LTN Phobia

I think there are some lesson to be learnt here.

- Allowing for more time to get to the airport is a good idea, in case of traffic jam etc.

- Traffic issues are not the airline's problem. If they are accommodating, then that's good, but they are not obliged to do so on a restricted ticket unless the fare rules allow for it. It's not worth trying to make it their problem, and it's not a good idea to hold it against them if they stick to the fare rules.

- GGL do not entitle you to extra flexibility.

That being said, I'd like to know on what basis any airline should apologise to me for not offering me flexibility when I missed the flight while on a ticket that does not allow flexibility?

HilFly

There's traffic, and there's "traffic". I believe extraordinary traffic snarl ups would be covered under BA's CoC prevented from travelling for reasons outside the customer's control. (Speaking in general terms, not this specific case.)

orbitmic

I would agree with you in the case of a BA flight, but to be honest this is sort of irrelevant here: the flight was with AA anyway, so if AA wanted to use their flat tyre rule, they could have. BA has conditions that you outline for their flights, but there was no BA flight involved here, only BAEC avios, so what BA does for its own flight, in practice, does not really matter.

HilFly

I was replying to LTN Phobia's statement that traffic issues are not the airline's problem.

As you say, another AA agent on another day could have handled this differently.

simons1

As the flight was operated by AA I'm not sure there would be much reliance on BA's CoC.

And as the OP suggested they had run it tight a few times before I don't really have much sympathy on that front. Sounds more like a case of cutting it too fine, we have all done it, when it goes wrong you just have to suck it up.

HilFly

That's why my post contained the words Speaking in general terms, not this specific case.

PeyoNYC

Thanks all. Funny to see the divide between "legalists" and "flexibilists" or whatever you may call them.

Eventually BA sent a few thousands miles which I asked them to give away to a charity. And they of course refunded the taxes on the unused ticket. But maintained the "tough" line that there is no "flat tire rule" as someone called it.

As many pointed out, it looks like the AA/BA thing made it more complex. AA didn't have another flight so they couldn't apply the flat tire tolerance that they seem to have. And then BA needed to process the ticket through the system and not manually at airport (which they did a couple of times in similar circumstances) to get me on one of their flights.

To answer two questions:

I wasn't traveling on a 30k miles ticket in J though, these don't exist. It was a cheap business class ticket in cash. The cheap 30k was premium Eco for the replacement flight.

I got trapped in unexpected traffic, massive traffic jam on the grand central parkway. To be fair I moved in recently to a new neighborhood and may need more experience on the traffic between here and JFK.

Anyway. I wanted guidance, and I got it. I'll lower my expectations and rely on myself to be on the safe side. I will not be fooled by how easy it is to buy a ticket on the app (fine prints really hard to find), or the ads that say "speed through the airport", the absence of luggage drop off cut time info on BA site (Or at least hard to find, much easier on AA.com), and the inconsistency of rules between partner airlines and different airports (BA Paris takes your luggage 45' prior to departure).

I can understand they are complex, inward-driven organizations and add a buffer to my slim buffer. And that I was extraordinary lucky never to encounter such rigid attitudes in years of flying. Maybe my charms are vanishing :-)

Funny follow-up though: was flying again with BA yesterday, Paris London Cape Town, first class in miles. I was early at the airport ;-) but we got fumes on board. We diverted to Abuja (Nigeria) and were driven to a hotel for the day (passports being confiscated). They knocked at my door in the evening to tell me we we're ready to go, but when I arrived in the lobby 4 minutes after all 10 buses were gone. I had a funky moment in a taxi, racing through traffic to catch the bus.

I checked with fellow passengers: they basically forgot to call many people, thankfully everyone made it. The atmosphere was good, staff adorable, and everyone very patient.

Overall, they didn't do that bad. That's a distant station in a complex country. 20 hour delay on arrival, I'll be curious to see whether they are as strict with their own 20hr delay than with my 20 minutes.

Apparently a kettle caught fire at the upper deck, or maybe flameless electric combustion. Smokes in he upper deck and crew rest area, some of them (crew) coughed badly afterwards.

mec72

Out of curiosity (and since I was cutting it close a few times and wondering what my options were...) -- what happens if you abandon your luggage, as per AA's suggestion? Would AA put it on the next flight? Hold in storage until you come back?

orbitmic

Of all the places where I would prefer not to be rerouted!!...

cuspidor

Take responsibility. the airlines will enforce terms and conditions.. We all cry out for consistency and the terms and conditions on tickets are the only way the airlines can apply fairness and consistency.

mgiarc

If the OP finds himself in a similar situation again, I would recommend heading over to T7 and speaking to special services who (at JFK) are very customer focused and extremely flexible in what they can and will do for GGL passengers.

orbitmic

I must say this really hasn't been my experience in recent months.

Aztec_Flyer

Nor has it been mine (system-wide, not JFK particularly). I think most of the goodwill has been drained from the system and it's all to the letter of the contract now.

Although I prefer a system that has a bit of give and take I've simply resigned myself to ensuring I submit a claim for pretty much every single EU261 or similar type incident. BA has "trained" the give and take out of me!

PeyoNYC

I asked. They logically won't load it on the next plan for safety reasons and won't hold it. You can leave it at left luggage, ask someone to come pick it up, or send it by taxi/uber to someone's place (not sure all cans will easily access). None of these options is easy to arrange in five minutes...

PeyoNYC

Would happily do so if they would:
- take responsibility on their side (for their own massive delays)
- be logical in the rule: frankly, who can't make a simple distinction between trying to fly another time/day (exchange) and being caught in traffic trying to make it to the airport?

I still believe a good answer would have been "we try to accommodate passengers caught in traffic whenever possible, but we can't guarantee it for logical operational reasons. We're sorry we couldn't do it this time [explain here why they couldn't accept me on board the flight that was more delayed than me]. Here is a little symbolic stuff to share the pain and get yourself a bigger buffer next time".

The guys writing the contract cannot accommodate for all cases in a commercial/human way, better leave it to front staff to use their best judgment.