BA flight LHR-JNB delayed and missed connection
Nov 12, 2018, 11:35 am
#31
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I think the question is whether BA is responsible for getting the OP to JNB at its leisure, on on time. I'd vote for the latter and think that the OP has a valid basis for claiming a refund, although that's going to be a long and painful process.
I don't think that most insurance policies will cover this as they require a min 4h layover if on separate tickets (and in any case, I don't think that a passenger should go straight to the insurance company in such circumstances if it's primarily the airline's fault - it seems this was not weather related etc.).
I don't think that most insurance policies will cover this as they require a min 4h layover if on separate tickets (and in any case, I don't think that a passenger should go straight to the insurance company in such circumstances if it's primarily the airline's fault - it seems this was not weather related etc.).
Nov 12, 2018, 1:32 pm
#32
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I'm not sure this is helpful to the OP - I don't know of any UK travel insurance policies that cover for the cost of replacement flights in the event of a missed connection. There may be some exceptions, but this factor isn't normally included in travel insurance.
Nov 12, 2018, 1:54 pm
#33
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Neither can I, of course! What I meant by 'connection' was in the OP's context of a missed onward flight that he was (independently) connecting to, and missed. It has been suggested on this thread several times that the OP should rely on his travel insurance for coverage of the cost of missing his onward flight, but such cover is far from normal for UK travel insurance policies anyway. I don't know of any travel insurance that covers this (it would make it very expensive), but very interested if anyone knows of such a policy.
Nov 12, 2018, 1:59 pm
#34
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I'm not sure this is helpful to the OP - I don't know of any UK travel insurance policies that cover for the cost of replacement flights in the event of a missed connection. There may be some exceptions, but this factor isn't normally included in travel insurance.
One of my old policies in the UK had such a wording, although I think it has become quite difficult to find a policy with a generous enough limit on this nowadays (you can get pretty much any risk covered if you go through a broker with extensive access to individualised arrangements though), with a lot of policies limiting coverage to £1,500 which may not be sufficient for a missed long haul flight in J for instance.
My current Australian one has this cover. It was admittedly rather hard to find what I was looking for due to the large sum I was looking to cover, and I also had to interrogate (!?) the insurers to make sure that the cover met my requirements, including separate bookings. I think the limit is AUD 15,000 which pretty much covers everything since only one direction is likely to be affected, and it is for a comparable transport condition (they'll pay for J if I had originally booked J), but will NOT pay for an upgraded class because of the lack of availability in the original class of booking.
Saying that, I suspect even the policy I currently have would not pay out if I try to claim for a missed subsequent flight where I may be deemed to have taken inadequate precaution by not sufficiently allowing for delays (I'm wary of allowing for less than a couple of hours' delay, which usually means I'd allow minimum of 4 hours to transfer on separate tickets). I haven't tested the insurers yet (touch wood)!
Nov 12, 2018, 2:05 pm
#35
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How it is sometimes presented is "if you are going to miss a pre-booked event due to a factor outside your control, we will pay to get you there as early as possibly can" or similar, and under the definitions, this "pre-booked event" can include a pre-booked, separate flight.
One of my old policies in the UK had such a wording, although I think it has become quite difficult to find a policy with a generous enough limit on this nowadays (you can get pretty much any risk covered if you go through a broker with extensive access to individualised arrangements though), with a lot of policies limiting coverage to £1,500 which may not be sufficient for a missed long haul flight in J for instance.
My current Australian one has this cover. It was admittedly rather hard to find what I was looking for due to the large sum I was looking to cover, and I also had to interrogate (!?) the insurers to make sure that the cover met my requirements, including separate bookings. I think the limit is AUD 15,000 which pretty much covers everything since only one direction is likely to be affected, and it is for a comparable transport condition (they'll pay for J if I had originally booked J), but will NOT pay for an upgraded class because of the lack of availability in the original class of booking.
Saying that, I suspect even the policy I currently have would not pay out if I try to claim for a missed subsequent flight where I may be deemed to have taken inadequate precaution by not sufficiently allowing for delays (I'm wary of allowing for less than a couple of hours' delay, which usually means I'd allow minimum of 4 hours to transfer on separate tickets). I haven't tested the insurers yet (touch wood)!
