Overcharged for changing flight
I recently made a return flight from London Heathrow to New Delhi with British Airways. I paid, for Premium Economy travel and two seat bookings – there and back - £1003.45. This was £460 for the fare and £483 45 in taxes, fees and surcharges. While away in India I checked my return flight details, only to discover that the return flight had been booked for a month later than I needed to return – 22nd September instead of 22nd August. I was unable to get any response from British Airways by emailing them and my only recourse was to accept that the error might have been mine (and I should have checked the details on receipt!) and make a change to my booking. I ended up paying them another £938!! This was £778 for the flight and included ANOTHER £60 for the two seat bookings plus the £100 arrangement fee. I feel that this is outrageous. Despite several attempts to get a satisfactory response from BA – I have merely had an email saying that’s their policy. Firstly I do not understand why the fare had to be so high and why they could not use my original amount paid for the flight from Delhi to London as a refund deducted from the second flight. To be paying almost the cost of a return flight is simply not acceptable. Why also did they charge me twice for seat bookings? My original seat booking was invalid on this flight anyway and I had used the one from London to Delhi! As they upgraded me when I arrived at Delhi airport I rather suspect that they were charging me for a Business Class flight because maybe Premium Economy was full, but at no time did they contact me to ask if that was what I wanted or offer me economy or suggest another date. This was deceptive behaviour.
I really feel that this is a practice which should be investigated with British Airways and other airlines as these sort of charges cannot be justified. I would value your comments on this and advice on how I might take up the fairness of it with any appropriate ombudsman as I am reluctant to let them get away with it.
Thank you for your help.
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