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

Pollycat

stilllinda said:

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!

I agree with Westin about cobbled together flights.

It doesn't matter who in the family booked the flights.
Couldn't you get a non-stop flight with the same airline you flew out with?

I also agree with Westin about your complaint. I don't think you'll get reimbursement.

Sadly, an expensive lesson.

DullGreyGuy

400ixl said:

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

But that is highly unlikely as they didn't leave the minimum 3 hour recommended window for transfer 

Ayr_Rage

If those are the scheduled times you had 54 minutes to get into the US, collect your bags and get to the Norse check in before it closed at 1610, which was totally unrealistic.

Caz3121

Information on their guarantee is here https://www.mytrip.com/rf/self-transfer

2 points to highlight

1) The guarantee applies....

• if you miss a connecting flight due to baggage delays, losses, or customs/immigration processes.

2) The guarantee does not apply...

situations within your control, such as traveling with a checked baggage when having booked a Self-transfer trip marked with "no checked bag"

what was the situation with baggage...was it included at the point of purchase or was this added on after?
Less that 2 hours via US is optimistic even on a single ticket with protection, would probably be ok on separate tickets if al on time, Global Entry and hand luggage only but I would personally not have even considered it as the potential costs should it go wrong would likely outweigh the savings

eskbanker

stilllinda said:

thought f they recommended said flights would be ok.

https://uk.mytrip.com/rf/travel-conditions states at 3.2.i:

• Connection times between flights
  Standard tickets booked on the Portal have approved connection times. The times required for making connections between flights are calculated by the airlines. If a flight segment is delayed and leads to a missed connection, the airlines are obliged to assist You in reaching your final destination (see Section 11).
  When separate tickets are booked, the airlines bear no responsibility for missed connections resulting from delays. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that the connection time is sufficient according to the airlines and airports. Any additional costs incurred on account of missed connections will not be reimbursed.

so it'll come down to whether your booking is categorised as 'standard tickets booked on the portal' or 'separate tickets' - the former term seems ill-defined but is presumably intended to cover actual through bookings on a single ticket with an individual airline though, so it would seem likely that they'll contend that your booking is regarded as the latter.

However, https://uk.mytrip.com/rf/self-transfer explains their self-transfer guarantee proposition:

What we offer

To offer you the best possible service when you travel on a Self-transfer, we always include a Self-transfer Guarantee in your deal. The Self-transfer Guarantee applies:

• in case any of your flight(s) are rescheduled, delayed or canceled by the respective airline causing you to miss the flight(s) to your destination.
• if you miss a connecting flight due to baggage delays, losses, or customs/immigration processes.

[...]

What is included in our Self-transfer Guarantee

If the Self-transfer Guarantee applies, we will offer you one of the following three options:

1. a new flight in the same fare class;
2. a full refund for the unused flight tickets; or
3. a paid flight back to your departure airport.

We must have your reply before the new flight departs. If you don’t provide your answer, the Self-transfer Guarantee will no longer be valid.

Have they commented on whether this applies to your situation?

bagand96

Pollycat said:

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?

Worth pointing out that even on through-ticket connecting flights in the USA you must clear US Customs and collect and re- check baggage at your first US entry point, even if through checked.  It's not like Europe and rest of the world.

I know that's not relevant in this case now we know it was a self connection, but worth pointing out.

bagand96

stilllinda said:

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!

As others have said this is a "self connection".  The bookings with Spirit and Norse are completely separate (even though mytrip sold them to you at the same time).  Norse have no obligations to you in respect to your Spirit flights and airport delays, and likewise vice versa.

It's not the same than if you'd booked a connection on a single booking with an airline like American/BA/Delta/Virgin etc who then have responsibilities to you because they've sold it as a single itinerary.

A lot of online agents like Mytrip offer these "connection guarantees" which I've always suspected are worth very little in reality because they  have so many clauses.  All you can do is try and pressurise Mytrip further referring them to the T&Cs of the guarantee (but was your trip marked "no checked baggage" ? They won't be bothered with airport CCTV even if the airport would even release it.

Exodi

stilllinda said:

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...

Haha, this reminds me of my younger sister always arriving home later than her curfew, spewing out some spurious story about how it wasn't her fault that she was late, how the bus was delayed or ran out of fuel, there was a traffic accident, fight on the bus, etc, etc.

But the pièce de résistance was that to give credibility to her story, she'd usually end it with "honestly, call my friend and ask her". Everyone knew that wasn't going to happen, but she'd say it to my parents any way.

We all know an online travel agency, isn't going to reach out to the FLL airport security team, request their CCTV footage (assuming by some miracle, they were provided it, which they definitely would not be), sit down for hours skimming through the surveillance of multiple different cameras after successfully identifying your family to build an assessment of whether you were ' 'dilly dallying' or not. This suggest is just so 'out to lunch', I'd be mortified if you actually suggested it to trip.com.

Even if they did all that and agreed with you that you took off your watch really quickly during security, it is still irrelevant to the wider fact that you had less than 1 hour between the flights planned arrival time and the check in gate closing for the next flight.

You're lucky your flight arrived perfectly on time, the plan would have failed if the flight out was even slightly delayed (there would have been no recourse available for this if you booked each leg separately).

Alan_Bowen

I am so sorry for your troubles, but booking with Spirit, probably the worst US ultra low-cost airline in the US, followed by Norse was I am afraid a recipe for disaster from the moment it was booked. I fully appreciate that you did not realise that and I assume you only booked the flights because they were the cheapest available. Neither airline has any responsibility in this case and as others have suggested, if you don't have a policy of insurance that covers the scenario, I fear you may not be able to recover your losses. the agent you booked through rarely gets a good word on this forum but you have nothing to lose by trying to push them provided you realise it may come to nothing. 

stilllinda

Just to UPDATE YOU all and thanks for replying! I'm pleased to say that trip.com are reimbursing us for the new flights bought.  It really was worth persevering.  We will end it there.