AA cancels non-stop from PHL to Glasgow
 

Just found out that a month after making reservations, AA cancelled their non-stop service from Philadelphia to Glasgow. The announcement was apparently made in August but I didn't find out until today when a family member got an email (they're leaving two weeks before us, so they have different flights). AA hasn't emailed me yet, so all I know is we'll now have a layover in Heathrow.

Since I don't know the details yet, I don't know how this will impact our arrival time, how much it may change our travel via train to Mallaig after we land in Scotland, etc. It's very frustrating....

Boy! I would be on the phone or on line already, finding out the specifics asap. A layover might require a change of many things. You might need to cancel and rebook flight or train. A big pain. I would be too anxious to wait for them to email me.

When are going?

AA will be flying to Edinburgh (EDI) from PHL.

The service will be seasonal from 4/2/2019 to 10/26/2019.

The flight is May 24, returning June 2. Not sure why we aren't going to Edinburgh.

I called and the times will work, with a two hour layover at Heathrow, but the I have to contact British Air for the seating on their portion of the flight from London to Glasgow.

After a lengthy conversation with an AA agent named Jeff, who was courteous and a huge help, we are now booked on British Airways from Philadelphia to Glasgow, with a two-hour layover in Heathrow (terminal 3 for both flights), arriving in Glasgow at 10:15 a.m. Our return flights are BA from Glasgow to Heathrow, terminal 3 again, with a two-hour layover before flying American Airlines to Philadelphia. At least all of the flights are in the same terminal at Heathrow. We had to pay an additional fee to select new seats - "free" seats were available on the AA flight home, but the plane's configuration is 2-4-2, and there was no freakin' way I want to sit in the middle two seats of a four-seat row for a long flight. I'm a very unhappy camper if I can't have a window seat.... ;) The fee was $40 per seat to select the ones we wanted, but it was worth it, plus it includes priority seating.

I have two questions - #1: when we arrive in Heathrow, will we have to go through Customs again? #2 - we arrive in Glasgow at 10:15 a.m., and we're hoping to make it to Queen Street Station for the 12:30 p.m. train to Mallaig. I'm wondering how long we may be in Customs in Glasgow, and how much of a rush it might be to make the 12:30 train? The next train doesn't get into Mallaig until 11:30 p.m., and we're obviously hoping to avoid that situation!

You won't have to deal with customs and immigration at all in Glasgow. You'll deal with that at the first point of entry (when you arrive at Heathrow). The Heathrow to Glasgow is just a domestic leg so once you land and grab your bags you are good to go.

You will clear immigration in Heathrow. You will clear customs in Glasgow, but that just means walking through the exit marked "Nothing to Declare ". There is a bus (500) that goes to Queen Street.

I would be more worried about the two hours in Heathrow, but at least you don't have to change terminals, if you are sure both flights use terminal 3.

My mistake - I meant to ask whether arriving at Heathrow on an international flight before boarding a domestic flight would involve security or Customs.

Both the flights on the trip in are on BA, which an airport map indicates Terminal 3.
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Thanks!

Sicilia Sailor - wouldn't the bags be transferred from one plane to the other, since both flights are with BA?

Go here and input your flights: https://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections

Your flight to London is almost certainly a code share with AA and would therefore use terminal 3, but most BA flights use terminal 5.

SicilianSailor is describing the situation when arriving in the US, not the UK.

The OP needs to check again. Both AA and BA fly from Philly to Heathrow; it looks like the OP is on BA 66 connecting to BA 1474. These flights are both codeshared by American, flying as AA 6129 and AA 6295 respectively, but they're on BA-operated planes, and will both use Terminal 5, not Terminal 3 at Heathrow. (Be thankful.) The AA agent was probably confused, par for the course.

On landing at Heathrow, you'll go through passport control and a security check, then will be released into the T5 shopping mall. Choose wisely. Your bags will be transferred to the Glasgow flight, which will depart from T5 too. On landing at GLA go to bag claim, then just walk through the "green" door - nothing to declare - and badda bing, welcome to Bonnie Scotland.

