Help Please re missing our connecting flight - not due to delay just time taken in US airport

stilllinda

Hi Hope someone can give advice.  In September we (me and husband) travelled directly to Mexico to meet up with travelling daughters and bring them home. We booked flights there ad home via skyscanner - mytrip.com.  Flight out was one flight (X2) - flights home were two connecting flights (X4).  Flights back was where we got into problems.  Cancun-Fort Lauderdale-Gatwick.  We got the first flight to FL and then had to get our bags, queue up to be fingerprinted and then get to the check in.  We had to queue - I asked if we could be bumpted up as i knew time was tight but there was no help in this - I asked two airport officials.  The 4 of us managed to do this in under an hour -and we were as speedy as we could be -  got to the gate and the lady was still there but the check in had closed.  She got her superviser who said no closed we could get flight the next evening.  I pleaded as had sick dog at home.  Husband called trip.com who said to book the next day flights.  So we had to buy 4 new flights, accommodation for that night etc etc.  We are having little success with compensation for 4 new flights (£2K).  They say there was time to catch the flight.  Should i be doing anything else - i thought of CCTV FL airport to prove we were not dilly dallying?  Insurance covers missed flights if delay but we were in the airport it is just with qs we could not get to check in any earlier... Anyone any thoughts please as to what I should do next?

DullGreyGuy

Sounds like you bought a "self transfer" flight (ie two separate tickets (CUN to FLL and then another from FLL to LGW) rather than a single ticket of CUN to LGW via FLL) in which case the risk of not transferring in time is yours alone.

Your Travel Insurance may cover it but you will have to prove that you allowed enough time between your two flights to do the transfer and check any exclusions - some do exclude delays at security (but not at other points).

A quick google shows that FLL recommends 3 hours for international connections.

silvercar

We had a similar situation years ago, when we pleaded to be allowed to jump the queue, we were told there was a policy to put people on the next flight if one was missed due to border control delays. So I am quite surprised that they didn't move your flight for free.

Even with connecting flights booked on one ticket, everyone arriving into a US airport has to go through border control/ passport checks; there is no such thing as staying airside like there is in the UK.

Ayr_Rage

After arriving at FLL you said 

"The 4 of us managed to do this in under an hour -and we were as speedy as we could be -  got to the gate and the lady was still there but the check in had closed."

Did you actually get to the gate (airside) or just to the check in desk ?

If you had not been checked all the way through from Cancun on one ticket then missing the connection is down to you not allowing sufficient time at FLL.

As above, how many hours between arrival at FLL and the flight to the UK ?

Pollycat

Was it the same airline for both flights returning home or different?

Just a point re this:

stilllinda said:

  We are having little success with compensation for 4 new flights (£2K).  They say there was time to catch the flight.  Should i be doing anything else - i thought of CCTV FL airport to prove we were not dilly dallying?  Insurance covers missed flights if delay but we were in the airport it is just with qs we could not get to check in any earlier... Anyone any thoughts please as to what I should do next?

I don't think you are looking for compensation, you are asking for reimbursement.

Caz3121

what airlines were involved? I am assuming this was a self transfer / separate tickets - how long was the connection you chose? 
Had this been on a single ticket the connection should have been protected and you should have been accommodated on the next flight without charge. On separate tickets you don't have protection and carry the risk yourself apart from Trip's Protection Guarantee (although often these guarantees are pretty useless) Often 4-5 hours+ on separate tickets is considered ok, the shorter the connection the higher the risk of missing other flights is. I have twice had instances of waiting in US immigration queue for 2.5 hours+ (fortunately didn't have a connection but many in the queue missed their flights) and even on a single ticket with protection would not book under a 3 hour connection in the US.

Alan_Bowen

I fear the flight from FLL may have been on Norse. They don't interline with anyone so as pointed out above you should have allowed at least 3 hours to change planes as the US does not recognise the concept of a transfer without being admitted to the US first. You have booked with an overseas agency, part of Gotogate which appears here regularly, and not in a good way, frankly, I am reaching the point of saying avoid virtually everyone on Skyscanner, so there is no trade association to complain to in this case, how long did you have to transfer?

Pollycat

Recently flew with Singapore Airlines.
Man-Sin-Bali.
And return.
Checked in at departure airport, received boarding pass for both flights.
Luggage routed through to destination.
Booked direct with airline.
Why did you choose to book with a 3rd party instead of direct with the airline?

stilllinda

Hi All thanks for replying - yes need Reimbursement as you say Pollycat
Ayr_Rage - only got to Check In - girl was still there, but apparently had only just closed as she was still standing there.
 Here is a copy of flight info - it's the second flight we never made.

Flight Info

Cancun - Fort Lauderdale Spirit Airlines · NK528(Economy class) Departure：10 September, 2023, 12:28  Cancún International Airport  T3 Arrival：10 September, 2023, 15:16  Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport  T4

Fort Lauderdale - London Norse Atlantic Airways · Z0722(Economy class) Departure：10 September, 2023, 17:10  Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport  T4 Arrival：11 September, 2023, 06:55  London Gatwick Airport  S The above were the flights booked through Trip.com who say we had enough time to make the flight - due to time diffs etc etc I don't have exact time we made it to the desk but think it was around 4pm - which is great considering what we had to do times 4 people.  If they could look at CCTV they could see we hurried as much as we possibly could.  I am just v annoyed that trip.com are not listening - emails have been going back and forth since we got back - about a month or so... Pollycat - husband booked flights - seemed best option at the time - thought f they recommended said flights would be ok. Thanks Alan-Bowen yes was Norse!

Westin

These cobbled together ‘self-transfer’ hack fares may work if you have hand baggage only but can lead to issues (as you found) if you have immigration formalities to contend with, collection and re-checking of luggage etc.  The selected itinerary was tight on time anyway. With baggage to pick up and then re-check, very tight to do.

I sadly fear you will get no where with your complaint. 

400ixl

You haven't answered the question directly, but looks like that is not a single through ticket and is two separately ticketed flights on self transfer, just booked through a single agency. Is that correct?

If so, then your options are severely limited as I understand it. Going through the US from an international flight will always involve going through immigration. If self transfer I wouldn't consider any flights with less than 3 hours transit time for international entry into the US.

If you look at https://awt.cbp.gov/ you will see that the max customs time for non US citizens at Fort Lauderdale is often over 2 hours.

There is no compensation entitlement from the airlines as it is not a through ticket. They won't be looking at any CCTV as it is irrelevant (not that they would anyway).

Your only route I can see is whether your travel insurance covers the delayed in transferring.