skies33

Hi folks, I'm a newbie here and hoping I am posting this in the right place!

My husband and I are due to travel from LHR to OSL in February on BA (economy class) and have booked business class tickets leaving 12 hours after our arrival at OSL on Qatar Airways to Sydney, Australia.

I am now starting to wonder if this was a wise move in case there are severe weather-related delays or cancellations on the day, forcing BA to cancel flights en-masse (or prompting the airline to make their own call to cancel flights, even if other airlines are still operating their flights).

I may be overthinking this, but even though we have allowed 12 hours between flights, the cover on our insurance policy for a "missed connection" - even though they are technically two separate tickets - is limited to £1,000 each. Qatar Airways advised me that due to the restricted fare class of our tickets, a no-show would incur a US $400pp reissue fee plus the fare difference, which would be substantially more than what we are covered for under our travel insurance (I was quoted £2,500 each as of today!). I can't seem to find any specialist travel policies that cover missed connections for anything above £1,000.

I understand that British Airways is typically only responsible for getting us to Norway. But as BA is also a oneworld carrier, do you think this could help us in any way in the event that there was a severe delay or cancellation? Any advice/info from anyone who has experience with this would be appreciated!

Thank you.

UKtravelbear

Welcome to flyer talk

There is no 'technically' about it. You have two separate tickets for two separate flights on two separate airlines. Therefore any 'missed connection' clause in your insurance will more than likely not apply because you do not have connecting flights in the airline meaning of the term.

BA's only obligation to you is to get you to Oslo as per the contract you have with BA. BA and QR both being in one world still means they are separate airlines operating independently with no obligation to help you rebook etc I guess if you werr stuck at LHR that you could approach QR there but you would still be at their mercy in moving you to one of their LHR departures and that could still cost you £££

If you are that worried about missing the flight then I would suggest flying to OSL the day before and staying in a hotel over night.

SK AAR

Welcome to FT.

You are definitely overthinking this. The risk that you will incur a delay not to make your ex. OSL flight even in February is minor. I wouldn't spend time worry about it.

BA will most likely refuse to do anything for you. Their obligation is to get you to OSL (not to SYD). You would have to plea your case with QR. But again, it is unlikely to become neccessary to do so.

Globaliser

I don't think that the OP is worried about missing the flight to OSL!

The concern is missing the flight from OSL to SYD. Buying new tickets for that could be a significant expense.

simons1

Welcome to FT.

To be honest this all depends on your appetite for risk, because if something goes wrong your are really on your own. The probability may be small, however occasionally things happen including weather (London/Oslo), technical issues etc.

I think going down the insurance route is a blind alley really - no insurer will cover you against 'missed connection' as you have no connection to miss. Just two separate and unrelated journeys.

I suspect with a 12 hour window the chances of something going wrong are small, however the financial cost is high. Really only you can weigh that up and decide whether it is better to go the day before.....

SK AAR

Yeah, I got that after reading the initial post again. Sorry.

Tiger_lily

Welcome to FT.

I think it it depends on your appetite for risk, although with a 12hr buffer you might be worrying unduly.

The fact is, it’s separate airlines and separate tickets, so missed connection doesn’t apply.

You could always book a flight the evening before just in case, if you are really very worried and the weather looks at bit dodgy. I’d be OK with that sort of buffer but other people may not.

skies33

Thank you for the reassurance.

Our flight leaves Heathrow early in the afternoon and arrives in OSL that evening (6pm). Our Qatar flight is at 6am the following morning (we are staying on-site).. I know it sounds like we have plenty of time on paper (12 hours) but if the afternoon flights are cancelled (there are only 3 BA flights a day, including ours in the afternoon), we would have to make sure we can get to OSL that same day, as any flight the following day would mean missing our 6am flight out of OSL. That leaves SAS and Norwegian from Gatwick I think, but they each only operate a couple of flights that afternoon/evening. If you think I shouldn't be too worried, then that's good to hear

I could look into changing our BA flights, but not sure if it's even possible..


Thank you everyone for weighing in on this!