Thank you to everyone for the responses!

I sent a compliment to the AA customer service regarding Jeff, the agent, while also mentioning that I was not happy with the airline for not notifying me about the canceled route, and received a reply that they couldn't call everyone every time the "schedule" changed. I think this qualifies as more than a schedule change, and with other airlines I've been notified months in advance if the schedule changes by minutes.

Not only are we on different flights than we anticipated, we had to pay extra for seats we had essentially already reserved. The agent also said it's possible these flights could change, as well, something of which I was already aware....

Definitely more than a schedule change! When something similar happened to us we were offered the chance to change our reservation without a fee; in one case AA moved our flight up one day to accommodate the time of the connecting flight.

I truly am sorry they did this to you. I hope your trip goes well and better than mine.

I say this because a few years ago I found a really good deal with US airways to fly PHL to EDI. US airways then got bought by American and changed my final destination to GLA. That wasn't what I booked so I called and they put me on a connecting to Heathrow flying on American going but British Airways coming back. It was all a nightmare. My brother was flying after me but my plane was 6 hrs delayed and I never met my brother in Heathrow. My plane before crossing the Atlantic had to turn around. Since we were so delayed our connecting flight tickets were no good and it was a mess connecting as we had no idea where to go. We couldn't miss our flight to EDI as my brother was there and he couldn't check into the flat without me. We barely made the connection.

It was bad coming back to PHL. We couldn't get our connecting tickets at EDI. My brother who flew before me missed the connection as they wouldn't give him his ticket. He ended up flying to Charlotte to get to PHL. Then he got delayed there for weather. He made it home 11 hrs after his expected time. My flight back my luggage never made the plane but my travel partners did as we got delayed flying into Heathrow. I got my luggage 3 days later which wasn't a big deal as I was home but they sent my smiley face emojis telling me about the delay and left my luggage on the sidewalk outside my house at 3 am. I have a covered porch with no door so go figure.

I'm looking to go back to Scotland this spring and their price for a connecting looks great but sorry, I can't risk having an experience like that again.

>>I'm looking to go back to Scotland this spring and their price for a connecting looks great but sorry, I can't risk having an experience like that again.<<

You can have just as bad an experience on any airline. A one off 'nightmare' has no bearing on future flights. How will you feel if you pay more to fly with another carrier - and have your flight delayed or canceled? No transatlantic airline corners the market on good -- or bad.

twina: I'm so surprised there was no notice -- I find AA is almost annoying with all the notifications they send me. A 5 minute departure change triggers at least 2 e-mails.

Sassy - what a nightmare! I hope you've had better flights since then.

Janis - I agree about the notifications. The response I got was that they prefer waiting until close to the day of travel, as in when the seats we want would probably be taken....

I'm not quite sure why they aren't flying us into EDI, since that''s their new direct flight, instead of Heathrow. We'd still have to catch the train, but at least EDI is smaller than Heathrow and we'd already be in Scotland.

So far, that is the only terrible experience I've had flying in over 20 yrs. I chalk it up to connecting in Heathrow and the airline. I will never connect there again nor fly with them if given a choice. I will only fly non stop to Edinburgh in the future and yes pay double the cost. I would have said yeah bad luck if it had been one way, one flight but it wasn't.

My advice to anyone who has to connect in Heathrow is to make sure you have your connecting ticket before getting there. I was told no ticket was a British Airways issue. Also allow time to connect as there are always delays. We received no compensation either not even a sorry. Only sad faces sent to me and told be lucky I got to my destinations. Hopefully someone can learn from my experience.

Sassy: I have connected through LHR countless times -- sure it is a big airport with 4 (used to be 5) terminals but it really is not a horrible place to connect, but maybe that is because I know it very well and know my options.

twina: >>The response I got was that they prefer waiting until close to the day of travel,<<

Funny -- I'm flying on Dec 18 and got two e-mails and a phone call about a very minor schedule change . . . a month ago . . .

