Does an airline owe you anything for a five-day delay? William Danylchuk was held up in Syracuse for the better part of the week, while trying to get home to Des Moines for Christmas. American Airlines offered him nothing for the inconvenience. Can it do that?
Here’s Danylchuk’s story:
I had been canceled and rebooked by American Airlines on every flight for five days. I called American every day an average of 25 times using the automated system to monitor flight departures and arrivals. I also checked with its live reservationists.
I understand weather was not good at times in Chicago or Syracuse, but there was never a time that the Syracuse airport was even closed, there were plenty of flights that made the trip. But any time I found one online with seats for sale, I was told it was booked.
I expected to be in Syracuse for a brief meeting and home by Christmas. I missed Christmas and spent the week alone in a hotel that cost nearly $600. I am not one to complain, but anyone I talked to thought five days was insane to be in a place that still had tons of flights leaving every day. I would have been willing to take any other route at any time, but was never offered anything but just to sit and wait.
I have never heard of anything like this and wondered what you think?
I think five days is way too long. But what I think doesn’t matter as much as what American’s conditions of carriage — the legal agreement between you and the airline — says.
American will endeavor to carry you and your baggage with reasonable dispatch, but times shown in timetables or elsewhere are not guaranteed and form no part of this contract. American may, without notice, substitute alternate carriers or aircraft and, if necessary, may alter or omit stopping places shown on the ticket.
Schedules are subject to change without notice. American is not responsible for or liable for failure to make connections, or to operate any flight according to schedule, or for a change to the schedule of any flight. Under no circumstances shall American be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages arising from the foregoing.
In other words, don’t hold us to our schedules. Don’t expect anything if we’re late.
And regarding compensation, it would depend on the reason for your cancellation or delay. If it’s caused by mechanical problems, then you would be entitled to a hotel and meal voucher, under the contract. But if it’s weather-related — a so-called “Act of God” — you’re essentially on your own.
Airlines have some flexibility in how they can interpret their own contract, and I believe if you had mentioned your problem to a ticket agent, American might have offered to cover your hotel. I think it should have.
I asked American about your ordeal. Here’s what a spokeswoman told me:
Well, unfortunately a combination of bad weather and full planes looks like what happened. And, of course there are fewer flights as well. One other thing that contributed is that in inclement weather, the regional airlines have to cancel more than the mainline.
As you are probably aware, the automated system rebooks the AAdvantage premium status first, and with full planes the AAdvantage status customers get what few seats are left first.
I am sorry that anyone gets stuck, it is absolutely no fun. It’s happened to me several times, especially when I used to travel for a living. I have forwarded your email on to our Customer Relations team so they are aware of this situation.
Danylchuk is not happy with that answer.
I have traveled all over the country to little backwoods areas more times than I can remember in the past two years on business. But In the past I have picked the airline with the best schedule for myself and have not been as concerned about the level of my advantage membership. If I were a premium advantage member this would not have happened, I guess?
Sounds like a lost cause.
Maybe getting compensation from American is a lost cause at this point. But the lessons learned from Danylchuk’s five-day ordeal are, as they say, priceless.
Sign up for my 
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
In the quote of the frustrated traveler, he says he would have taken anything they would have offered. What about presenting alternatives to the agents on the phone? I’ve been socked in at LGA and offered to get home 2 days later. I asked — what about EWR? Told “Oh, there is a code-share flight in 3 hours. I’ll put you on as standby, and if you don’t make that, there are 2 other flights that will get you home today….”
There is a direct flight from LGA to DSM on most nights, if not all. Maybe you could have driven the 5 hours and hopped on a flight from LGA.
AA serves many upstate NY airports — were they all socked in? I would have offered to drive to a less congested airport with maybe more AA flights to my destination.
AA also has flights to DFW and STL that offer connections to DSM, maybe not from SYR, but from other airports within a driving distance.
Maybe you can’t drive, so hop on the Greyhound to a place with flights. It isn’t that hard.
Don’t like that? Take the Amtrak over to ALB or BUF with connections to NYC or ORD.
I would have done ANYTHING to get home for Christmas.
Ever seen Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? You can learn much from that movie!!
SYR is not the only airport there.
I guess you learned to ASK if not here – then where. My gosh man, it would have cost less and taken less time to drive to Cleveland [or Des Moines for that matter] than it cost to sit in a hotel for 5 nights waiting for an airline to give you a confirmed seat. Stupid? Perhaps Uninformed? yes, definitely.
The little tidbit in the response from AA gives you are pretty good claim; SYR is a prime snow destination, yet, they state that the mainline airplanes travel in bad weather better than the regional aircraft. Hmmm. did they DISCLOSE that prior to buying your ticket. I would use this a grounds for a small claims action to recover the cost of the hotel and meal cost in excess of what you would have paid at home.
But, at the end of the day, my gosh, Amtrak has trains to Chicago, or Cleveland, where you could catch a ‘real’ airplane that is not so weather limited. Why owuld ANYONE just sit there?
It is a 15 hour drive home – AA would have refunded the ticket price thus paying for your rental car. Gimme a break here . . . r u sure you wanted to get home for Christmas or jut found a convenient excuse?
Since you did not receive the service as sold, dispute the charge with your credit card company.
Were all those other flights subsequently cancelled also? AA might refund if that’s the case and if it’s brought to their attention right away, but it depends on a variety of things.
Doing a chargeback is another option as Stephen said, although IIRC it could affect your credit history. Not completely sure how it works in Danylchuk’s jurisdiction.
