roussell

More of a question than a moan but...
LHR-JNB flight in F Class delayed by 1h35m. Unlikely to have enough time to go through immigration, gets bags and transfer terminals to check-in for domestic transfer and make the flight (50 mins from scheduled arrival to transfer departure so 20 mins to check-in and bag drop).
Transfer was booked independent of the BA long-haul with SAA.
Outbound flight was delayed on arrival at airport. Despite being in First, was told BA had no responsibility and would offer me nothing in terms of help, rebooking of transfer or fast-track immigration etc on arrival. Was told as transfer flight was not on BA booking, they had no responsibility.
I asked whether they were, in the end, responsible and could I claim back for any costs on new flights. Woman said she had no idea (this is in BA First check-in, really was useless!).
I ended up paying £150 to amend my flights. Flight was delayed due to the lack of a servicing team for the plane so nothing to do with safety/mechanics or weather. As a result I believe this is all BA's fault and they should therefore give me £150 and a chunk of air miles for my troubles.
If you don't get treated well as F, then when do you?
Any tips welcome before I write to them.

David_Doyle

KeaneJohn

flatlander

Next time book your connection on Comair on one ticket.

Really, I'm afraid BA aren't going to do anything here.

simons1

BA was right here. We get from the numerous mentions that you were travelling in First, unfortunately being in F does not suddenly make BA responsible for unconnected bookings.

You need a better risk mitigation strategy, either booking one ticket (when you would have been protected) or allowing more time between flights. A 2.5 hour connection in JNB will always be tight if there is a slight delay.

Otherwise over to your travel insurers if the excess is worthwhile.

windowontheAside

I think you gambled by making separate bookings and lost this time. If you wanted delay protection you should have either booked a much longer gap between flights, or booked both legs on the same booking.

I can't see BA owe you anything other than perhaps an apology for being a bit late.

LondonElite

As you were on separate tickets, you never had a connection (or transfer). You had two separate flights. BA is completely off the hook on this and owes you nothing. It has nothing to do with flying in first class or the cargo hold, on separate tickets you are completely on your own. How would BA even know that you had another flight?

This is what travel insurance is for, you should claim there. As noted, BA doesn't owe you anything and will give you neither money nor air miles for a problem which I'm afraid you caused yourself. You should save your paper and ink, there is no point in writing anything other than to your insurance company.

Keep this lesson in mind for your return flight...that mistake could be more expensive!

Dave Noble

Unless the person was rude or similar, then you were treated well

The airline was not responsible for anything to do with the separate booking - was there a reason for not booking a through ticket?

The best tips are to book a through ticket or
leave adequate time to allow for delays and take into account any change fees/fare differences that may be applicable if choosing to take the risk

There is no point writing to BA since it has no liability

Even a passenger in economy class would have been rebooked if on a through ticket - class of service matters not for this

thijsseh

Sounds like a moan to me.....

But (as there is a question in there as well): I am not a BA apologist (far from, actually). But in this case they are correct. Flights are often a bit late. If they are seriously late there is the EU compensation. If not, it's entirely your responsibility to deal with the fallout. Class of service has nothing to do with it.

LTN Phobia

In this case, the delay wasn't enough to incur the EC261 liabilities so it's not covered by that, and BA's obligation is to deliver you to JNB (preferably on time of course, although it didn't happen on this occasion), and not to your final destination for which you booked a separate ticket.

Anyway, I do not see any point in writing to BA to ask for anything at all, since there is no entitlement to anything, regardless of the class of travel. You'd end up wasting your own time.

There is a risk to booking a separate ticket, and the risk becomes more pronounced when the transit time is relatively short. Let this be a good learning experience...

In an ideal world there would be no delay for any reason but unfortunately, it's one of those hazards of travelling, so making arrangements in advance to reduce the consequences of a delay or the stress tends to serve us pretty well.

Just as tips for the future, some of the things I do with separate bookings (which I do A LOT of, because of last minute scheduling issues that make it hard to book a through-ticket at a reasonable price, or simply because they just cannot be booked on a through ticket). Note, some of them don't go together... but choosing the best option according to circumstance works OK:

- Travel insurance that covers the cost incurred through missed onward travel on separate tickets (not all policies offer a decent level of cover, if any, so do check the fine print carefully before purchasing!)

- Leave a minimum of MCT had it been a through ticket + enough gap to qualify for EC261 comp (that way, if it's delayed that much, I know the costs are likely to be covered by what I get off EC261 - note, though, weather delays etc. are not covered), if I am feeling particularly paranoid - or feel like taking a punt or whatever. At least I'd feel like I've gained something due to the delay*... maybe (!!).

- Book a fully flexible ticket on the earliest reasonable flight. I could even no-show and still get rebooked without extra costs or just a small extra costs

- Book a fully flexible ticket for a later flight than needed, then change it to an earlier one once I know I'll make it for sure

- If it's cheap enough to justify it, book a throwaway ticket as 'insurance' (do 'cancel' any flights that aren't required it if possible, in case the flight is full and you might inadvertently prevent other people from flying though)

- If you do book separate tickets, do be aware of the potential consequences and be prepared to wear whatever might be thrown at you through circumstances (also know your rights, e.g. EC261, though).

Those things are really good stress-reducer. Travel insurance also has the advantage of taking the arguments with carriers out of my hand - that is, if there is any liability on the carrier's side, and saves me the hassle of arguing with the carrier.

corporate-wage-slave

BA would say you had two separate contracts here and they are responsible for one of them. Any delay under 3 hours is regarded as regrettable but not leading to compensation. Leaving a relatively small gap between flights - headwinds could have delayed you by a similar margin - means you benefit from a slick travel experience more often than not, but brings with it a whole bag risks and on this occasion it didn't work out.

You can book BA and SAA flights on to a single reservation, but presumably not online in your case, it would require a call or using a travel agent. That tends to bump the total price up and in any event it's easier to book online separately, but that is one way to avoid this in the future, along with using a Comair reservation or indeed travel insurance. In a way this could be argued to have worked out well for you. I don't know what the cost of a through booking would have been, or travel insurance, but £150 may well have worked out cheaper particularly if this your personal travel policy over multiple flights where usually the gamble works.

And as for First entitling you better treatment - well it probably did get someone talking to you faster, but even a Prem on a Formula 1 contract isn't going to get a better outcome than you. There are over 2,000 BA First passengers going in and out of Heathrow every day, hence in a month they could nearly fill Twickenham stadium with First passengers, consequently there is a limit to how much love that BA will dole out to you.

eugegall

Unless it was a Federal Air/SA Airlink safari type flight in which case Comair wouldn't be able to help.

HiSo

The delay cost you 150 pounds and you fly first class to Joburg! Hardly worth claiming on insurance, that's assuming you have travel insurance, right?

orbitmic

msm2000uk

When was this?

Flights yesterday all landed at JNB within 45mins of their allocated landing time.

Of course if this was a few days ago, then that's different.

M