Reader Chad is at the airport right now and boy is he angry at US Airways.
I have a lovely story that I hope you’ll run about our favorite industry… Airlines
I’m on a blackberry so forgive my typing.
On December 10th I booked a flight with “US airways” to Ohio from Fort Lauderdale, FL all went well and I actually landed a decent price ($300) for my round trip ticket. I was supposed to fly in the 23rd and fly out the 27th. On the 12th my friend let me know he was moving north and would be driving up. Being the buddy I am I agreed to accompany him on his trek and help with driving (19.5 hours on the road). This meant I would leave town on the 20th… 3 days before my scheduled flight.
The drive was long and tiring but we made it in 1 shot and I was in Ohio before my flight ever departed. The 23rd came and went no phone calls, no emails, no nadda from any of the parties involved. Today is the 27th and as I stand in Dayton OH and my flight leaves without me I have decided to write you my story.
See apparently if you book a round trip ticket and miss part of the flight “US airways” cancels all other flights related to said flight without notification. As if this isn’t a bit of a shock, they also refuse to issue a refund or credit towards other flights… They did say the would roll the cost into another ticket, it would only cost me another $300 after fines and differences in price! What a deal…
I passed on such a wonderful offer after pleading with them they informed me that my scheduled flight was full, so even though my ticket was cancelled… even if it wasn’t, I couldn’t get on the plane anyway. So they had sold the same seat to 2 people… How is this industry is so broke with business tactics like this I will never know.
I ended up booking another flight at another airport with another airline (US airways will never get another dollar from me). In my 2 hours of down time I decided to give them a call and see if I couldn’t at least get credit towards a future flight… Or maybe my money back.
I went through 4 supervisors and at least 2 call centers, once I was threatened with a hang up for losing my cool. Long story short I’m out $300. The last lady who helped me was by far the nicest however she wouldn’t cop a deal either. I tried various routes… I just wanted “something” for my $300… And I don’t mean a headache or phone thuggery. I tried getting 150 packets of $2 peanuts, maybe 300 pairs of disposable ear phones… Or maybe a credit voucher for a flight… Or maybe some money back. All without result.
In closing to our conversation I told her “I hope you enjoy your $300 because I will never fly your airline again, and I’ll make sure to let everyone know of my joyous experience… I hope this costs you thousands, happy holidays.”
Thanks a lot and keep up the good work guys!
-Chad Seaman
We’ve heard of airlines canceling return flights if the customer misses the plane, but it seems really harsh to try to charge the poor guy another $300! Any seasoned travelers have advice for Chad?
(Photo:zonaphoto)
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@ everyone who asked for further clarification:
The OP was given the right to change his ticket (after he paid a change fee + add collect). He no-showed a flight. That means that technically his ticket had NO VALUE and US Airways was doing him a FAVOR by allowing him to rebook his flight for the fare difference and change fee.
Of COURSE there was a massive fare difference– his original space was no longer available, so he was booking a MUCH higher fare class. (He was only traveling on, oh, the busiest travel day of the entire year.)
The OP can’t have his cake and eat it, too. The airline sold him a non-refundable round-trip ticket. A one-way ticket on that particular routing may have been MORE expensive than a round-trip. So why should they allow him to use it as a one-way? Plus, why would they assume that he would be there to use the return when he wasn’t there for the outbound?
Cancelling the remaining segments after a no-showed segment is standard industry policy. EVERY airline does it. Had he taken five minutes to call US Air before just assuming he could do whatever he wanted, he would have found that out.
The OP expects them to save him a seat on the return, PLUS let him use his ticket for a later date if he doesn’t show up? That’s freakin’ ridiculous. So, he gets TWO flights for the price of one?
If they’re holding that original reservation for him, it doesn’t get dropped until 30 minutes prior to depature, at which point it is too late to sell it to anyone else and will go out empty, costing the airline money.
I know there are a lot of things wrong with the airline industry, but this isn’t one of them. This is just common sense.
We wouldn’t expect this kind of treatment anywhere else– if we bought tickets for a play on a specific day at a specific time and then just didn’t show up, would we be able to show up the next night and expect that they accomodate us? (Especially if we bought tickets for a half-empty Sunday matinee and showed up for a sold-out Saturday evening show.) No way in hell. It’s just not the way the world works.
The OP needs to get over it and, in the future, should read the fine print… “Not knowing” isn’t a valid excuse, especially when it’s something as basic as this.