One of my old policies in the UK had such a wording, although I think it has become quite difficult to find a policy with a generous enough limit on this nowadays (you can get pretty much any risk covered if you go through a broker with extensive access to individualised arrangements though), with a lot of policies limiting coverage to £1,500 which may not be sufficient for a missed long haul flight in J for instance.
My current Australian one has this cover. It was admittedly rather hard to find what I was looking for due to the large sum I was looking to cover, and I also had to interrogate (!?) the insurers to make sure that the cover met my requirements, including separate bookings. I think the limit is AUD 15,000 which pretty much covers everything since only one direction is likely to be affected, and it is for a comparable transport condition (they'll pay for J if I had originally booked J), but will NOT pay for an upgraded class because of the lack of availability in the original class of booking.
Saying that, I suspect even the policy I currently have would not pay out if I try to claim for a missed subsequent flight where I may be deemed to have taken inadequate precaution by not sufficiently allowing for delays (I'm wary of allowing for less than a couple of hours' delay, which usually means I'd allow minimum of 4 hours to transfer on separate tickets). I haven't tested the insurers yet (touch wood)!
Nov 12, 2018, 2:16 pm
#36
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In fact specifically discussed my "4-hour rule" with my current insurers and they were happy with that, but on condition that there is no other factor that makes it inadequate (e.g. high likelihood of a delay due to specific conditions at the location etc.). Quite a lot of the onus is on me to ensure that I have made a reasonable decision in picking flights.
You could probably find an insurer that will insure the risk taken in the OP's case, but the premium could be high for the consequence and thus perhaps impractical. It's a bit like a betting game - not much point in betting if the odds are poor.
Last edited by LTN Phobia; Nov 12, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Nov 12, 2018, 2:51 pm
#37
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Thank you Mr Roussell for your comments. I'm sorry your first choice of meal wasn't available on your flight today. We hope you continue to fly and enjoy the excellent service BA offers. Regards, auto-reply.
Nov 12, 2018, 3:01 pm
#38
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It will start with, "Dear Passenger". No need to get fancy with merging fields from a database.
Nov 14, 2018, 12:37 pm
#39
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I agree with everything said but have an alternative experience from 2016.
I booked from LHR-JNB in F on a 241 voucher followed by a revenue Comair flight to LVI in J, with a 4 hour layover. These were separate bookings.
Due to the original 744 going tech after boarding, we arrived almost 4 hours late. This caused us to miss the second flight, despite the best efforts of the Comair staff to get us on board. With many passengers in the same position, the queue to re-book was very long. I called the Gold line and the kind agent booked us for the following day at no cost (there is only one flight per day), verbally agreed to fund expenses at the Intercontinental (including the £30 cost of that call) and processed the EC261 claim (for arriving at the final destination 24 hours late) over the phone. In the 30 minutes I was on the phone, the queue had not moved. I mailed the expenses receipts the following morning and when we arrived home 3 weeks later, the cheque from BA was waiting.
None of this was correct and should not have happened. There were two separate bookings, the agent either did not realise or took pity on us. This could have been because we were travelling F, were both GCH's or he was having a good day and decided to be kind. Whatever the reason, good things do happen if you are patient and kind.
I bought a lottery ticket but by then, the luck had run out.
Whatever, there is always hope
I booked from LHR-JNB in F on a 241 voucher followed by a revenue Comair flight to LVI in J, with a 4 hour layover. These were separate bookings.
Due to the original 744 going tech after boarding, we arrived almost 4 hours late. This caused us to miss the second flight, despite the best efforts of the Comair staff to get us on board. With many passengers in the same position, the queue to re-book was very long. I called the Gold line and the kind agent booked us for the following day at no cost (there is only one flight per day), verbally agreed to fund expenses at the Intercontinental (including the £30 cost of that call) and processed the EC261 claim (for arriving at the final destination 24 hours late) over the phone. In the 30 minutes I was on the phone, the queue had not moved. I mailed the expenses receipts the following morning and when we arrived home 3 weeks later, the cheque from BA was waiting.
None of this was correct and should not have happened. There were two separate bookings, the agent either did not realise or took pity on us. This could have been because we were travelling F, were both GCH's or he was having a good day and decided to be kind. Whatever the reason, good things do happen if you are patient and kind.
