Missed connecting flight - not due to flight delay

[Gabitule]

I am so stressed and upset.

My boyfriend and I booked return flights from London to Borneo via Luala Lumpur (KL). For the outbound flight the layover in KL was 1 hour and 10 mins. Very short, I know, but I’ve read that airlines don’t (shouldn’t) sell tickets with short connecting times unless they know that the connection is possible. Plus, when booking 2 flights on the same ticket, I’ve never needed more than 30 mins or so to make the connection.

We arrived in KL to discover that, although both flights into and out of KL were sold as being at the same terminal, the terminal has 2 buildings which require a bus transfer. There is usually a faster train but that is currently suspended. We arrived at KL early and had 1 hour and 30 mins to make our connection. We rushed but by the time we walked through the terminal, got on the bus, had the bus transfer and went through long security queues on the other side, we missed our connection. The airline (Air Malaysia) didn’t send any staff to put us forward through security and the plane didn’t wait for us. Eleven people in total missed their flight.
The airline refused to put us on a later flight free of charge as the original flight had not been delayed. We had to pay for new flights from KL to Borneo. They blamed us for not allowing enough time for the transfer and the airport for security delays. I explained that had it not been for the bus transfer we would have made our connection but they don’t want to know.
The current position is this:

• The airline won’t refund our tickets from KL to Borneo.
• airport security won’t refund us as it’s the passengers responsibility to allow ample time for the connection (even though they only had 2 people at the security counters handling hundreds of passengers)
• the travel insurance won’t pay as we ‘’failed to arrive at the departure gate for our connecting flight’’.
• the travel agent (Expedia) is ignoring us

I find this grossly unfair. Yes, of course I am responsible for allowing enough time for transfers, but surely the airline should not sell impossible connections. They surely know that the transfer involves a bus journey (the train has been suspended for a while now) and that clearing security in KL takes a long time. When they unloaded the bags from our second flight (together with the bags of 9 other passengers) they knew that we were likely stuck behind the security gates but nobody came to try and get us to the front of the queue.

The biggest problem is that we are going back to London tomorrow and have 1 hour and 25 mins connection time in KL. I spent my entire holiday trying to get my flights changed so I don’t miss the connection again. The airline wanted £900 to change our flights even though I explained that missing our connection is as much (if not more) their fault than ours but they wouldn’t budge. The airline then stopped blaiming the airport security and said that the fault lies with Expedia as we had bought the tickets from them: We reached out to Expedia for their support but they refuse to respond to our email and keep asking that we call them - which we cannot as we are abroad so it would be v expensive.

If we miss the connection back home, which looks likely, I simply can’t afford a last minute flight from KL to London. I saved all year for this holiday and everything was carefully budgeted.

Has anything been in this situation (ie missed connections not due to flight delays) and how did you resolve it?

thank you

We also had a bad experience trying to get a refund from Expedia when a flight was cancelled we had booked through them.

Good Luck but if you don't get anywhere, just chalk it down to experience. I would always allow 2 hours for a connecting flight unless I knew the airport in question. I'm the sort of person who gets there at least 2 hours early for any flight though!

Glad you made the flight. If the airline are selling the same journey with the same connection time I would screenshot that and hopefully that gives you some leverage, as they must believe it's a reasonable connection.

What is it about Kuala Lumpur (joking). Our flight was delayed to Amsterdam and we had connections to UK flight. Luckily Amsterdam has these fast track lanes for people with connections so we rushed through and were literally the last to board the next flight....our luggage didn't make it home until the next day.

I've always been loathe to book with anyone other than the airline directly when booking connecting flights.

Were you flying to/from the Malaysia part of Borneo? I only ask as we were told last year to allow 3 hourS in KL airport for international connections due to immigration etc (we flew in from Thailand).

When you realised you may miss the flight on the way there, did you tell an official as sometimes they let you skip the queue?

I feel your pain. We nearly missed our connection from Mumbai to Goa recently as we had no idea we had to collect our luggage, check it in again, and then go through the excruciatingly long immigration process, I mean we knew we needed to go through immigration but my point is, despite it seemingly being computerised, each operative was so slow it was taking 20 minutes per person!

And on the way back through, whilst we didn't have to collect and check in our luggage this time, our Goa flight was delayed 90 minutes due to fog. This time Virgin Atlantic staff were there to meet us and ushered us through to the gate. This is what your airline should have done for you.

Very sorry you had this situation, air travel is stressful enough!!

Good luck, do let us know how you get on!

This is true although I will never forget the hilarity of this couple in an airline check in queue trying to cut to the front by shouting ‘we have a plane to catch!’. So did everyone else in the queue. The same flight 😂

I had a terrible experience at JFK on a connecting flight from Mexico. Immigration passport control just not moving in 1.5 hours. I repeatedly asked to be put at front of the line to avoid missing flight, I was denied twice but on my third request they allowed me and my family to the front. Even then we only just scraped on the flight with minutes to spare. It has put me off of connecting flights. If I hadn’t pushed repeatedly we’d have been In the same boat as you, with missed flights all the way back to London.

If this is a stand-alone flight booking, OP does not have a contract with Expedia. Expedia were acting as agents for the airline. Her contract is with Air Malaysia. That doesn't mean Expedia won't help, but OP has no legal rights against them in this situation.

