To Not want to spend TWELVE hours in Heathrow airport??

[BritishAirwaysBarkingMad]

There is no logic to British Airways decision here whatsoever. Well maybe there is - is it at ALL possible that AIBU here?

We booked to travel Manchester to Barbados this summer with British Airways. This involves a short Manchester / Heathrow flight

This was our itinerary:
Outward
08:50 fly Manchester to Heathrow
11:45 fly Heathrow to Barbados

Return
17:20 fly Barbados to Heathrow arriving 06:30 next day
08:55 fly Heathrow to Manchester

BA then cancelled the return final leg to Manchester and automatically rebooked us onto a flight leaving at 06:55 from a different Heathrow terminal.
Thus the saga begins...

Phone call one (April):
I call to ask BA are they sure we will make the connection they have allocated to us. They immediately say no we won't as we have to change terminal. They say that if we miss the connection it is our problem and we will have to fund new flights. The only other option is a 12 hour wait till the next fight at 6:30pm. I am told to wait as more flights will probably be offered during the day.

Phone call two (May):
I get an email from BA asking me to call them. I am still booked onto the impossible to catch 06:55 LHR flight. Long long conversation about how there are no other alternatives apart from the 6:30pm fight. I ask whether BA will put us into a lounge for the 12 hours. I am told they can't do this. I must go and research lounges separately. I tell them repeatedly that we can't spend 12 hours in Heathrow having just got off an overnight flight. They offer me an alternative flight via Aberdeen which arrives slightly later than the 6:30pm one would. Then we both agree this was not a sensible alternative. I literally have no option but to agree to the 12 hours. Even though we can't leave the airport during that time, can't check into a hotel, and have two children.

Talk to DH who is understandably horrified. We spend a coupe of weeks dithering about what to do. Finally decide to drive to Heathrow the day before the flight, book hotel and parking at Heathrow.

Phone call three (this morning)
I call to cancel the MAN/LHR legs of the flight.
This is where the saga gets ridiculous.
I am told this is not possible as I agreed to the 6:30pm flight in my last phone call. My only option now is to cancel the whole trip and get a new quote for LHR to Barbados. Which by now has gone up by about £3k. So not an option. So they are forcing the four of us to spend TWELVE HOURS in Heathrow airport!

AIBU expecting them to just cancel the MAN/LHR legs?

I was told that all three phone calls are now being sent to 'BACK OFFICE' to be listened to. I will get a phone call in three to four days to tell me my options.

God I feel a bit better for just splurging all that to you all. Although I probably lost most of you many paragraphs ago.

How long are you going away for? Any chance you could get most stuff in hand luggage and not check bags for the return flights?

Or one adult check a bag and remain on for the final leg of the journey whilst the other travels on with the DC?

Sounds shit but ultimately you have two options here:

1. suck up the wait and book into a day hotel/go on a day trip to London
2. get the bags off at Heathrow and make your own way home by train/coach/hire car

All these people suggesting they leave the airport at LHR and collect the bags later from MAN….,.they won’t carry hold bags if the passenger doesn’t board, it’s a basic security thing!!

It's not the policy and technically not allowed. You were lucky. If that's done and the passenger then no shows for the connection the agent can get written up. A lot depends on the originating airport and if it's BA staffed or handling agents.

Think you'd be best to look at airport hotels that offer day rooms rather than a lounge. The Sofitel at T5 (mentioned up thread) does that - think they offer rooms from 08.00 to 18.00.

Oh this is interesting, and totally not what BA lady said on the phone in phone call two. If we can leave and get a few hours sleep somewhere in a day hotel it would make it more bearable.

To all the PPs suggesting we ask Barbados to only check our luggage through to LHR this is also interesting and not something that had occurred to us.

We can't wait for the luggage to be offloaded from the flight as by that time (6ish?) we may as well be on the flight!

Yes, agreed.

Hadn't even heard of a day hotel before, but think this could be the way forward, we will all be so shattered.

We are premium economy Barbados to LHR and then economy LHR to Manchester. I assumed this meant they wouldn't let us in a lounge at Heathrow as we become economy passengers as soon as we arrive. Mind you, I'm not sure premium economy is good enough to grant us lounge access anyway!

We don't live in Manchester, we live in the Lakes. A taxi to Heathrow would be insanely expensive and a train would involve a train into London and a tube and then a train to Heathrow. We thought it much easier and cheaper just to check in to Manchester, only an hour's drive away, and relax!

@BritishAirwaysBarkingMad

"Oh this is interesting, and totally not what BA lady said on the phone in phone call two. If we can leave and get a few hours sleep somewhere in a day hotel it would make it more bearable"

The info in that link is correct and the lady on the phone call was wrong

There's never been any restriction on leaving the airport in the sort of situation you are contemplating, FWIW the 6 hours mentioned in the BA link is only a suggestion, the only critical thing is back in time for the onward flight. I've known folks nip landside and then back to airside with only 3 of 4 hours between flights to e.g. catch up with relatives/business colleagues.

