tuonopepper

I've had this and asked them for a rental but no dice, decided to take the risk and claim it explaining cheaper than hotel and they covered it.

corporate-wage-slave

Hopefully this delay will somehow improve, however as illustrated in the FAQ for Delays and Cancellations there is a bit of weather today, getting in the way. But once you're zooming across the Atlantic I'm sure all thoughts of that will soon vanish.

But to answer the general point about redemptions and irrops, for BA redemptions on BA metal that is usually not too problematic, particularly if staying on the same route since even low service outstations can just reissue you on to the next service. MAN, as it happens, has a lot of experience of rebooking people. Obviously it helps if you have done a bit of homework on the LHR-JFK side to see what service works best for you and your preferences. The robotics on the App also can handle redemption tickets. The bigger problem is is when the redemption is on another airline since the other airline may flatly refer you back to BAEC. It shouldn't happen with AA but I could see it happening elsewhere. But in part this explains why instruments like 2-f-1s and GUFs have limited range outside BA since in irrops these extended options get complicated with irrops. The real difficult cases is where airline A issues a redemption on airline B, there is an irrop and the best replacement is on airline C, where A doesn't have much of a business relationship with C. Fortunately we don't see many reports of that happening.

Can I help you

There are 2 seats left in First on the 179 at 18.05.

dparkinson

On a 24 hour delayed flight due to MX. couple of rebooking questions…
- Is the BA/LH Group rebooking agreement still in place or was that only for 2022?
- Has anyone had any luck getting BA to rebook onto AC?
- Does it matter Avios vs. Cash for rebooking onto non JV airlines? (One pax is on Avios and the other is on cash)

lcylocal

LH option still listed on the trade website for cancellations. I’m not sure if 24 hour delay would be classed as a cancellation.

corporate-wage-slave

Usually after a delay exceeding 5 hours (1 hour for Emeralds) then agents can look to rebook to alternative options, including other airlines. Lufthansa can be included. However Avios tickets need to be reissued to a new airline and while that can happen in extremis, it's not something that is easy to do unless there is a BA codeshare handy. That's the general position, different outcomes are possible in particular circumstances. For example if you were boarded and then it was a mechanical issue resulting in a postponement to the next day, it may be that agents can't offload you.

awm

I'm curious as to the group's view of what's modus operandi at the moment. I was travelling from MAN last Sunday with a European connection from LHR. Between check in and the lounge, the MAN-LHR shuttle was delayed by over an hour, meaning I would miss my connection. The next possible connecting flight was the last flight of the day to my destination, and expertflyer was showing this was J4 Y4, and I was keen to get onto it.

The reception staff in the Escape lounge couldn't do anything obviously, so I phoned the exec club number. The agent I spoke to went through the booking, acknowledged the problem, went to speak to a supervisor and then told me that as I was at the airport, this had to be handled by someone at the airport.

I then went in search of Menzies ground staff. I went to the information desk and called the BA numbers I found on a sticker on the desk. Four attempts later, I got hold of someone who said they would be 10 minutes. A lady wearing a supervisor jacket walking past said she was too busy. When I went to the gate, I was told by one gentleman that he could not do it and that it would be handled "by London." I know they can do it, they've done it for me many times in the past. It just needs someone who can and is willing to log into FLY and make the change. In the end, the lady who checked me in found me in the queue and presented me with a new boarding card for the last flight from London.

In my view, it was harder than it needed to be. Getting hold of someone airside at MAN is now very difficult. Why can't I phone BA and have them rebook it if I'm being proactive about it?

corporate-wage-slave

There is a certain hypocrisy here, I must admit. BA removed the ticketing facilities (or rather, refused to pay Menzies etc for that service). It put the emphasis on the Contact Centre to fix the issue, but once you are airside and holding a valid reservation for an upcoming flight, it is then not usually possible for the contact centre to do anything since you are on a flight under airport control. Then if you ask Menzies for help - and they are much better at this than almost any other handler - you may well end up with someone with insufficient FLY skills to do the necessary. In this case, though you probably think it could have been slicker it did work, and the supervisor would have made a trip through security at your behest. And security for those who work at MAN is not really any better than for passengers. Had you waited a few more minutes then maybe it would have felt less difficult. The only mitigation I can offer you here is that had BA failed here, and you ended up staying the night, then they would be on the hook for those avoidable costs as well as perhaps more EC261 compensation. In fact even if extraordinary circumstances applied, then EC261 would have been payable in the scenario you described, due to the "all reasonable measures" requirement.

awm

Thanks, cws.

It does seem, as you say, a thoroughly contradictory position for the company to take. It used to involve a 5 minute chat with the lounge reception agent. The only mitigation now is a central IT service that will eventually, possibly, identify the issue, or will need manual intervention anyway on arrival in London. I don't understand why the call centres can't handle it or, quite frankly, why we can't do this online - but I won't open that can of worms here. Some way of intervening here would make for a much better passenger experience and surely reduce their 261 bill.

I was lucky to find someone who could, and was willing, to do it. It just shouldn't be this hard.

flarmip

Agreed. BA really don't help themselves here in their zeal for cost-cutting. The Cruz era lives on.