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A friend of mine has booked 4 adult economy tickets on a long-haul flight with a 'third-party provider' on a British Airways flight. They are saying that apparently they get a discount on the airfare but as a trade-off they aren't entitled to an in-flight meal and only have a baggage allocation of 3 bags for 4 passengers.

As a fairly seasoned long haul traveller I have literally never seen or heard of cabin crew not serving an in-flight meal to a passenger because of the fare they purchased, nor have I ever booked a long haul flight that didn't include at least one checked piece of baggage for each travelling adult.

I am concerned that my friend may have been scammed or ripped off and that this 'deal' is a hoax. Does anyone have any experience of these sort of deals?

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    I have literally never seen or heard of cabin crew not serving an in-flight meal to a passenger because of the fare they purchased, It happens. Experienced it on Norwegian last year from New York to Belfast. The agents must have booked the no frills option for them and not added on a meal purchase.
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Aug 2, 2018 at 13:29
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    International long haul flights On our international long haul flights we serve a three-course meal. Booked a LowFare or Flex ticket? Then remember to pre-order! norwegian.com/us/travel-info/on-board/food-and-drinks
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Aug 2, 2018 at 13:30
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    @anomuse that's an interesting article thanks, however the city they are travelling to is not listed as one of the selected destinations. Perhaps they have extended that fare to other destinations since publishing. Still seems fishy though.
    – Meridian
    Aug 2, 2018 at 13:47
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    Your friend should have a booking reference which will enable them to look at their booking on the BA website.
    – DJClayworth
    Aug 2, 2018 at 14:22
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    Does the BA site give the status of the bookings (it should be “confirmed”)? IIRC it also gives details of what you can expect on board (and tries to sell you upgrades / extras)
    – jcaron
    Aug 2, 2018 at 21:46

2 Answers 2

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The receipt from the third party should provide your booking reference (PNR) and e-ticket numbers (at least one e-ticket per person, depending on how many flights round-trip). Use the BA web site's Manage My Booking function to find the booking using the PNR or one of the e-tickets. That confirms that you have a booking, and will indicate your baggage allowance and if you get food. The first three digits of the e-ticket numbers indicate the airline on which the ticket is issued. An e-ticket issued on BA starts with 125.

The receipt from the third party should also provide information regarding baggage and meals, but that can't be relied on.

If you do not have a valid PNR and valid e-tickets, that indicates a scam and my suggestion is to contact the credit card company.

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No it isn't a scam. Welcome to the modern world. I flew to London from Miami International and no while everyone else was chowing away at their food, I felt left out called the airline attendent to order myself some paid food and she said they have to finish serving the pre-paid meals first, then go around asking who wants coffee then I can order something. Then when that happened, she said they were were out of this and that, pretty much everything. I couldnt even order a cup of fruit. So, she was nice and said we have some left of hot meals, I'll just give you one. I had bought sandwhiches just in case. Otherwise guess I would have been hungry for 11.25 hours. And yes I had to pay $100 for my one checked bag.

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  • Thanks for your own experience answer.
    – Willeke ♦
    Aug 26, 2021 at 2:49

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