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Old May 31, 2015, 3:36 am
  #1  
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I screwed up [missed my flight]

and missed my flight to HKG a couple of days ago due to traffic. Miles gone, return flight cancelled. BA Gold. Any advice - apart from get there earlier next time.
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Old May 31, 2015, 3:37 am
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Travel insurance?
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Old May 31, 2015, 3:51 am
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Originally Posted by 1apreferably
and missed my flight to HKG a couple of days ago due to traffic. Miles gone, return flight cancelled. BA Gold. Any advice - apart from get there earlier next time.

Did you ask if they could rebook you (dependant upon award availability). With a bit of persuasion/charm/argument I was able to persuade them easier when I had a similar situation as a Blue.
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Old May 31, 2015, 3:54 am
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If it was days ago, you're probably hosed.

If you have just missed it, asking politely may work - you may get to keep your return flight, or get rebooked.

If you still want to try to retrieve the situation, give BA a call and ask very, very nicely with admission of your error if they will help you out by giving you credit for the other flight or similar. This will probably not work, but asking nicely is free.
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Old May 31, 2015, 3:56 am
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May be too late now. You should always get in touch as soon as you are aware of the problem...leaving it this late in no way aids your hand.
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Old May 31, 2015, 3:56 am
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The best advice I can give when it happens is go to the airport anyway, go to the counter, and tell them frankly what happened accepting responsibility for what happened but asking if anything can be salvaged. Often they will be able to at least protect the return part of your ticket or if traffic was due to a major incident that they were made aware of there may be instructions to allow rebooking on the next flight.

Several days later, however, not much you can do. You can ask for your taxes back on the ticket.
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Old May 31, 2015, 4:04 am
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Indeed too late now. You should have still went to the airport and spoken to the staff there.

They often do have people monitoring the traffic situation for e.g. major accidents that may cause delays to passengers and can take that into account.

Airlines do generally want to try and help passengers in situations like this but the passenger has to help too by talking to the airline.
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Old May 31, 2015, 4:15 am
  #8  
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I'm assuming you got to the airport eventually on the day of departure? Didn't you speak to the airport staff on arrival?
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Old May 31, 2015, 5:25 am
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Originally Posted by Genius1
I'm assuming you got to the airport eventually on the day of departure? Didn't you speak to the airport staff on arrival?
....and what about your trip to Hong Kong? Did you not need to go anymore having missed the flight?
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Old May 31, 2015, 7:28 am
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Originally Posted by 1apreferably
and missed my flight to HKG a couple of days ago due to traffic. Miles gone, return flight cancelled. BA Gold. Any advice - apart from get there earlier next time.
This story sounds a bit odd. Do you mean you booked this with Avios? In such a case, firstly as others have said you should still have gone to the airport and tried your luck with the appropriate amount of forelock-tugging. Anyway if so, your travel insurance should still cover YQ etc I guess, but the miles are definitely gone.
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Old May 31, 2015, 8:10 am
  #11  
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Water under the bridge for OP, but this is what mobiles are for. BA's COC has a provision somewhat unique to BA which invites you to contact BA immediately when circumstances such as this arise. No rebooking is promised, but BA states that it will consider and make an effort.

In this case, presuming space, it is more than likely that BA would have rebooked over the phone, presuming availability.
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Old May 31, 2015, 8:38 am
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Originally Posted by frb98mf
This story sounds a bit odd. Do you mean you booked this with Avios? In such a case, firstly as others have said you should still have gone to the airport and tried your luck with the appropriate amount of forelock-tugging. Anyway if so, your travel insurance should still cover YQ etc I guess, but the miles are definitely gone.
Some travel insurance covers your miles too..
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Old May 31, 2015, 8:51 am
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I think that travel insurance, and probably BA too, would require more than "due to traffic" before considering a claim. Was there a documented major traffic accident and/or more congestion than usual, or were you on a fairly tight schedule and underestimated the traffic?
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Old May 31, 2015, 8:56 am
  #14  
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Originally Posted by 1apreferably
and missed my flight to HKG a couple of days ago due to traffic. Miles gone, return flight cancelled. BA Gold. Any advice - apart from get there earlier next time.
I'm sorry to learn of your misfortune.

Unfortunately, BAEC is one of the less-forgiving FFPs when it comes to missing an award flight. Are you able to accumulate miles in a different program in the future, or do you expect that this was just a one-off situation for you?
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Old May 31, 2015, 9:19 am
  #15  
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Thanks for the replies all. Most appreciated. Got there on Emirates, paid, the next day. The airport said they couldn't help. I'll try again when I get back.
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