@sleze69: Well, that would be true if all of those tickets were non-changeable and non-refundable. But that’s not how it works. 99.9% of tickets are non-refundable but ARE changeable, with a change fee. (Which varies from $50 to $200 depending on the airline.)
So, if everyone no-showed a flight, the airline would end up having to cancel an entire flight or fly an empty plane, both of which cost a TON of money, and still reaccomodate everyone on a flight at a later date for only their change fee. (Which, domestically, is usually about $50.00.) So, in essence, they would have sold each and every seat on that empty plane for $50.00, which doesn’t even begin to pay for what it costs to fly that plane, especially if it was a trans-continental flight.
@Alex Morse: If he no showed his flight, then that original seat DID go out empty, because reservations only get canceled 30 minutes prior to departure. So, because he ended up costing them a ton of money (empty seat = huge loss), they cancelled the rest of his flight segments– after all, why should they assume he would be on the return when he didn’t take the outbound? And why would they risk ANOTHER empty seat.
How did it cost the airline money, if that seat went out empty instead of with him in it? Because, after he pays his change fee, he’s going to have a ticket on another flight. That means that they sold that empty seat for whatever the change fee was (usually $50.00) instead of what it should have cost (in his case ~$150.00).
This policy is actually one that is in the favor of the consumer, not the airline. If it was a “FAIR” (meaning fair for everyone, both consumer and company) policy, you would have to change your ticket upwards of two weeks prior to departure (so that they would have the opportunity to resell your seat) or lose the ticket value all together.
@darkened: Fare structures are complex beasts, and the taxes that apply to plane tickets are even moreso. Here is what an eticket looks like in Sabre:
ELECTRONIC TICKET RECORD
INV: CUST: PNR:******
TKT:001********** ISSUED:27DEC07 PCC:65IB IATA:03509951
NAME:****/****MR
FOP: CHECK
CPN A/L FLT CLS DATE BRDOFF TIME ST F/B STAT
1 AA 520 Q 21JAN SFODFW 600A OK Q00RL4A OPEN
2 AA 2193 Q 21JAN DFWBZE 1220P OK Q00RL4A OPEN
3 AA 2194 Q 28JAN BZEDFW 425P OK Q00RL4A OPEN
4 AA 1269 Q 28JAN DFWSFO 1010P OK Q00RL4A OPEN
NO REFUND/FEE ON CHANGE/REF ISSUE OFFICE ONLY NO RE
FARE USD257.00 TAX 30.20US TAX 5.50YC TAX 7.00XY
TAX 5.00XA TAX 7.50AY TAX 3.75FU
TAX 13.50XF
TOTAL USD329.45
SFO AA X/DFW AA BZE M128.50Q00RL4A AA X/DFW AA SFO M128.50Q00R
L4A NUC257.00END ROE1.00 XT7.00XY5.00 XA7.50AY3.75FU 13.50XFSF‡
While that probably looks like a bunch of gibberish to you, it’s a series of taxes and fuel surcharges and individual fare bases… And to change the ticket means that you have to recalculate a new ticket and figure out where each difference came from– perhaps $.07 extra goes to fuel, $5.73 goes to the new fare, etc… And if the fare has expired, you have to create a Phase IV. It’s NOT a click of a button, and because it’s more than just a simple tax or fare, it’s a whole bunch of stuff, it’s impossible for it to be a one-click process…
One last comment before I quit this thread:
Despite all of the rules and regulations and policies, the people working at the airport can do whatever they want. Waive fees, upgrade, change flights, put you on another airline or a more direct flight. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. (They can also tag your bags to Hong Kong or seat you in-between the convict and the unaccompanied minor near the broken lav if you piss them off… So don’t.)
Now, they’ll get in trouble if they waive EVERYONE’S change fees, but a couple a day? Sure. No problem.
My suggestion? Be nice. Friendly. Patient. Calm. COP UP TO YOUR MISTAKES! And maybe you’ll be one of that agents “freebies.”
@Sam_sheezy,
His seat went out empty, and paid for. Did you miss the part where the change fee was equal to his full round trip ticket price. $300 for the original ticket. $300 to apply it to another flight. A change fee of $50 like you mention is completely reasonable and fair, I’ve paid it myself ($100 actually with american airlines.) He obviously wouldn’t be refunded for the leg of his trip that he missed ($150 for simplicity sake.) The problem comes in that there’s a $150 which he could have used, which was cancelled (fine according to policy,) which he has no way to take advantage of… and they DID sell that again.
