Corporate Travel
Sam Smith Corporate Travel Services provides cost effective and professional corporate travel management solutions in the South West and throughout the UK. From our website, you can access most low cost budget airlines, airline check-in pages, rail information and pages about visas, airports and countries you may need to visit. Please take a moment to look at our helpful business travel articles.
Customers who are booked to travel between 22 December 2009 and 2 January 2010 and for 48 hours on either side of those dates who would like to take their flight at a different time can change to another BA flight departing in the next twelve months at no charge.
If a customer's flight is actually cancelled because of industrial action, we will offer them the option to refund their ticket, rebook on to a different flight or reroute their journey on another BA flight or other carriers (subject to availability and agreement).
Passengers may rebook onto a British Airways operated flight subject to availability as outlined below from the original airport of departure to the original arrival airport.
Conditions
Rebooking must be onto an alternative British Airways service scheduled to operate outside the period of disruption
If travel is completed within twelve months from the original flight, if the same booking class is not available, the next lowest class may be booked within the same cabin. This will be at no additional cost to the customer, and if required, the validity of the ticket may be extended.
If rebooking outside twelve months from the original flight, the customer will have to pay any difference in fare.
The return flight, if applicable, can be rebooked at the same time subject to the same conditions
Please manually rebook and reissue the ticket. You will not receive a debit memo if you follow the conditions above. You may add the comment "Refer BA Commercial Policy Dec 09" to the booking for future reference.
The option outlined above to rebook is the only option available to customers.
No refunds are allowed unless permitted under the fare rules.
British Airways Holidays
If you have a customer that has started their journey who has a car, hotel, experience or transfer booking made direct with BA, with or without a flight booking with BA, please call BA Holidays in the UK on the 24 hour helpline: +44 (0) 208 707 4460.
Normal conditions of carriage will apply to any customers who are booked to travel outside the proposed cabin crew strike dates and who wish to change their booking.
British Airways Strikes
... and what it means!
You must do something! If you are booked to fly and you have not been advised that the flight is actually cancelled - and by advised, I mean have a written note to that effect or have been contacted/ you have contacted BA reservations AND got the name of the person you spoke to AND their computer reference AND made sure that your call is recorded in their system - then you must turn up for your flight. Once at the airport, you should then find out from a BA official what they want you to do. Note that you cannot simply "get a refund" - UNLESS your flight is cancelled.
If at the airport - Apart from the general hassle of not being able to go where you want to go, if you are able to rebook your event, then the best it is for everyone. Just make sure that you get an official to stamp/ sign/ write on a copy of your eticket that the flight is cancelled/ that you have agreed to change your reservation. The thing here, is that you must not be simply a "No Show" - that is, someone who simply didn't turn up.
Travel at this time will not be easy - even when things are running for what passes as "normally" things are not easy at this time of year - so be prepared. Take some snacks, water, thermos - some good books and a change of clothes in your cabin baggage. Remember that your main bags may have gone so keep an emergency kit handy. Contact any friends you may have that live locally to the airport and mention that you are travelling and can you come around if things get really bad. Make sure you have plenty of cash. Cash machines are available but if there are lots of people about for a while, then the amount of cash in them may well run out!
If you are travelling with young children my advice is simple - forget it. You are entitled to change your booking so just postpone the visit. If this strike goes ahead, disruption will be on a massive scale. Remember that rebooking on another airline will probably NOT be an option as they are more than likely full so if any seats are left, they are going to cost a lot of money. The days of Gentlemans' Agreements about airlines helping each other out went out the window a long time ago when (with all due respect) everyone started shouting for low fares.
Finally, if you are going to "go for it" - Resign yourself to it. Everyone will be on very short fuses. There will be long queues and lots of sitting about. Getting all hot and bothered will not help. Staff, such as there are, will try and do their best so try and work with them. Remember, if you can change - do. That's one less problem for the airline and a lot less heart attack inducing aggrevation for you!
I can only help you IF you booked your flights with me - otherwise, call 0844 493 0787 or (US) 1-800-247-9297