Missed connection: what rights do we have?

Mark359

This summer my family and I missed our connecting flight from New York to Orlando, having flown in from London Heathrow.

We booked the whole trip through Virgin directly, but the New York to Orlando leg was operated by Delta. The changeover time at JFK was pretty tight (but ok according to IATA limits), we agreed to this at the time of booking because the agent incorrectly informed us that we would not need to collect our luggage upon arrival in New York and that it would be directed straight through to Orlando. This mean we would only need to clear customs (Of course this wasn’t the case and we did have to collect our bags).

Our flight into JFK was actually early (although only by 10-15 minutes), but we were held up for a very long period of time waiting for our child’s buggy at the planes door (well over half an hour). By the time we eventually passed through customs the connecting flight was boarding and they wouldn’t let us check in.

The next Delta flight we could get on wasn’t for 24 hours. Initially Virgin refused to pay out for a hotel, but then agreed upon confirming the technical delay leading to the buggy being delayed.

I am now trying to get some compensation from Virgin for the missed 24 hours of my holiday as I hold them responsible for this; we booked directly through them and heeded to their advice about the baggage procedure in the USA and also due to the delay with the ground staff and the buggy. Virgin are playing hard-ball and do not want to give out any compensation. They just inform me that I always need to collect baggage upon entering the USA (I know this now, but their booking agent did not) and that the changeover was ok according to the IATA limit.

Do I have a case to go by here to claim compensation? I am looking at it from the point of view that if it was the plane that was late I would get a large sum of money due to the EU legislation, but I cant see anything that covers me in my situation?

Thanks for reading and any advice you may offer.

Caz3121

some of the connections offered in the US are tight and only really suitable for those with Global Entry, US passports and no hold luggage. Once you add in immigration queues and baggage, I would want 3 hours minimum between flights...the baggage issue may be a bit of a red herring as often the bags are sat there waiting by the time you get through immigration and just need to be taken through customs and dropped off again.
How long was your connection?
I doubt EU261 would cover this as, as you say, it is based on door opening of aircraft (frustrating as I have waited a long time for bags on a couple of occasions, once when a luggage truck broke down and another when the hold door was jammed but nothing seems to cover for this)
Did you speak to your travel insurance to see what they would pay out for the delay?

Mark359

Thanks for the reply Caz,
The connection that was booked was 1 hour 43 minutes.
The bags were indeed waiting by the time we got through, the main issue was waiting for the buggy at the plane door which took forever and put us to the back of the customs queue.

I haven't spoken to travel insurance as I thought the airline would be my first port of call as that was who I had the complaint with. I was under the impression that the travel insurance would pay out if I had to pay for a hotel or something (which I didn't in this case), do they offer a form of compensation then for things like this?

Thanks

leylandsunaddict

Insurance dont pay compensation, but if your policy covers for delays then you may be able to claim. It's generally not a lot though. Im guessing if it did you would have noticed when you bought the policy. I wouldn't have booked such a short connection personally.

Tigsteroonie

Mark359 wrote: »

that we would not need to collect our luggage upon arrival in New York and that it would be directed straight through to Orlando. This mean we would only need to clear customs (Of course this wasn’t the case and we did have to collect our bags).

As Customs is a declaration of goods and money being brought into the country, how did you think you would go through Customs without your luggage?

Vauban

Mark359 wrote: »

I was under the impression that the travel insurance would pay out if I had to pay for a hotel or something (which I didn't in this case), do they offer a form of compensation then for things like this?

Thanks

Some travel insurance policies have "missed connection" or "delayed start to holiday" provisions. But the amount they will pay out depends upon the quality of the policy you bought: cheaper insurance generally pays out less for this if at all.

However, what you effectively bought from Virgin was a package holiday it seems - which if so means you should be protected regardless of Regulation 261/04 considerations. They provided all the transport for you - even if the last leg was subcontracted to Delta - and provided you were not negligent in missing your connection, I am reasonably confident you are entitled to a pro-rate refund for the missed day of the holiday.

