BA or BAA, Who's Responsible?

[Wyler]

I am travelling from Newcastle to Oman, via LHR in Oct. My flight from Newc leaves at 0615 and I have 2 hours to transfer at LHR. Taking into account the new Security measures, if I miss my connection due to long and slow progress through security (which is happening), who is responsible?
Do BA wash their hands of me and make me buy new tickets (there are 4 of us travelling) or will I be booked on the following days flight? Mind you, a night in London with no hand baggage does not fill me with glee.
Would appreciate some answers because, like a lot of others, I am thinking twice about travelling by air at all.

Travelling BA all the way.

[Mark Lewis]

You will be fine. I have missed every connection I've been booked on in the last few weeks due to delays and its the airlines responsbility to get you to your final destination, if that means rerouting you, or putting you up in a hotel and waiting for the next days flight.

[757manipulator]

Its the BAA's fault..plain and simple, they don't have enough staff to process you and they dont want to invest in any more staff.
BA have some responsibilty in regards to getting you to LHR on time, if however you need to make a connection, the airline will have stipulated in the terms of carraige that you will be responsible for getting to the flight, as long as they get you in on time:ok: If they are late (delays..weather etc etc) then they will do as previously said:ok:

[Wyler]

Mark,
Thanks. Is 757 correct?

[Mark Lewis]

Correct in that its BAAs "fault" but under all normal convention (even under the present circumstances) you have a through ticket, and therefore if your shuttle is late, then it is BA's responsibility to get you to Muscat still.

[egnxema]

Wyler

You said "BA all the way" - if your whole journey is held under one booking reference - ie printed on one ticket, or on one e-ticket receipt, then you have no worries, as the airline is responsible to get you from point of origin to the final destination.

The only trouble can be if you put the two flights together yourself and booked them at different times, even though both bookings are with the same airline they will not guarantee your connection.

Hope this helps

[mmeteesside]

If it's any help we recently made a 45 minute connection at LGW, that meant getting off the DL10 from ATL (sta 1100 ata 1210?) and getting on the BA8075 (std 1255) to NCL and that meant picking the bags up and re-checking in too!

This was on 2 separate tickets, although we were meant to be on the DL58 (sta 0900) but we missed it due to storms in ATL (flying LAX-ATL we got diverted to Augusta so we were 2 and a half hours late into ATL) and they'd automatically re-booked us onto the DL10 (well done DL!)

So I'm sure you'll be ok at LHR with 2 hours!

mmeteesside

[Musket90]

Whilst BAA is responsible for Security at LHR and it's other airports, like any business they need to be efficient which includes staff numbers to cover the Security requirements. The recent significant increase in Security directives imposed by the Government has meant that staff numbers aren't able to cope effectively with this sudden change in requirements. More Security staff I am sure are being recruited but it can take many weeks to put into place due to interviews, criminal record checks, training etc. In the meantime to keep delays to a minimum the Security process is being supported my existing staff working lots of overtime with the support of non-operational staff. Given this situation I don't think it is anyone's fault if Security delays your transfer, just make sure BA make you fully aware of how long the transfer is likely to take, after all they should now have a good idea now that we 2 weeks or so into the new Security regime.

[apaddyinuk]

It is BAA's problem but if you do wind up missing your connection as a result of the security situation then dont worry, BA will still look after you with regards getting you there. They may not take the bill for a hotel room but they will do their best!

[1DC]

My daughter arrived from Oz on monday and had just over 2 hours to connect from T4 to T1 for a Manchester flight.The T1/T2 transit point was very slow and she missed her flight. BA were sympathetic and just bookedher on the next flight.The main contributing factor to the slow transit was the fact that only one x ray unit was being used causing long queues, considering that BAA is getting a lot of bad press at the moment you would thik that they would be trying harder..

[Wyler]

Many thanks for all the replies. It has been a great help. My ticket is a through ticket and timings were dictated by BA so I guess we will be OK. :ok:

[WHBM]

.The main contributing factor to the slow transit was the fact that only one x ray unit was being used causing long queues, considering that BAA is getting a lot of bad press at the moment you would think that they would be trying harder.
Huh ! Pigs might fly !