I have never had any problems like I had at Heathrow when connecting with AA/British Airways. I truly hope what happened to me was a fluke but when it was with 4 flights on one trip, so I find it hard to believe. They refused to give us boarding passes for the connections at the check in airport and we as a party weren't flying the same day either. We had to get them in Heathrow after standing in a very long line to get to the other terminal and the agent doing it got annoyed. You couldn't get through without the pass. He was rude and didn't care if you had a tight connection which all could have been avoided if they just given the connecting boarding passes at check in. I knew this at EDI airport and insisted but I was told nothing they could do, it was a British Airways issue so this has nothing to do with not knowing the terminals or being misinformed.

I truly hope twina49 doesn't have the same experience and just posted mine so she can be prepared. AA also never informed me that they changed my destination from Edinburgh to Glasgow. I found out a month or two before traveling of the change. It really put a damper on my trip and their lack of customer service didn't help. I'm just glad I made it back and home on the day I was supposed to but as lessons learned goes, there are just some things I won't do again.

I got to thinking about the fact that American Airlines added a non-stop Philadelphia to Edinburgh seasonal flight (April-October 2019) to replace their non-stop PHL to Glasgow. Since the agent I spoke with last week said there was a possibility that AA could change our flights again before all was said and done, I had to wonder if that might be what they change us to.

I called American Airlines, and spoke to an agent, who thought London and Glasgow were about an hour apart, and Glasgow and Edinburgh were several hours apart (seriously, if you’re going to be an airline agent, perhaps you should know SOMETHING about geography). He said IF we wanted (“I don’t change nobody’s flight until they tell me”), we could change, at no charge, to a non-stop to Edinburgh, arriving at 9 a.m. That would actually work better, because my friend and I would have more time to get the train to Mallaig, AND we wouldn't have a two-hour layover at Heathrow.

I'll have to do some more research, but this might work.

" if you’re going to be an airline agent, perhaps you should know SOMETHING about geography"
You would be surprised how many don't.
It is possible that the agent originally worked for America West, which bought USAirways, which then bought AA.
America West was a regional carrier, and their staff knew more about NASCAR that geography.

FYI,the PHL to EDI route will be serviced with Boeing 757-200.
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Am...E_Intl_new.php

>> who thought London and Glasgow were about an hour apart, and Glasgow and Edinburgh were several hours apart<<

:D

Not airline related but: I once called my bank to tell them I'd be using my ATM card in the UK, and it was blocked the first time I tried to use it -- on arrival at EDI. Tried 2 more times in Edinburgh and thought it might be a system down for maintenance thing, but when it didn't work in Callander I called. "Oh yes, it is in your file -- traveling to the UK, you did not mention Scotland".

It's not a magical solution, but regardless how I book my flights, I also get the respective apps for all airlines involved and register my booking with all airlines.
Sometimes this helps in fixing issues like getting a boarding pass for a connecting flight with the app which was not possible at the check-in desk - for whatever reason. Sometimes I got info on flight changes from just one app and not the other, sometimes from both apps but not by e-mail.
As said, not a solution for every problem but it costs nothing to install the apps and just a minute to enter the flights...

Thanks, Cowboy1968! I'll check into the app.

If we change to flying in and out of Edinburgh, we would land at 9 a.m., then try to catch an 11:15 train to Mallaig. Would two hours (if we land on time) be enough time to go through customs, get our bags, and get to Waverly? It seems a bit tight to me....

It is doable -- EDI is not a huge airport. But if your landing is at all delayed you'd be SOL.

Janis - that''s what I'm afraid of....

I suggested to my friend that we just get the train the next day and enjoy some time in Edinburgh. We've both been there before and it would be a lot better than running from airport to station!

There is always something great/new to see/do in Edinburgh. I'd relax, have a great dinner, get a good night's sleep and take a train the next morning.

