Thomas Cook changes flights to in-direct

parrysite

richardw wrote: »

FYI http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/268925/american-extends-europe-seasonal-suspensions-in-w16/

It's interesting that looking at those dates, our travel should be unaffected!

SW17

christaitfife wrote: »

Having a quick look at schedules, you can fly direct with:
Delta
Virgin
United
Lufthansa
KLM

(one of the last two would be my choice!).

The schedule also markets an 8:55am dearture (arriving 14:20) as an AA flight, but operated by BA. It is about 1.5hrs longer than a direct flight, but atleast you would be comfortable and the food is slightly more edible. So if you have been switched to this, it may not be too bad?

The KLM, Lufthansa and Virgin flights are codeshares, the KLM and Virgin flights are the same flight operated by Delta, and the Lufthansa flight is operated by United. The point about possibly moving to a later flight via LHR is a good one.

parrysite wrote: »

There's no direct flights for those dates on the AA website which is a real nuisance. I feel the flight may have been overbooked - TC say they can't give us a reason the flight has changed because they apparently don't get told the reason.

The flight is not overbooked, it is not operating. They wouldn't move you this far out in an overbooking situation. The only direct flights from MAN on that date are operated by Delta and United, and AA will be super-reluctant to move you onto a flight with a rival alliance carrier.

As mentioned above, if the start time is the next concern after a direct flight, you should push hard to get them to move you to a later connection from MAN. The connection at LHR will be easier if you get a flight that is operated by BA rather than AA (AA should not care too much, they share revenues with BA on this route), as you won't have to change terminals or reclear security at LHR on the way to NYC. There are many flights a day frm LHR-NYC on BA/AA.

Alternatively, do you have any flexibility on dates? The direct AA flight MAN-JFK is still operating other days of the week, including the 6th and 8th. I don't know if your TC package terms would allow this, but another thought to consider. [edit - the direct flight looks heavily booked on 8th, better availability on 6th, though I can't tell the exact situation].

Check out the alternatives you would accept and then get TC to deal with it, that's their job here. Good luck.

parrysite

We've been into the branch we booked with to sort out the problem today.

Our agent (Jane) wasn't in. We dealt with another lady who was very helpful. She said she wouldn't be able to put us on a flight with another carrier and there is no direct AA flight.

The travel agent we booked with received an email on Friday informing her that they've had to amend our booking - but to a flight that connects in Philadelphia.

For the changes, they were offering to refund us £330.

So, as you can imagine we were a bit perplexed as to how the offer of a flight connecting via LHR without compo came about.

In any case - they cannot do anything until tomorrow as their operations department isn't open.

duchy

I'd take the Philadelphia connection and avoid the mess that is Heathrow. Additionally as you'll be clearing customs and immigration at Philadelpia when you get to NYC there's no hanging around just grab your bags and hop on the air train or grab a cab.

AA are usually very flexible and will agree to just about any connection involving themselves and BA in this situation.

parrysite

duchy wrote: »

I'd take the Philadelphia connection and avoid the mess that is Heathrow. Additionally as you'll be clearing customs and immigration at Philadelpia when you get to NYC there's no hanging around just grab your bags and hop on the air train or grab a cab.

AA are usually very flexible and will agree to just about any connection involving themselves and BA in this situation.

That's what we're hoping to do but they were unable to action it there and then so we need to find out why the agent didn't call us about Phil when she got the email.

Voyager2002

parrysite wrote: »

That's what we're hoping to do but they were unable to action it there and then so we need to find out why the agent didn't call us about Phil when she got the email.

Perhaps he was busy reading the paper? Anyway, asking why he didn't do his job properly will only get his back up -- what matters is that you get the most convenient flights available, and keeping him sweet would probably help with this.

jpsartre

duchy wrote: »

I'd take the Philadelphia connection and avoid the mess that is Heathrow. Additionally as you'll be clearing customs and immigration at Philadelpia when you get to NYC there's no hanging around just grab your bags and hop on the air train or grab a cab.

Not that there's a right or wrong answer here but personally I would rather connect at LHR (which is essentially walking from one plane to another) rather than put US immigration between myself and my connecting flight.

photome

parrysite wrote: »

We've been into the branch we booked with to sort out the problem today.

Our agent (Jane) wasn't in. We dealt with another lady who was very helpful. She said she wouldn't be able to put us on a flight with another carrier and there is no direct AA flight.

The travel agent we booked with received an email on Friday informing her that they've had to amend our booking - but to a flight that connects in Philadelphia.

For the changes, they were offering to refund us £330.

So, as you can imagine we were a bit perplexed as to how the offer of a flight connecting via LHR without compo came about.

In any case - they cannot do anything until tomorrow as their operations department isn't open.

£330 refund with a Philly connection sounds good to me, make sure you have a couple of hours between flights though to clear US security.

As has been mentioned no need to ask why someone wasn't doing their job properly at least not until you have the reschedule.

In future have you thought of DIY , it's what most on here do and always lots of help on here if you are not sure

parrysite

We've now been told the PHL connection and £330 is dependant on also switching to a PHL connection home. With the direct flights home they weren't offering any compensation.

Slightly annoying and would usually have pushed the issue but I'm at work and couldn't be on the phone too long - also didn't want the PHL connection flights to get booked up so went with it.

We did look at DIY but due to a discount available at the time of booking we got a better deal booking at an agent then we could even get close to booking things separately.

duchy

jpsartre wrote: »

Not that there's a right or wrong answer here but personally I would rather connect at LHR (which is essentially walking from one plane to another) rather than put US immigration between myself and my connecting flight.

Depends which flight it is .....the earlier LHR PHL goes from terminal 3 not 5 so it's a terminal change . I'd rather go through PHL in that scenario.