British Airways strike: Can I claim compensation for the extra night I was forced to spend in a hotel?

Q I had my flight back to Heathrow from Zurich on 9 September cancelled because of the British Airways pilots’ strike. The only option BA gave me was a flight on 10 September to London City, meaning a trek across London to get back to my car and the cost of an extra night in Switzerland. Any chance of compensation?

Steve G

A You were among almost 200,000 passengers whose flights were grounded by the 48-hour strike by pilots at British Airways earlier this month. But no traveller should be out of pocket as a result of the industrial action.

When BA told you your flight was cancelled, it was required to offer you the closest alternative flight. The obvious choice was a seat on one of Swiss’s seven daily departures on the Zurich-Heathrow route. Even if there were no economy seats, British Airways should have bought you a business-class ticket.

Unfortunately, BA chose not to include this obligation in the options it gave you. Instead, it offered you the choice between a refund or rebooking on another British Airways flight.

When you agreed to travel the following day, the airline should then have arranged and paid for a hotel for you in Zurich. BA should also have assured you that it would pay for the appropriate meals you were obliged to take in Switzerland as a result of the delayed return, and that it would pay for the ground transportation from London City airport to Heathrow to retrieve your car.

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Q I am writing to you from an airport hotel in Moscow. My husband and I, plus a fellow passenger and friend, find ourselves here after a delayed Aeroflot flight from Heathrow. We are trying to reach the Mongolian capital, Ulaan Baatar, with a 55-minute transit time.

On arrival at Moscow we were told the gate for that flight had shut. We were issued with new boarding passes for tomorrow and told our luggage would be put on board the flight with us. We rearranged with our tour company G Adventures to be picked up a day later.

As we were getting the hotel sorted out, we happened to hear an announcement that the flight we should have caught had been delayed and would be leaving in 40 minutes. We made our way to the Aeroflot desk but were told we could not fly. This is infuriating and we would like some compensation. Can you advise on our rights?

Heather J

A Sorry it went wrong. While I am a fan of Aeroflot and its Moscow operation, I think 55 minutes was tight for a connection (the absolute minimum is 50 minutes).

If you booked your flights as part of a package (ie G Adventures organised them) then the company is responsible for getting you to your destination, and should automatically refund the portion of your trip that you have lost. If you booked your flights separately you have no such entitlement.

In terms of cash compensation under the European rules, if the airline was responsible for the delay leaving London, then it owes you €600 (£532) each.

The regulations stipulate a payout if you arrive at your final destination three hours or more late, so long as the cause was a problem with a flight leaving a European Union airport. The regulations do not apply to subsequent delays that take place from non-EU airports on non-EU airlines such as Aeroflot.

You could seek recompense for the direct financial impact of the Aeroflot disarray under the Montreal Convention, but it could be a slow and tricky process.

I hope you are able to get something from your unexpected pause in Moscow; I know there is a mechanism for transit passengers in some circumstances to get a pass to leave the airport, but it is not something I have personally experienced. Do let me know if it works.

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Q I have a friend who is flying on Air France to Paris from Heathrow Terminal 4 at 6.15am on a Wednesday. He must check in two hours before the flight. He lives in central London but is not well off. He knows there is a night bus from central London to Terminal 2 and 3. But how can he get to Terminal 4 at this unearthly hour? I would so welcome your thoughts. Should he go to Heathrow the night before and just stay in Terminal 4?

Name withheld

A Heathrow Terminal 4 is set inconveniently apart from the rest of the airport, with relatively poor transport links. While the excellent N9 night bus connects central London with the other terminals every 20 minutes, reaching Terminal 4 requires a change of bus.

Happily, I can help your friend with swift and cheap transport by rail so that he does not need to mess around with buses or try to snooze on a chair all night.

Whoever told him he must check in two hours ahead was wrong. The Air France deadline is actually 40 minutes before departure, ie 5.35am.

From London Paddington, the 4.42am arrives at Heathrow Terminal 4 at 5.15am. With a short and very straightforward journey, mostly by lift, from the terminal’s railway station to the check-in, he will be at the Air France desk at 5.20am.

In case something goes wrong with the first train, there is even a departure from Paddington after that which will get him to the terminal on time. It leaves at 4.57am and gets in at 5.26am. Again, he will be able to reach check-in in time for his flight – though with only minutes to spare, I suggest he is prepared politely to queue-jump to ensure he makes the flight.

The rail fare, by the way, is £10.50 – less than half the cost of the Heathrow Express, which does not start running until 5.10am and does not serve Terminal 4. And holders of the 60-plus Oyster, which gives free public transport within Greater London to older citizens, can travel for nothing.

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