BA cancelled my return ticket without warning.

[soh]

We flew on QF from SYD-LHR return and landed in the UK just as the fog descended on LHR on 19 Dec 06. We stayed with friends for a few days and we were due to fly BA to GLA return (booked directly on BA.com) for a week in Scotland. We checked in online from our friends place before National TV showed LHR as some sort of war zone with 60000 passengers going nowhere while spending 2 days in the terminal or in a tent outside. All domestic passengers were advised all flights were cancelled and not to travel to LHR. The BA helpline was in meltdown. We tracked down a hire car and drove north.

National TV announced BA were refunding all affected flights so we eventually got through to customer relations and got a refund for that part of the journey. We were asked if we required our return GLA-LHR flight and I said of course as it was our connecting flight to meet QF back to Sydney. We got to GLA check in and were promptly told our return flight had been cancelled and refunded in full so if we wanted to fly we would have to buy new tickets on the spot at hugely inflated prices or not get back to Australia - end of story. Arguing never helped so we grudgingly bought 2 new tickets.

We put this into an email to BA customer relations and got a reply stating that BA had no option but to cancel the return flight as we had not used the coupons in the right order. I queried this but got the same response.

I have checked the BA general conditions of carraige and 3c1 states 'We will not honour your ticket and it will no longer be valid if you do not use all the coupons in the sequence provided in the ticket' However condition 3c9 states 'If you fail to cancel a booking before the check in deadline for your flight and do not show up for the flight, we may decide to cancel your return or onward reservations' I feel 3c9 applied to us and BA had the option of not cancelling our return ticket.

Does anyone have experience in dealing with BA on these matters or can advise on the best way to escalate this complaint to achieve a refund of the difference between what we paid originally and what we had to pay for our new tickets?

[Evan]

Hello,

I can't offer any insight as to BA's methods but a similar situation to me by Singapore, except it was there fault due to a rebooking i was never informed about that my return flight was cancelled.

I only found out i had been cancelled after not being able to internet checking so i rang the local (Shanghai) office and gave up as they could hardly speak english, then spoke to Singapore who only wanted to sell me a new ticket ! got onto Australia and had my tarvel agent have a go at them and got my ticket organised for the way back.

Full plane and no where near my prefered seat, J was not full and no upgrade, appology or anything was offered, so later i complained and they did appologise for how i had been treated and deposited some points to my account. But still i wasn't happy with the situation just as your are not.

Evan

[one9]

I would suggest writing a complaint to the Consumer Standards / Fair Trading department in the country you purchased the ticket.

[NYCguy]

...nowhere near my prefered seat, J was not full and no upgrade, appology or anything was offered...

Not on Singapore Airlines, surely?

[Evan]

Not on Singapore Airlines, surely?

I have not once ever had anything for free out of them ! not even when they stuffed up. (It was them who thought my plane would be late, booked me on the next flight incase i missed my connection but never cancelled the next flight when i managed to easily make my first flight so then cancelled all the other flights on the booking ! all this without a single communication to me)

Happens sometimes i guess. Just a pain to sort out when it all goes wrong.

[Kiwi Flyer]

Clearly BA stuffed up. But did you not query why you were being given a huge refund for cancelling just one flight? Alternatively if the refund was actually small then it is even more obvious BA is in the wrong. I'd follow up and if again no satisfactory response deal with the relevant consumer ombudsman.

[Dave Noble]

How much was the refund? If it was around GBP40 , then it seems that BA has messed up and if you write a letter to BA explaining the situation and the cost of the replacement ticket, I don't think you will have any problem getting a refund

If the refund was around 50% of the cost originally paid for the ticket, then I do not think that you will have much luck

Dave

[soh]

We booked about 10 months prior to travel and the total for both of us was only about UK130 return. When we rang to get a refund for the LHR-GLA portion we were advised verbally by BA that UK65 would be refunded directly to the CC used for the original booking and our GLA-LHR flight was reconfirmed. We then had to buy 2 o/w at a total cost of UK180 when we arrived at GLA. We never noticed the full UK130 was refunded to us until after we checked in at GLA as access to hotmail was the last thing we were concerned about when touring through the Scottish countryside.

It's not exactly a huge amount of cash but I feel BA should be handling things better.

[NYCguy]

I have not once ever had anything for free out of them ! not even when they stuffed up. (It was them who thought my plane would be late, booked me on the next flight incase i missed my connection but never cancelled the next flight when i managed to easily make my first flight so then cancelled all the other flights on the booking ! all this without a single communication to me)

Happens sometimes i guess. Just a pain to sort out when it all goes wrong.

Yes, they are like dealing with a brick wall, hence the " "

[Evan]

Yes, they are like dealing with a brick wall, hence the " "

I noted the sarcasm
And to think i will be based there for a year and have the local local travel policy as well no doubt, how an earth can i avoid flying them and fly oneworld instead.... we will see i guess. I am actually SQ silver and if i really tried i am sure i could become SQ gold, but i am not sure i really want to try !

Back OT, i always try to get something in writing or emailed to me and i make a point of checking the email, i know its a pain but many year of airline stuff ups have taught me its required.