A reroute through the US cost me £904

Q Last month my wife Andrea flew to Buenos Aires with British Airways to see her parents. On September 23 we picked up an email from BA, sent the previous evening, to say that her return flight the next day had been cancelled and that she had been rebooked on an American Airlines (AA) flight via New York.

Andrea accepted the alternative and tried to enter the passenger information required but the system would not accept it. At this point we realised that she needed an ESTA visa waiver to fly via the US, which takes up to 72 hours to issue.

I phoned BA on my wife’s behalf, to be told that as we had accepted the AA flight, it could not rebook us on another airline, even though we had not known about the need for an ESTA in order to transit through the US. BA cancelled the new flights and I bought my wife a seat on KLM via Amsterdam for £904. BA has now told us that we’ll only receive a refund of the taxes and charges. Is this fair?

– Alan Davies

A When a flight is cancelled, BA’s automated reservations system searches for the quickest alternative flight, ideally on Oneworld partner airlines such as AA. To and from South America, Australia and New Zealand rerouting is often via the US. As limited passenger information is held on the search engine, it can’t take visa requirements into account.

BA says its customer service staff are not allowed to advise on entry requirements, only where to find the information. (The best site for UK passport holders is gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.) If in doubt, BA says customers should call the airline before accepting the alternative routing offered.

I pointed out to BA that many travellers don’t realise there is no “airside” flight transfer in the US. All passengers must pass through immigration, pick up their bags and drop them off again at the transfer desk before proceeding to their next flight.

I felt it was unfair of BA to penalise Andrea because she had cancelled the AA flights. As the BA agent’s notes on the matter were not complete, the airline has now agreed to refund the return sector in full. It is also paying £520 in compensation for the cancellation. These sums will cover the cost of the KLM flight.

For readers who travel regularly to Central and South America it is worth obtaining an ESTA permit which costs $21 (£17.50) just in case of cancellation. And while the ESTA site says that applications can take 72 hours to process, the permit often comes through much more quickly, so it is worth trying for one if rerouting via the US is the quickest way home. But be sure to do this before accepting the alternative offered.