British Airways...again

thelegalbeagle · 18 May 18, 12:47 PM

The two girls and I are going to Orlando for three weeks from 2/7 and my dear wife is going for 2 (on a separate booking, but all linked with the Executive Club account), so we're all flying home together and I'd booked the four seats on the back row of PE so we'd be together.

I checked my emails this morning to discover that BA had decided to bump her to an earlier flight from MCO to LGW, and had decided to bump me and the girls to a later flight from LGW to GLA (with an 8 hour wait at Gatwick).

Phoned BA and was asked why I'd changed flights. I told him BA had done it. He then asked why BA had done it ? ! I was then told that there was no earlier flight from LGW to GLA. So I asked him to check, once again, my wife's booking...which was on the 1035 flight from LGW...

Eventually managed to get everybody on the earlier flight from MCO, and on the earlier flight to GLA. I checked the seating on the MCO-LGW flight, and there are only two unbooked seats, so I suspect that either two people are going to be getting an unwelcome email later (sorry...) or someone's getting bad news at the airport.

I get the feeling I'll be posting on 23/7...

Raggyavn · 18 May 18, 01:10 PM

This is the problem. You been bumped will have been caused by some other customer ringing up and kicking up a fuss, so customer services solve their issue to your detriment.

Then you ring up and kick up a fuss and your problem is solved to someone else's detriment and then they ring up (well I'm sure you can work out the rest) until someone finally doesn't notice and they gets the bad news at the airport.

Just keep monitoring your flights.

Peko · 18 May 18, 02:54 PM

Various possibilities here.

> Depending on where you viewed the seat map and/or your frequent flyer status, you may not be able to see all of the unassigned seats (eg Manage My Booking on the BA site will show blocked seats as unavailable). You mention the bookings being linked, so I�m wondering if you�re Gold with BA, though while linking the bookings would allow you to select seats together, it wouldn�t necessarily protect you from the bookings being treated separately in other ways, as you�ve discovered.

> Airlines routinely overbook, the picture can change between now and the flight date.

> If the flight ends up oversold in that cabin, BA would upgrade (or if unavoidable, possibly downgrade) enough people to ensure that everyone flew on their booked flight. Offloading people on the day would be a possibility if all else failed.

I�ve looked at BA2036 on both 22 & 23 July and can see more than 2 unassigned seats in WTP, though BA is not currently selling WTP on 23/07.

thelegalbeagle · 18 May 18, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Peko

Various possibilities here.

> Depending on where you viewed the seat map and/or your frequent flyer status, you may not be able to see all of the unassigned seats (eg Manage My Booking on the BA site will show blocked seats as unavailable). You mention the bookings being linked, so I�m wondering if you�re Gold with BA, though while linking the bookings would allow you to select seats together, it wouldn�t necessarily protect you from the bookings being treated separately in other ways, as you�ve discovered.

> Airlines routinely overbook, the picture can change between now and the flight date.

> If the flight ends up oversold in that cabin, BA would upgrade (or if unavoidable, possibly downgrade) enough people to ensure that everyone flew on their booked flight. Offloading people on the day would be a possibility if all else failed.

I�ve looked at BA2036 on both 22 & 23 July and can see more than 2 unassigned seats in WTP, though BA is not currently selling WTP on 23/07.

Many thanks for the intel, Peko.

I'll be keeping an eye out for any further emails from BA. Otherwise, I'm not going to let it spoil three weeks of Floridian sunshine

Madfish · 19 May 18, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by Raggyavn

This is the problem. You been bumped will have been caused by some other customer ringing up and kicking up a fuss, so customer services solve their issue to your detriment.

Then you ring up and kick up a fuss and your problem is solved to someone else's detriment and then they ring up (well I'm sure you can work out the rest) until someone finally doesn't notice and they gets the bad news at the airport.

Just keep monitoring your flights.

Sorry but this is clearly not the case. BA are not in the habit of bumping passengers because somebody else wants that particular flight even if they are trying to accommodate passengers following a schedule change.

If the OP wants to post the flights they are on I am happy to take a look at seating plans. It may be that some seats are blocked rather than reserved. Flight loads would also provide an indication of this.

thelegalbeagle · 20 May 18, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by Madfish

Sorry but this is clearly not the case. BA are not in the habit of bumping passengers because somebody else wants that particular flight even if they are trying to accommodate passengers following a schedule change.

If the OP wants to post the flights they are on I am happy to take a look at seating plans. It may be that some seats are blocked rather than reserved. Flight loads would also provide an indication of this.

It's BA2036; MCO-LGW at 1730 EST on 23/7/18

18 May 18, 02:54 PM	#3
	18 May 18, 02:54 PM Peko Imagineer
Peko Imagineer Join Date: Sep 16	Various possibilities here. > Depending on where you viewed the seat map and/or your frequent flyer status, you may not be able to see all of the unassigned seats (eg Manage My Booking on the BA site will show blocked seats as unavailable). You mention the bookings being linked, so I�m wondering if you�re Gold with BA, though while linking the bookings would allow you to select seats together, it wouldn�t necessarily protect you from the bookings being treated separately in other ways, as you�ve discovered. > Airlines routinely overbook, the picture can change between now and the flight date. > If the flight ends up oversold in that cabin, BA would upgrade (or if unavoidable, possibly downgrade) enough people to ensure that everyone flew on their booked flight. Offloading people on the day would be a possibility if all else failed. I�ve looked at BA2036 on both 22 & 23 July and can see more than 2 unassigned seats in WTP, though BA is not currently selling WTP on 23/07. Edited at 02:57 PM.