DynamicPulse

Hi all
I have a friend who is finally (hopefully) jetting home from Australia next week. She is flying Cathay from Melbourne & changing onto BA in Hong Kong for her flight to LHR. I’ve now read that BA have cancelled all their Hong Kong flights but her booking is still showing as active. How long does it take to show a cancellation? And also can anyone confirm the route has been cx? Finally will they offer to route her with Cathay all the way to LHR?
thanks in advance

Globaliser

The route has been suspended. See much discussion from this point: British Airways pilots and cabin crew imprisoned in Hong Kong Covid camp

Formal cancellations seem to be being done on a rolling basis (although I am not looking at this every day). At present, LHR-HKG flights are formally cancelled up to and including 3 December, and HKG-LHR up to and including 4 December. Flights appear to be off sale up to and including 7 December (LHR-HKG) and 8 December (HKG-LHR), but BA is currently still taking bookings for flights after that. I find it very difficult to read from those tea leaves what BA may be trying to set up behind the scenes to allow a resumption of passenger flights.

And in any event, other Covid-related events could yet intervene to change things even if BA could manage to sort out some practical arrangements to deal with the current difficulties.

DynamicPulse

That makes sense then as she’s on the BA28 on the 5th hence why it’s not been cancelled

GLA37

Hi

I am in a very similar position. I was due to fly Melbourne to Hong Kong with Cathay then onto LHR with BA on Friday 3rd for my first trip back to the UK in over 2 years. The BA flight got cancelled last night and has now disappeared from my booking. No information from BA as yet on what the alternatives are. Currently on hold trying to get through to the contact centre.

A frustrating situation to be in so close to the travel date, particularly when the cancellation was inevitable based on the reports at the weekend of the suspension of services into Hong Kong.

Will let you know how this is resolved.

DynamicPulse

Thanks that would be great, my guess is Cathay onto Heathrow from Hong Kong, or at least that’s what I’m hoping for

hydro001

BA seems to be looking to restart as soon as possible but operating as a there and back extended duty with CAA approval for crew (30+ hours duty) and looking for crew to volunteer for the duty.

GLA37

Update: BA advised that they wouldn’t transfer me to the Cathay flight to London as this would change my ticket from a BA ticket to a Cathay one and I would be liable for the fare difference (which was eye watering). Or, they offered to move me to another BA HKG - LHR flight on a later date, but I felt the risk of cancellation was too great.

With the help of my travel agent, I was able to change to an option via Singapore (first leg on Qantas). Doha was also a viable option, but availability on both was limited.

Good luck!

DynamicPulse

Thanks for the info, as it stands the flight on Sunday is still not cancelled but I’d imagine that will change. Was your transfer to Qantas free or was there a fee?

DYKWIA

In that case, claim your EC261 compensation for the cancellation being < 14 days notice.

KARFA

I don't see any new HKG specific rebooking guidelines on BA travel trade atm. If your trip was to HKG then rebooking over to QR should be allowed for free. If your trip was on to Australia via HKG the current guidance doesn't allow for QR.

KARFA

It is certainly within scope time wise, albeit it I am sure BA will argue they are not paying since the reason for the cancellation is "...caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken."

GLA37

Really helpful tip re the EC261 compensation - worth a try! I hadn’t thought of it. Thank you, all.

paulieuk

My ticket is the other direction, LHR-HKG-SYD and as you say, really frustrating to have a public announcement by BA that the route is suspended, the flight you're ticketed on is taken off sale, but they don't cancel for days so you're in limbo and unable to pursue alternatives.

In my case, the BA27 on Thursday 2 December was only cancelled yesterday mid-morning (30 November) and took another couple of hours to get dropped from my booking.

And they tried the same trick with me: if I wanted to reroute then there'd be a fare difference to pay! Outrageous really. It's their cancellation, an involuntary change/reroute should never involve the passenger having to pay a penny, it is their legal duty and yet obfuscation and avoidance of their obligations for commercial convenience is brazenly purported as their only option.

Globaliser

On this, it seems to me that BA are genuinely between a rock and a hard place. There will be people who would like the flight to operate if BA can do it, so a premature cancellation that ultimately turns out to have been unnecessary causes disruption too. I know someone who really wants a HKG flight to operate, and BA appears to be moving towards being able to do so.

It's an exaggeration to say that "they don't cancel for days". The route was only suspended on Saturday evening, and I doubt that BA knew then how long it would last. In comparison, JNB and CPT were suddenly suspended on Friday, but that came to an end yesterday (Tuesday), possibly after similar crewing arrangements to those being contemplated for HKG.It would be better if it were clear that BA's legal duty does include rebooking onto another airline. But I'm not sure that it is? If it were clear-cut, everyone would have a cast-iron 261/2004 claim for the cost of self-rerouting.

hkskyline

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/break...hts-suspension

British Airways have on Wednesday extended a suspension on Hong Kong flights for four more days until Saturday.