Dear Alex,
In February I attended a trade show in Barcelona. I got there by taking US Airways to London using my frequent flyer miles and then buying a separate ticket to Barcelona with British Airways.
My flight US728 was due to depart Philadelphia at 2115 and reach London Heathrow the next morning at 0925. From here I was taking BA474 to Barcelona at 1125. But US728 was delayed departing Philadelphia because the catering firm was late in delivering food to the aircraft. By the time I reached Heathrow it was 1020 and, because I was not through-checked to Barcelona, I had insufficient time to make the transfer. I had to buy a fresh one-way ticket in business class for the next flight [BA480 at 1420] as economy was full. This cost me US$1,197.
Do you think US Airways will refund the cost of the British Airways ticket bearing in mind its catering company was at fault for delaying the departure from Philadelphia?
Antonio Massa, Philadelphia
Alex replies:
Here is yet another example of a reader losing out when using two separate tickets. I am afraid you can expect little sympathy from US Airways because each ticket forms a separate contract with an airline so it is of no concern to either US Airways or BA that your connection was lost. Had you held a single ticket for both flights then ground staff would have rebooked you without any problem.
I realise that it may not have been possible to include a BA flight on your US Airways award ticket as each carrier is a member of a rival alliance (BA belongs to Oneworld, while US Airways is part of Star Alliance) but the chances are this problem would not have arisen had you booked Star carriers throughout and transitted a Star hub. In other words, by taking US Airways to Frankfurt with an onward connection through Lufthansa.
Taking this routing might have solved your ticketing problem, and might also have meant US Airways would have been able to through-check you to Barcelona.
