Q: I recently flew from Philadelphia to Tampa, Fla., with my family on US Airways. When we checked in, we found that the flight had been overbooked by 13 passengers and that the airline needed volunteers to take a flight the next morning. In exchange, the airline offered vouchers for flights anywhere in the United States.
I asked if we could use these vouchers to go out West during the holidays. The agents at the desk said that if we called in advance, it wouldn’t be a problem. I mentioned that we’d had trouble securing award tickets for that trip, but the agents told me the vouchers were different, and that there were no blackout dates on them.
Based on that information, we volunteered to take the next flight. We were sent to a hotel in a bad neighborhood, where we were afraid to leave the room to get something to eat. The sheets on our bed were so dirty that we slept in our clothes.
When we got home, I called US Airways to see if I could make flight arrangements from Tampa to Vancouver in December. It turned out there was no availability for voucher travel on those days.
I feel I have been duped and my family taken advantage of by an airline that intentionally overbooked a flight. Can you help?
— James Alver, Tampa
A: If an airline representative told you that getting tickets to Vancouver wouldn’t be a problem, and yet you’re having a problem, then I would say there’s definitely a problem.
Did US Airways intentionally overbook your flight? You bet. Most major airlines do.
Air carriers run sophisticated programs that manage their seat inventory. These so-called “yield management systems” try to predict how many ticketed passengers will actually show up for a flight. For the airlines, it’s a real balancing act: If they sell too few seats, they’re unprofitable; if they sell too many, they have to compensate bumped passengers with plane tickets and hotel rooms. Sometimes they get it wrong.
That would probably explain the substandard hotel, if not the semi-useless vouchers. But it wouldn’t account for the employee who told you the vouchers were easy to redeem. Surely the agent knew it would be difficult to fly to Vancouver just a few days before Christmas.
You should have, too. What the US Airways agent told you was just too good to be true. You should have asked for details about the vouchers before agreeing to anything. The terms and conditions of your vouchers are clear. There are blackout dates and other significant restrictions. Had you taken the time to read the terms, you could have avoided that unpleasant night in Philadelphia.
I contacted US Airways on your behalf, and the airline took another look at your case. A representative acknowledged that the terms of your voucher “were not clearly communicated to you,” and offered to swap your current vouchers for coupons worth $200 redeemable on any flight.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Elliott’s reminder that James should have know the offer was “too good to be true” is nonsense, as is his reprimand to “ask for details” and that the “voucher terms & conditions are clear”. Any time I fly (which is quite often), the hoards of people around the gate agent are long and sometimes unruly. The gate agents do not have time (or want to take it) to go into much detail about anything. And one certainly can’t say to the agent, “after I read the contract, I’ll make my decision”; that’s not realistic for the agent or the passenger. Common sense should apply, I agree, but Elliott is suggesting travellers should know airline agents’ information, and airlines’ requirements, etc. That’s just not possible. How one airline works is different from another. If you can’t believe an employee whose job it is to do this, then it’s the AIRLINES’ fault, not ours.
The consumer always bears some responsibility in a business transaction. Ever hear of “Caveat Emptor”?
When dealing with US Airways or ANY airline one needs to expand Caveat Emptor to “I’m about to be screwed I just don’t know how” then work backwards from that assumption. You will NEVER be surprised that way. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.
Just as an FYI the vouchers are good for either a R/T ticket domestic flight on US (No code share partners) OR a $200 flight credit. This is good for the customer.
The problem is that unless you’re persistant, you may not find this out from front line staff as US Airways can’t effectively communicate with it’s own employees much less customers.
As an even further Caveat I’m hearing rumors that in the future or currently the vouchers will become even more worthless as they will be “Zone Based” So if you’re flight was say from PHL to BUF that would be Zone 1 so your voucher would only be good for Zone 1, plus all other restrictions. Zone 1 might entail the the NE part of the US.
Despite being a 7 year top elite traveler with US Airways I have been unable to verify this or get any clear indications as to particulars.
Your remedies as a consumer are folks like Chris. The DOT and your States Attorney General. You can interact with ANY or all of these avenues via the web. Also sending your compliant to your local newspaper can be helpful. Unless of course you live in the middle of nowhere.
With your States Attorney General you can easliy file a consumer compliant alledging fraud as the terms of the tranaction were not fully explained. It’s not going beyond a phone call from the AG to your carrier, but who do you think carries more weight you or the states AG Office? get the picture? If you use them the complaint becomes a matter of public record which may be important as others press for redress.
It’s YOUR MONEY and you need to remind the arrogant Airlines of that fact from time to time. It helps keep them semi honest.
