Missing a flight is always frustrating. But for passengers from the UK regions making two-hop trips on budget airlines, it can also prove expensive. If the first touches down too late to connect with the second, the traveller must pay for a new flight and possibly a night in a hotel.
Gatwick airport has now unveiled a groundbreaking proposition aimed at passengers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands: pay us a fee when you book the flights, and if the transfer goes awry we’ll look after you.
“Gatwick Connects,” as the venture is known, is believed to be a world first. It aims to eliminate the financial risk involved in “self-connecting”.
Millions of passengers each year buy a pair of low-cost flights and hope for the best. But until now, a passenger who books a flight from Edinburgh to Gatwick and an onward flight three hours later from Gatwick to Barcelona has no recourse if the first is delayed or cancelled and they miss the connection. This applies even if a traveller self-connects on the same airline.
In contrast, passengers on network carriers such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic who buy through tickets, for example Edinburgh-Heathrow-New York, are fully protected. If the first flight is late, the airline must rebook the passenger on the next available service and provide meals and a hotel room as appropriate.
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