[Potential] Missed Connection [in Moscow]. What to expect?
 

I am flying LHR-DME-TAS shortly, BA then S7 on a single ticket. The layover is 1h10 and BA required 1h0 before issuing the ticket, so that is all good. I do not have a Russian visa as one is not required according to their transit rules. My question is what happens if my inbound is delayed? Not from the POV of BA/S7 sorting things out, but rather from the POV their limited options.

There are several later flights, but all have a Russian domestic stopover, so those are presumably not an option with no visa. The next S7 service is three days later. The only other direct flight in the 24h no-visa-required grace period for DME is with a non-partner airline (UZ Airways). But what happens if that has no availability and I'm now over the 24h grace period before I can get an onward sead. An interesting conundrum.

As to ticketing, it is for BA to rebook you (the carrier causing the delay). However, to the extent that IRROPS causes a visa problem, it may be that you are denied entry / transit and are ordered to obtain a visa or are returned to LHR. The latter a potentially unpleasant experience with longer term consequences.

If facing your situation, there is absolutely no way that I would book a 1:10 connection.

As in future visa problems with the Russian Federation?

The UZ Airways flight has plenty of availability. Would BA re-route me via a non-partner airline if required?

"Required" is not a good term. "Required" by whom?

If BA has an interline agreement, most likely. If not, then very unlikely as BA cannot simply issue, reissue or FIM your existing ticket to that carrier.

Nobody here knows for certain and nobody at BA will commit to this in advance. Thus, it is all about your personal risk tolerance for having something go seriously wrong with this trip and the consequences, if any, if it does,

That's an interesting one. If you have no entry visa and end up having to wait three days, where do you go? I hope you have lounge access :) [joke].

Russia apparently has a rule that if you end with a more than 24 hour transit and don't have a visa they return the passenger to the country they came from.

Ok so given that it's one ticket, it could be a very long journey for the OP which could end up being LHR-DME-LHR-DME-TAS. Let's hope it doesn't happen. At least the costs would be borne by BA?

Could be worth it for all the extra tier points.

And the EU261 payout.

Is there a particular reason you want to take that route? I was on a LHR-SVO-TBS (single ticket, single airline) at some point last year and the SVO-TBS got cancelled once I was in Moscow. This is not fun. I spent the night on the airport floor (Russia won't let you access a landside hotel without a visa and the airside rooms are always full) and then asked SU to voluntarily fly me back to my point of departure for a trip in vain despite another flight existing the next day but a short delay on which could have meant a lot of trouble. TAS and DME are even worse because of the lack of connections, I would strongly recommend booking direct on Uzbekistan or if you prefer a legacy airline, TK via IST.

It's a redemption flight and the only routing that had availability.

Looking at the history the of the flight arrivals/departures I should be good. But from the replies here it's clear that I may have a whole bundle of fun to deal with if the inbound is delayed. All part of life's rich tapestry I guess!

If it looks likely before you leave London that you'll miss your connection and there's no reasonable alternative routing through MOW then you probably won't even be allowed to depart.

In that case BA should reroute you from London, but if I were you I'd be on my guard and make sure they don't just pack you off to MOW and leave you to the mercy of their representatives at DME.

If you had summer worldcup 'fan id' travel approved, Russia is giving extending fan-id visa free access until December