headingwest

It's hypothetical I know, but reading about airberlin's latest financial difficulties - currently not owning a single one of its planes, 'secret' talks with Lufthansa about certain routes, etc, etc. - I'm interested to know what would be the likely outcome of a BA reward booking if things went pear shaped. Would BA offer a reroute? Any likelihood of losing Avios?

Living near Vienna and with a stack of Avios to burn, which I'd preferable like to use towards NIKI flights (to the USA and Abu Dhabi), I'm a little concerned about the current situation. I certainly don't want to lose Avios, but I'm also worried about hotel bookings etc, etc.

I'd be grateful for your thoughts.

ptr120

I live close to an AB hub in Germany and haven't heard any of the rumours that you mention. If there are financial issues, I'd suggest that they are far from terminal. The airline is part owned by Etihad which gives them a very stable partner, and also consumer protection in your country is strong so even in the event of the airline going tits-up, I would suggest that you'll be protected. As normal have travel insurance in place - you have got travel insurance, haven't you?

Prospero

There were those of us who faced this very situation in 2012 when Malev ceased trading. BA provided protection to customers with tickets issued on BA stock - rerouting on BA or a refund.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...-grounded.html

headingwest

Thank you Prospero, that is indeed reassuring to know.

Lots of stories circulating at the moment. Google 'air berlin' and select news for a few of them! Personally I don't believe Etihad will continue bailing them out forever.

Flip42

A friend of mine wants to book an airberlin flight using avios but she is concerned what will happen if airberlin goes bankrupt before the flight? As she would have a contract with BAEC they should reaccomodate her or at least reimburse Avios+taxes or am I thinking wrong here?

Any ideas or experiences from what happend when Malev went bankrupt?

dsf

Recent thread addresses this: What would happen to a reward booking on HG if AB went to the wall?

Flip42

Thank you.

Somehow I missed this thread.

Flip42

If they reroute on BA, will they demand BA's higher fees? (AB has very low fees and taxes on TATL flights.) Or will they just reroute without any change to price or amount of Avios needed?

corporate-wage-slave

It would need a precise policy to come out for this to be totally sure, but typically they'll offer a refund or a free re-route to somewhere nearby on BA's route network; there may be some routes where it's impractical to do much more than offer a refund. For Malév they didn't charge extra for any re-routing.

Concerto

Somehow I hope they don't, because I have rather a lot of AB miles to use up!

PUCCI GALORE

I think that AB would end up as part of Lufthansa. What would happen to the miles I cannot tell.

IAN-UK

Well they did the Good Thing when they "rescued" Swissair (and me).

Different times though...

Worcester

May be issues around competition regarding that. Pity as OW needs a Germany partner.

corporate-wage-slave

I don't think it's likely in the short term. AB has made two big announcements recently, one greatly expanding their USA network, making some of it year round, adding extra daily services from DUS in particular, and other new routes have been added; secondly in Europe they are moving to a Buy on Board model plus a front row business class seating, in the style of Vueling. So the free drink and savoury/sweet snack option will go in Economy, raid the trolley in Business, along with the current process to pre-order paid-for hot meals in Economy. Not sure about the end of flight chocolate, I think that stays. Either way, an airline with severe problems wouldn't have focus in these areas, these changes are for the medium and long term.

Flexible preferences

In the UK standard travel insurance doesn't cover airline failure but perhaps it is different in mainland Europe.

You can buy a specific Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance (SAFI) but where does it end? You can't insure everything.