Can anything be done?

[ktglads]

Okay, I am asking this for a co-worker who had a little flying problem. He and his GF were flying back from LAX on Saturday and got stuck in horrible construction and traffic and in the end arrived at the airport at their departure time. They were flying Airtran which had no other available flights to put them on that day. US Air had 2 seats available and just needed Airtran to endorse the tickets. Airtran would not issue tickets to endorse since the tickets were e-fares. In the end, due to being pressed for time, they ended up having to buy the tickets on US Air for $1700 one-way for the 2 tix instead of being allowed on those flights for free.

Is there any recourse for him to get back any of the money, either the $400 ttl paid for the Airtran tix or the $1700 for the US Air ones?

Anyone with any experience with a situation like this?

Thanks!

 

[CarolA]

I think your friend is out of luck. AirTran had no obligation to endorse the tickets over since it was not thier fault your friend missed the plane. If you don't get there on time regardless of the reason, the airline can at it's pleasure put you on another flight of thier's but unless you have full fare tickets you aren't going to get onto another airline. If your friend had $400 tickets on AirTran they were not going to be accepted by USAir even if they had been paper tickets, they still would have required the write over. (AirTran would then have owed USAir a predetermined amount!) It probably would have been cheaper to stay in LA and fly out the next day on Airtran.

So...

 

[safetymom]

There is usually an hour leeway if you miss a flight. How late were they? I don't see were they should get anything from USAirways. Their case is with AirTran.

I would suggest asking in the Air Tran forum on www.flyertalk.com they may be able to help.

 

[CarolA]

There is usually an hour leeway if you miss a flight. How late were they? I don't see were they should get anything from USAirways. Their case is with AirTran.

I would suggest asking in the Air Tran forum on www.flyertalk.com they may be able to help.

Yes, but even with the leeway there have to be seats... they won't bump someone for you. I have missed a flight due to a flat tire and while Delta was nice it took 24 hours to get me home!

 

[safetymom]

That's right. I didn't type all that. Nowadays most flights are full so you don't want to miss a flight.

 

[ktglads]

Thanks so much! I've never been that late for a flight before so I really had no advice to give him and thought someone here would have some experience.

By the way, they did get to the airport at their departure time, so it was within the hour grace period window, but I'm sure with a check in line and such it was cutting it very close to the hour. I'll point him to the flyertalk forum to see if he can find any advice over there

 

[Lewisc]

They probably could have flown standby the next day with Airtran or tried for an "illegal connection", either a too long a wait or too short a wait (if they get lucky they'll make but their luggage might not).

No reason for Airtran to pay USAirways for your co-workers problem.

 

[paladin]

This is from AirTran's website "Customers presenting themselves at the AirTran Airways gate less than ten minutes before scheduled departure will be considered a "no show" and will forfeit their reservation."

 

[bicker]

Does AirTran even promise to provide inter-line accommodation? That's really a benefit of the major airlines: Continental, Northwest, Delta, US Airways, United and American (and their partners) all cooperate with each other. I know for sure that Southwest does not promise to provide any inter-line accommodation.

 

[seashoreCM]

They were flying Airtran which had no other available flights to put them on that day. US Air had 2 seats available and just needed Airtran to endorse the tickets. Airtran would not issue tickets to endorse since the tickets were e-fares. In the end, due to being pressed for time, they ended up having to buy the tickets on US Air for $1700 one-way for the 2 tix instead of being allowed on those flights for free.

I think they are out of luck. While I cannot guess how pressed for time they really were, I do think they overreacted. To me, missing another day of work or school would be better than paying full walk up fare for a replacment ticket. Most likelty they should have stood by on the original airline (Airtran) when the next available flights came up (the next day or whenever).

I would have no qualms about calling up whomever was expecting me and saying "I'm stranded".

I would even think that, under these circumstancs, even a soldier who took the next day Airtran flight out of LA and missed connecting to his transport from New York back to Iraq rather than buy a walkup same day US Air ticket for $850. would be given some clemency by his commander.

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