Group Booking with BA - Catch 22

[Ancient Observer]

I am on a package holiday to Barcelona later this week. The only BA booking ref that I have is a Group booking ref. If I enter that on the BA/BA Exec Club website it tells me that I have to talk to the tour operator to get a specific booking reference.
BA website says...."Sorry. As this booking is for a large group we are unable to display it online. Please contact your local British Airways office or Travel Agent."

I rang BA who said that they could do nothing, and that the tour operator needed to give me a more specific booking reference if I wanted to do online check in, or select a seat.

I rang the Tour Operator who talked to their flights people who said that they could do nothing.....

Anyone in the Trade out there who could help me with this Catch 22???

[Hartington]

Is the reference you have a six character code, a mixture of letters and numbers?

Group bookings have a number of unique features in a reservation system. Because of the nature of the contract between the airline and the operator they don't want individual passengers calling and changing flights (that's not what you want to do but...). Thus all comunication should go via the agency/operator. What will usually happen is that the airline will assign all the seats in a block although special requests can be entered in the booking by the operator (but are not guaranteed). But not all operators are totally switched on or copoperative.

Then there is the issue of locking and unlocking the booking. It's possible for 2 terminals to LOOK at the same booking simultaneously but only 1 can update it. With a normal booking (9 or less people) there is some risk of two people trying to checkin separately but I suspect it is considered manageable because 1 will get a try again in a minute. A group can be 99 (or more, depends on the booking system) which could cause more problems. Once you get to the airport you are no longer in reservations but departure control which is a different kettle of fish.

[Tableview]

It is not true that they are unable to display a group booking unless the agent has a sign limited them from doing so - which would be rather unusual. My guess is that either procedurally they won't do this, or that the agent has not been properly trained.

A group booking in BA will have, as Hartington says, a 6 character record locator. There will be a group name when the booking is created, for example 30BARCELONATOUR and as the individual names are assigned the unassigned group name will change, so if we add Mr and Mrs Smith, to use a very original example, then it will become 0.28BARCELONATOUR and 1.1SMITH/FRED 2.1SMITH/ANNE. Normally 30 days before departure the names are required so the group name becomes 0BARCELONATOUR and there are 30 individual names.

In the passenger list, the group name in displayed with a G next to it and the individuals comprising the group are displayed with an N next to them.

The original record locator remains the same unless passengers are split off.

In order to retrieve Mr. Smith, who is part of that group, the agent only needs to make the normal retrieval entry, comprising flight number, date, and name, and it will retrieve the group PNR of which he is part. Therefore, what you have been told is :mad:

[Ancient Observer]

Yes, I have the 6 character code. (But only the Group one)
Thanks for your inputs. It seems to me that the agent just cannot be bothered to help individuals.
It has gone to the trouble of collecting passport numbers etc., so the booking must now be in individual names, and we leave on Thursday this week, so we are well within the 30 day period which you mention..

So much for me being able to log in and select a seat....which is a shame, as being over 6 foot I do like to get an aisle seat when in cattle class in Europe.

[Hartington]

Another thought just occurred. BA run their groups through "preferred agencies" in the UK. This means that all other agencies have to work via a preferred agency. It is therefore possible that you're dealing with an agency that is at the bottom of the pecking order.

[Ancient Observer]

I think you must be right. The Agency I'm using was very coy about its relationship with BA. They must be booking via another agency, who might not want to do the extra little bit of work to help human beings as it might impact their bottom line.....
I imangine it is only a nano-second of work as they have to input full names and all the passport details anyway.
I feel a stroppy letter coming on....

[Tableview]

It is possible that the agency may not have full access to the name list. It depends on the relationship.

[essouira]

I recently travelled on a group booking but insisted when we booked that the tour operator included our BA Exec numbers on our confirmation and e-tickets. I was then able to access the flight through the Exec club and choose my seat etc. Maybe I was just lucky but it must be worth trying as it did seem to work in my case.

[Tableview]

Yes, I have the 6 character code. (But only the Group one)

The record locator for the group is the same as that for the individual passengers, unless the booking has been split in which case there will be separate locators but they are all linked and visible on each record.

It seems to me that the agent just cannot be bothered to help individuals.
Now there's a surprise!
Anyway I see the OP will already have left so I hope all went well and that the trip to Barcelona was molt bé (and hopefully you didn't run into my mother-in-law!)

[Peter47]

I'm travelling in a group of ten and we are all making our own way to Terminal 5 next Saturday. I've typed my booking reference into ba.com but get the reply "Sorry. As this booking is for a large group we are unable to display it online. Please contact your local British Airways office or Travel Agent". Presumably once the leader has booked in I can check in at any desk and ask the agent to take my frequent flyer number.

[edi_local]

You shouldn't need to wait for the leader to check in. You should be able to just go along and check in once the flight is open.

Online check in may not work as they will have probably assigned the seats to your group in one section and they won't want you moving out of that section and breaking the group up. However if you ask to change your seat at check in then they are unlikely to say no. Your FF card should be added then too. You may not get the number of miles/tier points you expect as if it's a group booking and has used one of the Group Booking ticket classes then it may be low as you will have probably paid less than 10 individuals who booked the flight at the same time as you, so FF rewards will possibly reflect that.