London City to London Heathrow - AA Award

[Elgreenholio]

I managed to score a flight back from a holiday in Spain and get it on the exact date that I want.

The flights are Madrid-London City arriving 0850 and then Heathrow-Melbourne in Qantas F departing at 1330.

Has anyone done the transfer from London City to Heathrow?

Also if the flight Madrid to London City is delayed for whatever reason who is responsible for assisting with rebooking or making changes? The Madrid to London City flight is on BA Cityflyer with the next legs all on Qantas.
It is, however, a single AA Advantage Award booking. Most of what I have read says it is the airline that made you late that bears responsibility but has anyone had any practical experience in this regard?

Obviously I would like to avoid blowing my chance to fly London to Melbourne in Qantas First Class!

The flight is not until May next year so plenty of time to think about it as well.

Thanks in advance...

 

[anat0l]

Arriving at 0850 then departing at 1330. That gives a layover of 4 hours, 40 minutes.

Let's do a bit of math. You need to check-in at least 1 hour before departure at Heathrow. So now we are left with 3 h 40 min.

Using the London Underground, it will take about 90 minutes to go between London City and London Heathrow. Now we are left with 2 h 10 min (130 minutes) of breathing space. Don't forget that you will need to reclaim your bags at London City and bring them all to Heathrow yourself for re-checking in.

If the flight from Madrid gets delayed and makes you miss your Qantas flight from London to Melbourne, then British Airways has to reaccommodate you. Of course, this may only likely happen once you arrive in London, unless the Madrid flight is heavily delayed or cancelled, where you may try to seek redress at Madrid.

Note that if British Airways reaccommodate you, they are only obliged to get you to your final destination under comparable conditions. So if your final destination on the ticket is Sydney, then they may put you on a British Airways flight to Sydney in their First Class. You may have some room for renegotiation; this is just their legal obligation.

Personally, I would rather arrive in London the previous day (afternoon or night, so it's less than 24 hours overall), spend a night in a hotel in London near Heathrow, then pick up the connection with Qantas the next day.

 

[Flippantflyer]

I managed to score a flight back from a holiday in Spain and get it on the exact date that I want.

The flights are Madrid-London City arriving 0850 and then Heathrow-Melbourne in Qantas F departing at 1330.

Has anyone done the transfer from London City to Heathrow?

Also if the flight Madrid to London City is delayed for whatever reason who is responsible for assisting with rebooking or making changes? The Madrid to London City flight is on BA Cityflyer with the next legs all on Qantas.
It is, however, a single AA Advantage Award booking. Most of what I have read says it is the airline that made you late that bears responsibility but has anyone had any practical experience in this regard?

Obviously I would like to avoid blowing my chance to fly London to Melbourne in Qantas First Class!

The flight is not until May next year so plenty of time to think about it as well.

Thanks in advance...

did you look at any options for mad - Lhr on Iberian? Might be more convenient (and may reduce taxes too)

 

[Elgreenholio]

Arriving at 0850 then departing at 1330. That gives a layover of 4 hours, 40 minutes.

Let's do a bit of math. You need to check-in at least 1 hour before departure at Heathrow. So now we are left with 3 h 40 min.

Using the London Underground, it will take about 90 minutes to go between London City and London Heathrow. Now we are left with 2 h 10 min (130 minutes) of breathing space. Don't forget that you will need to reclaim your bags at London City and bring them all to Heathrow yourself for re-checking in.

If the flight from Madrid gets delayed and makes you miss your Qantas flight from London to Melbourne, then British Airways has to reaccommodate you. Of course, this may only likely happen once you arrive in London, unless the Madrid flight is heavily delayed or cancelled, where you may try to seek redress at Madrid.

Note that if British Airways reaccommodate you, they are only obliged to get you to your final destination under comparable conditions. So if your final destination on the ticket is Sydney, then they may put you on a British Airways flight to Sydney in their First Class. You may have some room for renegotiation; this is just their legal obligation.

Personally, I would rather arrive in London the previous day (afternoon or night, so it's less than 24 hours overall), spend a night in a hotel in London near Heathrow, then pick up the connection with Qantas the next day.

This is pretty much the math I came up with though I can shave the underground trip down to 1hr 15min using the Heathrow Express. Still, may look at ringing AA and seeing what other options there are.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Elgreenholio]

did you look at any options for mad - Lhr on Iberian? Might be more convenient (and may reduce taxes too)

I can see on Iberia that there are 2 flights that morning direct to Heathrow but they weren't showing as an option when I booked the award through AA.

Would it be best to ring AA and see whether these are an option to switch to on the ticket? It's all Oneworld I suppose...

 

[Elgreenholio]

So using AwardNexus I can see that there is Iberia/BA award availability in Business on that morning, direct to Heathrow, for 2 flights that arrive at heathrow before 1000.

Will AA be able to access these seats to book me in?

Might just call and see what they can do.

 

[Princess Fiona]

So using AwardNexus I can see that there is Iberia/BA award availability in Business on that morning, direct to Heathrow, for 2 flights that arrive at heathrow before 1000.

Will AA be able to access these seats to book me in?

Might just call and see what they can do.

Yes AA should be able to book that

 

[Elgreenholio]

So rang the AA Advantage call centre and explained the situation. Gave them the 2 Iberia flight numbers that were possibilities to go straight to Heathrow from Madrid. But....

Apparently the change would be an extra 20,000 miles and increased taxes because the destination and carrier would both be changed.

Decided to leave it as is because that's a pretty hefty slug just to shift airports.

Looks like its the Underground for me!