I think that the posters missed the reality of the situation. If someone told Dan at the beginning of the trip that he would be delayed for 5 days he would certainly have made alternative arrangements. However, he didn’t know the length of the delay until it actually occurred. He knows that if he takes the bus or train it will take a long time, when he’s hoping to get on the next flight out, which keeps dragging and dragging.
The OPs biggest mistake was not becoming an elite member of one or more frequent flyer programs. Assistance during irregular operations is possibily the biggest benefit of these programs.
The airline should pay him for days missed at work and provide a refund for the cost of food and shelter. If they were smart they’d throw in another free ticket…
I am not elite on any airline, but I know how to ask and what to ask for when IRROPS occur — and that doesn’t mean yelling or screaming at ANYONE!
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. My guess — there was something preventing him from leaving SYR — a handicap, severe aversion to other forms of public transportation, girlfriend(?), etc.
Which I can understand…
We are only getting the sugar coated version here on both sides.
We’re not getting the complete story, here — we never do….
This comment may not go over well, but…………
He went and stayed at a (comfotable?) hotel with entertainment, food, etc.
Why wasn’t the psgr at the aiport actively seeking a flight? There must have been many who did and got on a flight. He should have taken an active roll in such storm related conditions, not just making phone calls away from the airport.
If a flight that shows oversold on a reservations screen does wind up (and in these conditions many times will) with any seats available at flight time, they will go to the psgr who are there in person standing by. No one is going to call him, ask if he still wants a seat and then hold he flight till he gets there.
Well, I spent several days in Vancouver during the recent storms. It seems that my choice of Air Canada didn’t work out very well. United was getting its flights out on the 21st and 22nd (although with long delays), while Air Canada was canceling right and left. By the time AC canceled a flight, there were no more seats and I had to make numerous calls to the 800 number to rebook.
I spent Sunday night at the airport hotel, but after having my flights on Monday canceled, I finally gave up and went to my nice, warm apartment. I couldn’t take another day playing standby. Seattle was just as bad, if not worse, and Amtrak was having problems as well, so I figured a warm place was better than the airport. On the other hand, I’m not asking for any compensation because I ultimately made the decision to wait a few extra days.
I agree with you Bob. The psgr would most likely have not had to wait 5 days if he was constantly in the face of the airlines. I’d be camping in front of every gate waiting for any flight out. I’ve flown in and out of SYR several times in the last few years. It is not a large airport, so tracking down someone to help should be easy. But yeah, calling from a hotel (probably 15 minutes away) is not going to help, and they certainly won’t hold a flight for him to arrive when others are standing are already in the terminal.
While I sympathize with the OP, I’m not sure I understand correctly.
5 days?! I would have been renting a car or finding some other form of transportation rather than sitting idly by and waiting on the off-chance that there would be a flight to open up. CERTAINLY after a day or so.
At least in a rental or on a train you are moving away from SYR, not just sitting there.
I have a feeling we are not getting the whole story here…
This is one of those situations where a travel agent would come in handy. On Dec. 18th I had a client scheduled to leave Montreal on a late flight to Seattle. United had made a mistake in the rebooking of his codeshare flight (his return was originally scheduled on the 19th but he finished early), and US Airways wouldn’t let him on the plane. With the weather in the Chicago/Toronto/Minneapolis areas around that time, and the fact that it was the weekend before Christmas, it wasn’t easy getting him on a flight home. In the end, he made it home by the morning of the 20th, on our 8th attempt (some flights were cancelled due to weather, some were delayed to the point where he would have just gotten stuck somewhere else, and once he forgot to check in for the flight). He was also originally booked by United on a US Airways flight, and over the course of two days was rebooked at no additional charge on Delta and Northwest, and finally made it home on American and Alaska – I can guarantee you, without me working the phones and my reservation system, he would not have made it home when he did, and they would not have agreed to protect him on another airline.
If you are afrequent traveller, it better to equipe with a credit card which cover the trip interruption expenses automatically like DINERS CLUB or Platinum Amex. I had several weather delay or interruption occasion and Diner Club reimburse promtply all expenses (very few limits with Diners Club). You don’t have to wait for the charity of the Airlines, just ask a printout of the cause of delay and submit it with your claim to Diners Club. Diners Club give free access to several Airport Lounges around the world and it is very helpfull where there are long delays. Also, Diners Cub provide Priority Access Card which give access hundres of Airport Lounge with a fee but this fee will be reimburse when your flights is delay more than 6 hours.
I agree with the posters above who said driving would have been better. If I were in that situation, and driving wasn’t an option, I would live in the terminal and ask every few minutes about it. Reminding them that I am still here probably would have worked better than calling from a hotel. If a last minute chance to get a flight came up, he is probably miles away.
i was stranded in nyc for 2 days because the airline gave my seat to someone from a cancelled flight.no other airline had a seat.airline said am on my own.calles travel agent she said she could get me home but not destination.when I told her not acceptable she got me a BA flight..when I went to get ticket endorsed original airline found me a seat.;I was out over 600 dollars,when I came home original airline said they would not re-imburse me untill I said I was going to small claims court and naming the ceo of the airline
Well, as for going to other airports, if Syracuse is having bad weather, Rochester (1hr away) and Buffalo (2hrs) wouldn’t be any better, although American flies out of both as well. Another possible option would have been Ithaca, although it is a much smaller airport he could have tried Northwest from Ithaca to Detroit to Des Moines. But frankly, considering the weather issues that faces all upstate NY airports, I would not have tried a different airport.
I’m surprised he didn’t walk over to United–the United flights to Chicago are directly across the way from the American flights at Syracuse. United also has many flights to Des Moines. Sounds like this guy didn’t try very hard to get home.