Is your flight about to be canceled?
Joshua Peterman’s was. He recently bought three Delta Air Lines tickets from Seattle to Bangkok. But a few weeks ago, Travelocity e-mailed him with word that his flights were “no longer confirmed” — a nice way of saying he had no reservations.
“The only option that they’ve offered is a refund, which is useless at this point, since the tickets are twice as expensive as they were when I purchased them,” he says. “Delta is claiming their codeshare partner changed the schedule and that they’re under no obligation to offer us new travel dates unless the partner airline has tickets with the exact same fare code.”
In other words, Peterman didn’t pay enough for his ticket.
This scenario is likely to repeat itself more in the coming months. Airlines have canceled twice as many flights in the first half of 2008 as they did last year — about 65,000 — and they have no intention of tapping the brakes. In fact, domestic airlines are expected to cut the number of flights by up to 15 percent during the next year, which is the biggest reduction in service since 9/11, and maybe ever.
But these cancellations don’t have to ruin your trip. I contacted Travelocity to find out why Peterman had been left high and dry by Delta. A Travelocity spokesman promised to find out what had happened to his flight. “Regardless of the outcome, our agents shouldn’t be telling a customer to call the carrier,” he added. They might take a moment to read their customers’ e-mail signatures, too. Peterman is a lawyer.
Delta’s contract of carriage (PDF) — the legal agreement between passengers and the airline — says its published schedules are “not guaranteed” and that it may, without notice, “substitute alternate carriers or aircraft.” But I can’t find a reference to Delta’s fare code cop-out. The airline, with Travelocity’s help, should have rebooked Peterman on another flight to Bangkok.
There’s a right way to do this. JetBlue had to reschedule one of my flights a few weeks ago. And every time it did, it sent me an e-mail and when I called, a friendly reservations agent offered options, not excuses. The same can’t be said for other airlines that either fail to notify their customers or take a my-way-or-the-runway approach — either you take our flight or we’ll issue an involuntary refund.
Surviving the summer of airline cancellations is possible. Here are a few helpful strategies:
Call your airline to confirm your flight at least two weeks in advance
The conventional wisdom used to be to phone your airline, or check online, a day before you leave. But with this fall’s unprecedented flight cutbacks, that time has increased to at least two weeks. Why? Because if you have to take the refund, the two-week window for advance purchases will still be open. Remember, as you get closer to your travel date, the cost of your ticket goes up. The most expensive tickets are called “walk-up” fares because you literally walk up to the ticket counter on the day of the flight to buy them. Calling two weeks early will prevent you from having to shell out big bucks for one of these overpriced tickets.
It’s important to contact the air carrier directly, because things can get lost in the translation between you and your agent. If you don’t believe me, talk to Wendy Fisher, who recently booked a flight through Expedia from Paris to Amsterdam. Her airline canceled her flight, and Expedia rebooked her on a different flight that she didn’t particularly like, charging her more money (which it shouldn’t have done). Then, when she showed up at the airport, the carrier insisted she didn’t have a ticket — only a reservation — and forced her to buy an entirely new ticket. Expedia claims she was a no-show for her flight. Repeated letters to the president of Expedia were met with form responses. If Fisher had phoned her airline, she probably wouldn’t have had to pay for a second flight.
Know your airline’s contract of carriage
Generally speaking, an airline contract says you’re entitled to a refund or to be rescheduled on a flight of the airline’s choosing when your flight is changed. But not all of them do. For example, United Airlines allows for a refund only if your flight has been changed by more than two hours (at least that’s how I interpret Rule 240 of its contract — but then again, I’m no lawyer).
A little contract knowledge can take you a long way. Tim Strigenz, a producer for a video game company in El Cerrito, Calif., bought a ticket for his wife to fly from Tampa, Fla., to Eugene, Ore., on US Airways this spring. Then the airline started cutting flights to Eugene, to the point where she was left with a reservation on the sole remaining flight, and a take-it-or-leave it ultimatum from US Airways. “Her first choice would be a United codeshare flight — and if they are unwilling to budge on that, a refund,” he told me. I contacted US Airways on Strigenz behalf and it did not respond. The contract is pretty clear about his rights — his wife is entitled to a refund, but probably not a rebooking on the codeshare flight.
By the way, I think the contracts could stand to be revised. When an airline cancels your flight, it should either offer you a new flight that works for you or a refund at the going rate for a ticket. That way, you can afford to fly on another airline.
