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Gotta love IB. Just checked in for my MAN-MAD tomorrow and got an aggressive message on screen telling me that I must check my hand baggage as my fare class condemns me to board last. I clicked to accept this – we’re checking a bag anyway so not fussed about another one – then my BP came up declaring me Emerald Grupo 0.
OH has no boarding group at all, so maybe I’ll have to check him in as well.
Knowing Spanish bureaucracy as I do, it wouldn’t surprise me if they refuse my cabin bag at check in because I’m only entitled to one!
Sounds about right. Next you will be sent a mail asking if you want to postpone the flight for €71 (or some other random number as a percentage of the ticket price). You will now have the opportunity to confirm within 10min. before some other eager Spaniard beats you to it, since everyone in your fare class recieved it. A confirmation mail will be sent you will get a voucher “within an estimated period of 5 days”. Then you will never ever hear back from them again.
And another pet peeve: what is the point of introducing pre-boarding, if you are going to give it away to a significant amount of people? Isn’t that just a reshuffle of the existing numbers? Spanish musical chairs. I always thought it was rather weird that Ostrich was given grupo 1. The equivalent to OWS is zone 2 on AFKL, which is technically the 3rd group after pre-boarding…
I have to say I’ve found them excellent at issuing vouchers and refunds for the numerous changes and cancellations I’ve had over the past year. In fact, I’m quite happy to book cheap, non-refundable fares in the knowledge that IB will probably cancel the flight or move it by 8 hours, thereby getting me off the hook if I decide I don’t actually want to take it.
I do need to take tomorrow’s flight, however, as I’m looking forward to 4 nights at the IC Madrid with lounge access! Plus we are booked to visit the Prado on Friday afternoon.
It’ll be interesting to see how boarding on IB compares to BA, hopefully it’ll be a tad more civilised than the BA Gate 142/3 corridor experience!
Ha – I don’t have the email trying to bribe me to move flights, but I do have one “inviting” me to check my cabin bag. I guess the system can’t cope when fare class clashes with status!
Does IB have a dedicated check in area at MAN for their one flight per day?
Hi everyone, KLM cancelled my flight tomorrow morning LBA-AMS-OTP. The earliest they could offer me arrived on 2/8. I was off to see family so this didn’t work. Despite the fact the flight was upgraded into biz they refused to book me into biz claiming the ticket was economy and upgraded so can’t be booked into biz. There were no economy tickets available. I ended up booking biz with BA from London. What compensation can I should I claim – I haven’t asked for a refund.
Good afternoon from Intercontinental The Wharf. Washington DC. Welcome was 10/10 – literally don’t think they could have done more for us. Was a points booking, so initially we were just booked into a standard room. Upgraded to the Knot Suite which is 1050 sq/ft – very nice two bed suite with two bathrooms and a lounge. The main bathroom with the wow factor of huge bath and shower. As Diamond, you get breakfast for two but they also kindly offered the same for both kids. $40 credit x 4 to cover breakfast each day 🙂 And lastly, which I’ve never seen before, but what a lovely touch, just as we were handed our room key, they wheeled out a huge trolley of TY toys for the kids to pick one out each. Just lovely!
@davedent. Compensation will depend on the reason for the cancellation. If it was due to the technical issues from earlier today then you’re unlikely to be eligible for anything. If you’ve had to book a hotel for tonight, you can claim for that plus any meals you have.
When you say your flight was upgraded, exactly how did this happen?
Hi everyone, KLM cancelled my flight tomorrow morning LBA-AMS-OTP. The earliest they could offer me arrived on 2/8. I was off to see family so this didn’t work. Despite the fact the flight was upgraded into biz they refused to book me into biz claiming the ticket was economy and upgraded so can’t be booked into biz. There were no economy tickets available. I ended up booking biz with BA from London. What compensation can I should I claim – I haven’t asked for a refund.
AFKL shorthaul upgrades are flight specific. Consider it a seat reservation. You don’t get more XP’s on a shorthaul upgrade either. (The median intra-Europe J ticket, connecting or otherwise, has been around £600 some time now. Upgrades are targeted, but start at around £70 for Ulti & Plats. Cheaper for Silvers have you believe it…)
You’ll get the €250 cancellation, I think they won’t honour the full J fare but will probably proactively offer you the cost of the Y flight you had originally booked plus EBC upgrade on top. Or they will offer a percentage of your BA flight.
Compensation will depend on the reason for the cancellation. If it was due to the technical issues from earlier today then you’re unlikely to be eligible for anything. If you’ve had to book a hotel for tonight, you can claim for that plus any meals you have.
When you say your flight was upgraded, exactly how did this happen?
They are very lenient on earlier technical issues, or earlier delays causing repositioning issues actually. Never been denied on those basis. ATC-strikes & weather-related airport cease-of-operations are a hard no.
@NorthernLass sounds like a great way to spend a long weekend! You might bump into Ostrich on the way to lunch at Fass (beer hall in the German neighborhood near Nuevos Ministerios).I meant the issue affecting LHR which apparently has impacted other airports, though I don’t know if this included LBA.
Thanks for all the advice can anyone see the reason for the cancellation of the KLM1018 from LBA tomorrow. I upgraded the flight at checkin for £60 – I’m Platinum.
Klm rebooked me on a flight on 4/8 which arrives 12 hours before my return flight.
There’s me thinking KLM would be a valid alternative to BA – I won’t say where I would like to shove one of their gin filled pottery houses.Seems to have nothing to do with KLC. The KLC flight from LCY just returned. Probably ATC had delayed them due to a backlog of flights coming in to LBA now. There is a night flight ban at Schiphol past 23:00.
You could ask on the flight delays thread on Flyertalk, they are very good on details.
