We booked a holiday with Benz Travel to Langkawi in Malaysia booking number 127278. On the 08/05/2009 we departed from Manchester airport on British airways flight BA1407 at 19:25 bound for London Heathrow. At check in in Manchester we asked if we could check our baggage right through to Langkawi in Malaysia and were told by two different representatives from British Airways that we could not and we would have to pick up or bags in London. We arrived in London Terminal 5 at 20:30 and had to go through security and wait at the carousel for our luggage we then had to haul our luggage on to a train to take us to terminal 3 the train sat in the station for between 10-15mins before moving. By the time we got to terminal 3 and reached the check in desk it was closed as they close the desk 1hr before the flight. We were told at the Malaysian Airways information desk that you should allow at least 3hrs to pick up luggage and transfer from terminal 5 to terminal 3. The next fight left at 12 noon on the 09/05/2009 we had to pay £200 to change our flights and then a further £100 for a room for the night and £16 for transfers to and from the hotel. We have also missed a nights stay in Langkawi. When I spoke to Ronald at Benz Travel Ltd. the agent responsible for booking the holiday he tried to imply that it was our fault for not moving fast enough. Anyway the upshot of this is that I am £316 out of pocket and missed some of my holiday because we were not allowed enough time to transfer at London Heathrow. I feel that this is the agents fault for not allowing enough time for the transfer at Heathrow.
I have sent several e-mails and made lots of calls to the agent Who at first tried to ignore me then told me I had not been in touch with them. I found this hard to believe as I even had a reply to one of the e-mails. They then after about 6 weeks told me they are not prepared to do anything to compensate me in this e-mail:
**Edit to remove copied email. Please can you summarise in your own words their reply, as many emails have a stiplulation attached to them that they are intended for the recipient and not to be re-produced - thanks. Admin**
Would'nt care to comment on the transit time the booker allowed you, it a lot shorter than I would have been happier with, but I can't understand why your connecting flight was with B.A. Malaysian is in the Star Alliance, and if you had been booked with B.Midland down to Heathrow, your luggage would have got right through from Manchester to Australia and you would have probabley made your connection Alan
I can only say that we have had many discussions here on HT about transfers and luggage. The consensus would seem to be that because you need to come out and then back in the times people allow are to short in many cases. Never mind what agents say ( they always quote sunny side figures) you only need a security alert or a conveyor breakdown and the whole thing goes to pot.
With regards contact I, and others always advise that you write and post recorded delivery ( signed for service) which enables you to track and proves it got there. Email not received is an excuse they all trot out at times. Some are genuine but most are not.
Give it a couple of days on here and hopefully some of our members may be able to help.
fwh
With regards contact I, and others always advise that you write and post recorded delivery ( signed for service) which enables you to track and proves it got there. Email not received is an excuse they all trot out at times. Some are genuine but most are not.
Give it a couple of days on here and hopefully some of our members may be able to help.
fwh
I've no experience of Heathrow (and intend to keep it that way!). Try to find an official standard for transfer times from either BA, Malaysian or BAA (and better still, the same standard from more than 1 of them). It's probably buried in their websites somewhere.
If this turns out to be significantly less than what Benz Travel booked you then read this
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38337.html - note the emphasis on suppliers of a service exercising reasonable care and skill - an airline reservations company ought to know transfer times so it would be a skill of their business. If they have caused this problem then you have grounds to start legal action against them. But if they allowed the official time and something went wrong on the day then you may struggle.
If this turns out to be significantly less than what Benz Travel booked you then read this
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38337.html - note the emphasis on suppliers of a service exercising reasonable care and skill - an airline reservations company ought to know transfer times so it would be a skill of their business. If they have caused this problem then you have grounds to start legal action against them. But if they allowed the official time and something went wrong on the day then you may struggle.
My main puzzlement is why on earth they booked you on a BA flight where you would have to collect luggage at H/row when it could all have been avoided by putting you onto a British Midland flight. The price difference would likely have been minimal. I've not a very high opinion of some of the people working in the travel sector, but surely they must all be aware of the various airline alliances, and attempt to book you on flights among partner airlines to avoid lugging cases between terminals. Alan
Malaysia aren't in Star Alliance they are part of the Flying Blue Alliance with Air France and KLM
Judith
Judith
Sorry I gave some misleading info. though I was correct about them not being members of Star Alliance, Air Malaysia do code share with BMI so Alan was right in saying that flights with BMI would have been the correct ones to use..
