EXPLAT

Family of four vacation saga, return travel from Barcelona to Texas. Our round trip ticket includes a segment on BA in WT+ for the LHR-JFK leg which cost us $2.1k more than the equivalent coach ticket. Issued on AA ticket stock, now on BA ticket stock when BA reissued the tickets due to the mishaps that follow.

I have BA Silver equivalent status on AA, Bronze on BA.

Made the BCN-LHR segment, the flight was delayed by 40 minutes, so we missed the connecting flight.

On the LHR-JFK leg, the plane was substituted with a Titan Air flight which is all coach. At this point BA should have rebooked us on an alternative flight as they knew we would miss our connection and the flight did not have the class of service we purchased. They did not.

Spent 3 1/2 hours at the transit desk while Don tried his hardest to get us on any flight that would get us back home. It is spring break, BA should have worked on this in advance. The best he could come up with was a coach flight the next day arriving Boston at 23:00 connecting to a 05:40 am flight to Dallas. Sine we paid $2k extra for WT+ tickets, we declined.

The best available option was a flight from LHR-DFW on Monday, two days later. Don offered us one night hotel accommodations, he asked for two but was denied as the coach flight was available. By this point, having spent four hours at the airport, we took the one night voucher.

Next we went to baggage claim, no bags. Filled out a missing baggage ticket with our local airport hotel as the forwarding address. Checked into the BA hotel which was the Marriott Renaissance, I've stayed at the Renaissance at other locations, they have been fine. This one at the LHR is a different story with duck tape on the floors and walls, 3rd world countries have done better.

We left the Renaissance and checked into the Sheraton which is about a five minute walk away. Up to this point, we have been staying at Ritz Carlton and St. Regis hotels but the Sheraton is fine as we're just trying to get home and it's near the airport.

Later that night, we receive a text message that two of our bags have shown up at the Renaissance, I walk over to the hotel at around 11:00pm in the rain and roll the bags over to our hotel. The kids now have some clothes, mom and dad still have none. I purchase some underware at the hotel gift shop, I look quite striking in my British Flag underwear, my only option. Nothing better than choosing between day old underwear or unwashed underwear with that nice varnish smell.

Sunday - I call BA reservations for seat assignments. Steve tells me that the seats are under airport control and that Clair at LHR is aware of uor situation. End of Call, no options. I call the baggage line to get an update on our four missing pieces of luggage. No new information as to their whereabouts, . We purchase four tube tickets and go into town to purchase some additional undergarments and other basics.

Calling the Renaissance multiple times throughout the day, one additional bag has now shown up. It is around midnight, and again in the rain, I walk over to the hotel and roll the bag back over.

At 3:30 am, our daughter wakes us up with a severe ear ache, we call the doctor in the US and are told she shouldn't fly and to see a local doctor. Apparenty, all of the cold and rainy weather in London has not agreed with our daughter.

I call BA at 4:00am but apparently they close, as the message stated to call back at 6:00 am. I call the AA Platinum line which is open 24/7 and the agent states they will re-book us on alternate flights, assist us with seats except BA has re-issued the tickets on BA stock, so the AA agent tell me that don't have control of the tickets anymore, I have to wait until BA opens. I sit around for an hour and a half and at 6:04 am and I call BA.

The agent rebooks our flights and then states that we must bring a note from the doctor before they will reissue the tickets but that we are scheduled on the Thursday flight. It's not worth chewing out the agent as we're going to the doctor in the morning anyway. It certainly rubs me the wrong way but it's not the agents fault.

We go to the hospital ER, pick up our prescriptions, visit a local pharmacy and start our daughter on her antibiotics. The doctor states that she will be ok to fly on Thursday.

We return to the hotel and I walk in the rain to the bus stop to catch a ride to the airport. I arrive and realize that the luggage department is inside the secure area so I check in at a BA information desk. The agent calls and then informs me that our other three bags are currently on a flight to Houston. My wife and I have now been in our same clothes for three days.

They are unable to provide seat assignments and tell me to come back to the airport the next day. Taj at the desk says he will try and work on it the next day and puts the note in his pocket. As a Silver equivalent, I should be able to select seats but the website throws up when I try to do so. At this point, we have two seats together which is good as my wife and sick daughter can sit together, we have another random seat assigned, and no seat available for the fourth. I look online at 1:00 pm and the seat status is still the same.

