Booking flight with tight LHR connection – what will happen if missed?
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I’m flying BCN to GLA. BA are selling a ticket via LHR, with a 1hr connection time. There seems a decent chance of missing this, even if the flight is on time.
If I do miss the connection, there are more BA flights to GLA or EDI that day which would work ok. Presumably BA would put me on one, space allowing? Would I also be eligible compensation for the delay, even if the flight is on time but it’s security etc that means I miss the flight? We’ll go through the airport as fast as possible (with disability assistance), but not sure what happens if the flight to LHR is on time but our arrival in GLA is delayed.
If you are on one PNR BCN to GLA via LHR then for compensation for delay you need to arrive in GLA more than 3 hours later than the originally scheduled flight.
If you miss the connection due to issues caused by BA then BA should reroute you and pay compensation eg your BCN-LHR flight is late meaning you are below MCT to catch the LHR-GLA flight (technically that would be denied boarding rather than delay). It is more complicated if the delay is caused by something out of BA’s control. Even though BA is obliged to provide disability assistance it is actually subcontracted to Heathrow airport so technically BA could say that it didn’t cause you to miss your connecting flight if for instance the assistance wasn’t at the gate to meet you. I am pretty sure BA would still re-route you to either GLA or EDI but I’m not so sure they’d pay compensation.
Personally I would never book a connecting flight with a 1hour connection at LHR even if BA is offering it and you don’t change terminals. I would always leave a longer gap. I definitely wouldn’t book it in the hope that I might get compensation.
Thanks for the reply!
As @AJA says, 1hr isn’t a lot of time at T5. You’d have to do immigration?? And collect bags? Not sure. And DA isn’t always on time.
I’d be looking at when the next LHR-GLA flight is if you missed your connection – then at least you know the likely delay.
If BA wasn’t confident that the vast majority of people the vast majority of the time wouldn’t make this connection they would stop offering it because the cost in terms of complaints and compensa and right to care would be too much.
And then they’d get complaints that “the lovely one hour connection isn’t offered anymore”
Do things go wrong? Then yes they do but it’s not on a daily basis or even as often as some would make it out to be.
If you don’t feel comfortable with that 1 hour connection and this is before booking then choose an option that gives you longer (though you may have to call) to book this.
If this is after booking then BA will happily rebook you but on payment of the change fee and fare difference.
Why not just use a direct flight? Easyjet offer Barcelona to Glasgow. A lot less hassle than Heathrow connections. Same short haul aircraft family etc.
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