The latest update is that we went ahead and switched to the non-stop Philadelphia to Edinburgh flight, landing at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 25th, and returning on Sunday, June 2nd. I've already booked a room at the Brooks Hotel in Edinburgh for the night, and then we'll head out Sunday morning for Skye by train. I REALLY didn't want to worry about a two-hour layover in Heathrow, as I spoke with the American Airlines agent who confirmed that we would have to retrieve our bags, re-check the bags, and go through Passport Control before boarding our flight for Glasgow. We were not charged any additional fees for switching to Edinburgh, although I had to file a claim to have the $40 extra per seat that we paid for the AA portion of the flight from LHR to PHL. I've also requested a refund of the $128 we paid to British Airways for the seats we selected on their flights. My sister and brother-in-law switched their flights, as well, although they are arriving two weeks before we are but we're all flying home on the same flight. My sister called BA about the seat selection charge and was told BA doesn't refund seat selection fees if the flight is changed. We'll see about that. If they don't, I'll file a complaint with my credit card company.

A couple of thoughts throughout this extremely "interesting" experience:

• My friend and I are arriving during a Bank Holiday weekend, so finding accommodations anywhere near to the Edinburgh city center was very difficult. Most places required a two or three night minimum, with one telling me "We do not take one night reservations for Friday nor one night Saturday, nor allow for Sunday departures."
• I had efficient service when I called AA today about changing the flight, but when my brother-in-law called them, they wouldn't change his since he booked through Expedia. When I helped my sister change their flight when this first happened, I was the one who spoke with AA and they had no problems changing the booking. I'm not sure why they gave them a hard time today, although I'm glad I booked directly with the airlines and didn't go through a third party.
• If everything goes as now planned, I'm happy to have a day in Edinburgh - I've been there twice and enjoyed it very much, but wasn't sure I was ever going to return. I'm also happy that I don't have to worry about what may have been a mad dash in Heathrow from one level to the other, even if it's all in the same terminal - my friend and I are in our 60's and she's got a bad knee that slows her down. It might have worked or it might not have, but now it doesn't matter.

AA refunded the additional fee, but after delving further into BA's Web site, I would be very surprised if we get a refund from them, since it wasn't their airline that canceled the flight.

My friend and I think $64 each is worth paying for not having a layover. ;)

And even in that the agent misspoke. You'd go through passport control at Heathrow and a pre-flight security check, but your bags would go through to your ultimate destination (EDI or GLA) and you'd just walk through the "nothing to declare" door on exit.

Wouldn't it be nice if the airline agents actually knew about things like that?

I work at a university and have student employees, and our training with both the students and full-time staff is that if you don't know the answer, you tell the person you'll find out and THEN respond.

I heard back from BA, and as I expected, they are declining to refund the payment we nade for the seats we reserved, using the reason that I didn't do it within 14 days of booking the flight. Since the flight isn't untIL May, there's a good chance someone else will pay for them as well, which seems like a sleazy practice on the part of BA.

I looked up their refund policy and think they are right although I don't agree. There are so many times things are like this aren't fair but are policy. It does add up but small beans to us that I doubt policies like this will ever change.

I truly hope you have a great trip. It's not nice to start one out like this as I said similar to my experience. I personally will just choose differently based on it for the future. I booked airfare to Scotland over the weekend and didn't bother with AA or BA even if was cheaper. Time is money and the airline I went with has treated me good when things have gone awry. They might not always but I prefer to give them my business.

Sassy - I was incorrect, as BA said I would have to ask for the refund within 14 days of the flight, not the booking.

I sent them another message were I quoted their motto and mission/vision statement and said it's wrong that they don't live up to their advertising. Probably won't make a bit of difference, but it made me feel better - LOL!

Oh I see. The policy I found stated no refunds unless they cancel and since you have it in writing I hope they honor it. It would make me feel better if they do as I really didn't like the sad smiley faces they texted me when my luggage showed up at my house in the middle of the night 3 days after my flight.