Can we claim for missing our connecting flight due to bad weather?

Q I flew from New York to Manchester via Heathrow with British Airways. The flight from New York was late due to bad weather (strong winds) at Heathrow and consequent air traffic control restrictions. We missed our connection and the next flight was offered nine hours later. We declined and went by train instead. Can we claim?

Michael F

A Missed connections are everyday events for BA at Heathrow, due to the extreme congestion at the airport. The standard procedure is to re-book affected passengers on the next available flight. The key word there is “available”. British Airways has eight flights a day from Heathrow to Manchester, with a maximum gap between them of three hours 20 minutes. But besides the “normal” booked passengers, at times of disruption they fill up quickly with travellers who have missed earlier connections. So while waiting at Heathrow, you would have seen three or four flights depart to Manchester without you.

While BA is obliged to provide you with meals and refreshments during your wait, I can understand why you would want to leave: trains from London Euston to Manchester take just over two hours.

Whether you can claim your rail fare back from the airline rather depends on what was discussed at the time. If you expressed your concern with British Airways about the long wait, I am surprised that you were not offered surface transport (either direct bus from the airport or train from Euston) at the airline’s expense.

If you simply decided to abandon your journey, then technically BA might actually be able to claim from you – because you did not complete your journey as planned, and the fare for the trip actually undertaken could well be higher than what you paid. It is highly improbable that the airline would do this, and the possibility should not deter you from claiming. But I fear you will not necessarily be in a strong position to reclaim the costs of your journey.

In future, you might want to reduce the risk of misconnection by taking one of the non-stop links between and New York, on Thomas Cook, United and Virgin Atlantic.

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