When a British Airways ex-Europe trip goes wrong

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I am running two articles today based on reader experiences of flying British Airways long-haul by starting your trip in Europe.

This story, from reader Mark, is an example of how it can go (slightly) wrong:

“I did an ex-Amsterdam flight to Asia on British Airways earlier in the year which worked very well. I had left myself 3 hours in Amsterdam between landing and taking off. I did this with checked luggage and although my flight left London City 30 minutes late I still had time to relax in the lounge in Amsterdam.

Roll forward 2 months. With another trip planned, heading West this time, the very aggressive British Airways prices on offer out of Dublin were too hard to resist, especially as I needed to renew my silver membership. Working close to London City I again chose it as my departure point to get to Dublin.

British Airways BA London City Airport

I had been monitoring BA4466 which seemed to often depart late, but not enough to worry me given my 90 minute buffer. My flight departed City Airport a little late (20 minutes) but I still had enough time to check in for the flight back to Heathrow and have a couple of drinks/snacks in the terminal.

The flights to the US and back went smoothly. Because I wanted the tier points, I wanted to fly the last leg from London City to Dublin instead of dropping it.

I arrived at Heathrow in the morning. I went to work during the day and headed back to City Airport in the evening to catch the same BA4466 again. I arrived at City and the plane was running 30 minutes late – no dramas, I was still good on time. We eventually boarded the plane at just after 18:40 (my single unconnected flight left at 20:55). I was thinking that as long as we push back promptly I’m ok.

We finally took off gone 19:15 and I had a checked bag. We touched down just after 20:15 but we didn’t arrive at the gate and off the plane until 20:25. The bag arrived at the belt quickly (for BA) although I didn’t reach the check-in desk until 20:35. The BA desks were all clearly closed for the day, the check-in staff told me the gate was closed but still called the guy on the gate to see if they could let me on. The answer was No.

My Heathrow departure at 20:55 was a redemption ticket. The check-in staff (after duress) changed my ticket to the first departure in the morning – there was redemption availability but this may not have been an issue – and didn’t charge me.

I was then booked on the morning flight with nowhere to stay. British Airways said that the delay was <2 hours and not their problem. They were keen to preach to me about ‘allowing myself enough time’ etc etc.

Both of the Dublin airport hotels were booked so I found the cheapest B&B option via laterooms.com. In no mood to take public transport, I took a cab to the hotel and back.

This error probably cost me £100 which isn’t horrendous, just annoying. As the first Dublin to Heathrow flight doesn’t land until 8.45am (it actually landed at 9.05am) I was also 90 minutes late for work the next day.

These are the lessons I learnt:

Make sure there are at least three hours between your scheduled arrival time and your scheduled departure time.

Check the options if you miss the connection from the outstation. Is there another flight that day? Remember if it is your fault then BA are at liberty to charge you or cancel your onward ticket.

Where possible take hand luggage only – I probably could have boarded the 20:55 if I did. Check in and get the boarding pass on your phone.

Every flight I have taken from LCY has been delayed. It might be prudent to look at the historic delays of your routing.

Whilst not a particular bad experience I just wanted to highlight that it can go wrong and some of the measures you should consider when booking these type of tickets. This would/could have obviously been a lot worse if I had have missed the first leg of my ex-Dublin trip.”

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Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Leo says:

31 May31 May 13:33

Thing about ex-continental Europe and Dub flights is that they are fine and dandy if you are travelling on your own or have a partner who is as equally obsessive about saving cash/earning points as you are. Otherwise I think the added stress and potential loss of time at the final holiday destination really is not worth it. But I accept that this is horses for courses….
Mike says:

31 May31 May 14:14

I did something like this a couple months back: LCY-DUB-LHR-SFO-LAX-LHR-DUB-LCY

I stayed a night in Dublin on the way out (which was nice), as that was the point where I’d lose the most if there was a flight cancellation from LCY. The return legs from LHR-DUB-LCY were tight though, I only had a 90min change and with the delays and wait for baggage cut it fine. So I’m thinking of doing a night in a airport hotel and flying home to LCY early the next day in future.

Definitely worth doing, it cost about £2k for F seats round trip. Bagged 640 TP and ~40k Avios too!
barnaby100 says:

31 May31 May 17:04

If you had called in advance or told the crew I wonder if they would have held the gate open for you to check in. My recent experience at LBA (no bags involved and boarding passes all printed)

The backstory was that I had a longstanding BA holiday booked onto Istanbul via LHR and ended up in London that day. Lots of advice saying it was easy. I also phoned LBA airport and BA to check- both assured me it was fine

My plan was to fly out on BA1344 at 7.25pm landing at 8.25 pm and then back on the BA1345 back at 9pm

Simple. But arriving at T5 the BA1344 was showing as a 40 minute delay- that took it to a 9.10pm arrival and it seemed that the BA was the last flight and LBA security closed at 9pm.

