I suspect then the agent needed authority from BA to re-issue the e-ticket, and of course contacting them was nigh on impossible as already mentioned.
This is where BA should do much better....put out a statement to the travel trade at the earliest opportunity giving authority to re-issue PNR's to affected pax with the wording they give out to go in the ticket endorsement box. VS and others do this much better.
Then that in turn will help BA as agents will do the rebooking work for their clients. If they are available !
Moderators: jsumali2, richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
Re: BA IROPS Handling In Recent Snow Storm
The problem I suspect was that BA179 was not cancelled, just badly delayed. When a flight is cancelled, passengers are offloaded and their ticket status is changed to enable automated rebooking. But with all the disruption, it's possible that the offloading wasn't done, so the travel agent could not reissue the ticket.
-
- RyanairGuru
- Posts: 8559
- Joined:
Re: BA IROPS Handling In Recent Snow Storm
TC957 and Gunnerman are both pretty much spot on.
1) BA did not post a blanket waiver to trade partners in a timely manner so agents could not re-issue tickets FOC. This is especially problematic if we can’t book the same inventory as the original ticket or want to reroute the ticket.
2) Travel agents cannot re-issue a ticket in CKIN status, we need the airline to change it back to OPEN or ARPT status. If you’re checked in and the airline hasn’t bothered to amend your status there is not much we can do but beg the airline to amend the ticket ... i.e. sit on the same hold as everyone else.
I can’t say for sure that the ticket status was the issue but it sounds very, very likely, plus the fact that the authorisation to rebook FOC was not provided until very late in the day. BA really didn’t do themselves any favours there, if they had made it easier for the travel industry to do our jobs it would have taken some pressure off the front line staff. Don’t forget that this doesn’t just apply to retail and corporate travel agents, but also the OTAs like Expedia assuming you could get someone on the phone who knew how to.
1) BA did not post a blanket waiver to trade partners in a timely manner so agents could not re-issue tickets FOC. This is especially problematic if we can’t book the same inventory as the original ticket or want to reroute the ticket.
2) Travel agents cannot re-issue a ticket in CKIN status, we need the airline to change it back to OPEN or ARPT status. If you’re checked in and the airline hasn’t bothered to amend your status there is not much we can do but beg the airline to amend the ticket ... i.e. sit on the same hold as everyone else.
I can’t say for sure that the ticket status was the issue but it sounds very, very likely, plus the fact that the authorisation to rebook FOC was not provided until very late in the day. BA really didn’t do themselves any favours there, if they had made it easier for the travel industry to do our jobs it would have taken some pressure off the front line staff. Don’t forget that this doesn’t just apply to retail and corporate travel agents, but also the OTAs like Expedia assuming you could get someone on the phone who knew how to.
Worked Hard, Flew Right
Re: BA IROPS Handling In Recent Snow Storm
There is no doubt that BA should do more to help travel agents to do rebookings, but my belief is that BA has lost focus on the travel trade. Back in 1999, the trade accounted for about 85% of bookings, which meant a lot of commission payments to agents and to GDSs for their fees. It was about this time that work started on the redevelopment of the online booking system using the Java WebLogic platform, which became ba.com, and a lot of bookings have been done directly with BA. But the downside is when there is a serious disruption, BA cannot rebook passengers quickly; indeed, I've seen a queue at LHR T5 for rebooking stretching outside the terminal.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: 232whereru, a320flyer, AA 777, airlinepeanuts, AMALH747430, as739x, BA744PHX, btfarrwm, chiad, CometOrbit, COMPAVION, Coronado990, Delta28L, deltal1011man, DFWflyer368, dmstorm22, ehaase, flipdewaf, GalaxyFlyer, gdavis003, hbernal1, HotelWhiskey, InnsbruckFlyer, kaneporta1, kd9gy, lugie, many321, MeCe, migair54, MO11, ModernAviator, N353SK, nc3rd, Nicknuzzii, opticalilyushin, Opus99, qf789, ROSSIGNOL, SFOtoORD, sircygnus, timberwolf24, timf, Tiredofhumanity, Vicenza, Virginblue4, VolvoBus, WaywardMemphian, WesternDC6B, Wneast and 365 guests