 

[andye]

On the plus side picking up bags and exiting at LCY is usually pretty easy

 

[dajop]

On the plus side picking up bags and exiting at LCY is usually pretty easy

Yes picking up bags and exiting is quite easy, and getting to DLR is a matter of a few steps from the airport, not lifts and long walks through tunnels like at LHR. However immigration can be a pain for non-EU passport holders though. When I last went through, it talk a good 20-25 mins, with one person doing the processing in the non-EU queue. Luck of the draw, as my partner passed through immigration half an hour earlier than me and was out in a few minutes (and couldn't work out why I was talking so long!).

 

[andye]

I've not done the LCY-LHR trip myself but I believe the best way on the Underground alone with luggage (to avoid steps) is via Canning Town and Green Park

Alternative is to catch Heathrow Express from Paddington via Canning Town and Baker Street (probably quickest way but a bit more expensive)

 

[Princess Fiona]

So rang the AA Advantage call centre and explained the situation. Gave them the 2 Iberia flight numbers that were possibilities to go straight to Heathrow from Madrid. But....

Apparently the change would be an extra 20,000 miles and increased taxes because the destination and carrier would both be changed.

Decided to leave it as is because that's a pretty hefty slug just to shift airports.

Looks like its the Underground for me!

Sounds rubbish to me.
I think you could be up for $150 change fee due to the airport and carrier change in transit but no idea where the 20K miles cost comes from ?

 

[dajop]

Sounds rubbish to me.
I think you could be up for $150 change fee due to the airport and carrier change in transit but no idea where the 20K miles cost comes from ?

Sounds like a lazy approach to me. Just adding 20K for business saver from MAD-LHR to the 80K for LHR-MEL rather than recalculating the whole itinerary. One acronym HUACA!

 

[DAC1]

I once had a AUH-BNE AAward that I had changed to a AUH-PER-BNE award and I even got a refund of taxes (no change fee or extra miles).

As far as I can see, so long as the first and last ports remain the same nothing else should matter. I've read this a number of places online. Definitely call back and keep trying until someone helps you. Say you've done it before so if they can't do it they ask someone who can.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Call again regarding the direct flight to LHR. There shouldn't be an increase in mileage cost (20K). If they quote you that 20K again, ask exactly why. It might be they are calculating incorrectly, or that the award space is anytime or something?

As for the transfer if you still go to LCY, I wouldn't go out of my way to take the Heathrow Express. It's expensive, and not such a great time saving.

From London City I'd take the Docklands Light Railway to Canning Town, change there to the Jubilee Line, then change at Green Park to the Piccadilly Line.

 

[Elgreenholio]

First of all a big thanks to everyone for their assistance, I've lurked on this site for a while and it is good to finally be involved.

I had read that LCY is quick to clear and the DLR not far so I have no real issue with taking the Underground if it comes to that.

But why deal with a problem when you can eliminate it? Will definitely try the AA Advantage call centre again. Will keep trying and report back.

Thanks again!

 

[anat0l]

LCY is pretty quick to clear. Just leg it to immigration so you can get a heads up on the line, especially if you are using a non-EU passport (other foreign passports are dealt with less counters, though sometimes they can be faster if most of the plane consists of EU passport holders). Baggage claim is also pretty breezy once they get the bags on the belt (admittedly faster than LHR, of course).

See if you can change to a LHR flight rather than LCY with AA - I'm not sure how much it should cost, if anything (i.e. not sure about the change fee being charged; can't remember the exact rules), but I don't think it should cost you any miles. Ditto if you want to shift your Madrid flight to the previous day (whether it arrives at LCY or LHR).

IMO it is not worth ~15 minutes saving to take the HEX, but now with the super advance fares, it might be viable if you wish. That said, of course once you buy an advance ticket, you are committed to that or you forfeit the fare.

From London City I'd take the Docklands Light Railway to Canning Town, change there to the Jubilee Line, then change at Green Park to the Piccadilly Line.

This is the route exactly recommended by TfL planner.

Of course, it is worth checking TfL on the day to see if there are any interruptions, so you can adjust as necessary. There is free wifi at LCY you can use when you touch down.


On balance, the originally proposed itinerary with 130 minutes of breathing space is not that ridiculous and rather doable. There's something to be said about schlepping your bags all the way across London to make a connection, but if it were absolutely the only option available, it wouldn't be completely ridiculous. Oddly enough, even when booking BA flights on ba.com (both awards and cash), BA will offer some connections in London that involve a change of airports, between all of LHR, LCY or LGW.

 

[Flippantflyer]

First of all a big thanks to everyone for their assistance, I've lurked on this site for a while and it is good to finally be involved.

I had read that LCY is quick to clear and the DLR not far so I have no real issue with taking the Underground if it comes to that.

But why deal with a problem when you can eliminate it? Will definitely try the AA Advantage call centre again. Will keep trying and report back.

Thanks again!

Good luck with it - I have recently made the exact same sort of change (was BA from MAD, connecting to an Etihad apartments flight and I changed it to IB from MAD to the same EY flight) with AA. Didn't cost any more miles or any change fee (as still the same origin and destination) and in fact got a tax refund because IB fuel surcharges are much lower than BA.

Let us know how you go

 

[Fatcat]

Ive done the LCY - LHR transfer in a car service (with a 4 hr window). It is the easiest way given there's no need to drag your luggage everywhere. However the journey took almost 2 hours, although that was because I had an absolute muppet of a driver that took me on a circumnavigation of London given I was paying by the hour. In theory the journey should only take an hour and cost around £80. QF might throw in a transfer in London, if so you should get a complimentary ride between the two airports in a Mercedes S. LCY arrival clearance is usually lightning fast, you should be out of the terminal within 10 mins of landing.

 

[russ]

I think there is a helicopter shuttle service between LCY and LHR. It doesn't land at LHR, but nearby. It would be a lot of fun!