y05em1te

This is my first post so I hope its OK and not already answered elsewhere - I did look!

So I fly LHR - RUH regularly and I usually take the shuttle from Manchester to get to and from LHR.
I deliver training and the company I work for in KSA insist on buying the long haul flights, but I have to pay/book to get to LHR
This means my flights are not connected bookings and I have to decide which shuttle to get to connect to the RUH flight

For first three months of year this worked - got in from RUH about 5:30am and caught the 6:45 shuttle (no checked luggage)

Problem is BA changed the flight times so flights leave RUH at 01.10 not 00.35 - which means cant make the shuttle previously booked

RANG BA - who said they could not be responsible as bookings not connected - they agreed the RUH flight time change came AFTER I booked the shuttle, but were adamant they were not responsible

NOW to their credit they decided to change my shuttle time FOC ONCE and made it plain that anything like this in the future is down to me

So my question is - is it reasonable for BA to take NO responsibility for permanent changes to their schedule if people book connecting flights in good faith using the original information. They made it clear that if the booking were connected there would be no problem - unfortunately I cant make this happen

Seems fundamentally unfair to me?? Any comments please ? cheers, PEte

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum y05em1te, it's good to get new members and I hope that we will see more of you.

I'm actually surprised they agreed the FOC change here. This absolutely is their policy, though I appreciate your personal set-up makes your travel arrangements somewhat imperfect, given the circumstances. Their view will be something like "2 contracts = no protection". This isn't anything new either. In theory you could get the RUH flight cancelled for a full refund if the change is more than 2 hours (presumably won't help) or moved to another day. I think it's just a case of knowing this can happen, and planning around it.

The other thing you can do is to ensure you buy a Plus or Flex ticket, since they allow for a Same Day Change, subject to availability. And the other option is to have a decent stack of Avios in your account for the occasional time this happens, LBA to LHR is usually good for availability even if MAN is out of options. And perhaps best to buy single tickets. This is more of an issue when booked way in advance, so perhaps buy the domestic sector at 6 weeks to departure, when changes are less likely and fares are generally at their lowest. Or book 2 weeks from departure when EC261 means it is highly unlikely BA will make a big change.

ratypus

I don't really get your client's thinking here - surely the flights originating / arriving in MAN rather than LHR would be a similar (possibly even lower) price? Seems mad you are exposed to connection risk every single time.

simons1

Welcome to FT.

To be pedantic you are not connecting - BA will view this as two separate journeys. This will always be a risk I'm afraid with the type of itinerary you have, particularly if a 35 minute change of timing means a missed flight.

As for taking responsibility for changes, well EC261 requires them to take responsibility within given parameters, customers would automatically be rebooked FOC but not where separate journeys are involved.

V10

If I remember correctly from the time I was flying to and from RUH (thankfully not something I'm doing any more), there is an element of retiming when the schedules switch over between summer and winter. Worth bearing in mind for future reference when finalising travel plans.

sts603

Can we please stop calling it the Shuttle? BA’s domestic operations operate nothing like an air shuttle and are indeed not marketed as a shuttle service.

Airprox

But their ATC callsign is... SHUTTLE

LondonElite

I think you need to explain to your client that they need to cover airfare from MAN, which is probably no more expensive, and possibly cheaper. BA has no obligation to compensate you for anything on separate tickets.

cheshirepete

Just my tuppence worth.

THEOBCMAN

orbitmic

I'll add my own welcome. As others have mentioned, unfortunately, BA are absolutely not liable to cover any changes to your LHR-MAN flight as it is a completely separate booking which has not been affected by any schedule change. Like cws, I'm actually really surprised that they offered it even as a one off.

Now what you could technically ask from BA, if it helped (but it probably won't), is to let you change your RUH-LHR. That said, this would likely be a pyrrhic victory as it would likely mean your having to leave the day before and not wanting to wait a full day in London before returning to MAN.

Your only other hope is that the schedule of your LHR-MAN flight changes as well in which case you might be able to change your flights consequently (if the timetable change is significant enough) but that is, of course, a distant probability.

WorldLux

IANAL but I doubt that a passenger could win such a case.

Often1

This is where you are wrong. MCT is simply a carrier's willingness to accept the risks of a misconnect. One cannot connect on separate tickets and therefore MCT does not apply. While BA will not sell RUH-LHR-MAN as a connection if the time falls below MCT, one can purchase two tickets even if it is impossible to make the second ticket unless the first arrives early. That is a judgment call for an adult passenger who presumably makes an adult decision.

OP is lucky that BA did this as BA would not ordinarily do this and AA is the only major carrier which chooses to do this. Going forward, OP will need to book a later flight.

OP's concern is misplaced. He is traveling on behalf of an employer which is apparently requiring him to carry some of the costs of his business travel. That is an employee dispute to be taken up with the employer and has nothing to do with BA. BA's solution here is simple, "this is why we sell single ticket connections. The fact that you choose not to is on you and you alone."

deboyzoned

Hi OP,

Welcome.
This is really a matter for your company to provide you a single itinerary PNR to get you from MAN to RUH and back to MAN. Then you are protected if any schedule changes occur. Do you claim back expense for the Shuttke?

You say you travel regularly. A quick check for 1 week shows, in Economy .. starting in MAN and connecting via LHR on BA to RUH is about 30 pounds more return than if you started in LHR. In business it’s about 80 pounds more return.

If you are not tied to BA, then Turkish Airlines from MAN to RUH via IST is about a third cheaper in Evonomy than BA.

I would talk talk to your company for single itinerary.

PrimaVista

There’s also SV MAN-JED-RUH if company isn’t alliance-tied.