Judith
Judith
Last year I was flying out to Miami to join a cruise. BMI flying from Leeds to Heathrow, They would not check my bags through nor honour the Transatlantic baggage allowance. I had the time as I always either fly down or out a day ahead or travel morning for an afternoon flight. My ongoing flight was with BA.
All my flights were booked through the Cruise Company. BMI said that due to the way the flights were booked they could not do anything for me. I had to pay £48 baggage allowance and collect the bags. They told me that it would have cost more for the Cruise Company to book the straight flight. Now I always make sure that my flights are as I want them even if it means paying a bit more.
I do feel sorry for you as 3 hours used to be the acceptable time allowance but things change.
My next holiday flying out to Rome for the start of a cruise. The flight would get in at 12.30pm and the Ship sails at 6pm. My TA as well as myself felt it important to go a day ahead just in case of a road accident. There are so many problem waiting to happen.
Not sure what if anything the TA will do. They will probably tell you as you have said that leaving enough time was your responsibility even though they book the flights. Has happened to my Sister who got no joy.
Good luck
Sue
All my flights were booked through the Cruise Company. BMI said that due to the way the flights were booked they could not do anything for me. I had to pay £48 baggage allowance and collect the bags. They told me that it would have cost more for the Cruise Company to book the straight flight. Now I always make sure that my flights are as I want them even if it means paying a bit more.
I do feel sorry for you as 3 hours used to be the acceptable time allowance but things change.
My next holiday flying out to Rome for the start of a cruise. The flight would get in at 12.30pm and the Ship sails at 6pm. My TA as well as myself felt it important to go a day ahead just in case of a road accident. There are so many problem waiting to happen.
Not sure what if anything the TA will do. They will probably tell you as you have said that leaving enough time was your responsibility even though they book the flights. Has happened to my Sister who got no joy.
Good luck
Sue
More relevantly, Malaysian Airlines have a contract with bmi that means they sell a through ticket from Manchester to Langkawi that typically retails at £30-£50 (ex tax) more than a Heathrow return. By buying this you are covered should there be any delays or problems (i.e. you would still have missed your flight and lost a days holiday, but they would have rebooked you foc, and accommodated and fed you.
I've no idea why they put you on a separate ticket with BA that had nothing to do with the Malaysian flight, except cost of course. Did they offer you bmi as an option? If they had explained it fair enough, but sounds like they didn't.
The 1 1/2 hours does conform to the airlines minimum connection time rather crazily. Was the booking done online?? Again, I presume you booked flights only?
I've no idea why they put you on a separate ticket with BA that had nothing to do with the Malaysian flight, except cost of course. Did they offer you bmi as an option? If they had explained it fair enough, but sounds like they didn't.
The 1 1/2 hours does conform to the airlines minimum connection time rather crazily. Was the booking done online?? Again, I presume you booked flights only?
Presumably the quoted minimum connection is for passengers who have been checked right through so only need to do the actual moving from one plane to the other. If you're not checked through you'd have to add that time to the checkin time of the second flight plus something for getting your bags from the first flight. So the advice of 3 hours sounds like the least you should allow and 4 hours would be reasonable in this case. So if Benz Travel have not done this I'd say have a go under the care and skill rule.
Thanks for the replies does the solicitor on this site give free advice or no win no fee etc.
steve8482 wrote:Presumably the quoted minimum connection is for passengers who have been checked right through so only need to do the actual moving from one plane to the other. If you're not checked through you'd have to add that time to the checkin time of the second flight plus something for getting your bags from the first flight. So the advice of 3 hours sounds like the least you should allow and 4 hours would be reasonable in this case. So if Benz Travel have not done this I'd say have a go under the care and skill rule.
Nope. I'm afraid the MCT (Minimum Connection Time) is the recommended minimum time airlines recommend you should leave between flights, irrespective of whether it's a through ticket. The terminals / flights numbers / airline to airline connections are is then loaded to show the MCT. This would allow you to book (online or offline) to book connecting flights that adhere to this. It's calculated in conjunction with the airline and airport authority, and should be fine should everything be working most of the time.
