BA switched airport and flight time by 5 hours – options please

[sm]

BA emailed me to tell me my 2-4-1 LGW return flights to Las Vegas for July 2022 are now from LHR. The outbound flight is 5 hours later arriving at 7pm so not ideal since I’ve lost so much time (only have 2 nights in Vegas before flying to Honolulu 🙏 ). Do I have to accept the change or are there other options? Thanks in advance.

[ChrisC]

Yes there are other options than just accepting the rebooking.

You can have a full refund if you want.

If you want to keep the trip then look for other routings that get you to LAS closer to your original arrival time (or at least earlier than 7pm) even if this means departing LHR much earlier and with a connection in the US.

I’m not sure what alternatives MBM will offer for avios rebookings you but try that first as you never know what it will show other than the direct flight.

If MMB isn;t showing anything then check other routings before contacting BA – much easier to say “I’d like these flights please …” than for the agent to suggest things to you.

[sm]

Thanks chrisc. Don’t want to cancel for refund.

Would BA route me on another carrier that offered direct flights to my destination?

[ChrisC]

The only airline I can think of that flies LHR-LAS (RIP Harry Reid) direct is VS and I don’t know their schedule but it would be very unlikely BA would book you on VS several months in advance.

[Matt]

You don’t need to choose soon – you can wait til a month or two beforehand,and schedules may change again.

You’re unlikely to get a direct flight unless you go for the BA flight a day earlier, but there are plenty of other options – BA to LAX or nearby then an AA (or AS) connection would probably be the best, but you’ll need to look at what timings work for you. As long as there are enough seats available in the cabin then BA should change you to those flights.

[sm]

Thanks both of you