Flight - Paid for partial Business Class but received Premium Economy

JohnWstr

Having not been abroad since before Covid we decided to book a trip to the states.  On Expedia, we searched return flights Newcastle to Chicago and found the flight we wanted - Newcastle to Heathrow, Heathrow to Ohare.  The on page link that exposed the full details of the flight indicated that the entire outgoing leg was a Business Class fare while the inbound was entirely Premium Economy.  I took a screenshot of the outgoing details before clicking 'Buy Now' and making the purchase.  As soon as the confirmations came through from BA and Expedia, I noticed that the the Heathrow to Ohare leg had changed to Premium Economy.  Expedia are telling us there's nothing they can help with as the fare (although booked with Expedia) was booked on BA's system.  We cannot get to speak to anyone at BA - every option we've tried results in being automatically cut off.  I've gone back to Expedia and asked them to escalate the case which they said they would do and get back to us within 72 hours.  A week later we're no further forward.

I feel as though we've been robbed.  We made a purchase based on information provided by Expedia and currently will not receive what we believe we have paid for.  If Expedia won't help and BA won't take a call, what can we do?  DO we have any recourse?

Westin

Do you have the screen shot to share?  (Blank out any personal information).

From your e-ticket, what fare class is showing?  (E.g. W)

daveyjp

Time for something in writing to Expedia with copies of your evidence.  If you paid by credit card get them involved.

However Expedia may just offer a refund, you are then in a position of no flights and (from my experience) rapidly increasing transatlantic prices.

It is another example of why sites such as Expedia should be used for research and bookings made directly with the airline. 

JohnWstr

@Westin as it was pre purchase, it was not an e ticket at that point, but it's fare class I and we clicked 'Check out' based on that information.  We didn't go back to that fare later, we saw it, screenshot it, purchased it.  Partial screenshot shown

JohnWstr

The e ticket received shows fare class E

Westin

British Airways have 22 fare classes split over their cabins.

Club World revenue fare classes are J, C, D, R and I.   ‘I’ being the cheaper discounted CW fare class.

Your ‘E’ class is a fare class in their World Traveller Plus cabin.

Your screen shot would support a Club World fare and cabin.  For the NCL/LHR sector you would be in Club Europe.

I would definitely raise and dispute with Expedia and it is very handy that you took that screen shot.

Issue however might be as daveyjp says,  Expedia may just offer a refund which probably won’t help you secure your Club World seat.  

bagand96

Out of interest, was the fare for Business on Expedia significantly different (cheaper) than on BA and other travel agents?

JohnWstr

Expedia have just got back to me after over a week and simply stated (again) that there's nothing they can do and to contact British Airways to cancel and refund.

Cancelling and refunding the flights isn't much use as we've got hotels booked.  I guess we've just been shafted.

bagand96

Depends how much you want to do. Expedia are talking nonsense saying to ask BA for a refund as the flight is likely non-refundable, and BA wouldn't deal with you anyway as you booked via an agent.

You could upgrade your flight to Business is BA will let you and try and reclaim the cost from Expedia. Or tell Expedia you wish to cancel for a full refund. You could try a Letter Before Action and then small claims court to achieve this. The LBA might spur Expedia into some action.

If you paid by credit card you could take it up with them under section 75. However it will depend if Expedia actually charged you or BA did, check your statement.

Was the price with Expedia significantly cheaper than with BA or other agents for the same itinerary? 

Westin

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the flight?

Searching today on Expedia for your routing I was getting £4k plus for Club World and £1.7k for Premium Economy.  The correct cabins were shown by Expedia with NCL LHR in Economy and LHR ORD in either Club World or Premium Economy.

I wonder if this was an error fare for Club World/I that was pulled from BA.  Expedia wouldn't be loading the fare.

It does seem that Expedia are just trying to wash their hands of the matter.  As bagand96 states, BA won't wish to deal with you.

If clearly not a mistake fare then I think it worth taking further. I won't wish to accept Economy/Premium Economy if I had just paid upwards of £4k return.

JohnWstr

Thanks everyone for the comments/suggestions.  I very nearly got sorted out but it all went pear shaped around 30 mins ago...

After several failed attempts to get through to BA and multiple calls to Expedia being fobbed off:

We received another message from Expedia this AM saying they could do nothing and we had to deal with BA, so I spoke to BA, was given an e mail address to forward evidence to.  I received a reply from BA at lunchtime to say the department couldn't help - call BA customer services.  Another 40 minute call to BA who were adamant that regardless of anything Expedia said, BA could do nothing and Expedia must resolve it.  Finally I got someone to listen at Expedia and I insisted that BA couldn't help me and that Expedia would have to deal with BA on my behalf.

Expedia having looked at my evidence again agreed that if they could speak to BA, price and price an upgrade, They would pass the call to me for payment and I would be refunded by Expedia immediately. Result...or so I thought.  To do the full outgoing flight Business we'd have to fly the following day at $6,000 extra which would be refunded.  I didn't want to change all other plans.  They then thought they could do the same flight if I downgraded to economy NCL to LHR while upgrading LHR to ORD to business which was fine by me.  We got all the way to BA making the change and it fell through as BA's agent was unable to get the fare to save on their system.  That last call was 3 hours in length!

So I've now got to try again in a few days or try to pay for an upgrade at the airport for which everything logged against my itinerary and I'll get a refund.  I think it's unlikely that I'll get the upgrade now but at least I know I've done all I can rather than just roll over and accept the mistake.