BA: robbing b******s
Discussion
We're off to Cape Town next week. Booked onto BA, as they're the only airline flying direct from London to Capetown.
Had an e-mail tonight offering an upgrade to World Traveller Plus for £184 each person, each flight. I make that £736 in total, which, I reckon, is a good deal. So, 2 minutes later, credit card in hand, went on-line to amend my booking. Too late! Between opening the e-mail and selecting the 'both flights' option, the offer was magically unavailable, unless I wanted to pay £2600 for the privilege.
Well, at least we come home in a little more comfort for an extra £368. Guess it might be worth trying for an outward upgrade when we check in...
Had an e-mail tonight offering an upgrade to World Traveller Plus for £184 each person, each flight. I make that £736 in total, which, I reckon, is a good deal. So, 2 minutes later, credit card in hand, went on-line to amend my booking. Too late! Between opening the e-mail and selecting the 'both flights' option, the offer was magically unavailable, unless I wanted to pay £2600 for the privilege.
Well, at least we come home in a little more comfort for an extra £368. Guess it might be worth trying for an outward upgrade when we check in...
AdeTuono said:
Well there must have been just the one seat for it to have gone in seconds, and there are still plenty available for £2300...
All to do with fare buckets.There may well have only been one seat available at that upgrade price, which would move you from say, M or O class, into E or T. It sends an automated notification that there is a POUG available.
However, when you try and do it, for the rest of the passengers it is doing the difference between say, O class and full W. which is full fare WT+. Unfortunately you can't do it for just one passenger unless you split the booking, which the online system can't handle.
Or perhaps someone bought a ticket (or tickets - a family perhaps?) in WT+ just before you did, therefore changing the availability in that bucket.
GCH said:
AdeTuono said:
Well there must have been just the one seat for it to have gone in seconds, and there are still plenty available for £2300...
All to do with fare buckets.There may well have only been one seat available at that upgrade price, which would move you from say, M or O class, into E or T. It sends an automated notification that there is a POUG available.
However, when you try and do it, for the rest of the passengers it is doing the difference between say, O class and full W. which is full fare WT+. Unfortunately you can't do it for just one passenger unless you split the booking, which the online system can't handle, hence quoting the high price for all.
Or perhaps someone bought a ticket (or tickets - a family perhaps?) in WT+ just before you did, therefore changing the availability in that bucket.
AdeTuono said:
GCH said:
It means someone beat you to it.
Well there must have been just the one seat for it to have gone in seconds, and there are still plenty available for £2300...^Surely that's why they don't have a less special offer - don't see the problem here. They only have so many seats to offer and these get snapped up quickly. I've just got back from HK on a Premium Economy flight - they offered me an upgrade to Club on both legs but I missed out on the return flight. On the upside I was sat on a mostly empty row so we had several seats each!
Foliage said:
Screen shots to trading standards and ASA, make a complaint. They are trying to get you to hit their website but its bad business. Im surprised they didn't have an 'alternative' not so special offer.
That's an awful lot of effort to show a total stranger you don't have a scooby what you're on about, surely?GT03ROB said:
Greg66 said:
Why is this "robbing" by BA? What have they taken from the OP?
Don't worry it's quite trendy & hip on here these days to bash certain companies irrespective of what they do....BA happens to be one of them.Op I agree.
Airline pricing algorithms have become the biggest pi## take in recent years.
I hope politians / regulatory bodies put a stop to the practices.
An absolute disgrace IMO.
Last week we paid for a flight. Visa security blocked transaction. Try to rebuy, 411 changed to 1168, in 3 minutes.
OK, sod Ba, we'll try virgin. Same again. 480 in the basket, buy, "error". Price now £620.
Unacceptable. Capitalism at its unfetted worst.
Airline pricing algorithms have become the biggest pi## take in recent years.
I hope politians / regulatory bodies put a stop to the practices.
An absolute disgrace IMO.
Last week we paid for a flight. Visa security blocked transaction. Try to rebuy, 411 changed to 1168, in 3 minutes.
OK, sod Ba, we'll try virgin. Same again. 480 in the basket, buy, "error". Price now £620.
Unacceptable. Capitalism at its unfetted worst.
stuthemong said:
Op I agree.
Airline pricing algorithms have become the biggest pi## take in recent years.
I hope politians / regulatory bodies put a stop to the practices.
An absolute disgrace IMO.
Last week we paid for a flight. Visa security blocked transaction. Try to rebuy, 411 changed to 1168, in 3 minutes.
OK, sod Ba, we'll try virgin. Same again. 480 in the basket, buy, "error". Price now £620.
