simpleflyer

First, bear with me, I fly but occasionally. So I must rely on the superior wisdom of my generally much more experienced board-mates.

If and when a flight is delayed, at what point, if any, can the lowest class ticketholder on BA expect them to find him/her passage on the same route, but on a) a later scheduled flight (which might be nearly full) and b) any flight going, even on a different airline? The flight I'm considering is a short flight, VIE-LHR, but I'll be on a long haul flight on a different airline to be picked up at LHR not quite 24 hours after my first flight is due to depart.

I ask because I'm trying to determine if 24 hours is enough of a 'safety margin' between the two flights so as to give time to account for most problems.



[This message has been edited by simpleflyer (edited 09-23-2003).]

Frequentflyer99

Short of major industrial action or a serious problem shutting down one of the airports, you should have no problems. Although the VIE-LHR flights are fairly full, there are several services a day so it would be hard to imagine you being stranded for 24 hrs.

Its probably worth taking a look at Galileo for your chosen dates to get an impression of how busy overall things are on the route. It does sometimes get very busy when there are major conferences (recently there were 25,000 cardiologists in Vienna for a convention amd there was a weekend when seats in any class were very hard to come by !)

Sorry but cant help you on the specifics of your question ..

Globaliser

24 hours is a vast "safety margin". Any normal size problem isn't going to delay you that much. If there is a very serious problem, make sure that the BA agents at VIE know that you're connecting at LHR - it may help to get you looked after better.

But if the problems are so bad that you're going to be delayed for more than 24 hours flying VIE-LHR, the chances are that your long-haul flight will either be seriously delayed itself or your other airline (which is it, BTW?) will reaccommodate you when you do arrive at LHR.

J-Class

I agree that it's almost unthinkable that you won't make your connection.

However, this is an instance where it makes sense to have a decent travel insurance policy. Pretty much any sensible policy would cover this scenario - the classic cases are a scheduled carrier failing to make a connection, buses and trains to the airport failing, and so on.

I find all UK travel insurance policies to be similar, and use the BA scheme principally because it explicitly insures your airmiles balances. This is a worthwhile benefit: if you miss an award flight due to illness (for example) most insurers would, I suspect, send you a cheque for the monetary value of your airmiles (at 1 or 2 cents a mile), whereas the BA scheme will replace your airmiles.

The BA scheme costs about GBP 100 for a multi-trip global annual policy. As with all these schemes, it's never that easy to claim - but almost certainly useful for when the s**t really hits the fan.

simpleflyer

Thanks for your quick replies.

25,000 cardiologists! Well, if the stress of any problems encountered causes me to have a heart attack, at least I'll have a lot of expertise on hand. Seriously, I'm glad for the heads up about conventions, I'd forgotten about that possibility.

I realize that it is pretty unlikely to have a delay of that long, barring industrial action which could last for days and thoroughly screw up everything (and which is not generally covered by travel insurance.) But I'm the type that likes to consider all possibilities before taking the plunge.

I'm doing this on two independently purchased tickets; the second airline is Air Canada, which is not partnered with BA. Thus I am underwriting some risk, hence my decision to overnight in London in between flights. BA's obligation would likely be simply to get me to LHR, but in what time frame I've no idea. I don't, in fact, fully understand all aspects to the contract, hence the question.

TheCub

That is not necessarily the case. I can only speak for my AMEX Centurion (UK) annual travel insurance policy but it covers industrial action if it was not known at the time of ticket purchase. In other words, you could not have reasonably avoided it's impact.

I'd recommend getting travel insurance associated with a company you already have a relationship with. It may end up costing more, but if there is a problem they have an incentive to treat you fairly to retain your other business. Insurance companies are known for trying to weasel out of payment if they can, and that tactic has worked for me getting common sense applied rather than the letter of the contract.

- Simon