What $15 and a little time gets you

[PrincessKsMom]

http://information.travel.aol.com/n...prim0402&icid=100214839x1209866792x1200570352

I love this!

 

[bab31]

 

[suzimar57]

good for them!

 

[CarolynK]

Good for him! Thanks for the link.

 

[seashoreCM]

1. The airline probably cancelled his flight because it did not want the airplane sitting at that destination only to be snowed in a few hours later and had no immediate revenue generating flight to fly it back out with.

2. IMHO the airline should give the passenger a refund upon request when a flight does not operate on schedule. This is not a request for compensation that "force majeure" might limit.

3. Would the airline have been willing to award sufficient miles (confederate currency as related in the story) to book any flight to any destination on any day with (six figures in this case)?

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[molly2004]

I think the key to making this passenger's action justifyable (sp?) is the fact that he asked only for reimbursement of the extra money he had to spend to get home. This could easily have gone into the zone of punitive damages, distress, etc, with the passenger getting greedy. But this passenger took the high road, so to speak, to rectify a situation that he felt unfair.

Thanks for the link. And way to go! to the passenger, and an attorney too!

 

[CarolA]

I don't get it.. I guess you guys want the airlines to fly when the weather is bad?

What you have to realize is that planes MOVE. So even if the weather is fine in BOTH your departure city and arrival city if the plane's stuck in "Chiago" where the weather is bad, it's a WEATHER delay. What would you like? The airline to endanger all those people so YOU can have your flight????

Delta just didn't show up. That does not prove the flight was not a weather delay. (And how many times will this one case keep coming back up? This is at least the third thread on this guy!)

 

[girli565]

I don't get it.. I guess you guys want the airlines to fly when the weather is bad?

What you have to realize is that planes MOVE. So even if the weather is fine in BOTH your departure city and arrival city if the plane's stuck in "Chiago" where the weather is bad, it's a WEATHER delay. What would you like? The airline to endanger all those people so YOU can have your flight????

Delta just didn't show up. That does not prove the flight was not a weather delay. (And how many times will this one case keep coming back up? This is at least the third thread on this guy!)

The article plainly stated that the weather report was expecting snow for 5am, which was well after the flight's landing time. So, no, we don't want planes flying in bad weather, we only want refunds when the cancellation due to weather is unfounded. And if other airlines were departing for the same destination than the weather must have been calm enough for them to go, so why not Delta?

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I don't get it.. I guess you guys want the airlines to fly when the weather is bad?

What you have to realize is that planes MOVE. So even if the weather is fine in BOTH your departure city and arrival city if the plane's stuck in "Chiago" where the weather is bad, it's a WEATHER delay. What would you like? The airline to endanger all those people so YOU can have your flight????

Delta just didn't show up. That does not prove the flight was not a weather delay. (And how many times will this one case keep coming back up? This is at least the third thread on this guy!)

First off, sorry that this was previously discussed. I searched the boards and didn't see mention of it, so excuse me for kicking a dead horse.

What I expect is, should I pay for a service, that service is rendered. If you choose not to render that service (which was clearly the case here), then I expect a refund. Plain and simple. I will take my refund and my business elsewhere.

The weather clearly would not have affected this flight, either at departure or arrival. I don't care if an airplane gets stuck in a city because of bad weather. If the weather is fine where I'm departing from, and where I'm arriving, I don't care that the weather might be bad hours after I arrive. If the plane has to get stuck somewhere, why not move as many people as possible before the plane gets stuck?

I can't believe that no matter what the case, some people on this board will time and time again, always take the side of the airlines. At least I'm willing to review and decide on a case by case basis. Apparently the courts agree.

 

[Alexander]

Well, it probably would have cost Delta more to send their lawyer to the court.

We have had Delta offer us a refund on our flight due to both mechanical and weather related problems. The only problem was that there weren't any other flights going anywhere for at least 4 days that had seats available, so we chose to wait it out. I have to say Delta has ALWAYS taken great care of us when their are delays.

 

[mom2aredhead]

The article plainly stated that the weather report was expecting snow for 5am, which was well after the flight's landing time. So, no, we don't want planes flying in bad weather, we only want refunds when the cancellation due to weather is unfounded. And if other airlines were departing for the same destination than the weather must have been calm enough for them to go, so why not Delta?

Because it's Delta.
This is similar to what happened to me with Delta, and when I said it I was pretty much crucified around here for complaining. Delta canceled my flight on a beautiful sunny afternoon in Atlanta which was heading to a beautiful sunny New York. Continental got out. Other flights got out. And although my 1:00 flight was canceled for "weather related" reasons, the 3:00 and the 5:00 got out, but I was put on the 7:00. The thunderstorms rolled in around 6:00 just as we were boarding and we sat on plane on the runway watching the lightning for 3 hours. Made it home around midnight.

However, I remain eternally grateful that they fulfilled their contractual obligation by getting me from point A to point B even though I only paid $250 for my ticket as opposed to the $900 that I "should have" paid to make sure that the airlines remain profitable and are able to serve the business travelers of the world.

Weather related my a$$.

