Air India Short Connection and Possible Missing Flight

camsadge

I have a flight booked on 24th June from LHR to Manila connecting via Delhi with 1 hour 25 minutes.

Flights are:

AI2018 departs at 20:35 - 11:00 arrival in Delhi

AI2362 departs at 12:25 - 21:50 arrival in Manila.

I have been tracking recent flights and AI2018 gets delayed often.

I have spoken to someone else who was on a similar flight and Air India changed his first flight to one 7 hours earlier, leaving this much earlier isn't really possible for me. This only happened 2 days before departure. If this happens am I entitled to any compensation.

If they keep me on the original flight and I miss the connection the next Air India flight is a day later. Am I entitled to get them to fly me on a different airline. I see Thai airways have a flight that evening which would get me into Manila 10 hours earlier than the Air India flight.

Worried_fool

How did you buy the ticket?

camsadge

I bought it through flysharp.

daveyjp

Have you bought one through ticket or two seperate 'self transfer' tickets?

Ballard

Air India give the minimum transfer time as 60 minutes, so you have a tiny cushion, but it’s doable.

https://www.airindia.com/in/en/travel-information/airport-information/delhi.html

I’m not qualified to give you the lowdown on what might happen if you miss it, but a lot would depend on whether you booked the tickets in one transaction, as has been questioned earlier in this thread.

Worried_fool

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82017031#Comment_82017031

Unfortunately the tickets were bought from an agent, so it is possible that two independent tickets were bundled together.

camsadge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82016774#Comment_82016774

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82017031#Comment_82017031

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82017069#Comment_82017069

It's brought under a single ticket so same booking reference for both tickets. Which by my understanding the airline is responsible to get me to Manila.

I was just hoping they would book me with a different airline but under the same alliance if I did miss the connection.

Westin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82017201#Comment_82017201

So given that you are on one thru ticket, should you miss your connection then Air India will look to rebook your onward flight on the next available service.

They won't do this now just because you would prefer a longer connection time, nor will they do this because of any historic delay records you find on line - it will only be done on the day if you miss the connection or it appears you will not make the minimum connection time at the transit point.

They also won't bump other passengers off the next flight to accommodate you. It would be the next available flight with open seat availability.

Airlines will typically first reaccommodate on another of their own services (even if via another intermediary point), then ones within the same airline alliance, finally they may consider other competitor airlines.

Any 'demands' of perceived 'rights' at the airline counter at DEL would I expect to be frowned upon if you stand there looking for an arguement. Remember that re-routings will be automated. A computer will be doing these behind the scenes. You could certainly plan in advance and look at Plan B, Plan C, Plan D options for DEL-MNL should your connection be missed. Armed with that information politely present your preferences to the AI staff at the transfer desk to see if they would helpfully reaccommodate along your wishes.

Plan ahead sure. Don't however fret about this now. If you miss your connection then go with the flow. If this is an issue now then consider future trip planning for direct LON-MNL flights or look for options with longer connection times.

camsadge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82017499#Comment_82017499

Thank you.

With the longer connection time I didn't want this but I saw Air India moved someone else to an earlier flight two days before departure without giving them a choice so just wondered what my rights would be there. I have things booked the day before the flight which would mean I can't fly on the earlier flight. I would rather be delayed a day.

I did just want to plan ahead to have options and hopefully one they would agree with which is why I had looked at the same alliance to hope that would have more chance. I'm not in that much of a rush so if it is a day late it's not a big deal to me with nothing booked apart from 1 night Airbnb.

I would much prefer a direct flight but since covid (I think) there hasn't been any.

Humphreyshalfmoon

I have just read that someone stranded in India from the UK due to a missed connection, was told quite clearly by Air India that they would only reaccommodate on their own flights, the passenger concerned referred them to UK261 which states that passengers should be rebooked on the first available flight, the staff ignored him. So travel prepared and you won't be disappointed!

camsadge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82017830#Comment_82017830

Thanks for the info.

I was guessing something like that might happen. If it does and my next flight is 24 hours later. Are they meant to put me up in a hotel for the connection.

Maybe I'll be lucky and have the 1 flight per week which seems to be on time.