PxC

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as we would like to avoid spending hours in another airport if someone on here can figure out a better way of doing it

FWIW I will be BAEC Silver, so lounge access will make this less painful.

Flying back AKL-DOH-ARN QR (J) arriving 05:45.

We then booked a flight around 10am in ET (BA) to LHR, and paid for travel back home from LHR (coach).

Then BA informed us they are cancelling our ARN-LHR flight, and rebooked us on the 07:20 flight, which we changed to 11:40 (for free). After 27hrs of travelling, another 6 hour wait in the airport does not excite us... And I guess our coach money back home has now just gone to waste?

We are booked on economy plus which mentions we can change our flight (for free?) upto a certain time before the booking, so my questions...

1. Will we only be able to use the lounge at ARN from 3hrs before our ARN-LHR departure after checking in?

2. Due to the cancellation we were able to change our flight from the 07:20 to 11:40 for free. If we wanted to change again, would this be free?

3. Would it be worth booking into the 07:20 flight and phoning to change this on the day from Doha if our flight DOH-ARN is going to be late? Basically, we are looking for some way where we can avoid sitting in ARN for 6 hours, without risking having to pay out a lot of money if we miss it.

4. If we get our bags checked all the way through to LHR from AKL, will we have to go through immigration at ARN, or just stay airside for ARN-LHR and thus save time/effort? Assuming we would have to checkin online.

Many Thanks

Andriyko

2. You won't be able to do this for free due to the cancelation as you are only allowed 1 involuntary change. Since you already chose a different flight the fare rules are governing again.

3. Again, this will be allowed if your fare allows it (whether for free or with a penalty/fare difference).

corporate-wage-slave

If you have Plus fares then you can make further changes on the day for free, but I suspect that the App version won't now work if you have had a manual change already applied. What I would do is leave it as it is, then when you touch down into ARN - if you are on time - you will have about 30 minutes to get on to the earlier service. Ideally the App will allow you to sort this out trundling down the runway to the gate in ARN, if not you may need to call BA (perhaps on the Singapore number, see the Dashboard for the numbers). If you are very early, and therefore can get to the BA ticket desk in ARN before 06:15 then that would be easier, but I'm sceptical that if you have checked luggage that this do-able. [And presumably HBO isn't possible at this stage either].

The alternative, namely moving to 07:20 now, would risk something like a tarmac delay in DOH or ARN ATC preventing you from contacting BA by the last time for changes, which is 06:20

You can certainly use the lounge for 3 hours if you wish, no issue there, and though it is a nice enough lounge after about 45 minutes I suspect its charms will be wearing off. So your other option, perhaps, is to grab a taxi and go to a hotel for breakfast and a stroll while they look after your bags.

PxC

Thanks

FWIW - Selling class:O

If we had left our flight at 07:20 and missed it, we could of just switched for free on the day (even if the flight is by then a lot more expensive?). Would we now have to pay to switch it?

corporate-wage-slave

To switch it at this stage will involve a charge, as Andriyko said you were allowed one involuntary change and you've used that already. If you missed the flight your ticket will have no value so you will have to buy another ticket, hence my advice not to do this unless you are sure you can make it. Selling class isn't relevant, if it was Plus then that's very relevant since you can continue to make changes, but only on the day, and only where you have at least one hour to go before either your original flight or your new flight, which ever is the sooner. More information here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...change-ba.html

tigertanaka

No issue but the lounge is pretty basic and the food options are very average. ARN Terminal 2 has not much to offer in the way of food anyway but complementary drinks are always welcome when visiting Sweden as it is a pricey country.

QR use T5 and BA use T2 at ARN so you will have to change terminals anyway -
I don't believe that you can use the airside bus connection for non Schengen flights. If you don't manage to get QR to through check your luggage, use the Arlanda Express to transit from Arlanda North (terminal 5) to Arlanda South (terminal 2) as it is a fair walk and there are quite a few staircases to navigate.

T2 security is never that busy, especially if you have fast track. Allow 5 minutes for the bag scan and 2 minutes walk to the lounge. The BA gate is about 2 minutes from the lounge including the passport check.

PxC

Thanks again for all the help!

So if we land at 05:40 and change my flight via the app/phone, would there be much risk of missing the flight given the change of terminals? I assume I would have to check in for the ARN-LHR flight 45 minutes before, so that would mean getting to BA checking by 06:30... picking up bags, immigration.. seems tight

tigertanaka

I wouldn't chance it for a 07:20 flight, particularly as there will be a passport check on arrival at T5 and you might have to wait a while for your baggage. I guess if you called BA as soon as your bags came off the carousel you would probably be OK as long as it was no later than 06:05.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes it seems tight to me too, and security at ARN, while efficient, will take a few minutes at least. I think the way I would regard this is that if you arrived somewhat early it would be worth a go, if not then you may want some relaxing Plan B to while away the time - at least you won't need to rush. And if the QR flight is delayed an hour or so it won't lead to any anxiety.

Often1

OP - Don't treat this as a connection because it is not. You bear all the risk of no show for your later flight.

This includes the possibility that if you do no show that there are no seats on the next flight by the time you present yourself at the ticket counter. New tickets may also be very expensive and you have no allowed much of cushion for any arrival delays.

BrianDromey

I believe that QR will through check on separate tickets, so I think that would complete getting on an earlier BA flight. If QR do through check your baggage I would be tempted to make my way into Stockholm, I've never been to ARN, so I don't know how viable this plan is, but its certainly something I would look into if my bags were being taken care of.

6 hours in a lounge seems rather a long time.

dbru

Rent a car, enjoy driving on the correct side.

Without baggage take the train, bus or hotel bus to go a bit out of the airport area. The Arlanda Express to Stockholm takes around 20mins. Even the train station looks nice, its not really a lot of time.

Why not just relax, browse some pics of NZ?

BRITINJAPAN3

No, Sweden changed years ago to use LHD cars.

agehall

We've always hade LHD cars, even when we drove on the wrong side of the road, so that bit never changed.

Phil the Flyer

Correct - QR does, BA doesn't.