Flight SNAFU at BA and AA

[Koolau]

It would seem the airlines don't really much care about its customers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my return flights to the Island won't get snarled. I never take luggage which gives at least some advantage when one needs to be flexible. At one time, I could do terminal changes (on foot) even at ORD. Now, we do the wheel chair races (and tip well.) YMMV

[RobbieB]

The airlines are still recovering from "the covid incident"

I'll give them another full year before I want to fly again.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Back in June, I booked our Sep-Oct trip to Europe as follows with American Airlines (AA). It's codeshare with British Airways (BA). * Going: PHX-LHR by BA; LHR-LYS by BA * Return: LYS-LHR by BA; LHR-PHX by AA I got seats assigned, the whole work. I then settled down to putting details into planning for this 4-week road trip to drive from France into South Tyrol, Italy. My wife even dragged me to the store to buy smaller carry-ons. We were all excited. Less than 1 week after booking, BA sent my wife (not me) an email, saying that the flight PHX-LHR would be arriving at another terminal, and I would not have time to make the transfer for the continuing flight. I would have to call them to make changes. Tried to call. Nope. The machine said to try again another time. Too busy. There was no point in putting me in the waiting queue, I guess. I read that BA was cancelling something like 10,000 flights, and things were in a mess. They were busy rescheduling current passengers hanging around in airports, and our flights were too far in the future for them to even know what to do. Better wait a bit. I went to AA Web site to see what they said. The LYS-LHR flight was cancelled. I told my wife that if we could keep the long legs of PHX-LHR/LHR-PHX, I would try to find a different way to get from LHR to LYS and back, probably by a different airline operating out of Gatwick. And as I was still working on the short legs of the travel, 2 weeks ago, AA sent me an email, saying here were the new flights. * Going: PHX-LAX by AA, LAX-LHR by BA (what happens to LYS as final destination?) * Return: LYS-MAD by Air Nostrum, MAD-JFK by AA (what happens to PHX as final destination?) The strangest thing is the return legs will be on the same day as the arrival date, and earlier in the day. And my wife will be traveling alone. I guess they could not find seats for me. I went to AA Web site to see what it said. All it said was the flights had changed. Tried to see what the changes were. It said "No can do, try some other times". The whole thing is so messed up, I would be afraid to travel even if they found flights for us.

The only silver lining is that they should give you a full refund in these circumstances. That may not be good news if you’re unable to find other flights, but at least you’ll get money back instead of a credit.

[ivinsfan]

NW bound that has to be so disappointing. One would imagine that with the new traffic controls put on LHR, flying into England is going to be very difficult. With 4 flights you are going to need a wing and a prayer..Good Luck..

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister I had a somewhat similar problem caused by a BA cancellation. I simply tried calling every day, usually twice a day, until about a week later I finally got through to a person. Once that happened, everything got worked out easily. So my advice is to keep plugging away at it.

BA has never the best reputation even in good times...what took week might now take a month!

[luckydude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Well, it would be worse if we take the trip and end up wandering around the airport with nowhere to go. I will never again go to Europe in the summer, so can try again next year in spring or fall. However, where I want to go, the temperature is much better in fall than in spring, when it is still cold. And for next fall, one year is a long time and who knows what will happen to your health when you are getting old. Dang. I have money but don't get a chance to spend it. Oh well, it's still better than not having enough money for food and housing, I think. I should not complain too much. Maybe I will just stay home, order Wagyu beef and eat till it comes out of my ears. I don't even get access to waterways to take up boating like Robbie did. Oh well, just surf the Web, and keep expanding my DIY solar power system for a pastime, I guess.

Sorry to hear about your trouble with flights.

What you say about one year being a long time and not knowing what will happen to your health is so true. I think we as retirees are all in a race against father time and trying to get all the things we've always wanted to do done before age/health slow us down.

If it were me, I would risk it and do the trip anyway. Life is too short to wait another year.

