Kamalaasaa

I'm scheduled to fly ORF-ORD-LHR-NBO (the last leg on BA) to a conference in a couple of weeks. Until this past weekend, I didn't have any concerns, but after reading several threads on FT I am starting to think I need to plan ahead in case of delays or cancellations due to the situation with my routing.

Caveat: A travel agent booked the trip for me, so I suppose my first line of action would be to call her and see what she could do. But in the event I couldn't reach her (and maybe even if I could?), what else – if anything – should I be prepared to do if things go belly up? If all I should do is call her, read no further.

My ORF-ORD flight is at 4:10 PM; I have 95 minutes to connect at ORD (T3-T3) and then 85 minutes to connect at LHR (T3-T3).

What complicates things is the dearth of OW flights to act as substitutes. There is only one LHR-NBO flight daily on BA, and other than a couple of LHR-DOH-NBO flights there don't seem to be other (completely) OW options from LHR.

I guess it boils down to what is the right action to take

* If my ORF-ORD flight is canceled or delayed, so I'll miss my connection at ORD?

It looks like the only other OW possibilities would be to try to get on the 12:05 or 3:23 flight ORF-ORD if I knew far enough in advance, or see if I could get rebooked to the 6:00 AA/QR ORF-JFK-DOH-NBO (which gets to NBO a couple of hours after my booked itinerary). Things look even worse from ORD – there don't appear to be any OW itineraries later that evening.

Would AA just put me on their next available routing to LHR from ORF (or ORD, as the case might be), so I would arrive in Nairobi some multiple of 24 hours late? Or is there any possibility of them putting me on a partially OW routing (eg. AA/BA to South African, Ethiopian, or Saudia) or completely non-OW itinerary to get there sooner?

* If my ORD-LHR flight is delayed or canceled so I'll miss my connection at LHR?

If I get to ORD on time, there is a QR itinerary ORD-DOH-NBO that leaves 20 minutes before my LHR flight. Other than that, I don't see anything that is completely OW that evening. As mentioned previously, there are several partially OW routings, but definitely many more non-OW.

So same questions as above: Would I just be put on the next available ORD-LHR-NBO? Or would there be a chance at an alternative alliance's routing?


Does how long the delay getting to NBO on BA would be make a difference as to whether AA would put me on another alliance's routing (e.g, 24 hours vs. 48, 72, etc.)?

Is there anything I should say to expedite that? (I know having one or more alternatives in mind when asking for rebooking increases the chances of getting something you want.)

And if I end up missing the connection at LHR, to whom do I turn for rebooking help? AA or BA?

(I don't have any OW status, so no matter where I am, I'd be at the mercy of phone reps, gate agents, and airport rebooking people – no club agents to help.)


Getting back to the TA – should I call and talk to her this week to see what the game plan should be just in case anything happens, or is that overkill?

And, just out of curiosity, if I called AA and asked these questions (which I don't plan to do), what kind/quality of answers would I get? Would they be as useful as what FTers might offer?

Thanks for your insights!

JJeffrey

Good grief , you have plenty of time at both of your connections so I really wouldn't worry near this much. Just have a couple back up options in mind and you'll be fine.

It would be a complete waste of time to call AA and ask, there's no telling what sort of answers your average phone AAgent would come up with. And for day of departure irrops situations it will typically be AA at the airport that would rebook you, not your TA, so I wouldn't waste any time calling your TA either.

If your ORF-ORD gets delayed, then look for other flights to LHR to catch your existing flight to NBO. There are tons of options so again I really wouldn't worry. It would be no problem for an AAgent to rebook you onto say ORF-JFK/PHL/CLT-LHR-NBO, for example. Or worst case you could rent a car and drive 4 hrs to IAD or RDU to catch a nonstop to LHR. In an irrops situation this would be an easy rebooking.

If you were to make it to ORD and then have delays, it should be possible to get rebooked onto QR, or another carrier if there's no other option.

FlyingEgghead

Good that you're thinking about these things ahead of time. For day-of-travel disruptions, generally the operating airline can help you directly even if you booked through a travel agent (they recognize that it's not practical to work through a middleman when things become urgent).

If​​​​​ you misconnect in LHR, BA will likely help you rebook your onward travel. They may go through a liaison process if AA issued your ticket. Or staff may already be waiting at your late-arrival gate with a list of destinations, to provide expedited transit or new flights to those in danger of misconnecting. Be sure to carry printouts of your itinerary with both AA and BA PNRs noted.

Non-OW re-routing: This is one thing that interline agreements are for. You will have to specify what you want and push for it, but you'll have a shot if it saves a lot of delay.

A useful trick if you face a line for rebooking is to call the airline at the same time you're waiting in line, and see which comes up first.

