in August I booked a BA flight to Nigeria through a company called Travel Up.

[Neo1]

Back in August I booked a BA flight to Nigeria through a company called Travel Up.

 

The plan was to visit my parents. I had booked to leave London on Nov 11th and return on 29th Nov. The flight cost me £550.

 

In Sep both my elderly parents contracted COVID and my 91year old father died. My mother thank God has since made a full recovery.  My fathers burial is scheduled to take place on 4th Dec.

 

I contacted Travel Up and informed them of my situation and the need now to rebook my flights. I now requested to leave around 25th Nov and return around 12th Dec.

 

Travel Up informed me that in order to change the dates  I would need to pay an additional fee of £350 due to the increase in ticket prices for the new dates.

 

I was under the impression that it was BA policy that if a passenger has a bereavement in the family then flight dates can be rescheduled and any additional fees would be waived.

 

Does anyone have any further information to support this as I have tried contacting BA as well as searching the web without much success.

Edited November 2, 2021 by dx100uk
block of text spaced to paragraphs

[Kyosanto]

Hi there. First of all really sorry for your loss.

 

I may be wrong but I think bereavements fares are an old fashioned thing of the past. If they still exist it is certainly some form of gesture from the airline and not a consumer right that I know of. Although you would expect to be given some sympathy. Here are a couple things that maybe you can try:

 

Go through insurance

If you had travel insurance when you bought the tickets, this might be one of the things that they cover and they could refund the difference. This would certainly be the easiest way to solve your issue.

 

See directly with BA, if you will get special treatment

Whilst your travel agent is responsible for making requests for you, it is possible/probable that they won't really go the extra mile to try and fulfil your request. Mostly because they're not getting paid for it.

This is where you can try to bypass them and find someone sympathetic at BA who would listen to your story and allow you to change your tickets whilst staying on the same fare.

The people at BA will at first try and tell you to fob you off and go through your TA. Tell them you tried but they wouldn't listen to you, and you would like to see if BA would exepctionally authorize you to change flight on the basis of your bereavement, so that you can go back to your travel agent with those news, and finally get them to change your ticket.

 

This is not very likely to work. You will find that the majority of agents won't care/have the power to do anything for you. Try to speak to someone senior or to call the loyalty hotline (it might be worth getting an Avios card if you don't have one, just so you can use the loyalty number.)

Get a refund and buy a cheaper fare

See if you can get a full refund for your BA fare on the basis of your bereavement. You can then look for a slightly cheaper airline (there are still some around the £600 mark)

If one of your flights was cancelled or rescheduled by a significant amount after you purchased them in August, then you are due a full refund regardless of anything else.

 

 

This is all I can think of. Your travel agent is right that BA fares for your dates have moved up to around £850 so it doesn't seem like they are trying to take advantage of you. Whatever you do I recommend you act fast since as time gets shorter the flights will only get more expensive.

 

 

 

[FTMDave]

Why did you book a BA flight through Travel Up?

 

It's hardly difficult to book a flight on BA's website. 

 

Once you involve a third party then your contract is with that third party and it doesn't matter what BA's attitude is.

 

 

[Kyosanto]

Because OTAs are cheaper. It's not rocket science to figure out!

[FTMDave]

Really?  In my experience the opposite is true.  I'm quite good at rocket science.

 

The fact is you've made a contract with a third party that is not BA so you're stuck with Travel Up's T&Cs.

 

 

 

 

[stu007]

Hi

 

Condolences on your loss

 

You really need to have a good read of their Terms & Conditions: 

Terms and Conditions | TravelUp

WWW.TRAVELUP.COM

---

Read our terms and conditions. For any questions, get in touch with our customer support today.

 

 

Especially 10 through to 12.3

 

The additional fee of £350 will be part the carrier change but also include Travelup Admin fee of £75 (see 10.2 of above link)

 

If you decide to fully cancel you will have cancellation fees from the carrier the flights are booked with and also Travelup Admin Fee on top of £75 per person (read from 11.1 to 11.4 of the above link)

 

You could try to ask Travel up as this change of dates is due to family bereavement if they could waive their Admin Fee as a gesture of good will in the circumstances.