V-Flyer

Hi

Due to the ash cloud I have to move a work trip out one week. I am now in the unenviable position of having to fly home from San Francisco on May 1st (VS20 - arrives LHR May 2nd 11:05), immediately change terminals and then fly out to Chicago on BA (leaves at 15:45)

I would obviously prefer not to do this but both of the tickets are none refundable and while I would pay to get from SF to Chicago, BA say I have to use the outbound portion of my ticket else they will cancel the whole thing, so I would be stranded in Chicago.

Does anyone know of any way around this situation - is there a way to cancel one leg of a flight without paying a fortune?

Also will this cause issues with US immigration (the fact that I left the country only to return the next day).

Anything else I should be aware of on this crazy trip?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Not using your return VS ticket from SFO - LHR would not be a problem as you would have used the outbound leg.

The BA ticket is, as you say the problem, because if you do not turn up for the outward journey (LHR-ORD) then BA will cancel your return leg too.

As you say your BA tickets are not refundable so unless the cost of buying an ORD-LHR return is not prohibitive that looks to be your best option as your outboud leg would in effect get you 'home' and you could then just not use the return leg. Plus depending on the date you fly from ORD-LHR the VS ORD flight might have restarted.

Hope this makes sense.

Sadly VS won't have started - I fly home on the 9th May - else I would just spend some miles.

ORD-LHR return is nudging £750 (if I add the SFO-ORD bit) at this short notice and that is a little much to absorb (on top of wasting the original BA ticket).

george wrote:Sadly VS won't have started - I fly home on the 9th May - else I would just spend some miles.

ORD-LHR return is nudging £750 (if I add the SFO-ORD bit) at this short notice and that is a little much to absorb (on top of wasting the original BA ticket).

Have you tried calling BA and explaining the situation to see if they will give you some leeway by not taking the outbound? They might actually like it, to free up space for others.

I have to agree with Slinky on this one, ask for a supervisor, they may be able to help you out on this.

Also, very important, no matter what, get it in writing that your flight home on BA will not be canceled if they agree to let you skip the out bound. Just showing up at check in and saying "well XXXX told me I could" will get you nowhere, you need it in writing (email works) from a BA email address.

BA are offering rebooking for all longhaul flights up to and including 2 May BA rebooking/refund up to 2 May therefore you should be able to change the BA booking for a later date and work something out with internal US flights (not sure what fare code you have but you may be able to pay a change fee to change the date of your SFO->LHR leg).

You'll still have to fly to Chicago at another time with BA but at least it avoids wasting the ticket.

You should be fine with US immigration. I plan to not complete an I94 when I head to SF at the end of May, as I have a current one from my recent land border crossing.

Follow the good advice from Slinky but only AFTER you follow the point with BA as raised by oxmatt. I have always found BA good once you speak with a 'proper' employee. Good luck in reducing that carbon footprint.

Hi

Thanks for all the helpful advice. Many calls with BA and even a trip to their ticketing desk at Heathrow and no luck at all. Everyone can see the issue but all they can offer is moving the entire journey.

Seems I will be eating a lot of airplane food between now and Sunday.