LTN Phobia

There is nowhere comfortable that I know of at OSL to overnight, so I'd suggest an airport hotel - there is Radisson Blue and Park Inn at the airport. RB is closer and usually only slightly more expensive, but both are within very short walking distance. Alternatively you could go into the city and enjoy it - it's actually not a bad place to visit, and I like their Maritime Museum and the Munch one in particular but they have a lot of museums - good for winter visits. Public transport is clean and efficient and I was most impressed with their underground - very quiet and clean.

With Feb weather and the potentially very expensive replacement flights to SYD, personally, in the absence of the insurance coverage I'd go on the first flight of the day to OSL, and spend a day and the next night there. Or, booking an additional flight on SAS or Norwegian for instance and cancel if you don't need it.

Sometimes with the mass disruption finding a spare seat becomes challenging, and two spare seats being even more challenging depending on the load (not a problem if the flights on the day are all under 1/3 full, of course), as well as whether there are later flights you can take.

As others have said, it all depends on your risk appetite, and whether you are able to wear the financial consequences of a potential disruption.

I have taken some risks like this in my time and by and large it worked out fine although I have had a few close-misses that created a somewhat stressful situation - but I had a travel insurance policy that covers me up to c. £6,000 per person* in additional cost of flights (i.e. likely to have covered everything...) when I took those risks so I can't say it wasn't really too bad.

If you are able to find a policy that covers you for bookings made before you take out the policy, then additional covers could be something you might like to consider.

*I think it has become quite difficult to find that kind of generous 'misconnect covers' in the EU, probably due to EU261, but my policy was issued in Australia where this kind of covers are rather costly but widely available.

skies33

Thank you for your advice. It appears that I might be able to change our BA flights for a £60pp fee plus the fare difference (will need to look further into this) but if we went on the first flight of the day (7am), we'd have a 17 hour instead of 12 hour window.
I guess I need to weigh up if it's worth paying to change them for the 5 hour extra window.
Paying the fare difference to have the Qatar business class tickets reissued isn't an option for us... it would cost upwards of £5,000, so in that scenario we'd be more likely to pay for economy tickets and lose the business class seats :/
I will look into your alternative suggestion (perhaps Norwegian from Gatwick?)...those seats are about £100 but non-refundable.
Lots to weigh up!

nbevan

I have made unprotected connections, but always with at least one contingency if my positioning flight is cancelled.

From the details you give I think you will find there are later BA and/or SAS flights to Oslo the same day. That would cover most situations except some unlucky circumstances with a major weather disruption.

It is also worth checking your travel insurance. I believe that some may cover missed connections ("failure of public transport"?).

skies33

Thank you for your advice.
I've just looked into one-way flights with Norwegian and you can buy "flex" fares that can be cancelled free of charge, I believe. But I presume you would lose some taxes? I haven't done anything like this before, and am just considering back-ups!

Paying for Qatar Airways to reissue our tickets wouldn't be an option for us, as it would cost upwards of £5,000, so in that scenario we would have to lose our business tickets and would probably end up paying for economy tickets on the day. Not something I want to think about too much!

Globaliser

Having a quick look at the website, I would expect to get everything back except the service fee if you cancel in circumstances in which you have to pay that. Taxes are actually some of the last things to be non-refundable: even BA's fares will get you your taxes refunded, subject to any cancellation or admin fees.

However, you're booked to fly from LHR to OSL. You need to think about the circumstances in which you might need to call on your alternative flight. Suppose there's heavy snowfall overnight the night before you fly. You get to LHR because the LHR-OSL flight hasn't been cancelled. But it carries on snowing, and LHR gums up. Your flight starts to be delayed. How long will you leave it before you pull the plug on the BA, and go for your alternative? What are you going to do with your checked bags (assuming you're taking some to SYD)? How long will it take to get them back? At what point (if at all) might you abandon the bags for the sake of getting yourselves to SYD? How will you then get to LGW? How long will it take to arrange? Will the National Express coaches actually be running in those conditions? How long will it take you? If the M25 is badly snow-affected, will you get to LGW in time for the Norwegian flight?

These are things to factor into the risks that you're prepared to accept (or not), when working out what your contingency plans are going to be. And you have to remember that there is no way that you can formulate a reasonable plan that will guarantee that you make it to the flight from OSL.

skies33

All good points!

NickB

What matters, in this respect, is how the insurance policy defines "missed connection", not how the airlines, for their own purposes, define it.