My thoughts are that if you paid for an upgrade, that’s the cabin you were entitled to be re-routed in and you may well have a claim against KLM for your replacement flight.
I meant the issue affecting LHR which apparently has impacted other airports, though I don’t know if this included LBA.
It was a national outage even if quickly resolved.
Thanks for all the advice can anyone see the reason for the cancellation of the KLM1018 from LBA tomorrow. I upgraded the flight at checkin for £60 – I’m Platinum.
Klm rebooked me on a flight on 4/8 which arrives 12 hours before my return flight.
There’s me thinking KLM would be a valid alternative to BA – I won’t say where I would like to shove one of their gin filled pottery houses.Given that’s a schedule 06.20 departure it’s likely been cancelled because the inbound didn’t operate
I think you are being unfair to KLM. They don’t cancel flights for fun.
You could ask on the flight delays thread on Flyertalk, they are very good on details.
My thoughts are that if you paid for an upgrade, that’s the cabin you were entitled to be re-routed in and you may well have a claim against KLM for your replacement flight.
Nope. T&C’s clearly state otherwise.
5.3. The Upgrade Option is associated with a KL flight number and must be used on the day of departure for the flight for which the customer has purchased an Upgrade Option.
5.4. The Upgrade Option purchased by a customer cannot be modified or exchanged except in the cases outlined in Article 5-B “Refund Conditions”.
(5-B) The Upgrade Option purchased was not awarded by KLM. In this case, the Customer will be returned to their original class and the price of the Upgrade Option will be refunded. The Customer will not be entitled to the compensation provided for in European Regulation 261/2004.
https://www.klm.es/en/information/legal/extra-options/upgrades
But again on the positive side they are proactive & very, very fair in terms of compensation requests.
You could ask on the flight delays thread on Flyertalk, they are very good on details.
My thoughts are that if you paid for an upgrade, that’s the cabin you were entitled to be re-routed in and you may well have a claim against KLM for your replacement flight.
(5-B) The Upgrade Option purchased was not awarded by KLM. In this case, the Customer will be returned to their original class and the price of the Upgrade Option will be refunded. The Customer will not be entitled to the compensation provided for in European Regulation 261/2004.
I guess it must be as their lawyers will have been all over this but how is this (5-B) legal or not unlawful?
You could ask on the flight delays thread on Flyertalk, they are very good on details.
My thoughts are that if you paid for an upgrade, that’s the cabin you were entitled to be re-routed in and you may well have a claim against KLM for your replacement flight.
(5-B) The Upgrade Option purchased was not awarded by KLM. In this case, the Customer will be returned to their original class and the price of the Upgrade Option will be refunded. The Customer will not be entitled to the compensation provided for in European Regulation 261/2004.
I guess it must be as their lawyers will have been all over this but how is this (5-B) legal or not unlawful?
Because these cheap last-minute upgrade offers are only valid for one specific flight on one specific date, and are not applicable on the ticket for rebooking purposes (one could also be refunded due to overbookings or equipment changes).
There is no “upgraded ticket”, just a glorified seat reservation. Therefore the terms of involuntary downgrade as regards 261 don’t apply.
@LittleNick – the clause probably isn’t unlawful as while an airline can’t deprive a passenger of EC261 rights by any contract terms, the passenger didn’t hold a confirmed reservation in business so the question of downgrading, compensation therefor or rerouting rights in the higher class doesn’t arise.
Interesting. Statute ie EU 261 would definitely override those contract-level terms and conditions.
I think it comes down to when the passenger purchased their upgrade, did they receive a confirmation and of what, exactly.
If the confirmation said we confirm your upgrade then I’d expect to be rerouted in the same class as confirmed.ie Business. Keep everything in case they fudge their systems. On your side is their own ts and cs say you can’t withdraw on your side once paid, as well.
Depends how weaselly the airline has managed to be. Which makes it for me, also a trust issue for the future.
And I’d certainly not be rolling over and taking less than my out of pocket costs for what I was entitled to, whether that was Business or whether they’d weaselled enough for me to get stuck with Economy. So nope no % offers and no offers based on what I paid or any form of just refund as I don’t have to accept them.
Obvs I’m going to be nice whilst dealing with them, but that’s what I’ll view as acceptable
@davefl, what on earth is “Grindsmith”, some sort of hook-up service based in a stationery outlet 😱
Street food, lol, we don’t exactly have the climate to have built up a huge demand for such a thing! “Great Northern Market” puts me in mind of black pudding, old ladies’ smalls and pick n mix of a dubious vintage 😂
You’ve just transported me back nearly 60 years – I really miss Stockport market and getting the most lush custard slices from the bakery outside!🍰
@JakeWS from £55 but increases depending on day/time. https://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/at-the-airport/airport-lounges/1903-lounge/
Personally I think it’s rubbish and at T2 in particular the queuing system to get to the desk to actually get entry irritates me. I’d rather just get a coffee and sit in a quiet area of T2.
For those of us yet to experience this. What is the queuing system?
Due to fly Aer Lingus business, which I believe gives access to the 1903 lounge.For those of us yet to experience this. What is the queuing system?
Due to fly Aer Lingus business, which I believe gives access to the 1903 lounge.The entry point for the Escape and 1903 is upstairs, past the toilets and down a long corridor. There’s one (usually very long) queue for both lounges and 2 or 3 dragons at the desk handling it. If you try and jump the queue past the long Escape line you get told off and have to rejoin the back of the queue. Occasionally one of the dragons will shout for 1903 customers to come forward. Then you get given a ticket to go and enter the 1903.
Yes you’ll get 1903 access with EI.
I’ve never even bothered with the Escape at T2. Been in the Aspire a couple of times but it’s not really worth bothering unless you have at least a couple of hours to kill.
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