Unacceptable. Capitalism at its unfetted worst.
Did you try clearing your cookies?Airline pricing algorithms have become the biggest pi## take in recent years.
I hope politians / regulatory bodies put a stop to the practices.
An absolute disgrace IMO.
Last week we paid for a flight. Visa security blocked transaction. Try to rebuy, 411 changed to 1168, in 3 minutes.
OK, sod Ba, we'll try virgin. Same again. 480 in the basket, buy, "error". Price now £620.
Unacceptable. Capitalism at its unfetted worst.
iphonedyou said:
Foliage said:
Screen shots to trading standards and ASA, make a complaint. They are trying to get you to hit their website but its bad business. Im surprised they didn't have an 'alternative' not so special offer.
That's an awful lot of effort to show a total stranger you don't have a scooby what you're on about, surely?stuthemong said:
Op I agree.
Airline pricing algorithms have become the biggest pi## take in recent years.
I hope politians / regulatory bodies put a stop to the practices.
An absolute disgrace IMO.
Last week we paid for a flight. Visa security blocked transaction. Try to rebuy, 411 changed to 1168, in 3 minutes.
OK, sod Ba, we'll try virgin. Same again. 480 in the basket, buy, "error". Price now £620.
Unacceptable. Capitalism at its unfetted worst.
No better when you 'phone book a holiday. Did so for our November jaunt and got a call a couple of hours after passing over all the details telling me that they had got a digit wrong on the card. gave them details again, oh look, it's magic, the holiday you were booking has gone up by £50pp. Okay so small beer in the big picture but really pissed me off as that £100 would have been far better spent on a couple of tickets to see the fight of the Valkyries. Now Brünnhilde will have to freeking well wait for another day, heaving bosom and all. Airline pricing algorithms have become the biggest pi## take in recent years.
I hope politians / regulatory bodies put a stop to the practices.
An absolute disgrace IMO.
Last week we paid for a flight. Visa security blocked transaction. Try to rebuy, 411 changed to 1168, in 3 minutes.
OK, sod Ba, we'll try virgin. Same again. 480 in the basket, buy, "error". Price now £620.
Unacceptable. Capitalism at its unfetted worst.
AdeTuono said:
We're off to Cape Town next week. Booked onto BA, as they're the only airline flying direct from London to Capetown.
Had an e-mail tonight offering an upgrade to World Traveller Plus for £184 each person, each flight. I make that £736 in total, which, I reckon, is a good deal. So, 2 minutes later, credit card in hand, went on-line to amend my booking. Too late! Between opening the e-mail and selecting the 'both flights' option, the offer was magically unavailable, unless I wanted to pay £2600 for the privilege.
Well, at least we come home in a little more comfort for an extra £368. Guess it might be worth trying for an outward upgrade when we check in...
I always fly SAA via Jo'burg. Only takes a couple of hours longer, you get off the plane sooner, Jo'Burg is a brand new modern airport and you get fed and water'ed on the internal leg too.Had an e-mail tonight offering an upgrade to World Traveller Plus for £184 each person, each flight. I make that £736 in total, which, I reckon, is a good deal. So, 2 minutes later, credit card in hand, went on-line to amend my booking. Too late! Between opening the e-mail and selecting the 'both flights' option, the offer was magically unavailable, unless I wanted to pay £2600 for the privilege.
Well, at least we come home in a little more comfort for an extra £368. Guess it might be worth trying for an outward upgrade when we check in...
Must say I thought they had been pretty fair with me lately. Booked a holiday to St Lucia, hotel and World Traveller plus seats last February. In the latest sale it was 740 GBP cheaper. Read their terms and conditions and it seemed I had no hope. One option was to cancel and lose my 500 pound deposit and rebook at the cheaper price and save myself 240 pounds. Rang them up and spoke to a few people they agreed to reduce my original booking by 420 pounds. Still not great but thought they had met me more than halfway when they didn`t have to.
danzltiu said:
Must say I thought they had been pretty fair with me lately. Booked a holiday to St Lucia, hotel and World Traveller plus seats last February. In the latest sale it was 740 GBP cheaper. Read their terms and conditions and it seemed I had no hope. One option was to cancel and lose my 500 pound deposit and rebook at the cheaper price and save myself 240 pounds. Rang them up and spoke to a few people they agreed to reduce my original booking by 420 pounds. Still not great but thought they had met me more than halfway when they didn`t have to.
That sounds a pretty good response. I've found that BA holidays seem to offer much more flexibility than other operators. I had to change a holiday I'd booked with them a couple of years back, coming back a few days earlier. No problem and a refund for the few days of accommodation.Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff