flight delayed, missed bus

Dick_Turpin99

So the situation is that I flew in to Heathrow before Christmas on Turkish Airlines, the flight was late because of bad weather and I ended up arriving one hour later, this meant I missed my connection on the National Express bus and had to buy another ticket, not big money at 30 odd quid when compared to say a flight to USA or similar, but nevertheless its still money.

Now they came back to me 3 weeks later saying sorry, its not their fault, the delay was caused by the weather beyond their control they don't cover for this and I should claim off the bus company (yeah right!!!!) or insurance, which i didn't have.

Who is right, who is wrong and what should i do to cover myself against future !!!! ups?

Wonka_2

TBH a delay of 1hr into LHR pre-Xmas is fairly good going.

I would expect you're going to struggle to get anything out of anyone for this and it'll be put down to an act of god.

At 2hrs + you may have started to get some joy.

In future you either get a flexible ticket or a later ticket.

richardw

Why didn't you assess this risk and buy an insurance policy for it?

Dick_Turpin99

richardw wrote: »

Why didn't you assess this risk and buy an insurance policy for it?

in all honesty i really thought this was covered by the airline......but, the man who hasn't made a mistake hasn't made anything.

I would have thought though that when i bought the ticket online it would offer and insurance option

Dick_Turpin99

Wonka wrote: »

TBH a delay of 1hr into LHR pre-Xmas is fairly good going.

I would expect you're going to struggle to get anything out of anyone for this and it'll be put down to an act of god.

At 2hrs + you may have started to get some joy.

In future you either get a flexible ticket or a later ticket.

yes, I think i'll just go straight in to the bus stn ticket office and buy the ticket there and then.






i will say that its not the first time i have done this and and before has always been OK

LittleMrsThrifty

Presumably you and travel insurance for the holiday - might that cover it?

signol

In my experience, National Express will allow you to travel on a bus 1 hour before or after your stated bus on a standby basis, if it is to or from an airport (Mine was to Stansted). So you should have been able to explain to the driver, and board as normal.
It looks like this has now changed:
http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/Airport/ArrivingIntoTheUK/index.aspx
Bottom paragraph: you can change your ticket, a fee may be payable. That should be cheaper than buying a whole new ticket.

signol

Dick_Turpin99

LittleMrsThrifty wrote: »

Presumably you and travel insurance for the holiday - might that cover it?

its not a holiday, its work, I have medi-vac insurance.
I buy the the tickets, company refunds them.

Caz3121

The airlines responsibility ends when it gets you to the airport and onward transport is of no concern to them. (this is the case whatever the reason for the delay is) I had a Sunday night flight arrive into Heathrow after midnight instead of 9pm and ended up with a rather expensive taxi into the centre of London rather than the tube, but the airline were only contracted to get me to Heathrow, not my hotel, so they were not responsible for the cost

Doshwaster

If getting a bus from Heathrow I'd want at least a 2 hour window between the scheduled landing time and the bus departure to allow for arrival delays, baggage, security and anything else which can go wrong.

whatmichaelsays

If you had booked the bus as part of a package, then you would have been covered. If, however, you book the individual elements seperately, then the airline is only responsible for getting you to your destination airport.