What to do if your BA booking doesn’t have a ticket number?

Booking a flight doesn’t mean you’ll get on the plane. You need an eTicket number attached.

Air travel can be complex. One added complexity is that the airline you bought a ticket from or redeemed points with may not have successfully completed the transactions. It’s rare, but it’s just happened to me, and I’m lucky I caught it.

Why wouldn’t my flight have an eTicket number?

It feels like if you have gone through the process of booking a flight with BA, then you’re all set to fly. The reality is that in almost all cases, you are. However, sometimes, a flight needs to be ticketed manually by BA, which means a human being, in an office somewhere, has to finalise the ticket transaction.

In our case a flight that we noticed was unticketed was one that had a complex itinerary. It was an open-jaw Avios booking, where we flew out to one city and returned from another. This meant we had to ring the BA call centre to book it, and it took about 20 minutes to go through the options and secure our seats.

If I book a flight, isn’t that the same as getting a ticket?

To the average person, absolutely. To an airline, there is a difference between a reservation (booking a flight) and having a ticket number attached to it. The latter related to the financial side of buying the ticket.

Tell-tale signs that your flight doesn’t have a ticket

1. You haven’t received an email from BA confirming your booking
2. You can’t select seats on the flight
3. When you look in “Manage My Booking” on the app, or the website, the “Ticket Number” is blank

Here’s what I see when I try to select a seat on an upcoming flight

And when I look at the booking, there’s no ticket number attached

What happens if you turn up to the airport without a ticket number?

You won’t be able to check in without a ticket number. Fixing this usually requires a phone call to BA, which means you may be on hold for a long time and might miss your flight. It’s entirely possible that the issue could be fixed in time for you to check in and then fly, but it’s a risk.

How do you fix a flight that has no ticket number attached?

There’s only one way to fix this, and it’s to pick up the phone and call the BA call center. From the UK that’s 0344 493 0787, or outside the UK it’s +44 207 949 3086. Don’t email BA – in my experience, it can take days or weeks to get a response.

If someone else made the booking then it’s best that either they make the call, or they’re with you when you call.

Fixing the issue doesn’t take long, assuming the call centre isn’t too busy. Just let the agent know your booking reference, which you’ll find in the Manage My Booking section of the app or website, and that your flight has not been properly ticketed.

Having a flight without an eTicket number does not mean that your seat will be taken up by someone else, but this isn’t a reason to delay making the call.

Once your flight is fully ticketed you’ll see the number in the app and website, and if you didn’t have a confirmation email from BA previously then one will be in your inbox.