And sorry if I missed this if it has been mentioned but have BA mentioned/suggested moving you up to an earlier LHR-MAN if seats become available (or are they resisting any more changes)?

I'm not working there anymore but as I recall it for Heathrow that would be way under the Minimum Connection Time (MCT) within terminal and way way under the MCT with a terminal change ....basically I'm surprised the BA IT system even allowed that change to be actioned, let alone communicated to the OP as a plan.

The first BA lady agreed with you - was amazed we had been allocated the 06:55 flight as there was no way we or our luggage would make it. I am so going to get 'MCT' in a conversation today.

I think this is most likely what we will end up doing, now I know that it is possible to book a day hotel - this is a bit of a revelation!

I just hope we can cancel our Heathrow hotel booked for the night before the LHR/BGI flight and the Heathrow parking!

@BritishAirwaysBarkingMad

I am so going to get 'MCT' in a conversation today.

😁

This faffage is definitely encouraging me to holiday nearer to home in the future.

Just want to say thanks so much everyone for reading and commenting. I now feel so much better informed. Once we know what we are doing we will of course cope with it fine and get on with it. I will wait now to see what BA advise. They will either force us to take the MAN flights or allow us to drive to LHR. Apparently I will get a phone call in the next three days...

I'm using this thread as a reminder to myself what is happening and on what date, hope you don't all mind.

So no big surprise but I received no phone call from British Airways. The person I just spoke to, Tracey, seemed to be unaware of the call back I was expecting and unaware that Back Office were listening to my previous three phone calls to decide what to do. So all Tracey could do is to alert the person I spoke to two weeks ago and tell them to call me with a solution within 24-48 hours. I asked her whether she really thought this would happen.... she paused and said 'he should do'.

We have a hotel and two weeks parking booked at Heathrow which I still don't know whether I am using or cancelling.

Flippin eck British Airways I'm not going to be dashing back.

And now I have a BBC news alert saying BA staff at Heathrow are planning to strike over summer!

Me too, it was rather spooky it popping up while I was reading this thread.

OK, here is a possibility

take your regular flights out.
on the way back, when you check-in make sure you speak to a human and ask them to tag your bags only as far as Heathrow. 99% sure they can do this. then you collect your bags at Heathrow and get a regular train / taxi home.

In the unlikely event that the above doesn't work, you fly to Heathow, then you & kids take the train home leaving just DH to hang about all day, take the late flight, collect the bags etc.

that way you get home at a better time and you don't have to deal with unhelpful call centres that have no flexiliblity.

YANBU to be frustrated at the lack of choice in connecting flights, but that’s the state of things.
YABU to expect to cancel legs of a journey- it’s been standard that when you book flights the prices are for entire journey plus return. Any changes results in it all needing to be re-priced.
YABU to be “horrified” at spending 12hrs in an airport, it’s not that bad. I’ve been stuck in airports that long and longer. Heathrow is actually a nice airport to be stuck in.

Unless you're willing to cancel and rebook flights, I'd cancel the Heathrow hotel and parking now. It's extremely unlikely you'll be able to travel directly from Heathrow if you've booked tickets from Manchester. It's often cheaper to fly from Manchester and take two flights than just the one direct from Heathrow even if it's the exact same flight for the second leg. We're about 90 minutes from Manchester and 2 hours from Heathrow so I often search for flights from either and you see this scenario often.

But there's absolutely no reason you cannot leave the airport and check in to a hotel during the 12 hour lay over.

I am staggered to report that BA have already called back. I think he was called Tristan - he was the guy from two weeks ago who asked for Back office to listen to my calls. He hasn't heard back from them. But I am so relieved I had an actual phone call. No resolution but I had a phone call. He tells me he will keep checking for an update and will call me on Sunday with the solution. And right now I actually believe him. I told him I was busy on Sunday as am out for the day but he said he would keep trying my mobile. So.... by Sunday I might actually know if I have to fly and have a 12 hour transfer or if I am permitted to drive myself to Heathrow and back.

We just booked the Yotel when we had a similar layover

I honestly had no idea that it was cheaper to fly from Manchester than Heathrow. I mean I am catching the same plane from Heathrow whether I fly to Heathrow or drive. I don't get the logic. Is it to be kind to us poor folk from the North?!

Parietal I think this does sound like an option, thank you.

I know I must sound like a bit of a moaning Minnie, and I'm checking my privilege and all that, but to spend 12 hours in an airport when you could drive home in four is just frustrating.

the LGW option might not be too bad if it gets you home earlier , we regularly have to do lgw/lhr/lgw when flying long haul as we don’t live on mainland uk. It’s 45 mins in a cab , about £70 or so .