NWIFlyer

No, not a chance ...!

Mind you, with the potential for multiple x 600 Euros compensation I'd be dragging the family on to the plane, no matter how much kicking and screaming went on .

The throw of the dice here will be the reason for delay - if BA can claim ATC at LHR caused the incoming aircraft to be late, then only duty of care would apply, and the OP has not really incurred any costs under that. If the OP could manage to establish that before arriving at LHR, it would help the decision making process enormously.

ianfly

This happens to me quite often actually, it usually always gets in just before compensation is to be paid.

I always avoid Ryanair and book my DUB-LON with avios and when it's delayed they always seem to either rebook me onto the next flight OR if I book with avios when I arrive in Dublin, I normally phone and get my missed flight refunded.

subject2load

Good responses from the collective ; and the OP's own attitude is for the most part* balanced, with swift & apparently effective reaction in managing the fallout from missed connections. The ramifications of an ex-EU going wrong are inevitably more complex/stressful (along with potentially significant additional expenditure) where family travel is involved.

* I say 'for the most part' because I was quite surprised by his description of posts as "becoming more aggressive" when in reality there seems little - if any - sign of inappropriate or unfair comment.

KARFA

In situations where my US-LHR flight has been delayed substantially such that I can't make my originally booked LHR-DUB flight (and can no longer subsequently get my DUB-LHR flight) I now call BA once I arrive at LHR and cancel the LHR-DUB leg on whatever later flight they have rebooked me on.

The reason I give is that due to the IRROPS I now get in to DUB later than planned and the flight is no use to me. The cancellation reason should be noted in the booking and therefore should not indicate you are simply trying to miss the last leg.

I then separately sort my own travel out from LHR to home.

KeaneJohn

To be honest the op got a good outcome here. Bailing at LHR and getting the train from Paddington would cost more than £200 for 4 people and I don't know what a one way car rental would have been.

Don't forget you should be able to have enough avios for a trip to Europe someone too from this trip.

Just ?a question to the wise, does a downgrade not get 75% refund under the EU 261 regs

Flexible preferences

Only for the sector downgraded.

Thanks

NWIFlyer

In this case, it sounds like the OP voluntarily took a Y re-route for a earlier arrival back into DUB. BA would presumably happily have carried him in CE had he been prepared to wait for a slightly later flight from LHR. Compensation would likely only be due for an involuntary downgrade, although the reg doesn't make this entirely clear.

In any case, in line with the recent court ruling the value back would only have been 75% of the value of the LHR-DUB leg - which would really not have been worth claiming for, I suspect, particularly with the uncertainty.

AndyFlyer

That is what I would do, too, esp after overnight travel from LAX, why would you want the stress of connections, delays, transfer to hotel and possibly oversleeping and missing the morning DUB-BRS flight. I'd have cut my losses early, asked only to go to LHR, have bags tagged there and hopped a train/rented a car for travel back home.

vibguy

OP: You should have checked the departure time of your A/C out of LHR. You would have seen very early that your flight would be delayed and by how much. This would have given you plenty of time to look up available alternatives (expert flyer), call BA and get one of the alternatives into LHR on time for your DUB flight. Out of LAX there are many options. Waiting until you get a delayed flight message from BA is often too late for corrective action. Preventive action gives a better result.

lhrsfo

Whilst I have lots of sympathy on this, having done three ex-EUs this year, I think the OP got off lightly - it's the return which got messed up with fairly low costs to rectify. My nightmare is always the outbound getting messed up.

Silver Fox

Wife talking to you yet?

corporate-wage-slave

Sorry for the hassle it has caused, bu I'm sure it will work out in the end, and for all the incremental costs I would imagine you still saved a lot of money on the baseline LHR-LAX costs. You'll have a great time retelling the tale over dinner at some point.

What would I have done differently? I think I would have checked the outbound LHR-LAX first, so I would have had more time to reflect on option, I would have not rebooked the flight to Dublin at this stage, but left it until arrival in London. I would have looked up RFS from DUB to LHR, this could be booked in DUB if necessary, and asked Avis if they could credit the car rental, since it was due to a flight delay. What I've learnt not to do is to over-engineer rebooking at the first sign of trouble, it's sometimes easier to go through each blockage as you get to it. But I think you probably did have too many entities involved on your return.

orbitmic

First of all, and at the risk of stating the obvious, thank goodness it hasn't happened on your outbound!! If you'd miss the first dub-Lhr flight you'd have lost everything!!

My advice for anyone in similar case (too late for op now) would be to indeed state that you would now arrive too late in DUB to do what you needed to and would like to terminate in London and/or fly into dub the next day.

You could also write to ba after the trip to ask for a gesture of good will in view of the delay as well as original routing credit and partial downgrade refund if you accepted the EI flight. However I wouldn't mention your hotel and flight expenses as I think that would just complicate matters as it would look like itinerary protection request (which is not due).

Finally, I'd recommend urgently buying a lovely present for your better half with some sort of 'I had such a wonderful holiday and hope you liked it too' message!!

Oxon Flyer

Just piecing together the flight timings :

LAX-LHR BA268, in Club, arr T5 1600
connecting to
LHR-DUB BA824 in Club, dep T5 1720 arr 1845
then
DUB- BHX FR dep 2035

Next BA flights are :
LHR-DUB BA838 dep T5 1845 arr 2005
LHR-DUB BA826 dep T5 2135 arr 2255

Rebooked to :
LHR-DUB EI , in Economy, dep T2 dep 1910 arr 2025

The additional twist is that the delayed BA268 is ETA T5 at 1840, so the OP will miss the rebooked EI flight from T2.

Takiteasy

In which case they might have to take BA826, arrive 4hrs later than expected and take the EU161 compo - everyone happy.