Who should I go after (Expedia, Finnair or Bangkok Airlines) for a missed flight?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 7 Aug, 2023
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If Expedia sent communications to you from which a reasonable person would conclude that no further action was needed on your part, then they are liable. If Bangkok Airlines failed to properly inform you of their check-in deadline, they are liable (note that more than one party can both be liable for the same harm). If, when you purchased the ticket, Bangkok Airlines made representations that on-line check-in was available, and in was not in fact not available, that can also give then liability, although one factor would be to what extent alternatives were available. If, by the time you discovered that online check-in was not available, you were unable to get a refund, and you were unable to check in in person due to no fault of your own, then they are liable.
Finnair may also be liable; see https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flight-rights-what-youre-due-when-bad-things-happen/
The problem with buying airline combination tickets is that most of the time, you (the traveler) is solely responsible for any missed flights that may arise as you are supposed to reach the boarding gate in time regardless whether the previous flights are delayed or not.
That is the main reason I don’t purchase airline combination tickets from third party sites. Expedia, Skyscanner, and other third party sites don’t have the liability to insure you against missed flights as they are after all booking agents for you to book a flight. Likewise, the airlines doesn’t care if you have a next flight / previous delayed flights because they don’t have the liability to do so.
That being said, it is always good to leave a buffer of at least 4 hours between connecting flights especially if the airlines are different. Alternative will be to book connecting flights directly from a single airline. (e.g. flying from Perth to London on a connecting Qantas flight). You’re more likely to be covered should there be any delay.
Hope this helps.
Unfortunately the only person responsible here is you. You knowingly booked separate tickets with a very tight connection, and you lost the gamble.
Finnair has nothing to do with this, they promised to get you to Bangkok and they did.
Expedia has nothing to do with this, they sold you a perfectly valid ticket.
And you not checking in on time for the Bangkok Airways flight is also your responsibility. Yes, it would have been nice if their online check-in had worked, and it would have been even nicer if they had violated their own policies by letting you board without checking in, but they were not required to do either of these things.
Your best bet would have been to accept the offer to rebook on Bangkok Airways and plead for lenience, but that’s too late now and storming off in a huff did not help – particularly in Thailand, where keeping a jai yen (“cool heart”) at all times is a national virtue.
About the only option you have at this point is to contact Bangkok Airways support and ask if they can offer you credit or a partial refund as a gesture of goodwill, pointing to the broken online check-in.
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If it was a split ticket, your only option is probably travel insurance. Many policies will cover the cost of a new ticket in the event of a missed departure up to EUR 500-800, often at zero excess. Quite often the airline is happy to just put you on standby for the next flight at no extra charge, but it is usually at their discretion.
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