Amending bookings with Brittany Ferries

[mazandcol]

A couple of months ago I booked with Brittany Ferries to return to UK for Christmas (Caen - Portsmouth, Portsmouth - St Malo), but recently discovered we needed to travel over a few days earlier so I went on-line to amend the booking, something I have done a couple of times before.  Even though I was only amending the outward journey date, the price for the return journey shot up by £60!! I expected the outward price to change, but not the return as well.

I rang Brittany Ferries to check/ask why but was told that's the new price - basically take it or leave it.  She did offer to do it for me on the phone, but that would cost an extra £15 as well.  So, obviously I went back on-line.

The moral is - it now appears that an 'amendment' is actually cancelling your booking and starting again at current prices.  Not an amendment at all.  So be warned.

[Chezstevens]

I always book 2 singles, accepting that the discount is not as great, but this allows me to massage my trip if/when things change.

[mazandcol]

Good idea - I'll certainly look into that next time...

[Gardian]

[quote user="Chezstevens"]I always book 2 singles, accepting that the discount is not as great, but this allows me to massage my trip if/when things change.[/quote]

I can only speak from my recent experience, but when making my Christmas BF booking a month or two back, I found to my surprise and delight that there appeared to no longer be a penalty for a one-way booking.

Last year we travelled out and back with BF and the cost was around €450 - had we wanted to do it, a one-way would have been around €300. This year we decided to travel out woth BF and back via Eurotunnel.  The outbound single with BF was €214 and a return would have been €428, so not only do they seem to have eliminated the penalty, but the fares are a bit cheaper!

They seem to be adopting more of the lc airline approach to pricing (yield-based) and that perhaps the OP fell foul of an increased price some weeks after he made his original booking?

[Gardian]

Out of interest, I just did a 'dummy' booking for my journey in December.  The price is now €234 as opposed to the €214 that I got 3 months ago.

This 'yield-based' pricing may well have existed for several years with BF and whilst its as well to be aware of it, I can't think of too many transport operators (airlines, ferries, trains) that don't adopt this approach. IMO its perfectly reasonable.

[mazandcol]

You're perfectly right about the 'yeild-based' pricing, and BF have done this for years.

However, my point was that I was changing only one leg of an existing booking (for which I would expect to pay the new price) - I changed nothing on the return leg, so why up that price?  This is why I say it's no longer an amendment, it's effectively a cancellation and start again!

[Gardian]

My apologies - I've re-read your original post and take your point.  It is irritating and a bit daft. 

[BJSLIV]

I think BF have moved to a more active, probably automated form of yield pricing since the start of October. This all happened when they abolished the short period cheap returns.A return ticket is now always the equivalent of two separate singles.

Previously fares changed erratically and infrequently. Now they changes quite regularly.

I had been planning our December/January trip for quite a while and had seen prices increase by £30 on the UK/French leg. I decided to book a single yesterday morning, and was just about to enter CC details when the door-bell rang. By the time I remembered to continue the booking, I had to restart and the price had increased by another £30. Grrrr

I think this £30*2 on the outward is what has affected the original poster.

Any changes to times or dates mean that you are now treated as a new booking at current prices with a credit for the old crossing.

Still quite generous compared to the airlines.

More generally it's good to see that some of the crossings have virtually sold out of cabins. There must still be some life left in the western channel market!

[mazandcol]

"Any changes to times or dates mean that you are now treated as a new booking at current prices with a credit for the old crossing."

My point exactly BJSLIV - not an amendment anymore. 

So, given there's no difference for 2 x 1-way tickets, booking seperately looks like the way forward from now on.

[Martin963]

Your posts have reminded me why we don't use Brittany Ferries anymore,  and haven't since 2001.....

[PaulT]

Now Eurotunnel seems a little different.....

I had booked for the car without the roofbox on the bsis that we were not taking much. Then it seemed that t would be good to buy some additional items and take so would need the roofbox. I went on to the site as though I was making a new booking for a car with a roofbox to ensure there was availability. There was but the cost had risen. Went in to amend a booking (this was just a single booking as we make fewer but longer trips so not a frequent traveller) made the amendment which showed that there was nothing to pay.

[Catalpa]

[quote user="BJSLIV"]By the time I remembered to continue the booking, I had to restart and the price had increased by another £30. [/quote]

I've had that - I've got a quote for X and then the internet connection has failed before I've had time to complete the booking. When I try again, even just a few minutes later, the price has increased.

I think it's cookie related. Either clear your cookies before starting again or use a different browser to the one used for the first attempt at booking. I normally use Firefox so I use Chrome to re-do the booking. This method has always delivered the original (lower) price.