Thank you all so much for your replies! I really appreciated the factual info. and experienced perspective from all the FTers who posted. As I am in fact traveling on my own dime, and since those AC tickets are non-refundable/non-changeable, I will travel back to Dublin the day before my departure, although I was really tempted to gamble with the BA flight from Gatwick.
Two quick follow-ups:
(BD would interline with AC, so BD to DUB would be the most viable option)
This is very interesting! This could potentially be very helpful, although in my particular case there isn't a viable option with Midlands, based on the flight times.
Are you aware of any insurance company which covers this?
I did some looking around at a few insurance plans. I did find a policy from Travel Insurance Services (
www.travelinsure.com). The premium was $50 for about $1000 of coverage for travel in Europe.
This *might* cover certain delays, as explained below...
"Other Covered Events" means only the following unforeseeable events or their consequences which occur while coverage is in effect under this policy:
1. Air Carrier delays resulting from inclement weather, mechanical breakdown of the aircraft on which you are scheduled to travel, or organized labor strikes that affect public transportation;
2. arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, or tour operator, resulting from inclement weather, mechanical breakdown of the aircraft on which you are scheduled to travel, or organized labor strikes that affect public transportation. Items #1 & #2 above apply only to Post-Departure Trip Interruption Benefits.
[...]
There are some exclusions in the policy about the Travel Operator failing to provide the services they're supposed to (the RyanAir clause?!?), and exclusions for bankruptcy (might be important for US airlines!). When I e-mailed the company about applying this coverage to itineraries with two carriers, I got the following response:
Hello,
The trip insurance is designed for people going on a trip, leaving home to returning home. What you have described here sounds like you would have problems with the claims adjuster since they require you to have sufficient reasonable time in-between flights. And the covered reasons for delay/interruption would be mainly labor strike or mechanical breakdown. Certain inclement weather reasons would be investigated as well. I hope this helped you some. Thank you for you interest.
Sincerely,
Dale --------
Travel Insurance Services, A Member Company of USI Affinity
I didn't follow up about how much time between flights is "reasonable," because I had decided not to opt for the quick-connection route. But since many of the delays I'm subjected to seem to be the result of airport congestion, etc., I don't know whether insurance for mechanical and weather delays would be very valuable. And of course if one inquired as to how much time between flights is "reasonable" and "sufficient," it would end up that the insurance isn't really necessary....
Anyways, thanks very much once again for all the advice, everyone.