 

[crashbb]

You do realise that to get from point A to point B, you go through points C to Z, right? And somewhere in points C to Z there may be bad/unflyable weather? Also, the projected bad weather in the destination city wasn't going to magically appear out of nowhere after the projected arrival time - it was coming from somewhere, perhaps on the flight path.

Look, weather delays stink (I was supposed to arrive in St. Louis at 6pm last Sunday - I got there at 10am Monday, due to weather in Chicago, where I was connecting). Definitely annoying, but I have no thoughts about suing United.

 

[mom2aredhead]

I have no thoughts about suing Delta either.

But it's beginning to appear that Delta operates in their own climatic zone and weather related things seem to affect their flights more often than other airlines.

BTW, this is not a scientific study, and I have no evidence. Just my opinion, which I'm entitled to. I have taken my business back to Continental where it will remain indefinitely. Not that they care, since I'm just a peon "vacation traveler".

 

[PrincessKsMom]

If the airlines have the ability to cancel flights because they don't feel it's safe to fly, why am I not afforded the same courtesy? What if I decide that even though my carrier is flying, I don't feel it's safe? Would I then get all my money back? It seems there is NO accountability. They can cancel flights, keep passengers trapped for hours, rearrange schedules, take your money for a direct flight and turn it into a layover, etc. What other industry is afforded the ability to do whatever they feel like doing?

I too had a similiar experience with Delta. There was a huge snowstorm in NY/NJ. Everyone else was flying, the next day, except Delta . They refused to give me a refund, or a credit to take to another carrier. They also wouldn't pay for a hotel. 2 hours after they told me, THEY ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT BE FLYING THAT DAY, that if other carriers wanted to take a chance with their customers' lives that was on the head of the other carriers and Delta wasn't willing to do it, Delta first flight of the day took off for NY/NJ. I WAS FURIOUS. They refused to put me on a plane out that night and I had to pay for a hotel and fly out the next morning. I paid for a direct flight, and instead got a layover in Atlanta, where there was 20 minutes between planes. They landed at one end of the airport, and my connecting flight was leaving from the other. I then proceeded to get crap from the Delta employee for not showing up sooner. I too am a peon vacation traveler, but I won't do business with Delta again.

I don't want to hear how they're bankrupt and losing money all the time. People on the boards get slammed frequently for being irresponsible with their money and filing bankruptcy, etc., so why doesn't anyone feel the same about the airlines? If you're stupid enough to offer a flight for $59 each way, of course I'm going to take it. If you can't afford to fly at those rates, DON'T OFFER THEM! It has been pointed out before that business travelers are what keep the airlines flying, so it's not like the little people of the world will make or break an airline. They don't care about us, so why should we care about them?

 

[mom2aredhead]

You do realise that to get from point A to point B, you go through points C to Z, right? And somewhere in points C to Z there may be bad/unflyable weather? Also, the projected bad weather in the destination city wasn't going to magically appear out of nowhere after the projected arrival time - it was coming from somewhere, perhaps on the flight path.

Look, weather delays stink (I was supposed to arrive in St. Louis at 6pm last Sunday - I got there at 10am Monday, due to weather in Chicago, where I was connecting). Definitely annoying, but I have no thoughts about suing United.

You were connecting in Chicago. Your plane had to go to Chicago. The weather issue was in Chicago. There's a difference.

Think of it this way. If you hired a limo on your wedding day, signed a contract, agreed on a time to pick you up, paid for the service in full, you would expect them to be there when they're supposed to. As a customer, do you care where the limo is coming from? Do you ask? Is it your responsibility as the consumer? Not really.
Is it your problem if you wake up on a beautiful sunny day but the limo that you were supposed to have at your house is stuck in a snowstorm 3 hours away and it's too dangerous to drive? To me, that's something that I would expect the limo company to deal with TRANSPARENTLY (like get another car, hire me a different company) and still be able to fulfill their obligation to me. If the limo showed up 24 hours later and offered to fulfill their contract by driving you to the church the next day is that acceptable? I bet you'd try to sue them, or get a full refund, or have them pay for the replacement you had to use since they didn't show up. But we hold airlines to a completely different level of service expectations.

And I agree with much of what PrincessKsMom wrote about the discounts. The airlines have basically trained vacation travelers to not pay full fare by offering discounts so often and on so many flights. It's the same reason I won't shop at Macy's when they're not having a sale or pay $4.99/lb for a package of chicken. If you train consumers to expect a discounted price on a regular basis, they will no longer be willing to pay full price. Marketing 101.

 

[crashbb]

Yes, in that example, the bad weather was in the connecting city. I have, however, had flights canceled due to weather conditions enroute - storms that we couldn't safely fly through/over/around.

Anyway, I'm out of this thread - they come up every few days and we just go 'round in circles.

 

[seashoreCM]

It seems there is NO accountability. They can cancel flights, keep passengers trapped for hours, rearrange schedules, take your money for a direct flight and turn it into a layover, etc. What other industry is afforded the ability to do whatever they feel like doing?

(repeated from another post)
"Businesses do the things they are supposed to do because of lawsuits." (Charles Osgood, on the CBS radio network).

They refused to give me a refund, or a credit to take to another carrier. ?

This put you in the (exact) same position as the person referred to in the OP's link.