However, it rarely does at Heathrow as many of us have said. What might surprise you is that as little as 20 minutes is the accepted norm (for domestic flight connections to / from the same terminal). For a BA flight arriving at Terminal 5 connecting to a flight departing from Terminal 3, 90 minutes is the MCT.
I think you'd have a hard job proving Benz Travel are negligent rather than rubbish at what they do, as they are going by what the BAA have established as being fine, not that that helps much.
I'd still like to know why they put you on BA as opposed to bmi though. Can the OP expand on whether they were offered bmi, or the difference explained to them?
No I was not offered BMI and the connection time on the BA web site says to allow at least 2hrs for connections between terminal 5 and 3 Benz travel allowed us 90 minutes clearly not enough time.
I'm not saying it's right (because it isn't), but you have to be prepared for the fact that minimum connection time is 90 minutes, which Benz Travel conformed to, because I suspect if you take it further they can point to the fact that the BAA and BA between them have advised them 90 minutes is sufficient.
90 minutes is the official MCT irrespective of what the BA website says. Even 2 hours is insufficient in my experience, and personally would leave 4 hours to counter any problems which i've frequently come across.
I'm just bracing you for the fact that you will be fobbed off, and why you will be fobbed off, and who will be blamed. And that possibly they have a case in law. I'm not making any judgements apart from advising that.
90 minutes is the official MCT irrespective of what the BA website says. Even 2 hours is insufficient in my experience, and personally would leave 4 hours to counter any problems which i've frequently come across.
I'm just bracing you for the fact that you will be fobbed off, and why you will be fobbed off, and who will be blamed. And that possibly they have a case in law. I'm not making any judgements apart from advising that.
Is that if the baggage is booked through or regardless coz I am finding it hard to understand that if you trust a pro they actualy havent got a clue. If I had booked seperate flights myself I would just accept that I am a dumb clown and I have to pay but when you pay someone for advice you expect it to be correct. How the hell am I supposed to know the flights are in no way connected I guess it's a case of live and learn. By the way everyone I would recomend not traveling with Benz travel they are ****.
The law says you are right - if you pay an expert for a service then you should expect it to be right.
If the airport minimum connection time is 90 minutes add it to the second airline's had a minimum checkin time (I'm guessing at least 1 hour and maybe 2 for this flight). If this is a lot less then what Benz Travel booked you then do something about it. If they thought they'd allowed enough time didn't realise that you wouldn't be able to checkin at Manchester for the whole journey they should have done and are just as liable. It doesn't mater how many negative comments you post here -just look at how many complaints we have against Thomas Cook, First Choice etc. yet thousands still use them.
You have to stand up for yourself, compensation won't fall out of the sky just because you are right. The only way you're likely to get anything back is to start action in the County Court. The problem is that the vast majority of people who come to this site with valid complaints don't take them further. Two years ago MyTravel sold me an impossible flight due to the professional incompetance of someone in their planning office and then tried to hide behind their T&Cs. It took 6 months but in the end I got back the cost of the dearer replacement flight I had to book with Monarch. But I bet no-one else who was messed about like me bothered to fight them and in the case of whole families there could have been significant losses.
If the airport minimum connection time is 90 minutes add it to the second airline's had a minimum checkin time (I'm guessing at least 1 hour and maybe 2 for this flight). If this is a lot less then what Benz Travel booked you then do something about it. If they thought they'd allowed enough time didn't realise that you wouldn't be able to checkin at Manchester for the whole journey they should have done and are just as liable. It doesn't mater how many negative comments you post here -just look at how many complaints we have against Thomas Cook, First Choice etc. yet thousands still use them.
You have to stand up for yourself, compensation won't fall out of the sky just because you are right. The only way you're likely to get anything back is to start action in the County Court. The problem is that the vast majority of people who come to this site with valid complaints don't take them further. Two years ago MyTravel sold me an impossible flight due to the professional incompetance of someone in their planning office and then tried to hide behind their T&Cs. It took 6 months but in the end I got back the cost of the dearer replacement flight I had to book with Monarch. But I bet no-one else who was messed about like me bothered to fight them and in the case of whole families there could have been significant losses.
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