Flight Cancelled After Check In
Discussion
There I was, checked in, duty free bought and well established at the bar clock watching for which gate to head to when, about 50 minutes before the scheduled departure, the (BA) flight status was updated to: cancelled.
At first, we were told that it was a weather issue (too windy, but flights to the same country - different airport - appeared to be unaffected). Once we got back down to the help desk, this 'reason' was then changed to the captain not being well enough to fly and that there was no stand-in.
Given it was the Easter weekend, there were no more flights until after the break, although there were flights to a different airport from Heathrow the next day which would have meant a cab ride to Heathrow (from City) and an overnight stay at a hotel which BA were paying for. As it turned out, by the time I got to the front of the queue, availability on a flight later the same day (from LHR) offered a lifeline.
Whilst I'm grateful that I could, eventually, continue my plans within the same 24 hour period - albeit having lost most of the day for the cancellation - I did cost me. BA paid for the cab ride to Heathrow, but the alternate flight added about 60km to my intended destination. I also lost all my duty free due to the LHR staff not fully understanding the issue (plus there was no time to buy again). British Airways staff did say that I will be compensated for any losses that I have proof for, but it was all a bit of a mess. Surely give 'transferred' passengers some sort of priority in terms of having to check back in and installing them back to airside? They didn't. The time getting through security at LHR is considerably longer than the almost walk-straight-through time at LCY. Those passengers may also be carrying duty free items which will not pass through security and would therefore need to be checked in (as per BA LCY advice) only BA LHR staff had no idea how to deal with such a situation, "You have no baggage allowance so you will have to pay and reclaim". On that note, by the time it was established that paying and reclaiming will save a lot of time (clock ticking etc) the self-check-in machine thingy took my money only to display a 'there was a problem' on the screen after making the payment. The conveyor belt didn't move. By the time BA staff did arrive, and a manager's assistance called for, there was just no time. I was given a 'Contact Us' card with the reassurance that I will get my money back. By this time the aim was simply to get on the f
king flight.
I'm okay, hun etc and after enjoying five of the planned seven days I'm over that episode. However I'm looking at what the pilot calling in sick an hour before the flight has cost me and it's hard to ignore. I'd like to think it was simply a training/experience issue for the staff I dealt with. The re-checking in saga was just a clusterfk. But a flight getting cancelled 57 minutes before departure due to the captain not being well just seems a bit of an odd one as I'd like to think there would/should be contingency measures to avoid such a situation?
At first, we were told that it was a weather issue (too windy, but flights to the same country - different airport - appeared to be unaffected). Once we got back down to the help desk, this 'reason' was then changed to the captain not being well enough to fly and that there was no stand-in.
Given it was the Easter weekend, there were no more flights until after the break, although there were flights to a different airport from Heathrow the next day which would have meant a cab ride to Heathrow (from City) and an overnight stay at a hotel which BA were paying for. As it turned out, by the time I got to the front of the queue, availability on a flight later the same day (from LHR) offered a lifeline.
Whilst I'm grateful that I could, eventually, continue my plans within the same 24 hour period - albeit having lost most of the day for the cancellation - I did cost me. BA paid for the cab ride to Heathrow, but the alternate flight added about 60km to my intended destination. I also lost all my duty free due to the LHR staff not fully understanding the issue (plus there was no time to buy again). British Airways staff did say that I will be compensated for any losses that I have proof for, but it was all a bit of a mess. Surely give 'transferred' passengers some sort of priority in terms of having to check back in and installing them back to airside? They didn't. The time getting through security at LHR is considerably longer than the almost walk-straight-through time at LCY. Those passengers may also be carrying duty free items which will not pass through security and would therefore need to be checked in (as per BA LCY advice) only BA LHR staff had no idea how to deal with such a situation, "You have no baggage allowance so you will have to pay and reclaim". On that note, by the time it was established that paying and reclaiming will save a lot of time (clock ticking etc) the self-check-in machine thingy took my money only to display a 'there was a problem' on the screen after making the payment. The conveyor belt didn't move. By the time BA staff did arrive, and a manager's assistance called for, there was just no time. I was given a 'Contact Us' card with the reassurance that I will get my money back. By this time the aim was simply to get on the f
king flight. I'm okay, hun etc and after enjoying five of the planned seven days I'm over that episode. However I'm looking at what the pilot calling in sick an hour before the flight has cost me and it's hard to ignore. I'd like to think it was simply a training/experience issue for the staff I dealt with. The re-checking in saga was just a clusterf
k. But a flight getting cancelled 57 minutes before departure due to the captain not being well just seems a bit of an odd one as I'd like to think there would/should be contingency measures to avoid such a situation? Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff