Compensation when airline REALLY messed up your trip? UPDATE heard from USAir post 47

[LaurenT]

Has anyone received compensation for a total mess up by an airline?
Ours canceled our original flight for a maintenance issue, didn't get us on another flight until 24 hours later, and then - when they were doing that - they managed to mess up the flight home...my friend and her daughter wound up with a valid reservation, but no ticket. The people at the counter were as confused as us, we missed our flight home because of it and it took us 2 days to get back to Albany form Orlando!
I believe there should be compensation since it cost us an enormous amount of stress, an additional 24 hours in travel time getting home, and also a full day of our vacation - but I was wondering if anyone has successfully gotten any sort of compensation after complaining to the airline.
They told us we had to put our complaint in writing, that they couldn't do anything for us at the counter...

 

[LaurenT]

I posted about my airline seriously messing up our travel both to and from Orlando this past week....
I did a search and found Batavia's post about asking for specific and reasonable compensation...
Well, I have already put in a complaint by e-mail and asked for compensation, but did not specify - I assumed they had specific guidelines that they would follow...
Is it unreasonable to expect them to offer us a free round trip? Their mistakes cost us not only a full day of our vacation, but also cost us and extra day to get home...

 

[ancestry]

It is really hard for me to answer this question without knowing the exact details of what happened. I went looking for your other post and found one but there wasn't a lot of details in there either, unless I missed the post you are referring to.

The question I have is what exactly were "their" mistakes? We often read posts here on the boards where people blame the airlines for things that they airlines don't take responsibility for under their contract of carriage. You might want to read the contract of carriage for the airline that you had issues with to see what they actually legally promise and what they don't.

 

[Lewisc]

I can't find your post with details. What airline? From what city? What was the exact issue?

You may think free travel is reasonable but it's probably not realistic.

Flying from another airport (drive to Boston or NYC) or flying to another airport (Tampa) is one alternative to consider.

Waiting until your airline has availability from your original departure airport to your arrival airport is the alternative you chose.

Asking for a refund and booking another airline is an alternative.

Accepting the alternative flights but then asking for free tickets probably isn't a reasonable expectation.

The airlines Contract of Carriage will spell out what you're entitled to (probably nothing). Check it first.

 

[LaurenT]

It is really hard for me to answer this question without knowing the exact details of what happened. I went looking for your other post and found one but there wasn't a lot of details in there either, unless I missed the post you are referring to.

The question I have is what exactly were "their" mistakes? We often read posts here on the boards where people blame the airlines for things that they airlines don't take responsibility for under their contract of carriage. You might want to read the contract of carriage for the airline that you had issues with to see what they actually legally promise and what they don't.

The original flight that was supposed to get us to our connection was canceled due to a "maintenance" issue, no details given. The soonest they could get us out was the next day, and that was going to be 8 hours apart (we were 4 people, two moms each with a daughter) from each other. I spent 4 hours recalling and refreshing the airline website and finally saw seats open on my morning flight, so, due to my time and effort, I salvaged half of the next day. So, we lost 1 full day of vacation. That was bad enough, but,
when they changed our outbound flight, for absolutely NO reason, they put their fingers on the return flight for my friend and her daughter. There was no reason for them to touch it, it was confirmed with seat assignments back in August. So, while we got to the airport in plenty of time to get our flight home, when we went to get our boarding passes, next to my friend and her daughters name it said to see agent. The agents spent a very long time trying to figure out how to reissue the tickets and finally tried to push us through with "departure control" passes, but it was too late. I guess the gate agent didn't believe the service manager at the ticket counter when she called her to say she was pushing us through security. The gate agent gave our seats away and when we got there, they slammed the door in our face and snottily said "well, we can't wait forever - we've been paging you" - she knew exactly where we were!
So, we missed that flight. Now, this is a mess, there are two airlines involved...I never knew that if your itinerary involves more than 1 airline, the first one, the one whose "stock" the ticket is on, is in control of all of it.
The first one is the one who messed up. After denying responsibility, they finally admitted it was their fault, but only for Christine and Nora..they were of the opinion that, instead of standing at the ticket counter straightening out the mess, I should have ditched my friend and her daughter and checked myself and my daughter in and gone home..since two of the tickets were ok. The second airline wound up taking care of me by getting me to DC, where all four of us had to stay until we could get a flight home the following day.
Those are the details....

 

[LaurenT]

I can't find your post with details. What airline? From what city? What was the exact issue?

You may think free travel is reasonable but it's probably not realistic.

Flying from another airport (drive to Boston or NYC) or flying to another airport (Tampa) is one alternative to consider.

Waiting until your airline has availability from your original departure airport to your arrival airport is the alternative you chose.

Asking for a refund and booking another airline is an alternative.

Accepting the alternative flights but then asking for free tickets probably isn't a reasonable expectation.

The airlines Contract of Carriage will spell out what you're entitled to (probably nothing). Check it first.

The airline was US Air, wih United as return carrier, but US Air in control. Departure was Albany, connecting through dc or MCO. We were willing to o to Tampa, or fly into Boston, JFK, Newark, Syracuse, LaGuardia...we were as flexible as you can get, but nothing was available anywhere! We checked for another airline..nothing. This was this past Sat/Sun and the Sat/Sun before - President's week....
If I had chosen the alternative of asking for a refund and then - since there were no seats on any carriers - we mised our entire vacation, I am quite sure they would not reimburse us for that..so what choice did we have but to accept the only thing they offered?

 

[DebbieB]

They will most likely offer you a voucher for future travel or frequent flyer miles. I doubt they will refund anything. You may want to post over on flyertalk, they are experts on compensation since they are frequent travelers.

 

[LaurenT]

Thank you Debbie,
I think a voucher is reasonable. I wouldn't expect a refund since they did finally get us to our destinations - but I feel that there should be something to retain our faith in their company after the ordeal we had not only traveling to our destination, but then compounding it with the trouble getting home.
I know when they are oversold, they will offer a voucher just for volunteering to wait an hour for another flight - so after all we've been through, some of which was unavoidable, but some of which was pure incompetence, I don't think a voucher for future travel is unreasonable.
Where do I find FlyerTalk?

 

[prncess674]

I know you felt like you "should" stay with your friend, but I am going to assume that you guys were on two different PNRs and it wasn't like you were leaving an unaccompanied minor. Missing your return was your fault. Your friend is a big girl and should be able to talk to another adult. I think you are barking up the wrong tree on the return.

Also, every good traveler knows that when you have irrops on your outbound, be sure to check and double check your return. Most likely what happened is your friend was listed as a no show on your outbound (even though is was a mechanical) and her return was cancelled. Since they did get you to and from your destination you may get a pittance 5 or 10K miles since you are not an elite frequent flyer.

 

[DebbieB]

Thank you Debbie,
I think a voucher is reasonable. I wouldn't expect a refund since they did finally get us to our destinations - but I feel that there should be something to retain our faith in their company after the ordeal we had not only traveling to our destination, but then compounding it with the trouble getting home.
I know when they are oversold, they will offer a voucher just for volunteering to wait an hour for another flight - so after all we've been through, some of which was unavoidable, but some of which was pure incompetence, I don't think a voucher for future travel is unreasonable.
Where do I find FlyerTalk?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/

 

[LaurenT]

I know you felt like you "should" stay with your friend, but I am going to assume that you guys were on two different PNRs and it wasn't like you were leaving an unaccompanied minor. Missing your return was your fault. Your friend is a big girl and should be able to talk to another adult. I think you are barking up the wrong tree on the return.

Also, every good traveler knows that when you have irrops on your outbound, be sure to check and double check your return. Most likely what happened is your friend was listed as a no show on your outbound (even though is was a mechanical) and her return was cancelled. Since they did get you to and from your destination you may get a pittance 5 or 10K miles since you are not an elite frequent flyer.

Your assumption is not correct, I made all the travel arrangements, put it all on my credit cards and she gave me a check for her half. She always wanted to take her daughter to wdw, But her DH can never go and she is very nervous traveling alone with her daughter - So I told her I'd take care of everything and we'd go together. No, she's not a minor, but we were a group. Not right for them to expect me to just take off and leave her stranded. I had officially paid for the tickets that were at issue. If there was going to be a dispute or anything, it was my credit card on file.
And she was not listed as a no show, her return ticket was "exchanged" but no new ticket was issued..this was a complete and utter mistake..United said so and US Air said so...no one there could figure out why they would have done what they did. She still had her reservation in the system, just no ticket number. One woman at the gate said she thought it was just a plain old mistake - that they pulled the wrong ticket number when the fixed the inbound flight.
Also, we did check our flight..both the night before and the in the morning before we left. We had confirmed reservations with seat assignments...

 

[prncess674]

Your assumption is not correct, I made all the travel arrangements, put it all on my credit cards and she gave me a check for her half. She always wanted to take her daughter to wdw, But her DH can never go and she is very nervous traveling alone with her daughter - So I told her I'd take care of everything and we'd go together. No, she's not a minor, but we were a group. Not right for them to expect me to just take off and leave her stranded. I had officially paid for the tickets that were at issue. If there was going to be a dispute or anything, it was my credit card on file.
And she was not listed as a no show, her return ticket was "exchanged" but no new ticket was issued..this was a complete and utter mistake..United said so and US Air said so...no one there could figure out why they would have done what they did. She still had her reservation in the system, just no ticket number. One woman at the gate said she thought it was just a plain old mistake - that they pulled the wrong ticket number when the fixed the inbound flight.

Were you on the same record locator? I did not say same flight, but were you all on the same record locator? Did you have one PNR for the all 4 of you? Did you check in online the night before for your return flight? Did you call and confirm your flights? The credit card on file is irrelevant. My employer books all my flights, but that doesn't mean I am not a big girl and able to speak for myself to a ticket agent?

 

[LaurenT]

Yes, we were all 4 names on the same locator - one was for the 4 of us to fly to Orlando on US Air and then we had another locator (one number for all four of us) to fly on United back to Albany. When they canceled the flight to Orlando, that locator number was split into two..because they we sending us separately, but our flight home was still all uner the second locator number.
I booked all of us at the same time - just as though we were a family of four.

 

[prncess674]

Yes, we were all 4 names on the same locator - one was for the 4 of us to fly to Orlando on US Air and then we had another locator (one number for all four of us) to fly on United back to Albany. When they canceled the flight to Orlando, that locator number was split into two..because they we sending us separately, but our flight home was still all uner the second locator number.
I booked all of us at the same time - just as though we were a family of four.

To answer your original question, asking for 4 free roundtrip tickets is unreasonable and will most likely end up in frustration and no satisfaction. Unfortunately, you are not a "valued customer" in that you probably bought el cheapo tickets and you and your family only fly once or twice a year. Sure you can huff and puff and say I will never fly US Air again, but in the end if US Air is the cheapest from your airport most casual flyers will not spend hundreds more on the once yearly vacation to make a point that more than likely the airlines won't give 2 cents about. They are most likely to give you maybe 4 $50 certs or 5K in miles that will not be able to be combined for one trip. If you are lucky you will get $100 certs or 10K per person in separate FF accounts.

 

[LaurenT]

To answer your original question, asking for 4 free roundtrip tickets is unreasonable and will most likely end up in frustration and no satisfaction. Unfortunately, you are not a "valued customer" in that you probably bought el cheapo tickets and you and your family only fly once or twice a year. Sure you can huff and puff and say I will never fly US Air again, but in the end if US Air is the cheapest from your airport most casual flyers will not spend hundreds more on the once yearly vacation to make a point that more than likely the airlines won't give 2 cents about. They are most likely to give you maybe 4 $50 certs or 5K in miles that will not be able to be combined for one trip. If you are lucky you will get $100 certs or 10K per person in separate FF accounts.