Work with a good travel agent
At the risk of contradicting myself, let me add that your best protection against a cancellation disaster is working with a competent travel agent. Yes, you’ll pay an additional booking fee of around $50 per ticket. But agents know what you’re up against and they have ways of making sure that your trip won’t get ruined by a flight problem. There are at least a hundred other reasons to hire a reliable travel professional — I’ve outline a few of them here — but the bottom line is, you can’t go wrong with the right agent.
If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, here are a few tools you’ll want to consider. First, sign up for e-mail alerts from your airline and online agency, and be sure to whitelist their messages. Alerts tend to get stuck in spam filters. Also, check with a service like FlightStats which offers both real-time and historical flight information. And keep an eye on the latest travel news to see which airlines are cutting back their flights.
Book less cancellation-prone flights, if possible
It’s not easy to predict whether your flight will be canceled before your departure date, but you can make an educated guess. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics is a terrific resource for someone who wants to connect the dots. For example, it publishes a list of the most-delayed flights and of holiday flight delays. (Here’s the chart of last Thanksgiving, for example.) You can look up detailed cancellation statistics by carrier right here. It also helps to know that airlines are reducing service to certain destinations, such as Las Vegas and Orlando. The reason? Too many deal-hungry leisure travelers fly to those places, and not enough full-fare-paying business travelers.
By combining available government statistics with what you can cull from news reports, it’s possible to accurately predict the status of your next flight. For example, I recently had a flight scheduled from Orlando to Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, N.Y. When AirTran announced plans to end service to that airport in September, I began to suspect that my flight schedule might be changed. It was. If you see your airport in the news, and have that “I wonder if …” moment, don’t wait for your airline to call you. Call it first and stay on it. And if you are in the process of planning a flight, book away from a cancellation-prone airline or airport.
Just because airlines are slashing their schedules and laying off employees this year doesn’t mean you have to become a victim, too. With a little research, planning and a lucky guess or two, you can get to your destination.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Maybe it’s just me but I feel that when I make a booking with an airline and pay them the money we have made a contract. I agree to pay a fare and the airline agrees to take me from point A to point B.
However if I want to change the dates of my flight I will be charged a very hefty fee. I will accept this IF the airline agrees to pay the same fee if they decide to change or cancel my flight.
As a side note: I think it is very interesting to see the different level of service that I get from the same airline in different countries. An example is while an airline may charge me $150 plus the fare difference to change a ticket in the United States, the same airline will only charge $25 if I change the ticket by calling one of their offices in a foreign country.
Another beef I have is when the airline cancels your whole itinerary because it made you miss a connection. I had to rebook a five week trip around the world because understaffing made me miss my first connection. When I call, they tell me that since I was on the first flight but not the second, they had no way of knowing that I would continue my trip. Even though they had me confirmed for another flight the following day. It is the only industry that can take your money, your baggage, and your body and hold you hostage.
I think there is a much better way to deal with airlines. Forget that Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz exists. Book directly with the travel provider and be done with it. As an avid reader of this column, I would say that 95% of the “I have no ticket issue” stems from booking with a third party provider. While you may save a few dollars, it seems to me that one mishap will wipe our your entire monetary savings. If I book a flight on AA and have my AA confirmation, AA will have the devil trying to tell me that I don’t have a flight. But I book it with Expedia, now it becomes a legitimate question as who dropped the ball. Each side will point to the other.
No thank you.
Good comment, Carver. I too, tend to book directly with the airlines, rather than with a third-party. I check out the travel sites for hotel reviews, but whether I’m booking a flight, a hotel room or a rental car, I usually do it with the travel provider directly. Unless I get a really good deal on a car rental from Priceline. Other than that, I go directly to the source.
And you’re right. If you book with the company directly and you have printed out all the nice confirmation paperwork, then the company is responsible, no question. Period. Weaseling out of the contract of carriage becomes much more difficult when they made the booking to start with.
Don’t wait until 2 weeks the flight before to check your booking. Check your flights at least once a week by logging into your reservation on the airline’s website. This is important because if there is a schedule change or cancellation, the earlier you catch it, the more flight options you will have. We had a schedule change last fall, that by the time we caught it, the next best option was already full.
Also, note above I said log into your reservation on your airline’s website. Don’t rely on the airline to notify you – be proactive. If you booked through an online agent like Expedia, don’t rely on them to notify you either. And don’t just look at the flight schedules, if you aren’t logged into your reservation, you might have missed that your original flight was cancelled, you were rescheduled by the computer onto another flight, and then a few weeks later they reinstated your original flight but didn’t switch you back to it (has happened to several people I know in the last few months).