Donut emergency on Northwest

Let’s start at the end for a change. Northwest Airlines put this passenger on the next flight and upgraded him to first class as a goodwill gesture.

And Northwest had a lot of making up to do.

Robert Parrish and his wife first had their flight from Saginaw, Mich., to Minneapolis delayed because of a mechanical problem over the New Year’s holiday. They spent an extra night in Saginaw to wait for their next flight. But on their way to the airport, in a courtesy van they shared with the flight crew, they ran into an unexpected delay.

Seems the pilots and flight attendants needed a donut fix. So they stopped at a 7/11 to pick up a few pastries, taking up more than 10 minutes of valuable time. Although the crew made their flight (they breezed right through the crew-only security checkpoint) Parrish didn’t. “We arrived at the check-in counter to learn that we had to have been there 10 minutes earlier, at the latest,” he told me. “We could not get on our scheduled flight.”

You can watch the whole story here.

Northwest obviously did the right thing by upgrading them and putting them on the next flight. I’ve heard from a lot of Northwest passengers who say that in the event of a missed flight, the airline charges them for a brand new ticket. That’s easily how this could have turned out.

Whose responsibility is it to get to the airport on time? It is the passenger’s, of course. But in this case, Parrish had received assurances from his hotel that he’d make his flight. The hotel shouldn’t have done that. But there is no precedent for compensating a guest for bad advice — that would be entirely up to the property.

Northwest could have sweetened its offer with a few vouchers, but I wouldn’t have pushed for it. In all, I would describe this as a happy ending. If I could stop laughing.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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