Mark359

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

As Customs is a declaration of goods and money being brought into the country, how did you think you would go through Customs without your luggage?

I thought I would have to collect all my bags, until the agent on the phone from Virgin convinced me I didn't need to. I listened to their advice because they should be the experts in the field they work in.

I have flown to states before via France and I didn't have to collect bags in between there so its not so crazy to think I wouldn't have to

Mark359

Vauban wrote: »

Some travel insurance policies have "missed connection" or "delayed start to holiday" provisions. But the amount they will pay out depends upon the quality of the policy you bought: cheaper insurance generally pays out less for this if at all.

However, what you effectively bought from Virgin was a package holiday it seems - which if so means you should be protected regardless of Regulation 261/04 considerations. They provided all the transport for you - even if the last leg was subcontracted to Delta - and provided you were not negligent in missing your connection, I am reasonably confident you are entitled to a pro-rate refund for the missed day of the holiday.

I have just checked insurance and they cover delays with £25 per day payment, better than nothing so worth checking thanks. I still want to get something from Virgin though!

GLou

We have experienced a similar situation in that we've just returned from a Caribbean Cruise holiday booked through a travel agency. The flight experience both ways was dire. We were booked onto 4 flights within 1 booking through BA from Manchester UK through to Miami USA. We checked in online via the BA website for all 4 flights at home before we left. At Manchester, we discovered we were booked onto an American Airlines flight, despite the flight references all beginning with BA. There was 1 stopover at Chicago O'Hare on the outbound flight. We had almost a 2 hour window to allow for our connecting flight to Miami but the queues at Passport Control were so long we took more than that time to get through. We missed our connecting flight. We were then offered a later flight but this took us first to Charlotte in North Carolina, where we had to exit the flight, hang around Charlotte airport for about 20 minutes, then re-board the same flight! We arrived at Miami 4 hours 30 mins later than expected. Then added to that, pandemonium at baggage reclaim in Miami added yet another 2 hours before we finally found our luggage! The cruise was wonderful after the 2 days it took us to recover from the trauma of the flight.
The return flight went well from Miami to London Heathrow. Unfortunately, we were informed 24 h in advance that our connecting flight from LHR to Manchester had been cancelled due to fog. We were delayed there for almost 5 hours - 10 mins short of that to be exact, before we were boarded onto a later flight which meant our arrival time back in Manchester was also much later than we expected.

Caz3121

GLou wrote: »

we've just returned from a Caribbean Cruise holiday booked through a travel agency. The flight experience both ways was dire. We were booked onto 4 flights within 1 booking through BA from Manchester UK through to Miami USA. We checked in online via the BA website for all 4 flights at home before we left. At Manchester, we discovered we were booked onto an American Airlines flight, despite the flight references all beginning with BA. There was 1 stopover at Chicago O'Hare on the outbound flight. We had almost a 2 hour window to allow for our connecting flight to Miami but the queues at Passport Control were so long we took more than that time to get through. We missed our connecting flight.

For future reference it may be useful to note that
1) codeshares are not unusual these days and many airlines offer flights on different airlines with their own flight numbers. I have always seen it clearly flagged as "operated by" to show which carrier the flight is with so it is surprising that you were unaware which airline you were flying with. This may be worth a complaint to the agent for not displaying the information properly
2) 2 hours for a US connection may be fine if you have hand luggage only and Global Entry but I would want a minimum of 3 hours to complete the formalities....we had a direct flight from London to Miami at the start of the year and it took over 3 hours to get through Border control - fortunately we did not have a connecting flight

Vauban

You can't have been surprised that you were on an American Airlines flights - or that you would have to change in Chicago (never a great idea this time of year). Presumably this was much cheaper than flying direct from London to Miami. Your travel agent should have advised you of all this.

Im afraid nothing of what you describe suggests to me you are eligible for the statutory compensation - either for the outward or return leg.