As far as I am concerned US Airways intentionally mislead people into believing that a travel voucher issued by them is good for any US flight. I had all ready boarded a US Airways flight nearly a year ago when a flight attendant announced over the speaker that they had over booked. The attendant stated if anyone would be willing to give up their seat they would be given a travel voucher that is good for any US Airways, US Airways Express, US Airways Shuttle, America West, and America West Express and put on the next available flight. I quickly jumped on this deal and took the next available flight and was given the flight voucher. Printed in the terms and conditions of the voucher it states that it is good for any US Airways, US Airways Express, US Airways Shuttle, America West, and America West Express flight in the same region as the original flight was booked, which happens to be Region 1-the Contiguous 48 states. I fly quite often, therefore I started trying to redeem the voucher the voucher right away. I tried several times to use it out of Sacramento, Ca. and was told that no voucher seats are available. Out of curiosity i had the agent check San Francisco and there were some flights available, but never when I needed to fly. After becoming suspicious of this I press the US Airways agent as to why no flights were available for flights out of Sacramento. The agent told me that Sacramento did not offer any voucher seats on any flights. Voucher seats are only available on flights for US Airways Hub locations. THE VOUCHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS SAYS ANY US AIRWAYS FLIGHT FROM ANY AIRPORT IN THE CONTIGUOUS 48 STATES.
I had essentially the same problem with Northwest almost two years ago. My experience involved a nicer hotel, but also involved several miles of walking in Minneapolis in January around midnight, a flight too early to take a shuttle back to the airport (and thus an out-of-pocket cab ride), and my seat actually going empty because the reason for the involuntary bump that they forced on me was to have enough oxygen masks for unticketed infants.
The gate agent told me that my voucher was good for any round-trip flight in the continental US and that I had to complete travel within one year. It wasn’t until I had booked a flight for the same trip the following Christmas that had a returning flight one week after the voucher’s one-year deadline was up that I discovered that I only had to begin travel within a year, contrary to what the gate agent had told me. This information was not available anywhere except from a Northwest agent I talked to on the phone and happened to mention my voucher dilemma to.
Then, I ran into the lack of voucher seats problem. For airports within 350 miles of where I was, the earliest open voucher seat was one day after my voucher expired. I wrote two letters to Northwest’s customer service address (which has a non-toll-free phone number with a phone menu that never leads to either a human being or a voicemail box, but continually promises that it will before eventually looping back to the main menu). The first one got a response the content of which translates directly to “we did not read your letter.”
The second one I sent, explaining in yet clearer language what had gone wrong (which far exceeds the scope of this comment, but in short did involve at one point being scheduled for a flight that left over 3 hours before my inbound flight landed, and took me to the wrong state altogether, after my original flight was stricken from the airline’s route database just two months before the actual flight) never did receive a reply from Northwest.
Since then, I have refused to take bumps and have refused any voucher for anything that includes language of the form “if you accept this voucher, you give up any claim you have against us arising from your botched flight.” I would rather waste my time in small claims court where I stand a chance of getting some value for my overpriced ticket than with an airline’s customer service and worthless vouchers where the chances of getting anything are much closer to zero.
(Note that my introduction to Mr. Elliott’s travel advice and troubleshooting expertise arose from my attempting to find some help in remedying this exact voucher issue. In retrospect, I should have taken the advice he e-mailed back to me and saved myself the two stamps I bought to write Northwest’s customer service office.)
Ditto on the experience with US Airways. Their vouchers are worthless. Seriously considering taking them to small claims court over the misleading language on them. Would like to hear from anyone who has taken them on.
Passenger Bill of Rights have to be legislated into law to put the screws to these bastards.
Regards, Robert L.
Whenever possible, never bump yourself voluntarily because you’ll be at the mercy of the airlines who may end up giving you nothing but misery. This also applies to ones before major holidays. If you want the airline to bump you, have them bump you involuntarily. I have never volunteered for a bump before and I plan not to (I’ve had friends who have bumped and they tell me it is not pleasant). Time is too precious for me to waste when on business or leisure.
Our flight to Vegas was overbooked and some of the travelers were super irate. I grilled the attendant about these “vouchers” and she assured me if I called in advance I’d be able to get on a flight, no problem. My wife and I spent the night in the airport and the thanks I get from US Airways is that none of the flights I’d like are available, not even the one’s I don’t want. The vouchers are worthless unless you want to make 3 connections and fly on a Wed the month after you’d like to be there.
They are just horrible and I just make a claim with the better business bureau. I don’t even want their stupid voucher at this point.
Needless to say I made one call to Southwest Airlines and they hooked me up! I freaking love those people. I’m voting with my $$$ and spending it on an airlines that doesn’t screw the people that are nice and help them out.
I book a lot of travel for my company and US Air just made our “do not book” list. Thanks guys!