Travel question: Now my flight is delayed, can I still catch the show?

Q This is not a major problem in the scheme of things but important to me. My niece has been invited to perform at the Edinburgh Festival at 1.15pm on 15 August and was desperate that I should be there. I run a B&B in Devon so August is manic but I worked out a way I could get there and back with minimum disruption. Flight up, see the show, overnight coach back. In November I booked Flybe flight 210 Exeter-Edinburgh, due to arrive at 11.45am – perfect. In March the arrival time was changed to 11.55am. I could still make it.

Now the flight time has changed again to a 12.40pm arrival. Obviously I won’t be able to make the show. Flybe has offered to change the flight without charge to another on same route within seven days either way of the original. But this is totally no use to me. Flybe says it can’t offer anything else, in terms of a refund or credit voucher or flight in July or September as the time change was less than two hours. I appreciate that isn’t much but it’s made my trip pointless. Do I just have to grin and bear the loss or is there anyone else at Flybe who could overrule what the computer says I’m allowed?

June H

A Congratulations to your niece, and to you for dedication to the cultural cause – especially involving an overnight bus from Edinburgh to Exeter. But naturally your main concern is the northbound flight. Thousands, perhaps millions, of British airline passengers will find that their flight timings have been changed this summer. It happens frequently as carriers tweak their fleet and crews to cover all the scheduled flights. While Flybe has faced more than the usual challenges this summer, you have been doubly unfortunate to incur two changes. Yet I would certainly not give up at this stage.

Edinburgh airport is only six miles west of the city centre. The tram or bus, in my experience, takes around half-an-hour. But a taxi, even with the streets full of festival revellers, should be only 20 minutes or so – and of course can take you straight to your venue. So talk to the ground staff or cabin crew at Exeter airport about your timing issue, so they can ensure that you are seated right by the aircraft door to make a swift getaway. Assuming the flight is on time, it should take no more than seven minutes to walk from the usual Flybe arrival stands to the taxi queue (of course, you will take hand-luggage only). So I would be confident of arriving a few minutes before curtain up.

If there is a significant delay leaving Exeter, then you might decide to abandon the journey – but I am afraid that the chance of any recompense is unlikely unless the plane is very late. I shall keep my fingers crossed on 15 August.