Like I said previously, I think it’d be completely fair and ethical with no refund to the customer in this case as it was stated in his agreement. However, the fact that they did sell his return leg means they sold the same thing twice.
I don’t see how you can put it in any simpler terms. Selling the same thing to two different people and only giving it to one is fraud, however you look at it. I’m not a lawyer, but I think that would be an easy class action suit to file and win on, because we all know that all the airlines do it.
The arguments here against me seem to imply that the price he already paid, and will not be refunded or credited in any way was not enough to cover the cost of transporting him had he arrived and taken the flight. That may very well be the case, but that’s on the airline for having a stupid business model.
I actually know why that rule came to be. It’s from when the airlines were competing on round trip tickets more, charging less for the round trips than the one ways. Another stupid business model. They put the rule in place to keep people that actually wanted one ways from taking advantage of the cheaper round trip tickets — so they COULD sell all the seats. That makes sense to a degree, but it’s a matter of punishing people for the exceptions instead of the rule. I understand trying to cover your rear, but this is a step beyond that.
@Alex Morse: You’re right, they did resell his flight– his return flight. That outbound flight went out empty because he failed to cancel it, and if all was fair, he would lose that portion of the ticket.
You’re mistaken on the $300.00– that was for his add-collect AND change fee, not the change fee alone. I just pulled up his fare (I’m on a Sabre set, so I can see the detailed fare rules, etc..) and his change fee was $100.00. Hefty fee on a $300.00 ticket? Yes. But standard and understandable.
And no, he shouldn’t get a refund for that return flight, primarily because there’s not two seperate fare bases– it was ONE ticket for ONE round trip flight. The return portion alone technically has no value.
No, he wasn’t going to be able to fly on the flight that he booked and paid for because it was cancelled by them, but that is because he no-showed on his outbound.
According to the fare rules, as soon as he no-showed, he lost the entire value of his entire round-trip ticket. But US Airways was willing to allow him to change the ticket, to keep the value of the ticket. The change fee was $100.00. The rest of that was an add-collect.
However, the OP has an entire year to use his ticket. Yes, he’ll have to pay the $100.00 change fee, so in essence he’ll only have a $200.00 credit on US Air. (But better than the $150 that was half of his ticket, so, again, he’s getting a pretty decent deal.) Since he no-showed his outbound, and they ate that cost, that hundred bucks is a fair price to pay.
That is a completely fair policy, and in no way does that screw over the consumer. They resold his return seat because they didn’t think he’d be on it. They’re not keeping the money for his return– he can use that money at a later date on another flight. He just couldn’t get back on THAT flight.
@sam_sheezy: You are so correct about being courteous and humble.
A couple of years ago, I booked on Travelocity a round trip American Airlines ticket from Minneapolis to New York using the codes MSP to NYC. I didn’t care whether I flew into Newark, JFK, or LaGuardia, so I used the generic code for NYC.
I flew into LaGuardia, spent a wonderful week with my cousins and friends, then caught a cap to LGA for my return flight home. The check-in kiosk had no record of my departure. I looked at my itinerary, and sure enough, I was scheduled to depart from JFK: no way was I going to get across Queens in time for my flight.
I took a deep breath, got ready to part with a big chunk of change, pulled out my credit card and ID, and flagged down a passing ticket agent. “Hey, I really screwed up,” I said. Was there anything she could do to get me back to Minneapolis that night? I needed to be back at work the next day.
“Stay right here. I’ll see what I can do”. Within two minutes, she was back with an LGA-MSP ticket for a flight boarding in 15 minutes. No charge.
I thanked her profusely and said I’d wish I could give her a big kiss (she was kinda cute). I ended up getting back to Minneapolis a half hour earlier than my original itinerary called for. I’m still grateful to this woman for the help she provided..
I am annoyed that the Travelocity computer used two airports for the NYC designation, but it did do what I had asked it to do. I hadn’t read my itinerary carefully, so it was my fault. American Airlines has my gratitude for empowering its employees to bend the rules.
@Teapotfox:
I agree, your story seemed fine to me. So WTF?
I didn’t realize there was a new “moderator” on the site. If so, there’s work to be done elsewhere…
@sam_sheezy: So if those seats go out empty, how do all those stand-bye passengers get seated every time I fly? And I mean EVERY time I fly.
@sleze69:
You can’t buy a stand-by ticket.
