Christine Glovier didn’t have an ideal travel experience when she flew from Philadelphia to Manchester, NH, on US Airways. But is an apology enough for what happened?
contract of carriage
About half an hour into the redeye flight from Maui to Los Angeles last Wednesday, the cabin lights abruptly flashed on. But that didn’t wake me up. It was the captain’s announcement that jarred me to alertness. “We’ve had a fire in the forward galley,” he said with the professional detachment you’d expect from an [...]
During the last week, several news outlets and bloggers — including most recently, the Arizona Daily Star — have breathlessly reported that Southwest Airlines quietly revised its contract to define mechanical delays as an “Act of God.”
Today’s award for most creative definition of an airline cancellation goes to JetBlue Airways. Back in February, after canceling Judith Ganz’ flight from Dulles to Boston — that’s right, canceling — it redefined its action as a “schedule change” in order to pocket her money.
As someone who is currently being sued, you might think I’m the last person who would support a new rule that would allow more people to file a lawsuit against an airline.
Talk is cheap. That’s the gist of the part of the latest government rulemaking that is likely to give airlines the biggest headache. Instead of just “strongly encouraging” the airlines to adopt customer service plans, the government wants them to put it in their contracts of carriage, the legal agreement between them and their customers.
Flight schedules change. It’s a simple fact of life in the air.
Once in a blue moon, you come across a hard-luck story with a happy ending that involves an airline doing something nice for a passenger, even though it doesn’t have to. Nancy Pearson’s story of trying to get to Toronto for a surprise birthday party is one of them.
Megan Boing booked two tickets from Chicago to London on Virgin Atlantic Airways for her honeymoon. Then the airline canceled her flights. Normally, it would offer her two options: either a full refund or a new flight of its choosing. But that’s not what happened.
Vivian Polzin didn’t have a choice. A Delta Air Lines employee forced her to check a bag that contained a camera with priceless vacation snapshots. But when the carrier lost her camera, it had a choice — and it decided to hide behind its contract of carriage, which says it isn’t liable for electronic equipment in checked luggage.
When an airline doesn’t play by its own rules, what recourse do you have? Foujan Ziadlou wanted to know after having one of the worst experiences of her life on Northwest Airlines.
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?
The passengers on a recent Continental Airlines flight 89 from Newark to Beijing were given an unwelcome lesson in patience. Halfway through the flight, their plane was diverted on a medical emergency and eventually returned to the states, where it was canceled. Then, the next day, the same passengers were finally sent to China. Are these air travelers owed anything for the trouble?
The next time your flight is delayed or canceled, you might want to think twice before whipping out your airline’s contract of carriage and demanding compensation. Airline employees don’t tolerate passengers with attitude — especially those invoking the legendary “Rule 240.”
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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