Flight Rebooking Times - How Long For Each Airline

[ukrules]

The current situation is getting more serious by the day. For every suspended flight the number of 'stranded' passengers is increasing.

Some airlines have more daily flights than others, of course every flight will already have a certain number of seats allocated to existing passengers so the rebooking delay time will likely be very different with each airline.

Does anyone have information for each airline. I have friends staying with me who are due to return to the UK tomorrow night with Jet and Thai and my own flight back to the UK is supposed to leave on Wednesday with EVA.

I think it would be helpful for anyone who has got through to their airline to post the dates for the next available flights and which airline they are using.

I'll update here when I have spoken to them if / when they cancel our flights.

[ukrules]

Maybe I should have posted this in the 'Thailand Travel Forum' instead.

[GungaDin]

A mate of mine sent me a note today that he is stranded in Munich.

He drives a 777 for Big Airline and he said nothing will change until Wednesday.

He and his crew aren't happy either.

[goldfinger]

...in Munic ???

They are verry happy, sure.

[britmaveric]

Quite imagine - they will run extra flights until everyone gets unstuck so to speak.

[gotlost]

When the airports in the EU are opened for business then the airlines will know when they can fly.

[ukrules]

When the airports in the EU are opened for business then the airlines will know when they can fly.

Yes, the point is with Jet you might need to wait two or three weeks to get a seat in the same class as you originally booked whereas with BA it might only take one week, I suspect the waiting time will vary dramatically with each airline, the longer it takes for the airspace to open, the longer the queue to rebook and get another seat.

I'm flying with EVA so I suspect the wait will be longer than with airlines like Thai or BA as they only have one flight each day to London, I'd be surprised if they have any spare 777's sitting around doing nothing so they can put on extra flights, you never know though maybe they are planning for this return to service, they must have contingency plans for when there are technical problems with their fleet.

The results of how each airline handles this problem will be interesting and useful when it comes to choosing an airline in the future.

[britmaveric]

^not to mention lot of airlines work together in these sort of situations to assist all passengers, not just their own if they have space available.

[ukrules]

My flight which was due to leave tomorrow just been cancelled by EVA. In truth I wasn't too keen on flying back into London on what would have been the first day of open air travel after this mess as it will be absolute mayhem at Heathrow with all these extra passengers arriving at the same time. I'm sure the trains, coaches, etc will all be fully booked and that would make my onward journey north of London to the Midlands almost impossible.

Now I don't have to bother with that, I'll rebook at my convenience, this is good news for me as I was going to go down to the airline offices and try and change my ticket if it wasn't cancelled today. I can only imagine what it must be like at the airline offices.

[GungaDin]

Capt Nemo says his dep pushed back to Friday.

From Munich.

[doctormann]

My Lufthansa flight BKK - FRA was cancelled on Friday. Interestingly, LH contacted me yesterday evening to say that they were intending to fly to Frankfurt that night and did I want two seats on the flight. I wasn't expecting this at all as the backlog of passengers must be large and I thought that there would be a delay of several days at least to get re-booked.

As it happens, I had to decline their offer as I would need rather more notice than this but also because I figured that I would likely just get stuck in Frankfurt as most UK airspace - and certainly BHX - was closed at that time. The plane did fly and BHX is still closed at this time.

DM

[IssanSaint]

Regarding rebooking times , Thai Air cancelled my flight LHR - BKK tomorrow and the earliest available date was for the 28th . Exactly a week . Fingers crossed !

[Hern]

My flight with BA/Qantas was due to fly just after midnight tonight and when i rebooked this morning the earliest flight they could get me was May 12th.

They did however mention that if something sooner than that came up they may get in touch although this is not a great deal of use to me as i have to book accomodation etc and cant really be too flexible with dates and be able to make solid plans. The uncertainty has been the killer so far so id rather book my apartment until May 12th and fly out then than wait in hope for possabilities and have my accomodation uncertain from day to day or week to week.

But yea BA/Qantas +3 weeks as of today.

[ukrules]

But yea BA/Qantas +3 weeks as of today.

Now this really surprises me, that's a long time to wait ! I'm not going to even contact EVA until the airports are all back up and running normally.

[apetley]

But yea BA/Qantas +3 weeks as of today.

Now this really surprises me, that's a long time to wait ! I'm not going to even contact EVA until the airports are all back up and running normally.

Friend of a friend has just been told by EVA that he has to wait at least a week to get on a flight back to the UK after his flight home last Saturday was cancelled.

I think it would be wise to contact your airline as you may risk being classed as a 'no-show' and lose your entitlement to any travel however delayed.

Edited April 20, 2010 by apetley

[Hern]

I agree the longer you wait the further back in the queue you may end up. Also from what ive seen i believe the majority of Airlines only offer the free rebooking if it is taken up within a 2 week period after the initial flight was due to depart.

[ukrules]

Thanks for the advice apetly and Hern, I'll bear this in mind before I contact them - I'll give them a call in a few days max to see what the story is.

[ukrules]

A friend just rebooked his Thai flight to London - he should have flew tonight - the first one available was May 2nd

[ukrules]

I do find it strange that the EVA Air flight I was mean to depart on today which was listed as cancelled is due to arrive at London Heathrow later today.

This is what it says on the LHR arrivals area :

19:15 BR067 TAIPEI VIA BANGKOK EXPECTED 2029 Terminal three

This flight was cancelled.

I know they were permitting 'test flights' with no passengers to fly below 20,000 Ft before the airspace was opened but this seems a little strange to me.

Does anyone think the airlines are lying to passengers so they can clear their backlog or accomodate their higher paying passengers first ?

My flight was definitely cancelled but it's also arriving in London today.

[ukrules]

I managed to rebook my flight today, I gave up trying to contact EVA in Bangkok after two days of phone calls, you just get cut off after being on hold for about one - two minutes.

I called the main sales office in Taiwan and got through to them after only a few minutes on hold.

The next available economy flight is on May 18th which is three and a half weeks away - that's quite a wait and also quite an overstay for me as I'm meant to be out of the country by the 26th of April. I wonder if they will extend the waiver on the overstay fee which has been offered.

I can try and get a flight earlier but at the moment that's all they could offer me, there are waiting lists but I found it very hard to understand what she was saying so I might be on a waiting list for an earlier flight the on May the 6th but I am not so sure. I will go to their Bangkok office in Rama IV to see if I have more options in a couple of days when things have calmed down a bit.

My target date is May 6th, maybe there will be premium economy seats available but I doubt it as they don't cost that much to upgrade - $350 normally so I guess if someone is stranded and having to stay in a hotel hotel they would easily pay the extra as it would work out much less less than staying for the extra time in a hotel.