OK, thank you for answering.
I didn't actually ask for anything specific. I documented everything that happened and said that I awaited their reply and hoped that they would provide compensation sufficient to retain my faith in their company's ability to own up to serious mistakes and compensate their customers appropriately for major inconveniences. And, yes, I only travel once in a while, maybe four times a year. I usually book SW for Orlando, but use US Air or United for Oklahoma or my national conference.
My husband, however, is an entirely different story. I didn't threaten them with never flying them again, and it certainly won't push them into bankruptcy, but if I feel ripped off by them, we will no longer use them, we are fortunate enough to have options at our airport. And while miniscule, it would still be a bad business decision to give up our business for the sake of a voucher.
I was told it would take 3 to 5 days I think to receive a response...so we'll see what happens...

 

[prncess674]

OK, thank you for answering.
I didn't actually ask for anything specific. I documented everything that happened and said that I awaited their reply and hoped that they would provide compensation sufficient to retain my faith in their company's ability to own up to serious mistakes and compensate their customers appropriately for major inconveniences. And, yes, I only travel once in a while, maybe four times a year. I usually book SW for Orlando, but use US Air or United for Oklahoma or my national conference.
My husband, however, is an entirely different story. I didn't threaten them with never flying them again, and it certainly won't push them into bankruptcy, but if I feel ripped off by them, we will no longer use them, we are fortunate enough to have options at our airport. And while miniscule, it would still be a bad business decision to give up our business for the sake of a voucher.
I was told it would take 3 to 5 days I think to receive a response...so we'll see what happens...

I know it is frustrating but airlines really only care to compensate those true frequent flyers with anything of value. You imply that your husband is a frequent flyer, so I am assuming your DH is either Platinum or a Chairman's Preferred with US Air. If you were really having problems at the airport why didn't you ring up DH on your mobile phone and have him call the elite desk and have the whole matter at the ticket desk sorted. If your DH is a non status flyer then he falls in the same category as you since he doesn't fly enough to gain status.

Problems do happen, but the compensation is not related to the amount of money/vacation you may have missed it is based on the amount of money you paid to the airline for your ticket. Let's assume you paid $189 per ticket. They did eventually get you to and from your destination, though not at your preferred time, then they airlines are going to probably assume a very generous 25% blame, hence a $50 cert. If you were unhappy at the time of the maintenance delay I am sure US Air would have refunded the full amount of your original ticket, but at the end of the day you made a choice and went ahead and accepted the later flights.

 

[GEB@okw]

We traveled Grand Rapids MI to Orlando on Feb 19 and returned on Feb 26. No trouble with any flight, in fact we got to Orlando 20 minutes early.

 

[Jaymie]

My 2 cents to the OP, I don't think you're being unreasonable. Doesn't hurt to tell your story and hope for the best.

Good Luck, maybe you'll be heading back to Disney sooner than you think.

 

[got2luvtink]

You're not being unreasonable at all. Since when is it unreasonable to expect descent customer service and competency from a business that you have paid money to? Kudos to you for trying to hold them to a reasonable standard of service.

 

[LaurenT]

I know it is frustrating but airlines really only care to compensate those true frequent flyers with anything of value. You imply that your husband is a frequent flyer, so I am assuming your DH is either Platinum or a Chairman's Preferred with US Air. If you were really having problems at the airport why didn't you ring up DH on your mobile phone and have him call the elite desk and have the whole matter at the ticket desk sorted. If your DH is a non status flyer then he falls in the same category as you since he doesn't fly enough to gain status.

Problems do happen, but the compensation is not related to the amount of money/vacation you may have missed it is based on the amount of money you paid to the airline for your ticket. Let's assume you paid $189 per ticket. They did eventually get you to and from your destination, though not at your preferred time, then they airlines are going to probably assume a very generous 25% blame, hence a $50 cert. If you were unhappy at the time of the maintenance delay I am sure US Air would have refunded the full amount of your original ticket, but at the end of the day you made a choice and went ahead and accepted the later flights.

How I wish it were $179...we paid $600 each - ridiculous amount, but it was president's week. Even now, looking at traveling at the very end of August, the best I'm finding is a bit over $300...