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Ivor Biggun

If I was to make a simple change to my flight details the airline would financially penalise me. In the event of the airline changing their flight times, after I've paid, are they liable to compensate me ?

gusG

Yeah Sure .

Ivor Biggun

Thanks for that Gus G but I can't just walk up to them without quoting some law or other and ask for compo.

britmaveric

Prob in the fine print - they have flight times subject to change. Prob could get refund if times dont suit you. other than that you are screwed.

blackgang

If they got that shit then you are royally screwed. No one ever beat the fine print.

John

If they give you money then you will be lucky. If not what to you want to do? Go to court? I don't think. So it is more or less UP TO THEM what they want to do.

Had a move and the insurance does not want to pay for the damage. I could start a long fight against their trained lawyers. Not a good option I think. There are laws and there is the reality...

donmeurett

Only in your dreams

MeMock

If they can sell you a ticket, take your money and not even guarantee you a seat on the booked and paid for flight, what chance have you for a refund if they change the time?

Texpat

My wife and I were on a Delta flight from Orlando to Los Angeles in 2005.
As we were about to take off a lightning storm approached. We sat on the plane for 4 hours, finally returning to the gate. Initially they didn't want to let us off the plane, but some passengers went hooligan on them. They let us off for about an hour, then called us back. We all loaded up thinking we were headed to Atlanta (and some unknown connection to LA)
Yep, another two hours on the plane before takeoff.
Finally land in Atlanta about five hours after or connection has left. No apologies, no rep explaining the fowl-up, no sympathy. I waitin in a fucking 3-hour line to be told I was fcuked and I should go upstairs and try to book another flight (why did I stand in a line for 3 hours to hear that -- can anyone at delta scribble a sign?)

Upstairs they said they could fly us from Atlanta to LA the next morning in 4 hours. My mouth and eyes were bleeding. To these people you're a fukcing cow on the bovine express. It makes little difference to them if you've got business or family travelling hundreds of miles to retrieve you... Credit card please.

BigRed

Interesting, I've just had the same issue with Emirates via eBookers. First they informed me by email that I had to catch an earlier flight to Dubai, giving an extra hour stopover and that I should only contact them if it was not acceptable. I accepted that and was then contacted 2 days later bumping my BKK-Dubai leg from 3:15 am to 8:30pm the previous day. After asking what compensation I would get before agreeing to it they found seats on the 1:30 am.

Once I check out all the details I will be pressing Emirates for some compensation such as a free upgrade on one leg.

BTW. Perhaps Begbie has got something?

Ivor Biggun

^ Coincidence, it just happens to be Emirates that I'm flying with but my story aint as bad as yours

William

When my sister flew back from Cape Town to the UK she flew KLM via Amsterdam. They moved her (and the family) from her 8 a.m. connector to one that left at 11p.m. My sister pointed out that she had two young children, one of whom is a hyper 4 year old boy. Given the circumstances she asked them if they could provide her with a day room. Happy to do so, for an extra charge of 150 Euros.

Texpat is right, once you have paid, all interest in you stops.

Isee

There's two sources to find the answer to your question:

1. The carriers own terms and conditions; and
2. The application of the Warsaw Convention or any other such conventions/regulations imposed or adopted by the carrier.

However, as generally expressed already, don't hold your breath in finding something to your liking. For example, if you look at the IATA "regulations" it comes down to a nutshell that flight times etc are not guaranteed and may be changed at anytime by the carrier without liability and most importantly states that flight schedules "do not form part of the contract". What the airlines generally do is to have a 'goodwill' policy and therefore difficult to ascertain by the traveller.

Happyman

In my experience ( 40 years+ country and continent hopping on a weekly basis )
If you book a ticket direct from an airline with connecting flights - especially if the connecting flight is one of theirs -and they F*uck up then you are ok !
They fall over themselves to sort things out - upgrade - hotel overnight etc etc

If the connecting flight is another operator they do their best but without any sense of urgency

If you booked and paid for your ticket through a travel agent they refer you to the issuing agency and say get them to sort it out !

PS This was before electronic tickets so it may well be different now though !

Ping

I had to sign a waiver for the travel agent because my connector (same airline as first leg) leaves less than an hour after the landing of the first leg. This had been a packaged connection in the past (packaged legs) but was split recently, probably because they have historically had too many problems meeting the connection. Bottom line is that if leg one is delayed, I have to pay for the new ticket for leg two. If it is part of a scheduled packaged leg arrangement, the airline will take responsibility if the first leg delay causes you to miss the second leg. If the arrangements contravene the terms of travel that the airline will agree upon (eg under an hour connector for international travel), then the airline will devolve responsibility to the ticket seller. That is why the ticket seller gets the passenger to sign a waiver (so that the passenger will have to assume the risk).