Missed Connection on Expedia Booking

Ok, so I haven't actually missed a connection, but I'm slightly stressing about what will happen if our flight on Thursday doesn't go to plan.

Currently in CPT and half way through an Expedia booking which consists of:

LHR-JNB (VS)
JNB-DUR (BA-Comair)

CPT-JNB (BA-Comair)
JNB-LHR (VS)

We were at dinner a few days ago with some friends who had experienced a bit of a nightmare in terms of missing a connection on an Expedia booking due to a delay on the first sector, and it's got me worrying.

I have one Expedia booking reference but two different PNR's - one for VS and one with BA.

The outbound from LHR worked perfectly but what would happen if the BA flight from CPT to JNB is delayed which results in me missing the VS flight to LHR? I have around a 2hr connection in JNB so it shouldn't be too tight but I'm just slightly concerned in case there is a problem!

Any advice or experience would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Matt

Slightly O/T but where did you stay in Durban and where are you staying in Cape Town? We're a week back from a huge adventure that included both those cities...

On topic I don't think you have any recourse with the airlines as you're on different PNR.

It's not that weird to have different PNRs where connecting flights are on different airlines. When you view the bookings separately do you have the same ticket numbers on the two sectors? This would indicate that the two flights were booked together and that the ticketing carrier (presumably VS) will protect you.

If you can't view your ticket numbers, were your bagged tagged through LHR-JNB-DUR? I know you would have had to collect and recheck your bags as thats SOP for arriving in South Africa but if you were given tags all the way to Durban it would indicate the flights were on the same ticket.

Don't panic too much, if booked as a single itinerary it would be rather naughty of expedia to tickets these connecting flights seperately.

Many thanks for the replies.

Looking at my Expedia invoice we appear to be on one ticket number for the entire trip. Also, when I log into MMB on the VS and BA sites, all of the flights are listed on both, albeit the BA ones shaded out on VS and vide versa on the BA.

Our bags were also tagged through to DUR on the outbound so it's sounding like we should be covered in the case of a delay?

Pjh - Durban was a real flying visit, unfortunately we were there to literally sleep before picking up a tour. We've travelled through Drakensberg, Lesotho, Cintsa, Tsitsikamma, Swellendam and then on through the wine region to Cape Town.

We're up at Greenpoint near the waterfront at the Protea Cape Castle. Picking up a car today to do the drive down to Cape Point and a bit of exploring untik Thurs. Weather isn't great for the next couple of days though! What was your itinerary?

Looking at my Expedia invoice we appear to be on one ticket number for the entire trip. Also, when I log into MMB on the VS and BA sites, all of the flights are listed on both, albeit the BA ones shaded out on VS and vide versa on the BA.

Our bags were also tagged through to DUR on the outbound so it's sounding like we should be covered in the case of a delay?

Yes, you'll be protected. It's completely normal for each airline to issue its own PNR but as you can see in MMB they're linked.

Thanks gumshoe, I can relax about it now!

Glad someone else more knowledgable than I came along on the ticketing issue.

Pjh - Durban was a real flying visit, unfortunately we were there to literally sleep before picking up a tour. We've travelled through Drakensberg, Lesotho, Cintsa, Tsitsikamma, Swellendam and then on through the wine region to Cape Town.

We're up at Greenpoint near the waterfront at the Protea Cape Castle. Picking up a car today to do the drive down to Cape Point and a bit of exploring untik Thurs. Weather isn't great for the next couple of days though! What was your itinerary?

Durban for a couple of days, Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, Phinda Game Reserve and Cape Town. We stayed in the Gardens area just off Kloof St. Lovely days for Stellenbosch, Table Mountain and Cape Town itself, a bit rainy when we did our Cape Point tour on our final day.

Have a great final few days.