[Anonymous]

[Potakas]

Hi,

I would like to know what BA offers in a situation like this one we are experiensing, tomorrow i have a connection flight through LHR with BA and it is very possible to be cancelled, i booked the ticket with my debit card and i didn’t add any insurance.

I asked the customer service if they will offer me accomodation in this case and their response was possitive, although i have no intetion to wait on the costomer service desk for so long. Can i go direct and book a hotel room and then submit the receipt in order to take the refund? Are there any condiotions such as maximum ammount per night or if the hotel should be near the airport ( i suppose all the hotels arround heathrow will be full) , can i get money back for lunch or dinner?

I have no intetion to have rich life and then to expect BA to pay for this, so i want to know if someone had any experience what about i should do and spend maximum.

I would like to mention that when i called BA reservation center the next available flight they could find for my flight was at the 26th of December, so it seems that i will spend a lot of days at London in this case.

Thanks

[FlyingChinaman]

P. Sepsas: I rather fear that you will JUST have to go through the usual queuing in order to get to a BA counter for the flight disruption courtesy hotel service for the passengers.

I had to go through these procedures a couple of times with several airlines in the past few years.

But if you don’t mind for not getting a re-imbursement from BA then go ahead make an indenpendant hotel arrangement for yourself!

[Potakas]

Thanks FlyingChinaman,

Through MMB i can purchase an insurance, i will do it now just in case to be covered.

Regards

[FlyingChinaman]

I hate to discourage you but I have had a few times of flight disruptions and airlines all want to do this through their official procedures and not from individual claims. Get your coverage rather than to have endless and fruitless arguements with BA afterward.

[Purplegirl]

Can’t comment for BA, but Air New Zealand are giving absolutely no help, will not pay for any expenses as a result of this disruption despite having delayed flights for over a week. I wouldn’t expect BA to be much better.

[continentalclub]

I’m afraid that purchasing insurance at this stage in the hope of it offering cover against disruption is not going to help. If you look at the terms and conditions of the policy, it will specifically exclude claims for disruption when that disruption has already commenced, or could reasonably have been expected to commence, at the time of policy purchase.

Your airline does, however, have an EU ‘duty of care’ to look after you until such time as they can fly you themselves, or deliver an alternative. Broadly, this amounts to overnight accommodation and three daily meals.

Different carriers are set up to provide this in different ways, and there is always an element of risk involved in paying for these services yourself and then claiming back post-event. However, previous weather and atmospheric disruptions have generally resulted in carriers picking up the tab for ‘reasonable’ expenses.

This seems, anecdotally, to have been 3* accommodation including travel from and to the airport, breakfast, lunch and dinner taken in the hotel’s standard restaurant, and soft drinks.

If the delay is experienced at your ‘home’ airport, then the airline may take a stricter view on what constitutes their duty of care and how much they are willing to pay out. After all, you should be able to just go home and avoid additional cost. If, however, you are downroute, transferring or commencing from a port which is a significant distance from home, and/or you are in an area which is experiencing high levels of hotel occupancy, then the airline should be somewhat more charitable in terms of the level of support offered.

If at all possible, it would be preferable to have the airline arrange to cover your costs by gaining authority from the airport desk in advance, but if this is impractical then you may be left with little option but to take matters into your own hands and seek reimbursement afterwards.

Do remember though that, if you purchase non-flexible hotel accommodation and find that you can in fact depart earlier than anticipated, then the carrier does not have to pay for the unused nights.

[FlyingChinaman]

Continentalclub: Your post is good and clear for travellers who had never experienced flight disruptions before and should help them to understand the general procedures and what can be realistically expected to receive from most airlines.

I personally had to go through these sitiations a few times in the last 5 years and gained the knowledge the hard way!

[Potakas]

Ok I missed my connection.. I didn’t buy the insurance and BA offers me , 200 pounds per night at a hotel (shared on two persons ) 25 pound for food and 12.5 pounds for drinks per day. 50 pounds transport from to airport. I didn’t want anything more, well done BA .

[FlyingChinaman]

P.Sepsas

Glad to hear that you are not sleeping on the floor in Heathrow for the night.

Hope the other person is your travel companion and not a total stranger!!!!

But travelling requires a bit of sense of adventure!

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[Potakas]

I am lucky enough (?) to be able to stay with my girlfriend as she has a been in London since Sunday trying to rebook with BA, so everything is ok.

BA staff is very helpful at T5 they are everywhere and if you had a checked in luggage which is not available to you, after your cancelled-missed flight they will give you refund in order to buy clothes.

Excellent service again.

[FlyingChinaman]

One happy and contented customer!

Good luck with your onward trip tomorrow!

[SimonRowberry]

A point which may be of interest.

I was supposed to be flying BHX-DUS with my son on Friday night. I had a guaranteed reservation at the Hilton Dusseldorf. DUS was closed and the closest I could get was BRU. Lufthansa made me buy two one-ways BHX-BRU (around EUR 500 for the two of us). I also incurred the cost of a night’s hotel in BRU. Lufty did, however, allow the return leg to remain valid, despite the fact that I didn’t fly the first sector.

I was unable to cancel the Hilton in DUS before 16.00, so fully expected them to charge my card as it was a guaranteed reservation. I also stayed at the Hilton DUS last night and asked them for a receipt for the Friday charge, which I could claim from my insurance company.

They told me that they had not charged me for the no-show because they understood the weather conditions were (are) extreme. Whether this was because I am a Diamond HH member, I’m not sure. However, it was a great gesture that saved me some EUR200 of further unexpected costs.

Incidentally, I took the 07.00 DUS-BHX flight this morning. DUS seemed to be working fine and there were no delays (apart from at BHX on arrival, when no ground staff turned up to meet the aircraft until about 20 minutes after arriving at the gate position).

Merry Christmas to one and all, and I hope all your travels go as smoothly as possible over the coming few weeks.

Simon

[FlyingChinaman]

Simon: That is really a nice gesture from the Dusseldorf Hilton.

You might have an ordeal and further expenses of getting to where you wanted to be but at least you got there safely and timely.

I have had these type of inconveniences in the past from weather related disruption to my travel plans and have long accepted it is part of the travel package as one can not expect smooth services all the time.

My thoughts will be with the poor souls still not able to get to their planned destinations in time for this seasonal holidays.

[SimonRowberry]

My thought are with them too, Flying Chinaman.

My wife was due to fly to AMS from BHX on Friday as well, to visit an extremely ill relative. KLM were nothing like as well organised as LH when it came to rebooking etc. In the end she gave up and has postponed her visit until early in the New Year. There were many poor people in the same line as her (which took 4 hours to sort out) who didn’t have the option of staying at home.

People have mentioned the sensationalist reporting by some media. CNN last night were effectively saying that passengers stranded in Hamburg or Zurich could forget about going home for Xmas, wherever “home” happened to be in the world. This was not at all true and was just intended to intensify a news story. However, it must’ve added to the dismay of many pax and their friends and relatives. Honest and accurate reporting is an absolute must at times like this.

I’m glad I didn’t watch Fox – they’ve probably declared war on all snowmen by now.

Simon

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