Help! We Got to the Gate in the Nick of Time, but Missed Our Flight.

Dear Tripped Up,

We are two active and nimble senior citizens who last May — at ages 79 and 82 — set out from Los Angeles to Athens on a two-leg British Airways itinerary in business class with a connection at London Heathrow Airport. Our first flight was delayed about an hour, but despite having to deplane via stairs and take a bus to the terminal rather than use the normal jet bridge, we still hustled through international arrivals and security and made it to our departure gate at 11:25 a.m., five minutes before our boarding pass said it would close. Even so, we were denied boarding, told our seats had been filled and put on a much later flight to Athens, arriving after 1 a.m. I filed a complaint with the airline, but the representative responded nonsensically that we hadn’t made the connection (even though we arrived at the gate on time), and that our total delay was only 57 minutes, not enough to qualify for compensation (even though we got to Athens over seven hours late). Should British Airways compensate us? And what are the rules about flight connections and gate-closing times? Can you help? David and Valerie, Claremont, Calif.

Dear David and Valerie,

Let’s start with the easy part. British Airways not only should, but must, pay each of you 520 pounds — just over $700 — under a British consumer protection law protecting air travelers, informally known as UK261.

Now brace yourself for the rest: The airline refused to let you board your connecting flight not because of rules about connections or gate-closing times, but because it gave away your seats hours earlier, when you were still in the air — or maybe even before you left Los Angeles.

In other words, your mad rush through the terminal was all for naught. And vexingly, the airline most likely did it at least in part for your own good.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/travel/british-airways-seats-missed-flight.html