I have a booking with Sixt for August of this year. All arranged and paid for. BA have shifted my flights one day to the right. I've shifted my accommodation to match, but to do the same with the car hire DOUBLES the price. To reduce the booking by one day (so collect the same car a day later and return on the already arranged date) DOUBLES the price to make ANY modification DOUBLES the price. WTAF? Absolute pirates.
Was it a joint booking for car and flights with BA Hols?
If so, try getting in touch with BA Hols and getting them to work their magic.
Car hire prices have gone mental (having just booked USA roadtrip for later this year) so maybe your previous booking was on the pre-mental rates? As above, if its a 'package' (car and flights together) through BA then have a word with them.
What happens if you cancel the booking completely then start from scratch with a new booking?
What happens if you cancel the booking completely then start from scratch with a new booking?
I get a similar, but slight lower price to the new, inflated price.
If so, try getting in touch with BA Hols and getting them to work their magic.
Good luck with that.
BA holidays are as good as 8mpossinle to get in touch with by either phone, email, social media or any other form of communication you can think of.
A work colleague was just saying about this earlier today, when someone finally answered his call they informed him they’d only put him through to a customer service assistant if holiday started in the next 24h!
Can't you just leave it as is without changing dates? You've already indicated you could return the car on the original date (one day earlier than your new end date), so why not just collect it 24hrs late without amending the booking? Is there anything in the booking that states you have to collect the car on the same day as it is booked for?
Can’t you just leave it as is without changing dates? You’ve already indicated you could return the car on the original date (one day earlier than your new end date), so why not just collect it 24hrs late without amending the booking? Is there anything in the booking that states you have to collect the car on the same day as it is booked for?
If the car isn't collected within 2 hours (this varies between 30 mins and 2.5hours) of the pre-arranged time, they can give the car away to someone else.
Have you phoned them to do this or just on line? If the latter, do the former. I had a similar issue last year that was making an already expensive hire (hiring a Transporter, very STW) far more expsensive. Quick call, they explained to me why the system did what it did and the problem went away (your experience may be about to differ of course)
If it was a bought as a package through BA Hols it would have been Avis or Budget and they would have honoured the change of dates under package travel regs - unbundled you won't be covered. It happened to me with a flight + car package to Milan and they just adjusted the dates with no extra charge. Yes it was a nightmare to get hold of someone, but I had the same with EasyJet TBH. I imagine all the travel companies are having a nightmare, not sure there is any way you can get enough staff to cover the shear volume of cancellations they are having to deal with in the midst of losing money every day. I found BA were most responsive on Twitter and it saved the hassle of calling!
I found BA were most responsive on Twitter and it saved the hassle of calling!
+1 - worked for me. Sixt is part of Budget BTW, so BA offer Sixt rentals.
@andrewreay Sixt may have been in the past but they are separate entities now, BA is purely Avis Budget Group. Doesn't seem to matter whether you choose Avis or Budget, same desk and generally same cars - you just get more Avios with Avis! 🙂
Have you phoned them to do this or just on line? If the latter, do the former.
Not sure about sixt but you cannot call hertz at all at the moment; everything has to be done online or via email, and they take aaaaaages to respond. I'm just going to walk next time I need a car, it's easier and quicker than having to deal with them.
sotonkona - I got a Sixt car through BA Holidays in October thanks. The desk was shared with Budget. Maybe alliances are different in different parts of the World?
I did call - I got a very abrupt Italian lady who basically told me (my Italian isn't brilliant) that the rates change daily and tough sh!t.
Thats SOP for Sixt. One of the companies I will not use. I have used a lot of hire cars over the years.
Hire cars are in short supply worldwide right now. sixt use a system that gives big discounts for booking ahead so your original price included that. Your new price is because you are not booking a long way ahead
Holiday insurance?