Have just tried to book some flights with BA online (I use BA very frequently) however their website is not working so spoke to the lady on the phone who has told me they will charge me £15 per person for booking offline... is this an unfair penalty charge??!?

It's not a penalty. It's a service, however extortionate....

cakey, sorry to hear of your unhappiness with your travel booking with BA.

Unfortunately the £15 booking fee which applies to bookings offline is a service fee, not a penalty. It was put in place to try and promote the use of the website rather than using "manual intervention" through a call centre. Its all about cutting costs!

However, did you mention to the agent at the time that there was a problem with the website and therefore could not book online and so had to phone up and make the booking?

The agents should have the means to "discount" the fee on the basis that you had no recourse but to phone to make the booking as the website wasnt playing ball.

Also if you have problems with future bookings, UK customers who experience any online difficulties, may wish to call the British Airways UK Web Support team on 0870 850 850 4. Opening hours are 0800-2000 Monday - Friday and 0900 - 1715 Saturday and Sunday.

That way if you contact them and they cannot resolve the issue then at least you can tell the booking agent you contacted the Web Support team first.

Hope this helps in future.

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019.

If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there.

If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened.

- Consumer Action Group