Travel couple fall foul of British Airways 'cheap ticket' cancellations

The airline took the unusual move last week of cancelling the tickets after claiming a mistake had led to the tickets being priced too cheaply for around 16 hours.

Anthony Vale, international account director UK and Ireland at Movenpick Hotels and Resorts, booked tickets with Netflights earlier this month to travel to Dubai from Manchester on December 21 with his travel agent partner and children.

Vale said the tickets cost £289 each, “a good but not unreasonable” price given he had previously flown with Emirates to Dubai in May for £270 per person.

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“I certainly didn’t think it was an irregular fare,” he told TTG. “A couple of hours after we booked we were sent our e-tickets. Four days later, they were cancelled because BA said they hadn’t supplied the correct seasonal air fares.”

Vale said while he was sent compensation vouchers by BA to the tune of £100 per person, he admitted he was “no longer confident in booking a BA flight”.

“That same flight is now £800 per person,” he added. “I don’t want a refund or a voucher, I want them to honour my booking. Netflights have been very sympathetic but they can’t do much."

Vale said he had contacted Abta, the CAA and Iata, with the latter advising him to go through an Alternative Dispute Resolution.

However, Vale said he “remained in limbo” as he understood conversations were now ongoing between Netflights and BA which he was waiting to assess the outcome of.