[tulak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound The reason I did not book a flight through CDG was that there was no direct flight for PHX-CDG. There would be a stop in PHL, or JFK, etc... That's a long leg, and domestic flights have no premium economy seats. I have sworn off coach seats for domestic flights, unless it's shorter than 2 hours. From Phoenix, I usually catch a Southwest flight to LAX, in order to go non-stop LAX-LHR, or LAX-CDG. I may try to change to PHX-LAX-CDG-LYS, or do CDG-LYS via train as you suggested. I guess if I am not so frugal and go business class, I would have more choices. Not just BA, but the whole Heathrow AP is all messed up from what I read. Schiphol is also a disaster zone.

I didn't realize the only non-stop flight to Europe from Phoenix is to London. That's not great. Flying to the East coast is a pain for transatlantic flights. Takes too long. I'd pay extra to avoid those flights.

Another option is fly to London and then book separate tickets in/out of London. Since you're visiting South Tyrol, maybe fly back from somewhere closer and make it one way trip instead of having to go back to Lyon? And take only carry-on and give yourself lots of time in London between flights.

Pre-covid, I was able to get a cheap flight to Gatwick on Norwegian Air and took the bus to Heathrow to catch my domestic European flight. It wasn't bad, but today I'd be worried about the longer waits at the airport. Heathrow is busy and it took us a bit over an hour to get through security. Long lines, but well organized. This was a few weeks ago and I suspect when you're traveling it'll be a lot easier. Not sure about Schiphol, but I'll find out soon enough.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB The airlines are still recovering from "the covid incident" I'll give them another full year before I want to fly again.

Yeah, pretty much. Fortunately my travel credits were extended again through 2023.

[NW-Bound]

An update for those who are curious.

I called AA last night. The computer scheduled a callback. They did 2 hours later, but my phone was set on silent. Missed the call.

Tried AA phone app chat, as suggested by the announcement on the 800 phone system. Waited 1 hour, then right as I was going to get an agent, got the session terminated. Back in the queue.

Called AA again early this morning. Computer scheduled a callback, said to expect 8 hours wait.

Tried the AA phone app again. This time got an agent after 1 hour wait. I had found new flight info, including a different return date when a connecting flight was available. Gave all the info to her. Waited a long time as their computer was slow. After 1/2 hour, she asked for my email. I took that as a good sign, because it was to confirm the new booking. She said I did not give her the correct email. Told her to try my wife's email, which worked. Somehow, I bought under my name, but with my wife being a registered passenger, it mixed up her email and mine.

She wrote that it was all done, and I could check the details on AA.com. I thanked her, and the chat was disconnected.

Right at that moment, the AA center called back. I thought about not answering, but decided to take the call to ask the agent to confirm the booking. Nope. I was booked to Heathrow, but no connection to Lyon.

While the agent was looking into this for me, I was somehow dropped back into the waiting queue. "Enter 1 if you like a call back". The expected wait was now only 1 hour.

I got a chance to go on AA.com to look. Surely enough, no Lyon connection at all. More than that, we got coach seats while I paid for premium economy. And I specifically reminded the agent of our seat class.

Very sad and upsetting.

When the callback comes through, I will tell them to cancel the trip.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound An update for those who are curious. I called AA last night. The computer scheduled a callback. They did 2 hours later, but my phone was set on silent. Missed the call. Tried AA phone app chat, as suggested by the announcement on the 800 phone system. Waited 1 hour, then right as I was going to get an agent, got the session terminated. Back in the queue. Called AA again early this morning. Computer scheduled a callback, said to expect 8 hours wait. Tried the AA phone app again. This time got an agent after 1 hour wait. I had found new flight info, including a different return date when a connecting flight was available. Gave all the info to her. Waited a long time as their computer was slow. After 1/2 hour, she asked for my email. I took that as a good sign, because it was to confirm the new booking. She said I did not give her the correct email. Told her to try my wife's email, which worked. Somehow, I bought under my name, but with my wife being a registered passenger, it mixed up her email and mine. She wrote that it was all done, and I could check the details on AA.com. I thanked her, and the chat was disconnected. Right at that moment, the AA center called back. I thought about not answering, but decided to take the call to ask the agent to confirm the booking. Nope. I was booked to Heathrow, but no connection to Lyon. While the agent was looking into this for me, I was somehow dropped back into the waiting queue. "Enter 1 if you like a call back". The expected wait was now only 1 hour. I got a chance to go on AA.com to look. Surely enough, no Lyon connection at all. More than that, we got coach seats while I paid for premium economy. And I specifically reminded the agent of our seat class. Very sad and upsetting. When the callback comes through, I will tell them to cancel the trip.

