British airways, can’t get through don’t know what to do, would love advice

[User0610134049]

due to fly to Valencia in just under a month,
BA cancelled outward flight and despite saying we can go to ‘manage my booking’ to change into a suitable alternative, when I look in there the only option is to cancel, I can’t see any alternatives and they just say ‘contact us’.
we paid in the majority with avois airmiles points.

i don’t want to just cancel because there are some flights knocking around but they are a lot more expensive.

and can’t just cancel the whole thing as villa is through Booking.com, cancellation date has passed so we’d lose £3K ☹️.

when I call at various times I go through the options then they say they’re receiving a lot of calls can’t connect me so try later then I get cut off.

i honestly don’t know what to do for the best:
am hoping if I speak to them they can move us onto another flight for no extra charge but don’t know if that’s realistic altho am sure they did that before for us

I hate BA, what a farce that you can book 7 months in advance but then with no assurance your flight will go ahead.

You may have already tried this but have you messaged their Facebook or Twitter page? I've got through to various companies this way when the phone line was a non starter.

I think there is a separate number if you have an avios account. Check the back of your credit card for it if you get avios through that.

I spent 3 hours on the phone trying to speak to someone who then told me the above and got through quite quickly.

Thank you yes have tried Twitter
will try again but I think there are just too many upset customers at the moment for them to care

@Mouldyfeet thank you, I’ll get dh to double check but j think I am phoning the executive number but same message

Try phoning customer services at 7.28. By the time you get through the keypad options it will be bang on 7.30 when they open. That worked for me.

1. Research alternative flights, including other airlines, before you call them. Gives you something concrete to put before them.

1. If you can't get through, try calling their international calling centres. BA Spain, even North America if you have to.

I second @Kingstonmumof1 we had so many cancelled and changed flights that were booked in lockdown and this is the best way to reach them. If you get the too busy hang up at other times if you keep redialling you can often get into the queue in a few try’s.

If you were due to fly from Heathrow you’ll need to look at other options from other airports. Heathrow has told the airlines not to sell any more tickets for the summer and to reduce the current passenger numbers by 1500 per day, so not to rebook people whose flights were cancelled.

I’ve sent you a PM

Can you claim on your travel insurance for the villa costs if you cannot source alternative flights?

If they open at 8.30 start calling at 8.28

Thanks for all the suggestions
we have insurance but I’m not sure they would help - there seem to be flights but just very expensive

worst case scenario OP, get a flight to Alicante or Madrid and take the high speed train to Valencia. May end up cheaper and it’s very easy.

You should be able to rebook at same cost/ amount of avios as the original booking. The website to do this is crap and it’s not obvious but I had a rebook button which I finally found. It does look like the only option is cancel though I did this a week or so ago and found it very confusing. Hold times for the call centre are long but I got through on the bronze number after about 50 mins hold as in needed to double check some stuff

Thank you everyone, got through on DHs executive number, didn’t realise he was gold. Apparently the reason why there weren’t options showing is that there were no flights available for that day. Could go day either side or swap to gatwick for both flights which is what we’ve gone for.
im sorry for anyone in the same position. Very stressful! But pleased we hopefully won’t lose villa money now.

We had this happen.

We ended up driving to an airport to use the BA help desk. Was a nightmare, but they did sort it all out.

The following may help.

news.sky.com/video/advice-on-cancelled-flights-dont-take-a-refund-12634236