World's favourite airline - shysters!

[RedhillPhil]

As someone who did over forty one years on t'railway I always supressed a chuckle when people used to tell me that we ( t'railway) should aim for airline standards.
Last month I booked two return tickets to Athens for September. Total cost £468.40. It's now not possible to travel so I've just contacted B.A. to cancel the tickets. Naturally there will be an "admin fee" involved, say £30 per ticket perhaps.
I've received the princely sum of £76.56!

[Phileas Fogg]

My classic with BA was when I was booked LUX/LGW but they cancelled for commercial reasons (they claimed it to be technical reasons but I knew they were lying) and they involuntary rerouted me with LuxAir LUX/LHR and then National Express.

My bag had been so badly damaged it arrived LHR so wrapped in tape I barely recognised it, the handling agent completed a PIR telling me to contact the airline, LuxAir had no representation in UK, I was ticketed with BA so contacting BA they wanted nothing to do with me telling me to contact LuxAir.

I didn't get anywhere so the next, and final time, I flew with BA I took that same bag with me and made damn sure that I claimed for it being damaged upon my arrival.

What goes around comes around and BA have lost my custom as a result.

[bar none]

You probably booked a non refundable ticket and received a refund of the tax only.

[Hotel Tango]

Sorry Redhillphil but if you failed to note the restrictions that went with your fare (which is CLEARLY stated), you only have yourself to blame. It's nothing specific to BA, the same would apply with any other carrier unless you purchase a fully flexible refundable ticket. Do the railways refund non-refundable tickets?

[ExXB]

From BA Conditions of Carriage:

3) Tickets

...

3a) General

…

3a3) We sell some tickets at discounted fares which may be partly or completely non-refundable. You should choose the fare which best suits your needs and consider taking out insurance to cover instances where you might have to cancel your ticket.

...

3e) Your rights if you are prevented from travelling by events beyond your control
If:


you are a consumer.
you have been prevented from travelling by events beyond your control and
all or part of the fare for your ticket is non-refundable.

we will give you a credit for the non-refundable part of the fare. We will do this if you:

have a completely unused ticket
have told us promptly about the events beyond your control and
have given us evidence of these events.

The credit can be used for future travel on us by you or any person you choose. We may take a reasonable fee from the credit to cover our administration costs.

Everyone should read the conditions that they are agreeing to, not just willy-nilly accept them by clicking on the box.

[crewmeal]

If you think BA are ripping you off you should try FR and try and squeeze some cash out of them. (After reading their terms and conditions of course)

[Phileas Fogg]

Try Cebu Pacific Air ...

They owe me five refunds and because the card/account I paid with is no longer valid they need to write cheques.

But they won't post cheques to home addresses, they'll deliver them to the airport(s) of departure for collection so, let's say, one lives in Cebu and was traveling from DXB to MNL ... Sure you can have your refund, you just need to go to our office at DXB airport to collect it :)

But wait ... It gets better, I paid for the tickets with my card so they need to write cheques in my name but to collect my cheques in my name I need to collect and present two valid photo ID's of each passenger in the booking(s).

Regardless that these bookings were for my ex girlfriend and her mother, we're no longer together so I don't have access to their ID's, data protection (here it's called Philippines Republic Act No. 10173) prevents me from collecting the personal identity information of others and forwarding it on.

As they say ... "Only in the Philippines" :)

[Captivep]

Not much sympathy from me either, I'm afraid! The conditions relating to the booking you made were there for you to read, before you made the booking...


That notwithstanding, depending on the reason you can't travel, if you have an annual travel insurance policy you might be able to claim it back from them.

[Hipennine]

"Do the railways refund non-refundable tickets?"

A little known fact is that the lowest cost advance tickets can be cancelled before travel, and for a fee of £10 rebooked to a future travel date, (plus the addition if it's a higher fare). I have done this on East coast several times, and for a semi regular traveller is more cost effective than other semi and fully flexible fares.

[Phileas Fogg]

the lowest cost advance tickets can be cancelled before travel, and for a fee of £10 rebooked to a future travel date, (plus the addition if it's a higher fare)

What you're writing and what you're suggesting are two different things.

If the advance tickets can be cancelled then "hey ho" just walk away with the full refund, but you're suggesting that they cannot be cancelled but can only be rebooked to another date/time for an applicable admin fee!

Many an advance airline booking is similar, can be rebooked to another date/time for an applicable admin fee but the OP didn't rebook, he cancelled so I fail to realise the significance of your post of rebooking as opposed to cancelling.

[fa2fi]

Well that's £76.56 more than you would have got back if you had cancelled an eJ flight but as with all things read the small print and assume nothing as policies vary between airlines.

Completely unrelated, but I had the misfortune of spending 5 hours on a Cross Country Voyager. A passenger did not print their ticket and only had a pdf. The conductor would not accept it and she had to but a new ticket. Thankfully she was only travelling a short distance and I had a good listen in and was charged for a whole new ticket at £16 for a very short hop. Now save for FR that would not happen in the airlines. If you forget your tickets or boarding card, all the details are on the system and linked personally to you so you can be reissued tickets where required.

[crewmeal]

A passenger did not print their ticket and only had a pdf. The conductor would not accept it and she had to but a new ticket.

So much for a paperless world where we're trying to do away with all the paper related products. What's the point of spending millions on scanning if certain companies won't accept them?

[grounded27]

Think it is funny for one based in the UK to call BA the worlds favorite airline. No airline out there will consistently meet your expectations. Now I must say that in the USA we have been beaten down to accept the crappy level of service that has become common. I have had one good experience in the USA with an airline and it had all to do with a great head flight attendant (purser). Better was a flight on VARIG (gone now) from Sao Paulo to Argentina. The best flights I have ever been on were freighters, I eat when I want, hit the lav when, enjoy entertainment when I want and sleep horizontally when I want.

[Phileas Fogg]

Think it is funny for one based in the UK to call BA the worlds favorite airline

When we say that about BA we're taking the p1ss, we're having a joke.

There was a year, apparently, just one year, when BA carried more passengers than any other airline and for year on year on year afterwards they kept reminding us that they are the world's favourite airline ... when indeed they're cr@p :)

[ExXB]

More "International" passengers than any other. They never came close to the US carriers in total passengers.

[Phileas Fogg]

More "International" passengers than any other. They never came close to the US carriers in total passengers.

Do you think BA care about the truth? :)

[S.o.S.]

I think we've said all we need to say. If you feel that you need to go over the same ground again, go to the British Airways thread in Airlines, Airports & Routes.