It's unfortunate, but the only "power" we have is to tell them to "go fish!" YMMV

[NW-Bound]

Well, AA center just called me back. It is going to end well, I think.

The agent this time was super good. She knew exactly what to do, immediately got me the connecting flight LHR-LYS. For the return trip, suggested that I either spent a night in Heathrow to catch the LHR-PHX flight next day, or changed the return date to 2 days later. With 2-1/2 hour layover both ways, I think it would be OK, so took the 2nd choice.

Just went to AA.com, and saw everything was to my liking. And yes, we keep the premium economy seats.

Before hanging up, I thanked the agent and told her that it should be so easy.

When you deal with someone who knows what he/she is doing, it makes a world of difference.

[tulak]

Sweet. Happy to hear that it worked out!

[NW-Bound]

^^^ Thanks.

I now replan my trip to see where I will spend the 2 extra days.

Planning is a big part of the fun for me. Lots of looking around on the Web. And when you drive, have to go on Google Street View to scope out parking spots. This is not easy, even in bitty towns. Many hotels have no parking spaces. In big cities, forget it.

My son-in-law made the mistake of taking a rental car into Paris. Not only there was no point in driving it around, he had to pay 20 euros/day to park it, and this was 15 years ago.

[audreyh1]

Wow what a relief!

So frustrating, but at least you finally reached the agent you needed.

When we get around to flying internationally again I think we will spend a night at connecting airports.

[tulak]

Don't forget parking in the small hill towns that everyone wants to visit. On our last trip in Provence, I dropped the family off at the top of the hill and parked at the bottom. It was a nice workout hiking back up, especially with the heat.

London is a great place to have a day or two stopover, especially when flying back (no jetlag). I've done this a few times now. The only downside is London is expensive, so you have to get creative. And if you're not into the touristy stuff, there's still plenty to do. On the last trip, I went to the theater instead.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tulak Don't forget parking in the small hill towns that everyone wants to visit. On our last trip in Provence, I dropped the family off at the top of the hill and parked at the bottom. It was a nice workout hiking back up, especially with the heat. London is a great place to have a day or two stopover, especially when flying back (no jetlag). I've done this a few times now. The only downside is London is expensive, so you have to get creative. And if you're not into the touristy stuff, there's still plenty to do. On the last trip, I went to the theater instead.

No, I parked at the bottom and everybody hiked up. Good exercise never hurts anyone.

Thought about staying in London for a couple of days, but I did not feel like it, when thinking about the hassle. At some airports, one can walk from the terminal to an airport hotel. This would be OK.

[audreyh1]

Flying out of Heathrow to return to the US one time long ago, we stayed at a super nice B&B out in the country with airport transportation. We enjoyed an outdoor afternoon tea, then dinner. We were dropped off at the airport after breakfast in the morning. It was lovely. Very peaceful and relaxing.

[ivinsfan]

If I was NW I'd be logging on to AA everyday to make sure nothing gets changed or messed up.

[tulak]

Lots of good places to stay that are close to Heathrow. Even the Queen lives only 20 min away.

One thing I appreciate about London - and a lot of other European cities - is how easy it is to get to/from the airport. The underground goes directly to the airport and runs frequently and if you’re in a hurry, you can BTD and get to Paddington station in 16 min.

[NW-Bound]

Maybe next time I will think of a longer layover in London.

The time of our last visit was 15 years ago or so. I can go back to see something different. Will not revisit the British Museum, or Buckingham Palace, for example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan If I was NW I'd be logging on to AA everyday to make sure nothing gets changed or messed up.

Yes. The emails of the changes from AA.com are erratic.

Meanwhile, back to trip planning, the routes to drive, what hotels to stay, what food to eat. I have more than 1 month in this trip to wander around a bit.

When we were in Lyon many years ago, it was the spur-of-the-moment day train ride from Geneva, and there was not enough time to try some of the dishes such as quenelle.

For me, trip planning is half of the fun.