Flight delayed by 8 hours - when to go to airport?
 

Hi all,

Flying from Gatwick to Vietnam on the Vietnam Airlines flight number VN 050 today. Got notification last night that it had been delayed from the original 12:00 departure time to 20:20. Haven't checked in online because I can't figure out Vietnam Airlines' system or even if I'm able to.

What time should we go to the airport to check-in? Don't want to hang around the airport for eight hours waiting for the flight, I'm assuming if we turned up at about 17:30 that'd be fine? We live two hours away from the airport.

Also presumably we're entitled to compensation for this - will turning up to the airport on time or not affect this?

Unless the airline specifically told you to check in later I'd aim to be at the airport at the normal time. Circumstances can change and you don't want to miss a flight because an expected delay turned out not to be (or to be shorter).

Since your flight is departing from EU then EU compensation rules apply - in this case for delayed flight. This doesn't change depending on when you check in.

Finally got through to them on the phone (was trying to do that originally, but lines were busy presumably with other people doing the same). They confirmed the delay was because the plane wasn't due to arrive at Gatwick until after 6pm. They said that they were keeping check in desks open through the afternoon, but that we should check in by 5pm at the latest.

So I guess we'll turn up at 4pm and hang out in the lounge for 3-4 hours. Not ideal, but better than the 10 or so hours we'd have been looking at otherwise. Thanks for response.

Thanks for info on compensation. Hopefully €600 each should soften the annoyance somewhat.

Yes!! You have a valid claim of €600 Each. You can directly claim to the airlines' service page.

Does this apply if the delay is due to bad weather? I hear there is a storm heading towards UK.

It depends. If the aircraft is ready to take off and cannot do so because of weather, no compensation is due. If the aircraft is not available in the first place because weather affected a previous flight, then it is the consequence of a normal operational risk and compensation is due.

This. ^

In Feb I received text and phone notification that a Virgin America flight was delayed several hours. I called to ask about other options and then I asked pretty much the same question as the OP. The Virgin America rep said "the flight could leave earlier if the weather and air traffic clear up". I was pretty shocked since they were the ones who told me that the flight was delayed and gave me a new, specific departure time. Needless to say, I went to the airport and waited out the delay (which was annoying since it was early morning and I had a nice, warm, comfy hotel bed at my disposal). I did not want to risk missing the flight in the event that it indeed left earlier than they planned.

^ Delayed flights some times get "un-delayed". I missed a JFK/SFO flight years ago because the flight was delayed so I waited until 45 minutes before the flight to go to the gate. Only to find the time had changed and the plane was backing out. It was a lesson I only needed to learn once.

Passengers need to apply a little common sense. Vietnam Airlines' daily flight to LGW requires a plane to be there to depart. If the inbound is heavily delayed, then the outbound must also be as they're not going to be able to get a replacement plane from Vietnam any faster. It's quite irrelevant what happens on US domestic flights since they tend to have planes all over the place and can easily substitute equipment.

IIRC, check-in would still generally close 40 minutes-1 hour before the usual departure time.

So...what points of interest are there around Gatwick?

In a case like this, I'd do OLCI before the normal deadline and then watch the status of the incoming flight. I'd also try to check for myself whether there's any chance that the airline could sub an aircraft from some nearby airport such as LHR, CDG, etc. If you're really sure that there's no airplane, you can safely go to the airport early, especially if you don't need to check a bag.

Use flightaware or another similar site to monitor progress of the inbound aircraft and plan accordingly from there. If OLCI is an option make sure to use it also.

Don't go spend your EUR 600 quite yet. The reason for the delay will matter and even if it is due, you may have a lengthy fight on your hands to get it. If you use one of the contigency services, they take a cut of the payment, so EUR 600 is EUR 400 or less.

Sometimes the delay is also an error. I almost missed a flight once because it showed as delayed on Flight Tracker but was in fact on time and never delayed.

They can always choose to substitute the plane - even if they declare a delay because of the late inbound... you cannot plan based on what you believe to be your aircraft... Less likely in the case of a foreign for the country carrier but not impossible if there is a plane somewhere in the country that is logical...