tattikat2

Hello,

I recently had the following experience, which for me was thankfully a first, and wanted to find out from fellow FTers if this was the norm or not.

I had the unfortunate experience of contracting food poisoning at the hotel restaurant where I was staying at LHR the night before my flight back to SFO/USA

As it was impossible for me to travel the next day as planned I managed to call BA early am of the day I was to travel, explained my situation and asked to be booked on the following days flight.

I was told that there would be an additional cost of either $2,500 to fly in Business ( the cabin I was booked in ) or $2,025 to fly in F class due to the fact that the exact fare class/type I had booked wasn't available for the next days flight and those were my options.

I was in no state or condition to enter into a discussion on the finer points of the subject and so paid for the F seat as it was the cheapest option offered.

I managed to make it to LHR the next day and slept the entire way back. Probably the all time record holder for consuming nothing in either the CCR or on the plane itself except for water during the 11hr flight.

I was extremely grateful to be home and have made a full recovery.

I am however left with the nagging desire to know from others if the options I was offered were consistent with what one would expect in similar situation?

I keep wondering why my existing ticket could not have been moved to the following day given my situation.

Any thoughts or observation would be very welcome.^

henkybaby

Travel insurance is not the core activity of BA. That may sound harsh, but if BA would accommodate all 'unexpected circumstances' there would not have to be insurance for travel. Your hotel didn't give you the extra night for free, did it? The doctor wasn't waiving his fee, I'm guessing. Etc. I would like BA to do as you say but I have insurance in case they don't.

mda03jb

I had a similar situation recently. I was hospitalised in Malaysia on final day of my honeymoon. I was travelling on an AmEx 241 in F KL-LHR. BA were sympathetic and stated if I had called the previous day I could have had an Avios refund as per T&C's but they could not rebook which I thought was fair enough.

Fortunately my travel insurance (free with HSBC Premier) was excellent, arranging for a local agent to translate & deal with hospital, hotels, airline etc. on my behalf. They also booked my wife & I one way F tickets home once I was discharged 3 days later which I thought was very generous (expected J at best). BA did however insist on a 24hr gap between hospital discharge and flight (again understandable in my opinion).

My thoughts are that BA would be mad to make unilateral gestures of goodwill in situations where you should be covered by an insurance policy.

mda03jb

The 210 TP's & 22k Avios sweetened the blow of not being up to indulging in the delights of F as much as I would have liked! CC were also excellent, keeping me well stocked with H2O, blankets & sympathy.

simons1

Indeed....as above. Travel insurance is your friend here.

Very frustrating but I can't see BA can reasonably accommodate every circumstance.

Swiss Tony

Clause 3c4 of the CoC explicitly accounts for this, or at least it did when my father was hospitalised in the US whilst on holiday.

Trotting out this line about travel insurance repeatedly does get a bit tiresome...

henkybaby

Since when is illness an 'event' beyond your control? I thought that clause applied to not being on time because you were in a car accident or something.

paul4040

That's my reading of it too.

I suspect if the OP had a serious illness (requiring hospitalisation), or a nasty accident, BA would acquiesce. I expect they have an internal policy on that, too.

But for food poisoning, I think you're in the lap of the gods to be honest.

pauldb

The relevant definition is: "Events beyond your control - unusual and unforeseeable circumstances which you cannot control and the consequences of which you could not have avoided even if you had taken all due care."

And the application is: "3c4) If you need to change any aspect of your transportation because of events beyond your control, you must contact us as soon as possible. We will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next stopover or final destination, without re-calculating the fare."

So I think it's more "circumstances" that mean you require a change, not just an event like an accident, and that an illness fits that. I can't see why it needs to be serious, nasty or requiring hospitalisation, so food poisoning could count. But I would expect BA would want a doctor's opinion you are not able to travel, not just your own opinion/statement.