Travel question: Can I claim my hotel costs after a scheduled delay?

Q I’ve just been notified that a flight I’ve booked back to Birmingham in August has been put back by just over an hour. It will make it touch-and-go about whether I can catch the last train or I will have to book a hotel. If it is the latter, will the airline pay – or will I just have to accept it?

Name withheld

A Airlines always retain the option to adjust timings to suit them. This summer many schedule changes are taking place, largely as a result of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max after two tragic crashes. With hundreds of planes taken out of the system, some airlines are having to shuffle their fleets and stretch their resources to cope.

Naturally, you will want to do all you can to catch your train. Try to improve the odds by contacting the airline and explaining that because of the carrier’s decision, you need a seat close to the door, and you don’t want to pay for it. (On the day of the flight, I hope Murphy’s Law does not intervene, in the shape of a bus transfer to the terminal – meaning that any advantage will be erased.)

Equally importantly, if you can manage with cabin baggage only, so much the better. But if the gods are against you and you miss the train, then you will be out of pocket because of the hotel bill.

Airlines typically deflect claims for “consequential loss”: financial damage the passenger suffers as a result of the airline not delivering quite what was anticipated. The usual cause of the loss is a delayed flight, when travellers lose the value of pre-booked arrangements such as a hotel stay or car rental – or, at the extreme end, miss out entirely on a cruise. But as in your case, pre-departure schedule changes can potentially also cause financial damage.

The first step is to ask the airline politely to cover the cost of the night in a hotel. Mention the Montreal Convention, which makes various stipulations about airlines’ liabilities. But I imagine that your request will be rejected.

Suppose you then choose to become legalistic, and go through Money Claim Online. The airline is likely to say something to the effect of: “With all the disruption that can happen in summer, it is unreasonable to assume that all flights will be on time. So a passenger’s subsequent schedule should be able to tolerate a delay of an hour or two.”

A judge may well agree. So instead, I suggest you evaluate what options there are for public transport from the airport besides the last train – and consider asking other people on the same flight, or in the airport taxi queue, if they would consider splitting the cost of a cab to somewhere near your home.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder