In a surprise move, the Department of Transportation has fined two airlines for failing to disclose codesharing flights and disregarding their denied-boarding rules. United Airlines faces $80,000 in penalties for neglecting to inform travelers that certain flights were operated by another airline. And Delta Air Lines is being fined $375,000 for bumping passengers from its flights without compensation.
DELTA AIR LINES
United Airlines and US Airways lead the pack, according to the Transportation Department, charging their customers $78 million and $66 million, respectively. (The figures on the chart are for the first quarter of 2009, and are in millions.)
Remember “no waivers, no favors,” the unbending, post-9/11 airline policy that said all rules were to be enforced, no exceptions? Kay Fore got a little flashback when she asked Northwest Airlines to refund her nonrefundable ticket after her husband had a kidney transplant last year. Turns out she was talking to the wrong people.
It had all the makings of an unsolvable case. It involved a canceled wedding, nonrefundable tickets and an airline that refuses to answer my e-mails. But never say never.
Can an airline send a debt collector after you to pay for a missed flight? Strangely, the answer is: yes.
Airline customer service is a joke. That’s the conclusion Scott Overland came to after a lengthy — and at times funny — back-and-forth with Delta Air Lines’ “customer care” department.
You’ve probably heard about the extraordinary mileage promotions being offered by many legacy airlines in the United States. Earlier this week, for example, Delta Air Lines offered up to triple flown miles toward elite status on select fares purchased for travel through the summer. But that isn’t the only way in which air carriers are being more generous with their frequent fliers.
Is the Better Business Bureau an effective tool against bad airline service? The surprising answer may be: yes.
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.
Kelly Dehn just endured a nightmare flight on Northwest Airlines. It wasn’t that her four-hour trip from Minneapolis to Orange County, Calif., lasted an extra hour because the aircraft had to be de-iced. It wasn’t even that she was three months pregnant. It was her mysterious seatmate.
Bereavement fares may be a dying breed, but some airlines still offer them — with strings attached. Sandra Ball was told she didn’t qualify for a Northwest Airlines special fare because she wasn’t a member of WorldPerks, the airline’s frequent flier program. Can it do that?
Connie Fournier finally has her Northwest Airlines frequent flier miles and a partial refund this morning. In order to get them, she had to fight the airline for more than a month, appeal her case to a supervisor, and enlist my help. That shouldn’t have been necessary. Not at a time like this.
Here’s an inspiring story about a ticket agent going far above and beyond the call of duty to help American soldiers in need. It came to me by way of Sgt. Ron Hutchins, who was traveling to Germany with nine other servicemembers from the 912th Adjutant General Postal Company in Tallahassee, Fla.
The on-again, off-again merger between United Airlines and US Airways may be off for now, but the two airlines are together at last — at the top of the Transportation Department’s list of most complained-about airlines.
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have finally announced their merger this evening. No big surprises in the news release. We knew the Northwest name would be retired, and we knew how this would be spun.
Airline passengers put up with a lot these days, including bad food, cramped conditions, high ticket prices, and the ever-present fear of being detained by the TSA. But they draw the line when it comes to their seats.
Here’s an important footnote to the airline industry’s year from hell. A closer look at the Transportation Department’s 2007 report card shows some carriers were likelier to lose your luggage, deny you boarding, get you to your destination late and provoke a written complaint. And some airlines were above it all.
Delta Air Lines used to have a less-than-stellar reputation for customer service. But thanks to a shift in management attitudes (and encouraged, perhaps, but its huge financial losses) Delta now seems much closer to “getting it.”
