Originally Posted by Capetonian
I called BA on behalf of a close friend who for compassionate reasons (genuine) needed to change the inbound sector on a Premium Economy long haul. These are people who as a family have spent over £50,000 per annum with the airline over the last few years and two of whom are Gold Card holders.
Unfortunately, the cold, dispassionate reality is that BA (and no doubt every other major airline) receive multiple requests for compassionate ticket changes every day. I've known of a number of genuine requests supported by documentary evidence (bereavement or sudden hospitalisation of a family member for example) be actioned swiftly with BA pulling out all the stops to help. In contrast there are plenty of requests which are unsupported and are likely to be an attempt to avoid the change fee on a highly-discounted non-flexible fare. These requests come from the full range of customers. How is BA to tell the difference?