Cannolo

I’m concerned about my connection at Heathrow. Our flight into Heathrow has been very late almost every day recently. We’re concerned that we won’t make our connection to Rome. I want to know what to expect from the airline in case that happens.

The flight is British Airways 286, which is scheduled to arrive at 13:30. The connecting flight is British Airways 554, and it’s scheduled to leave at 15:40. That’s all perfectly fine in theory. But many recent 286 flights have arrived too late to make it through security and everything else, even with all-carryon, even T5 to T5.

What is the airline’s obligation in such cases? What is British Airways’ usual practice? What if the one remaining flight is full? Do they give you a hotel room, a sandwich at Pret, or nothing at all?

I haven’t asked British Airways yet. I want to go in with some background.

Smeagol

Did you buy the flights all as one ticket?

DonTopaz

Easy, steady there, big fella. 286 has been on-time or early for all but one or two days for the past couple of weeks. Currently, it's scheduled to leave at 8:45pm and arrive at 2:00pm. After the UK switches to DST, it'll depart at 7:20pm and arrive at 1:30pm. (And in the unlikely event that you miss your flight, BA has another service to Rome at 6:25pm.)

janisj

Yeah - that DST will bite you every time.

P_M

I have missed a connection under similar circumstances when flying BA to Ireland via London. BA will rebook you at no charge if it was all booked as one ticket.

AAFrequentFlyer

Few years ago I flew BA from Toronto to London to connect with BA to Warsaw. The flight was late and all I could do was to talk to BA agents in London. They booked me on the next available flight with LOT(not a partner with OneWorld Alliance) since their own last flight to Warsaw was gone, without even blinking an eye. I arrived in Warsaw few hours later than scheduled but no damage done.

Cannolo

Thanks to P_M and AAFrequentFlyer for the first hand experience.

To Smeagol's question whether I booked it all on one ticket: Yes, all one ticket.

And hey there, little guy DonTopaz! Good points, and thanks for your reply. Still, BA 286 is on time only 58 percent of the time. I'm always optimistic -- isn't that a requirement for happy travel? -- but I still want to travel as well prepared as I can be.

DonTopaz

Cannolo, you're absolutely right: preparation and knowledge make travel a lot easier. (I also like your handle -- lots of fun to walk into a bakery in the US, ask for a cannolo or biscotto, and enjoy the puzzled expressions.)

Cannolo

DonTopaz, you're a man of culture! You're right, "cannolo" can be fun. To the few who'll go further and ask why cannolo and not "cannoli," you put on the Mr. Peabody (and His Boy Sherman) act: "Because cannoli are singular pastries." That stops them.

amer_can

HAHAHA!!! Well stated.Cannolo!!

laurie_ann

When I travel depending on a connection I always research in advance what the later flights are on all airlines (search on kayak or momondo or similar) and bring a print out in case they seem stubborn about putting you on another flight (they do not always offer to put you on another airlines flight because it costs them but if you point it out to them as a choice they might suddenly find it available to you).

Cowboy1968

Since you will be flying in with an EU based carrier, you have extended statutory rights in case of (non weather-, non force mayeure- related) delays or cancellations.
Depending on whether your trip will be regarded as one from outside the EU to Rome (via LHR) or just the last leg LHR-FCO is taken into accout, arriving in Rome 3 hours late or more results in statutory penalties of €600 or 400, respectively.
While most airlines try to avoid cashing out, it usually motivates them to put you on any available next flight - also on other airlines - to keep the delay under 3 hrs if possible.

eliztravels2

We had a missed connection at LHR due to a delayed departure of our original BA flight from YYZ (Toronto) . We were informed by BA of the delay prior to our departure for the airport and told we could book a new connecting flight at the airport. This was done easily and we got on flight which got us to our destination, Prague about 3 hours late. It's worth noting that this booking, on one ticket, was done on Expedia, which was slower to notify us of the change and offered us a flight many hours later than the one provided by BA. I've booked directly with the airline ever since.

Cannolo

Thank you, laurie_ann, Cowboy1968, and eliztravels2. All valuable info. Thanks!