I will catch another bus to the airport to see about seats and the saga continues...
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Can the BA advocate step in to help? Everyone I speak with at BA says to contact customer service after our trip is over. I want help now, not later!

Operational upgrades to First would certainly compensate for a five day delay. I've had to reschedule meetings, pay for two rooms for five nights, meals, spending 20+ hours at the airport and on the phone tring to straighten out this mess, no clothes, can't really go out to eat at nice restaurants as we have no nice clothes.

Had BA pro actively reschedule us due to either of the two original reasons, none of this would be happening to us now.

BahrainLad

Sorry to hear, sounds like a nightmare.

Was the BCN-LHR and LHR-DFW (the latter which you missed) a separate ticket or something? I'm at a loss as to why you needed to buy new tickets because of a simple misconnect.

Please do complain to The Queen about the weather though, I gather she has a direct line to the man upstairs and frankly, we've tried everything else...

clarkeysntfc

Sounds like a real mess.

That said, I'm not sure BA can be blamed for your daughter being ill and the resulting additional delay.

McG

My understanding from the OPs post is that BA offered to reroute him via JFK on the day of the misconnect, albeit onboard the BA JFK service which Titan were operating, which he refused to take as this would have been a downgrade from the class of service he had booked originally.

Had the OP accepted this, would they have been entitled to EU261 compensation for being downgraded?

dc2447

who else stopped reading / stopped being sympathetic right about here

HarryHolden68

Firstly, sounds horrible and getting caught in this viscious spiral is never a pleasant experince.

However, I don't get how a 40 minute delay results in a missed connection? Minimum connection time at LHR is 3 hours and I have never been able to book anything other than this. If you booked seperate tickets to bypass this, then let hte buyer beware.

Also, I agree with McG - if getting home was more important than sitting in WT+, then why not accept what was offered? Therefore, one must presume that getting home was not the priority.

BA did make it very public that Titan were operating that route and offered to rebook / refund anyone free of charge.

That said, having turned down the solution, it sounds like BA's Plan B is still being thought of.

BizFlyin

Certainly not me, perhaps you could be a little more clear on the issue you have with it?

dc2447

The language, the tone, the phrase 'third world'

BizFlyin

So essentially just the "third world" bit then. Not sure why that's offensive, but to each his own I guess.

onlynik

To be fair, unless you've status with Marriott the rooms you get are awful. Much better off at the Sheraton

Tobias-UK

In the OP's position I'd be concentrating my efforts on getting home.

This appears to now be an insurance matter as the additional delay is down to matters outside BA's control.

BA did offer to get the OP home on the same day but that wasn't acceptable as it would have meant a downgrade. Compensation would have been payable for the downgrade had that alternative been accepted.

Your travel insurance may cover you for the additional expenses incurred, depending on how they view your refusal to accept the same-day alternative flight.

What you will not get from BA is a complementary upgrade to First.

dobba

I have to agree that it really doesnt sound like getting home was that important as you were prepared to wait another day just to travel in WT+ rather than WT.

Had you opted for this, you would have got home, got some compensation for the downgrade of travel class and you wouldnt have had to visit the 4th world Marriott hotel, trekked in the rain etc.

alison lee

My interpretation is that the OP paid $2000 total (for 4 persons) to travel WT+, and didn't repurchase any new ticket. (Not clear whether the $2000 was 4 flights x $500 let's say, or 8 flights x $250).

OP - from our previous missed connection experiences, you could have taken WT (coach) and applied for a refund of the price difference between WT+ and WT, assuming the entire return journey was booked on one ticket (i.e. not 2 separate bookings). There are quite a few flights from NYC to DFW, so I am assuming there was an exceptionally long wait at JFK to decline. I think BA are not responsible for any more than 2 nights accommodation, given that there was no available WT+/timely JFK connection available. We have always been reimbursed for toiletries, necessary clothing purchases and all meals. Perhaps you have travel insurance for the other 3 days.

I don't understand the last comment on BA not pro-actively re-booking you. Your flight was 40 minutes late and they tried when you missed the connection, for quite some time it appears, after option #1 to get your home was declined. I don't think this hour, or so, time period would have made any difference.

Re an advocate now
- for a FC upgrade compensation on Thursday: not familiar with this happening
- for cost compensation: always dealt with retroactively (but timely) in my experience
- for seat assignment: ask for the CS Manager, there is no reason not to assign you if the seats are available to be assigned.

Best of luck.

creampuff

What's duck tape?

Captain Schmidt

http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/duckvsduct.html