I went to the BA desk in T5 and a very helpful lady called LBA- who didn’t answer the phone. She then called a colleague in a random airport somewhere who gave her the mobile of someone at LBA. At the same my husband arrived at LBA and asked what time security closed- to be told 9pm. By chance he was talking to the same person when a call came through on her mobile from the lady helping me in LHR.

I was assured that security would be kept open. I was given a named person to ask for at LBA if it wasn’t . Boarded the 1st plane and the crew had also been made aware.

Landed at 8.55 pm. Met at the gate by 1 man who took me through to the arrivals gate and directed me to security. Picked up by another person who walked up with me.

Everywhere was shut up. No-one was on the boarding card gate. Went through. 2 guys scanned me through who told me they were expecting me. Another ran over and took my boarding card off to scan it. I was met at the other side by another BA person who took me up the back stairs to the gate. 3 people in 5 minutes all put in place by BA.

Quick gin in the lounge. 2nd person back on the plane.

Very impressive service all round.
- Lionel says:
  
  31 May31 May 18:32
  
  I had a good one in Glasgow a few years ago when our lot all prided ourselves on arriving about 45 mins before take-off and strolling onto the plane just before leaving! (That was before those idiots spoiled it with the inferno/ car bomb & all the rest.)
  
  Well, I arrived in plenty of time (maybe an hour before departure) and was checking in – except I had forgotten my passport! They (BA were good in those days) asked if I could make it home & back more or less in time – I said yes, so I ran to my car – which if you remember Glasgow airport from 20 years ago, could be (and was) directly parked pretty much in front of the terminal.
  
  So I speeded quite a bit back to the West End, grabbed the passport, speeded quite a bit back to the airport and parked again. Back at pull pelt to check-in which was closed but they were waiting for me.
  
  The check in girl basically had a 5 sec shufti at the passport from the outside then we ran to the gate together, quite a run. I guess the flight was already about 10 mins late departing by the time I got on, to be given the baleful look of a whole delayed plane of passengers who had been told one person, late, was delaying them from leaving on time. Me.
  
  I said a panting thanks to the gate girl & blurted out as loud as I could, ‘sorry, everybody!’ and got a few smiles and quickly got my seat & off we went.
  
  Like I said, that’s when BA were good and it WAS before the current threats/ difficulties.
Tom C says:

1 Jun1 June 06:07

I agree with the 24 hours before concept. I’m flying DUB->LHR->MIA in F later this year, as it’s almost half price vs leaving LHR. The flight leaves around 9am from DUB, so I’ll be getting there the night before and will stay in a hotel. It just makes everything a lot more relaxing.

Sometimes the savings on flights are so great, that it’s worth having a long layover and staying the night somewhere, as it still saves a significant amount.
FLYGVA says:

1 Jun1 June 08:18

Either I book an overnight transfer with a hotel (which I might need for status requalifictation anyway) or at least put all flights into one PNR (if possible). The later has the advantage, that even if they are different tickets, I could argue with known to the airline. And as a habit, turn around only with hand luggage, never checked luggage.
Michael Scorer says:

3 Jun3 June 10:01

Hi Rob

I meant to ask a question about this article earlier, but here goes. I have booked flights from Amsterdam to Thailand and will be taking an early flight to Amsterdam from London; don’t want to chance being late. My question is : when I reach Amsterdam, do I have to go through passport, security etc in order to reclaim my luggage and then go through again after checking in for my Thailand flight ? Thanks everyone.
- Rob says:
  
  3 Jun3 June 10:57
  
  Probably – it is unlikely that BA will through-check your luggage unless your ongoing flight is with a oneworld airline.
Phil says:

3 Jun3 June 10:09

I booked 1 of the cheap Qatar Airways business class flights on here, leaving from Copenhagen. I am flying from Heathrow to Copenhagen with hand luggage only with SAS. I only have 1 hour 10 minutes to get from Terminal 2 to my Gate in Terminal 3. Am I making this too tight or should I rebook giving myself more time?
- Lionel says:
  
  3 Jun3 June 10:22
  
  Incredibly tight! 🙂
  
  What if there’s a small (and entirely foreseeable) delay? How much have you paid for the second flight?
jenny says:

4 Jun4 June 13:41

This is making me glad I booked a long stopover in DUB and don’t plan on taking checked luggage! It was the only way for my family of four to go CW to west coast. We found two reward flights, which we booked for my husband and 2 year old. I and my three year old are going on a fun trip to Dublin the day before, luckily planes, trains and automobiles is fun when you are three. Or at least I hope it will be! But I have booked an overnight hotel at LHR before we all actually fly, so that we have some leeway for our Dublin trip. And husband and younger daughter can take all our checked baggage (given high business luggage allowance) direct to heathrow while we pop over to Ireland!