There are only two ways to fly stand-by: buy a ticket for a specific flight and then do a SAME DAY stand-by for an earlier or later flight, or work for the airlines (or be the spouse, dependant, or parent of someone who does) and fly for free on a space-available status…
So, if the people flying stand-by on your flights are taking an earlier or later flight than the one that they were originally ticketed for, there is STILL an open, empty seat somewhere out there. (i.e. If the OP booked a flight that departed at 3:00 pm, didn’t show up for it and, because of that, someone booked on a 7:00 pm flight was placed on it, now there’s an empty seat on the 7:00 pm flight. That can end up being a trickle down effect until the end of the night, when the last flight of the day will have barely anyone on it, when it was originally ticketed for upwards of 50% capacity…) So, even in that instance, the OP still cost the airline an empty seat.
The rest of the people flying stand-by, well, they’re called “NON-REVS” for a reason. The airline doesn’t make a penny off of them. If you work for an airline, you, your spouse/partner, your dependants, and your parents can fly (unlimited, completely for free) on a space available status. The airline isn’t making any money what-so-ever off of those passengers. So, if the OP no-showed a flight and a non-rev got his seat, the airline still lost money.
You absolutely, positively, 100% cannot BUY a stand-by ticket, so the airline is absolutely, positively, 100% losing money on any stand-by passengers that get seated.
Skimming through these comments again, I find it interesting that of all the people saying they already knew about this rule, none of them seem to have learned it directly from an airline. They learned it because they made this mistake themselves, or heard about it from a friend or another frequent flyer. Well, not everyone is a frequent flyer or has friends who are.
I understand why the airlines have this policy, but my point is that because this policy has such potentially devastating effects on the traveler, they shouldn’t assume that “everyone knows” about this rule. When booking tickets, this information should be in plain English, bold type, on its own screen or something, so that the airline itself is clearly informing the passengers. If a passenger wasn’t informed when buying a ticket, then he or she should get a call or an email or something to let them know they need to make other arrangements for the return trip.
N301DP: >@RamonaLittle: If I don’t read the terms and conditions of a new credit card does that make me exempt from paying interest on it?<
Maybe, if someone brings a class action over it and the court finds that the terms in question would not have been clear or apparent to an average credit card applicant.
@RamonaLittle:
The airline serves thousands of people each day. Claiming that they should personally call him because he missed his outbound flight is ridiculous.
Perhaps they could have their computers set up to auto-email people when their flights have been cancelled but, again, had the OP reconfirmed his flight 24 hours prior to departure (like it clearly states to do when you buy a ticket and again when the confirmation is emailed to you), he would have known about the return being canceled long before he was standing at the ticket counter waiting to get checked in.
At the end of the day it’s his bad, his bad, and his bad. I am all for protecting consumers, but I also believe that consumers should accept accountability.
It was his job to read the terms and conditions before buying, his job to call and cancel the outbound, and his job to reconfirm his flight before departure… And he didn’t do any of that. Because of that, I have absolutely no sympathy for him.
I’m quite surpirsed with the amount of ‘attacks’ on the man who lost his ticket. I think that ‘policy’ is simply absurd. Just because airlines have done it and continue to do so, doesn’t mean people should condone it by saying the guy was a moron. I mean, I think it’s common sense to think your flight will still be ready for you. Plans change all the time. You paid for it. It’s yours… if you use it or not. Why wouldn’t it be?
Hey, Sam Sleazy…are you the CEO of AA? ‘Cause the guy clearly didn’t know the policy, and I’ll bet you the vast majority of Americans don’t either. Don’t babble on about the fine print…next you’ll tell me that everyone who lost their house in the credit crunch should have read the 34 pages of fine print. The point is, the people who WRITE the fine print don’t intend and don’t want people to read it.
And your logic is as flawed as your shilling for the airlines. The guy had already PAID for his seat, and by not showing up, the airline was able to re-sell it. But even if they weren’t – now follow me here since you’re a bit dense – HE’D ALREADY PAID FOR IT.
What’s more, the airline may have had his money for weeks or months, long before any service was provided. How many other industries get that? Even banks can’t really float your checks any more.
Please switch to the “greedy corporation advocate” site, Sleazy. It’s where you belong.
I am no defender of US Airways, in fact, I am a VERY disgruntled employee. However, this is standard industry practice. Very standard, I don’t know of any airline that doesn’t do this.
This was Chad’s own fault. He needs to take the responsibility.