tedcruz

I was scheduled to fly on KA990 from HKG-PEK at 23.00 16/5 and then get BA F back to LHR on 17/5. KA have cancelled the flight to PEK and have re-booked us on KA900 at 07.30 on 17/5. Is a scheduled arrival at 10.30 into PEK enough time to catch the BA38 at 11.15? I checked fligbhtradar24 and the flight usually arrrives early but with immigration and customs, who knows. If I miss the flight how would BA re-book me?
Would they allow me to make my own way to PVG or TYO to catch a flight in J/F?
Or, can I ask BA to book me from HKG and I would have to accept a downgrade to WT as the only seats available in WT+ are fully flexible ones.
To make matters worse, I'm on an AMEX 2-4-1...
Many thanks

tedcruz

AMEX, mistake in title...

AlisonB84

Just for clarification- are these 2 separate tickets?

KARFA

tedcruz

Yes as noted by KARFA.

Confus

My advice:
1. Go to CX CS in HKG, explain, and see if there's anything they can (and are willing to) do. You may be surprised.
2. If (1) fails, fly on CX's first flight to PEK. On arrival, go to BA CS, explain what's happened, beg forgiveness, and hope they can (and are willing to) help. If the next flight is the following day and they do allow you to move, claim a night's hotel on your insurance (see below).
3. If (2) fails, call your travel insurer and explain what's happened. Assuming you left reasonable time between flights originally then the 'missed departure due public transport failure' will kick in and they will help fix you.

Of course, and it should go without saying, for (1) and (2) above you are relying entirely on goodwill, so be the nicest, smiliest, friendliest customer you've ever been and keep your fingers crossed. Good luck.

tedcruz

The first flight with any airline to PEK from HKG is 7.30 and gets in at 10.30. There will be no time to start faffing for BA CS. The fact is, with Shabbat and the chag coming up, I can't fly back the next day.
I was originally meant to land at 02.15 so a good 8 hours before the flight.

corporate-wage-slave

OK, the good news, unless this has changed recently, is that Cathay and BA comes into the same E terminal and though a 45 minute connection isn't great, it is do-able, assuming you don't have checked luggage or CX agrees to through check anyway. If you can get a boarding pass for PEK-LHR then so long as everything goes to time you should be OK, and I would plan on that happening. The problem with Cathay in particular over China is the airspace is congested, China's ATC imposes tight restrictions, the Chinese airforce has priority, and CX have huge problems getting flights to / from the mainland to operate on time. It's been like this for about 10 years now, it's just got a bit worse month by month by month.

From that point on I think you just have to play it by ear, unfortunately. The only 3 other thing I can think of is (a) ring Amex insurance on their call line to see if they can make any suggestions and (b) ring BA and ask them to put a note on the PNR to say you have been delayed by a cancelled CX service and (c) beg / ask Cathay to re-route via LHR direct instead. While on the Gold or USA line to BA you could see if they will reroute the to HKG service instead but I think that is unlikely to work out.

FeedbirdNiner

Can OP invoke this:

G.5.16. If flight bookings for Reward travel are cancelled by the Member within 24 hours of departure, Points in respect of the Reward will not be re-credited to the Member. In the event you are prevented from travelling by an Event Beyond Your Control we will refund your Points provided you have an unused Reward, have informed us promptly and provided evidence of the Event Beyond Your Control and paid the applicable £35 per person fee.

to save the AVIOS and voucher, and rebook an AVIOS flight from TYO (WT available)? Although I'm not sure that gets you home much quicker than rebooking in the same PEK flight on the 18th,

Confus

What else are you expecting BA to do? Hold the flight for you?

One thing I didn't mention is that if you are (or can be) HBO, you could ask CX CS to phone ahead to PEK to ask if someone there can expedite you through immigration. That way you might have a chance of making the original flight to London - in theory, with the right expedition, 25 mins (arrival to new gate close time) may be enough, especially if BA is told you're coming.

Otherwise, if you're refusing (1) and (2) above, go straight to (3) and get on the phone to your insurer. I would agree that 8 hours is reasonable.

tedcruz

Does this work, even if I've taken the outbound?

corporate-wage-slave

Cancelling, no, but delaying is allowed after the outbound has been flown. It's worth a try to see if they can find something after Pesach Sheni perhaps?

tedcruz

@corporate-wage-slave Yes they both arrive into Terminal E. I think the BA gate is E11 which is right by customs and I'm going HBO. If you are reccomending me to go for it, what could go wrong

tedcruz

Pesach Sheni was 2 weeks ago!!! Shavot is Sunday-Monday-enjoy the empty flights to TLV.

corporate-wage-slave

I would still give BA a call, my big fear is the usual boring 30 minute delay coming up and having to spend rather a long time in Beijing (are you also caught by Lag BaOmer as well???!)