Q: I recently endured a 30-hour delay on an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Pittsburgh via Chicago. Although the delay was initially caused by the weather, I believe it was exacerbated by the airline’s inadequate and inconsistent customer care practices.
My connecting flight from Chicago to Pittsburgh was canceled because of storms, and I spent the rest of that day and the next day standing by for every American flight while other airlines were flying to Pittsburgh. Most flights were either oversold or canceled.
As I waited, I observed American ticket agents accommodating some passengers whose flights were delayed, while others had to wait. We were given inconsistent information about flight availability, and I saw some passengers who had been bumped from their flights because of the weather receiving compensation.
I completely understand that inclement weather is out of the airline’s control, and I respect American’s policy not to compensate passengers for delays associated with weather. However, from my observation, this policy was differentially applied. Is it asking too much for the airline to be consistent?
– Vinit Desai, Berkeley, Calif.
A: Absolutely not. If an airline is forcing some passengers to wait but issuing boarding passes to others, that doesn’t really seem fair.
But since when has airline travel been fair?
Airline passengers have always been separated into the “haves” and “have-nots.” First-class passengers board the plane at their whim, sit in more comfortable seats, eat better meals and are generally treated better than folks in economy class. So it is no surprise to me that you watched some passengers cut in line during your weather delay. Air travel is not for egalitarians.
Still, you would expect some of the rules to be evenly applied. For example, when it comes to compensating passengers for a delay, no airline contracts I’ve seen draw a meaningful distinction between economy-class and first-class passengers. Nor, I believe, should they.
If the passengers who cut in line were bumped from their flights for the same reason you were, then they should have been treated in exactly the same way. And although 30-hour delays aren’t addressed in American’s terms and conditions, it’s obvious that you shouldn’t have had to wait that long.
But your recollection of the events is somewhat different than American’s. According to its records, the passengers who were given preferential treatment had been denied boarding on another flight for mechanical reasons — and under the rules, they were entitled to the compensation they received.
Next time you are faced with a long weather delay, consider buying a ticket to your destination on an airline that is still running. The airline won’t give you a free ticket, but chances are it won’t force you to pay the overpriced walk-up fare, either.
Your alternative is to stay put for a day or more, at your own expense. And you probably have better things to do than wait at an airport.
I contacted American on your behalf, and it sent you a letter apologizing for the unusually long delay. Although it insisted that its rules were applied consistently, it admitted that it could have more “effectively explained the situation” to you. As a gesture of goodwill, it sent you a $200 voucher.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I once was held-up in Boston for only 9 hours for a “weather delay” and considered myself lucky. I arrived at noon for a flight that was to leave at 730 PM hoping to get on an earlier flight. I found the airport filled with people who could not get out and most flights cancelled. The reason given by the airline (US Airways) was weather. Any plane on the ground in Boston could take off but no planes could land. It was aerie to look out over the airport and see absolutly no planes. The actual facts were that all of the runway lights were out (electrical failure) and there was a low cloud cover that required runway lights. If the lights were working, flights would have been able to land but the excuse was that if there were no cloud cover, they would have been able to land without the runway lights (I have never seen any landing even in the best of weather where the runway lights were off). It is this type of action that causes passengers to be skeptical of airlines pronoucements of “weather delays.”
As it happened, my original flight was the first to arrive in Boston and to get out about 2 hours late. I was lucky. All of the travelers on earlier flights had to wait until the next day. By the way, it was a Friday afternoon. As is usual, when there are problems, they always happen at the worst time.
The second and third paragraphs of your response suggest that the preferential treatment that first class passengers receive is somehow unfair. I respectfully disagree. The first class passengers generally paid for the so-called preferential treatment by either paying a higher fare or by frequently flying on that carrier. That’s a choice. It is no different than someone choosing to spend their money on any other indulgence, or not at all.
Carver Farrow feels that somehow his higher ticket price alone entitles him to preferential treatment. Unfortunately this is not realistic or defensible in any court unless he can prove that his ‘contract’ with the airline specifically states that all first class passengers are covered by different rules than coach or economy class passengers. Certainly we all understand that flying first class has some perks but unless it’s in writing on his ticket or in the airlines detailed ticket rules, everyone is to be treated the same. And I seriously doubt that any FAA or federal document declares 1st class passengers as ’specially’ priviledged. The basic rules concerning weather delays, bumping, overbooking do not specify a difference in the treatment passengers as Mr Farrow suggests.