Unfortunately this didn't work for us - we booked our entire holiday (MAN - JFK) through BA and had to change at LHR. They cancelled our connecting flight home and moved us to one that gave us 1 hour 10 mins to get through LHR instead of 3 hours. I'd challenged this and got told it was plenty of time and because we were staying with BA it would be no issue and they wouldn't change it to a later flight. Because it wasn't a domestic arrival we had to go through the entire security which took forever and DH had to run to the gate as I was in my 3rd trimester (and running days were far behind me at this point!) and we only JUST made it

I flew to Bangkok last year via Doha with Qatar and as I had a short turn around I was able to purchase an escorted service that took me off the flight, through security and put me in the dep. lounge. See if they can do that for you?

I’m afraid the US has never really done connecting flights/transits in the way a lot of the world does, and of course JFK can be a PITA for queues even on a normal day.

Booking a through ticket directly with the airline is the only way to ensure that they will put you on the next flight free of charge. It still makes it stressful (we had to run through two Paris airports as we had a shortish connection accords the city) but at least I knew that we had legal rights for them to get us home.

The airline can say what they want (and we all know they try it on) but that’s what they are obliged to do.

In our case we couldn’t book a longer connection without it costing lots more, but I still wouldn’t do it again as it was too stressful for a holiday.

I just took a flight at KLIA last Friday. Even when the train between the buildings was running, the queues to get through security checks and immigration were long, so I always get there early to account for delays. There is no sign of any work being done on the rail tracks and no info as to when the train will run again. It is a long walk to where you take the shuttle bus and from where the bus drops you to the next checkpoint. The KLIA building itself is under renovation and the signage is confusing. I go there about 3 times a year and this time, I got lost because the layout from the baggage belts to the exit changed and the signage pointed you to dead-ends.

In my experience under 2 hours is okay at Dubai airport or Doha airport but not at KL. I was there earlier this year it is absolutely chaotic and the bus transfers are unnecessary and timely, as well as that security queue just before boarding. Did you plead/beg (you have to in these situations when they just don’t listen or understand!) with the security officials that your flight is going and to allow you to skip the queue or were you too late by then?

On your way home, if you haven’t got seats already I would try to get front seats so you can be off the plane first, and just do a mad rush to get to the gate. Don’t stop for a toilet break etc - go before you leave the plane or when you are on your next flight. Its tricky but manageable. You just need to RUSH and maybe a light jog.

Hi OP, i had a big issue with Expedia and never managed to get anything resolved through them despite multiple complaints - eventually got the money refunded through my credit card company / bank - it was for a whole trip not part of it so may not work but worth a try! Also am going to KL and Borneo in the summer, was it great??

I am surprised to see that my previous post has been hidden given that it only set out some of the legalities. However, for a more complete answer...

If OP booked flights and some other element of her holiday (hotels, car hire, etc.) through Expedia, the package travel regulations apply and she may have a case against Expedia. However, if she only booked flights, Expedia was simply an agent and, contrary to at least one post up thread, she does not have any contract with them. In that situation, her contact is with Air Malaysia, not Expedia. That does not necessarily mean that Expedia won't help, but OP would not have any rights against them in this situation.

The usual advice is to allow at least two to three hours for connecting flights. It is not clear that Air Malaysia (or Expedia if this is covered by the package travel regulations) should have known that the connection was impossible, so I'm not sure they can be held responsible, but I may be wrong on this.

I had a connecting flight from Spain to London through Madrid. First time ever in that airport and OMG what a nightmare. It's HUGE!

I only made it through by frantically waving at a staff member managing the immigration queue with my boarding pass, indicating I had a connecting flight.

Luckily I speak Spanish.

Still had to RUN fast through thick crowds and only just made it. Never again.

We have booked connecting flights with Aer Lingus on one ticket, so EU to Dublin, then on to the USA. With less than a 2 hour stopover. Because this is one ticket for two flights we knew that if our Dublin arrival flight was delayed AL would put us on the next available US flight. But if we booked two separate AL flights that would not work. On the return from the US we don't mind what happens because we are happy enough to stay in Ireland should there be a problem.

Last Christmas we were going to the US, this time I booked our EU to Dublin on the Monday and our US flight separately for the Thursday as I wanted to take no risks with snow/ice/weather at a crucial time period.

Aer Lingus don't run Dublin airport. DAA do. And transfer is pretty quick in Dublin, particularly if you are not changing terminal.

Sorry op, I know my comment is no use to you.

I don't believe if you had booked directly with the airline they would not have been more helpful. Especially if you were booking a connecting flight. People have to be careful on these expensive journeys to always book a connecting flight where the airline is fully responsible. Not to book two separate flights. There is a difference and you need to read the small print. You mentioned some random thing you had read in your OP, that's no good to you for a particular airline on a particular flight.

If you book two separate flights that is not the same as purchasing connecting flights.

And avoid consolidators like Expedia. I don't believe you will get anywhere with them.

You were extremely lucky to make your connecting flight back. Anything could have gone wrong with such a short layover. (weather/war/birds/volcano/strike/change of flight times booked months in advance)

I’ve made that connection in 45 minutes a few times, although anything under an hour is quite stressful.

I’m not necessarily sure that the connection was impossible here, and it’s well documented across travel forums and books about how KL airport is laid out, and how stressful it is to navigate!

I hope you have some luck, though!

Even if you change terminal it only takes about 15/20 minutes internally to go between them.

Blimey, I'm surprised so many people are ok with such short transfer times. We fly a lot. (husband has BA gold for life👌🏻). We would never do such a tight transfer time. Short transfer times are great if everything goes smoothly but things go wrong all the time so why risk it. Even if you are on a busy route there is no guarantee the airline would have space on other flights.
OP, glad you made your flight.

@Gabitule did you make a tik Tok regarding this ?