Kamalaasaa

Thanks. I realize I might be overthinking this, but between never having connected dom-intl at ORD, never having connected at all at LHR, reading horror stories about both on FT, and the relative lack of OW flight options (surprising, to me) relative to *A and ST, I suddenly started to get a little anxious.

This isn’t my first intl flight by any means, and all the others have gone well, so not sure why this one would spook me!

stephem

SeattleDavid

If the problem arises on ORF-ORD, and it is known well in advance (5-6 hours) then they might email you with an alternative to get you to London in time. I presume this is all on one ticket.

And the same principle applies at ORD. AA are pretty good in (EXP) experience at doing rebooking in such situations.

Where you need to watch out is if you arrive in London too late to make your connection (for example, push back from gate at ORD on time but then thunderstorms delay departure for two hours or more - quite a possible scenario). In this situation you can find that both AA and BA rebook you to your destination and you can easily end up being a no show on one of the flights because you assume that AA and BA talk to each other!

But the AA and BA systems are different and they don't talk to each other. My experience twice has been that AA simply book me onto the next day's flight (a 24-hour delay), whereas BA will happily reroute you to (for example) frankfurt or amsterdam to pick up a LH or KLM flight. BA will make every effort to get you to your destination the right day, but again my experience is that my bags don't make it, but I do

I think it is good to think about these things a little in advance - and maybe know what the latest possible flights might be from ORD or from LHR (on any airline), so that you're not trying to work that at the last minute while on hold with the airline. On the other hand, its unlikely to happen and if it does you just have to go with it and hope for the best.

Dave Noble

Worst case that I can see is that you would have to wait until 18:25 and take the KQ flight to NBO

arlflyer

Kind of disagree with this. If anything happened to me on an itinerary like this, the call would be immediately to my travel desk. A good corporate TA - good enough for me to trust with a booking from a small U.S. airport to Africa for a work trip - can do a LOT more on day-of-travel than you're giving them credit for. I've had reroutings issued by corporate TAs in less time than it took for one customer to speak with an AAgent. Anyone making a living these days as a TA needs to be darn good at it.

wetrat0

A lot of people complain about connecting at LHR. The biggest annoyance is you have to go through security (and they can be worse than TSA). However, my experience is LHR flight connections is generally a smooth operation. With T3-T3 you will not even have to take a bus. I would not worry too much, especially because there isn't much you can do about it now. Having a list of backup itineraries is always a good idea when traveling internationally.

Unterwegs

It all comes down to probabilities. Most likely you will be fine.
You can check sites like flightradar24 to see how these flights did in the past, but you will never know beforehand what happens on the day of travel.

It helps to know which alternatives you have to specifically ask for them when you get stuck. And it also helps if you could arrive a few hours later and not miss your conference. My experience is: on the day of travel rebooking at the airport works relatively well, especially when you can suggest alternatives.

FlyingEgghead

A few nitpicks:
Well, OP posed the scenario "in the event I couldn't reach her". And by referring to the TA as an individual ("her") it was implied there may not be 24-hour backup service.
Many employees don't have a choice about trusting -- it's either use the corporate TA or don't go.
"Good" for whom? The executives who hire the TA want cost control, enforcement of travel rules on the peons, pretty reports for auditing, etc. If they travel themselves, they have exceptions to the rules, and personal assistants to handle things for them.

arlflyer

Sounds like we work in very different fields then. The "executives" I know want their people on the ground, with the client, executing on their projects. Period.

billgrates3

I've flown USA-LHR-NBO many times, (USA= LAX, DFW, RDU, JFK) but I have never flown ORD-LHR because I always try to avoid ORD. But I have always allowed >85 minutes at LHR. Fortunately, you are transiting T3-T3, but you have to walk very far both from your AA flight and then after the HORRIBLE! LHR security back to your BA flight.
Last Sept. my colleague and I were flying LAX-LHR-ACC (which is also a T3-T3 LHR connection). Due to a 2 hour mechanical delay @LAX, we missed the BA flight, even though we had allowed >2hours layover @LHR. AA then rebooked us on the next day's flight and gave us hotel rooms close to LHR.

Kamalaasaa

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

SeattleDavid, thanks especially for the heads-up on possible dual AA/BA action! And billgrates3, I was a bit surprised at the routing via ORD, but it worked for me, so I went with it. Thanks to you and wetrat0 for the warnings about connecting at LHR.

I have no idea what kind of office our TA works in (other than it's in a different state from us). I just call or email her. But she is usually pretty good. For example, a few months ago a colleague had a "mainline" intra-Europe connection canceled (the next available was not until the next day, at least, and the ticket agents acted like they couldn't care less, he reported). She was able to switch the hub city and preserve the rest of his US-bound reservation on he same carrier while he went to buy a walk-up ticket on an LCC flight that was about to depart. He actually got home earlier than scheduled!

Kamalaasaa