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Flights - Cancellations, Schedule Changes etc.


john luke

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Whilst there were flight cancellations and Schedule Changes pre Covid and it would be dishonest to pretend these did not happen, since Covid, their numbers seem to have increased exponentially.  There are of course degrees; at worst airlines are advertising and selling flights that they never had any intention to fly and then cancelling these, having held onto customers money for several months.  An intermediate level is where they keep the advertised flights running but alter to varying degrees the times and connection times of said flights.  Finally the lease impactive where flight times are altered by only a matter of minutes.

British Airways late last year offered in a sale direct flights from LHR to BKK at very competitive prices, accepted booking, prior to cancelling all direct flights to BKK for some time.  My question here is did they ever intend to complete those flights?

When I flew out to Thailand in late October last year, I booked a flight with KLM via Amsterdam.  There was a short transit time in Amsterdam; almost within days of making the booking the schedule changed extending significantly the transit time in Amsterdam.

I also had a recent experience with Emirates Air; having booked a flight on an A380 from BKK to MAN, via DXB.  The overall flight time was around 16 hours, transit time was less than 2 hours.  Eleven or so days after booking Emirates cancelled the BKK DXB flight and moved me onto a much older 777, with a much less satisfactory seating arrangement.  Fortunately after contacting the airline, they were able and did change it to a flight on an A380 with times and transfer times, actually slightly better than my original booking.  The flight was one day earlier than I had originally booked but that was not an issue for me.

From memory there is a recent thread on here about Finnair changing their flight schedules.

The other point and perhaps someone could correct me if I am wrong is that when Emirates (and presumably the other Middle East airlines) the customer is not eligible for compensation for delays, schedule changes and cancellations on flights that start outside the EU or UK even if flying into UK or an EU country.  The compensation scheme, even when it does apply does not cover changes made and notified to the customer more than 14 days prior to the flight.

 

 

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In respects to BA they do operate a non stop flight to Thailand presently and sometimes twice a day using 777 and 787 equipment, it just happens to be an all cargo flight.

I think when the original passenger bookings were made they were offered in all good faith with an expectancy that Thailand was opening up. That didn't quite happen and a late decision was made to revert only to a cargo schedule.

I do remember when Thai authorities originally allowed certain airlines to operate into Thailand (2020) BA was not an authorised operator which surprised me, maybe politics and aviation decisions to operate proved difficult with passengers in mind.

Usually when there is a sudden demand for flights to operate, to cope with expected high volumes of passengers, airlines can push new schedules but as that demand is not there I can still October as the earliest that BA will offer seats to customers.

Until then they must be making good profits from a cargo strategy.

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I checked the websites of my regular carriers from the west coast of North America - EVA Air and Cathay Pacific - and both state that their transit airports of Taipei and Hong Kong respectively are still closed to all transit passengers.

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Maybe I missed it and apologies if it has been mentioned somewhere on the forum but I notice Scoot seem to have stopped flying out of UK from end of Feb.  Sure I checked flights for the summer recently and got prices but from now right through to August I see no flights. 

Their website is at odds with the schedule as they have announced VTL flights in their small print but don't see any flights/prices.

Sad as they were an option out of UK.

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I was looking for suitable departure times ex Heathrow and booked Austrian departing at 19.30 arriving BKK at 14.20 next day. Shock, horror, it has a transfer time at Vienna of 40 minutes. Telephoned Austrian UK office and was told no problem, only need 30 minutes.

At least I'm sitting up the pointy end in row 3.

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20 minutes ago, bob lt said:

I was looking for suitable departure times ex Heathrow and booked Austrian departing at 19.30 arriving BKK at 14.20 next day. Shock, horror, it has a transfer time at Vienna of 40 minutes. Telephoned Austrian UK office and was told no problem, only need 30 minutes.

At least I'm sitting up the pointy end in row 3.

Flew into and out of vienna last year was surprised how small it is,no problem as long you head the right way  🍺😜

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On 3/5/2022 at 3:46 AM, john luke said:

From memory there is a recent thread on here about Finnair changing their flight schedules.

I'd been expecting it but my Finnair flight for the end of April has now disappeared from their schedule.  I've just moved it back by a week as they currently have daily flights in May planned, but who knows when things will really return to normal.

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At least where I’m at, airfares look to be going very high, and that was BEFORE the big spikes in oil/gasoline yesterday. 

Hey, they’re trying to turn a profit too, don’t blame them, but I think airfare is the one thing that has stayed the same or even dropped for us, over the years. Would really suck if it shoots way up……

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I've just grabbed LHR - VIE - BKK - MUC - LHR in Business Class for £1,400. it is a mix and match, Austrian, Lufthansa and Swiss are all possible. Admitted the short leg is A320 with middle seat blocked, no lay flat here.

Not comparable to the M.E. airlines but they were in the region of £2,500.

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14 minutes ago, Bazle said:

That was my reaction until I realised what the prices are likely to be!

And I think you were still optimistic, fuel prices are going up due to the situation in Ukraine, so the prices will be even higher than you thought.

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17 hours ago, Krapow said:

EVA Air are scheduled to fly to Bangkok from London again from June.

That's good as they cancelled our April Flights, so we are flying Qatar Air. Wife is booked for July and I am for August............do like a Direct flight. 

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1 hour ago, Freee!! said:

And I think you were still optimistic, fuel prices are going up due to the situation in Ukraine, so the prices will be even higher than you thought.

No, I was taking that into account.

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5 hours ago, bob lt said:

I've just grabbed LHR - VIE - BKK - MUC - LHR in Business Class for £1,400. it is a mix and match, Austrian, Lufthansa and Swiss are all possible. Admitted the short leg is A320 with middle seat blocked, no lay flat here.

Not comparable to the M.E. airlines but they were in the region of £2,500.

I've been looking at that for the last week or so, but haven't gone through with it yet.

Today, I found a potential problem if you are travelling through Munich and expecting to use the Lounge there. Remember to carry an FFP2 mask.

Munich lounge.jpg

 

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4 minutes ago, Bazle said:

I've been looking at that for the last week or so, but haven't gone through with it yet.

Today, I found a potential problem if you are travelling through Munich and expecting to use the Lounge there. Remember to carry an FFP2 mask.

Munich lounge.jpg

 

That mandatory mask isn't the only snag, to access that lounge, you will need to pass passport control and again to board your plane.

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5 minutes ago, Freee!! said:

That mandatory mask isn't the only snag, to access that lounge, you will need to pass passport control and again to board your plane.

Thanks. Do you know if the same applies in Zurich and Vienna, the other two options?

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13 minutes ago, Bazle said:

Thanks. Do you know if the same applies in Zurich and Vienna, the other two options?

I wouldn't know, I just noticed one key word: "Schengen", in combination with the knowledge that both BKK and LHR are outside of Schengen, that means passport control.

Edited by Freee!!
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With rising fuel costs it would be nice to lock in a flight before prices go up, but then again what else might come up ? Another covid variation etc - whatever.

Buying a ticket with travel date changes at no cost might be the best option atm.

Still trips are very possible.

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My long reply seems to have disappeared, not sure if censored so here is short version. Hope this is acceptable.

Schengen or not, MUC, VIE and ZRH.

2 x LH Non Schengen lounges at Munich, Vienna also has a Non Schengen lounge, Zurich has 2.

Information on Zurich was more difficult to find but I'm sure transit non S to non S is ok for most passport holders.

Have to be prepared with FFP2 masks as they must be worn on the planes also

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