a no show ? 

Sounds like they rebooked after BA cancelled the original flight, then went to book a hotel and thought it was too expensive and so went back to BA to say they've changed their mind so can they undo the rebooking and instead take the original offer of a refund instead at which point BA said no.

Its not clear what happened after this but the OP believes it should be made clear that choosing between rebooking or a refund is final and you cannot revise your decision later.

There's a severe lack of clarity here.

If a changed flight had been accepted (effectively changing the start location in this case) then this would be a contractual issue with BA and subject to normal procedures.

Again, if OP simply didn't arrive for their flight this would be contractual.

OP should have left it 'on hold' and then dealt with the other elements before getting back to BA. It sounds unfortunately like they may not have done, but this again will need to be clarified.

Sandtree

CKhalvashi said:

Sandtree said:

onashoestring said:

Did you actually cancel the Newcastle to Heathrow flights when you changed your mind - or were you a no show ? 

Sounds like they rebooked after BA cancelled the original flight, then went to book a hotel and thought it was too expensive and so went back to BA to say they've changed their mind so can they undo the rebooking and instead take the original offer of a refund instead at which point BA said no.

Its not clear what happened after this but the OP believes it should be made clear that choosing between rebooking or a refund is final and you cannot revise your decision later.

There's a severe lack of clarity here.

If a changed flight had been accepted (effectively changing the start location in this case) then this would be a contractual issue with BA and subject to normal procedures.

Again, if OP simply didn't arrive for their flight this would be contractual.

OP should have left it 'on hold' and then dealt with the other elements before getting back to BA. It sounds unfortunately like they may not have done, but this again will need to be clarified.

They stated that their original flight had been cancelled and BA's suggestion was a later flight that didn't work for the OP. They therefore found a flight that worked for them leaving the day before but therefore necessitated the overnight stay. 

I'm all for find alternative meanings, seeing the gaps in the story etc but in principle this is one of the clearer stories other than for the lack of the ultimate outcome.

It seems straightforward that they think that if you decide not to leave it "on hold" that they think you should be cautioned that the decision is irreversible. I personally dont agree and think its user error and no different to booking a non-refundable flight to the Maldives for 2 weeks and then realising you cannot get an over water villa for £50 a night so thinking the airline should allow a cancellation. 

CKhalvashi

Sandtree said:

CKhalvashi said:

Sandtree said:

onashoestring said:

Did you actually cancel the Newcastle to Heathrow flights when you changed your mind - or were you a no show ? 

Sounds like they rebooked after BA cancelled the original flight, then went to book a hotel and thought it was too expensive and so went back to BA to say they've changed their mind so can they undo the rebooking and instead take the original offer of a refund instead at which point BA said no.

Its not clear what happened after this but the OP believes it should be made clear that choosing between rebooking or a refund is final and you cannot revise your decision later.

There's a severe lack of clarity here.

If a changed flight had been accepted (effectively changing the start location in this case) then this would be a contractual issue with BA and subject to normal procedures.

Again, if OP simply didn't arrive for their flight this would be contractual.

OP should have left it 'on hold' and then dealt with the other elements before getting back to BA. It sounds unfortunately like they may not have done, but this again will need to be clarified.

They stated that their original flight had been cancelled and BA's suggestion was a later flight that didn't work for the OP. They therefore found a flight that worked for them leaving the day before but therefore necessitated the overnight stay. 

I'm all for find alternative meanings, seeing the gaps in the story etc but in principle this is one of the clearer stories other than for the lack of the ultimate outcome.

It seems straightforward that they think that if you decide not to leave it "on hold" that they think you should be cautioned that the decision is irreversible. I personally dont agree and think its user error and no different to booking a non-refundable flight to the Maldives for 2 weeks and then realising you cannot get an over water villa for £50 a night so thinking the airline should allow a cancellation. 

Sorry Sandtree, I think you're right here and I'd misinterpreted the 'connecting flight' part.

I agree that the BA Covid policies should apply in this case, which should have resulted in an FTV for the OP.

In addition, flights are specifically excluded from any cooling off period due to the price volatility they can have. I'm peeved about paying £17.99 last week for a flight that's now £8.99, but unfortunately that's life and there's nothing I can do about it.