I bought a lottery ticket but by then, the luck had run out.
Whatever, there is always hope
Nov 15, 2018, 2:22 am
#40
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I agree with everything said but have an alternative experience from 2016.
I booked from LHR-JNB in F on a 241 voucher followed by a revenue Comair flight to LVI in J, with a 4 hour layover. These were separate bookings.
Due to the original 744 going tech after boarding, we arrived almost 4 hours late. This caused us to miss the second flight, despite the best efforts of the Comair staff to get us on board. With many passengers in the same position, the queue to re-book was very long. I called the Gold line and the kind agent booked us for the following day at no cost (there is only one flight per day), verbally agreed to fund expenses at the Intercontinental (including the £30 cost of that call) and processed the EC261 claim (for arriving at the final destination 24 hours late) over the phone. In the 30 minutes I was on the phone, the queue had not moved. I mailed the expenses receipts the following morning and when we arrived home 3 weeks later, the cheque from BA was waiting.
None of this was correct and should not have happened. There were two separate bookings, the agent either did not realise or took pity on us. This could have been because we were travelling F, were both GCH's or he was having a good day and decided to be kind. Whatever the reason, good things do happen if you are patient and kind.
I bought a lottery ticket but by then, the luck had run out.
Whatever, there is always hope
I booked from LHR-JNB in F on a 241 voucher followed by a revenue Comair flight to LVI in J, with a 4 hour layover. These were separate bookings.
Due to the original 744 going tech after boarding, we arrived almost 4 hours late. This caused us to miss the second flight, despite the best efforts of the Comair staff to get us on board. With many passengers in the same position, the queue to re-book was very long. I called the Gold line and the kind agent booked us for the following day at no cost (there is only one flight per day), verbally agreed to fund expenses at the Intercontinental (including the £30 cost of that call) and processed the EC261 claim (for arriving at the final destination 24 hours late) over the phone. In the 30 minutes I was on the phone, the queue had not moved. I mailed the expenses receipts the following morning and when we arrived home 3 weeks later, the cheque from BA was waiting.
None of this was correct and should not have happened. There were two separate bookings, the agent either did not realise or took pity on us. This could have been because we were travelling F, were both GCH's or he was having a good day and decided to be kind. Whatever the reason, good things do happen if you are patient and kind.
I bought a lottery ticket but by then, the luck had run out.
Whatever, there is always hope
The OP believed that BA responsibility included "rebooking of transfer". That might have been possible with a Comair operated flight as in your case.
Nov 15, 2018, 2:34 am
#41
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Insurance is probably a grey area. For example AMEX Plat covers up to £300 for
'sufficient time' has not been explicitly defined within the T&C's, nor does it say that all arrangements should be on a single ticket. I would argue that by including ship/rail/air that they imply separate arrangements are acceptable. In the case of onward flights, it is probably reasonable to assume that anything less than MCT would be considered insufficient time.
- £300 for missed departure due to accident or breakdown, travel delay, overbooking, or missed connection
- You will not be covered in respect of the following:
1) Under missed departure and missed connection, claims where insufficient time has been allowed to arrive at the departure point or to arrive to connect with Your ongoing journey by flight, train or ship.
Nov 15, 2018, 9:53 am
#42
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Insurance is probably a grey area. For example AMEX Plat covers up to £300 for
[/list]'sufficient time' has not been explicitly defined within the T&C's, nor does it say that all arrangements should be on a single ticket. I would argue that by including ship/rail/air that they imply separate arrangements are acceptable. In the case of onward flights, it is probably reasonable to assume that anything less than MCT would be considered insufficient time.
[/list]'sufficient time' has not been explicitly defined within the T&C's, nor does it say that all arrangements should be on a single ticket. I would argue that by including ship/rail/air that they imply separate arrangements are acceptable. In the case of onward flights, it is probably reasonable to assume that anything less than MCT would be considered insufficient time.
Nov 15, 2018, 10:52 am
#43
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The problem here is that you are focusing on "sufficient time" rather than the clear language of the provision which expressly refers to "connections." Insurance contracts are precise and I read this one as not covering, by way of example, OP's situation because he was not "connecting".
Nov 15, 2018, 1:14 pm
#44
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I would argue that by including ship/rail/air that they imply separate arrangements are acceptable.