Have a look at the EU regulations in this field http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32004R0261. Article 8, paragraph 3, looks to be applicable to your situation.

Puzzled by the past tense "were" in the first sentence, but assuming this is all in the future. I would go to Flyertalk.com and pose this question on the BA forum. That's the group that knows all the ins and outs of airline policy. Seems like they should move you to another airline without the 40 mile ground transfer in London at no charge.

European airlines, unlike US airlines, wait for complaints to come through the official EU complaint form, which is linked in the first answer. You can scream your lungs out and they'll do nothing, but once the official form is fill out, the process is pretty fast.

OTOH, if this is for the future (you changed verb tenses) BA should completely reroute you--if you booked through BA. If you booked through a third party, you need to contact them for rerouting.

Edit: I get it now--future. Sorry Squid. I hadn't finished my coffee yet when I wrote this. Friends who had an Austrian Airlines Paris-Vienna flight canceled last summer, resorted to full-price last minute train tickets. They got nowhere on expense reimbursement and compensation until they filed the EU form. Then it was quick.

Tom - I think they used 'were' in the case of - we had planned to fly VCE to LHR, but now we aren't because of the cancellation of the flight...

Thank you all for the insight - both on the flight/complaint and grammatical aspects. ;). Nicole was correct, my "were" was in reference to the Venice to Heathrow leg that was cancelled.

In all seriousness, a sincere thank you for the help.

I guessing but BA could get off the hook because you are six months out and schedules are subject to change. If the change was next month, then I think you would have much stronger position. There is a regular bus between the airports in the range of an hour but it has been awhile so I don't know the fare. It worked well the last time we used. Also, I think your luggage will be transferred so that is a little easier.

This is a common problem with BA flights to and from Venice. The current schedule for April has only one flight a day between LHR and VCE, and four from VCE to Gatwick. The Heathrow flight departs Venice at 13:35 and arrives at 14:50, which does not allow enough time to connect to your 15:45 Denver flight.

That Heathrow to Venice flight departs at 8:55 am, so most flights coming frommthe US will miss it. Thus Most BA routes from the US to VCE require that Transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick or the reverse. The website clearly states that "the cost of the transfer between airports is not included". In other words you are on your own.

On our first trip to Venice we did the transfer on the outbound trip but avoided it on the way back as we spent 3 days in London before continuing home. Now when we go to Venice I always build in a London layover, or fly into a different airport and reach Venice by train.

I am afraid none of this is very helpful to you. You do have some rights when the airline cancels and re-books you, but I do not thinks $$$ compensation is involved when it is this far in advance. When it happened to us ( BA changed our flight from London to the continent to an unacceptable time), our only option was to cancel ( for free) and re-book something we liked better. But you should ask on Flyertalk what your options are. Then you can call BA back with an informed choice.

Years ago, for the first couple of years of BA flew to/from DIA, we flew in to Gatwick, and were automatically transferred by coach to Heathrow for our connecting flight to The Continent. I'm not sure now whether that was a "free" service, or if the cost was simply rolled into our ticket price. Those days were also before the $700+ fuel surcharges now tacked onto tickets. For what it's worth, the bus worked really well, has a bathroom, and the fare for kids is half price now.

This may not provide any leverage, but have you contacted the BA Executive Club frequent flyer people? Assuming you're in the Westminster north of Denver and not the one in central London, the toll-free number is 800-452-1201. If you're not already enrolled in the Executive Club, you might consider signing up the family . . . everyone's individual mileage points (Avios) can be pooled in a family account for future travel, if this experience hasn't soured you on flying BA.

There is no compensation for cancellations outside of 14 days before your flight date. For any flight booked this far ahead a change is not uncommon.

You can take a refund as an alternative to a reroute. Do check to see if an alternate routeing ,with a different airline may work out for you.

Hi Squid,

First, you're not being unreasonable in your frustration. Second, I think you should focus more on the stress and frustration on you and your family with this new schedule. I've done this airport change before and it's not fun. I took the National Express bus and needed every minute of the 3hours I had to make it to my flight. I was one of the last people getting on my plane at Heathrow (to Seattle).

There's only so much that BA will do for you in this case. I have had great luck with everyone that works at BA, but I've had the best experience getting service through their Twitter agents. I think there's something about getting things in writing that makes it so smooth.

Here are my suggestions:

If these are award tickets read number 1 or if they're purchased tickets read number 2.

1. Since these tickets are mileage awards then I would consider one of these alternatives:

a. Keep the flights as booked, but plan that if you miss your flight LHR-DEN that you may be rerouted to a later flight or more likely have to stay in London and fly out the next day. I would imagine this would be stressful for you and your family.

b. See if BA might change your flights: Fly to London a day early. This option has the most hotel and transportation costs, but would be more of a sure thing and possibly least stressful.

c. See if BA might change your flight to depart from another Italian city: You could take the train the night before to Milan and fly out from there instead. There are flights from Milan to Heathrow that would work for your Denver flight.

2. Did you buy these tickets?

If you purchased these tickets I would ask for a refund and book your flights on Lufthansa instead. Lufthansa has a non-stop flight to Frankfurt from Denver that will work well for you.

Let us know what you think. And don't forget, BA's twitter customer service people are awesome.

Good luck,
Nordheim