Reader Laura was nearly stranded in Manchester when Continental canceled her flight two days before a major college test. She politely asked to be rebooked; she begged for another flight; when that failed, she invoked Rule 240. Laura’s experience presents the perfect opportunity to clarify once and for all what Rule 240 is and isn’t. First, her story.
Hi all,
As a devoted reader of your site, I have read the multiple articles on the famous “Rule 240″ which can sometimes assist the desperate traveler. Thus, when I saw that my return flight was canceled, I remained calm knowing I was armed with this knowledge. I had arrived a full two hours before my flight, and was extremely patient in the fifty minute wait to get to the counter. A different flight had also been canceled, and I watched with amusement as one man actually put his friend on speakerphone to confirm that weather was *not* an issue in Newark. I must say that the agent’s face was a lovely shade of eggplant during this stunt. When I finally reached the front of the line, I was positive that courteousness and sympathy would cajole this harried staff into pushing me onto another flight.
At this point, it is important to give a bit of background. I am a full-time college student, so naturally money is always an issue. I had decided to fly home for spring break, and had booked it out in advance on Continental using my father’s miles. I had the perfect setup: an early flight on Saturday + an evening flight on Sunday = maximum time with family and pets. I had an exam on Tuesday, and the review was Monday morning. Missing class was NOT an option. I was flying out of South Bend, Indiana into Manchester, New Hampshire- two very small airports which are both two-three hours away from the major hubs of O’Hare and Logan.
Now- back to the story. I asked if he could check whether or not there was an available route that would get me back to school (I stressed that the number of connections were not a problem) and he responded that the absolute soonest he could manage this was TUESDAY. I explained the issue with my exam, and was met with a blank stare. I decided it was time to drop the 240 line. He rolled his eyes and responded, “Well you can ask them,” motioning to the other counters. I glanced at the Delta and United lines, which were approaching Disneyworld length, and politely requested that he check what would be available to me before I left the counter. He told me he could not do that. I asked if he could check Logan, figuring they would have many more flights. After no more than two seconds of glancing at his screen, he said that they had nothing. I then asked if he could specifically check Logan to O’Hare. This time he didn’t even pretend to look- he just flat out said no. I was trying to remain calm, but I was almost in tears at this point. I was literally running up against a brick wall.
I hauled my bags down to the Delta counter. Once I reached the front, I quickly explained my dilemma to the woman. She gnawed on a red talon as she informed me that the Delta flight to Chicago was pulling back and there was no way I could get there in time. I almost lost it at this point- if Mr. Continental had gone the extra inch, I could have been on that flight. She was slightly more helpful in terms of willingness to actually use her computer, but produced no results. I got the basically same story at United.
Thankfully, my father saved the day. He went online and found a Southwest flight to Chicago leaving in about fourty minutes with a few open seats. Given the circumstances, we had no choice but to pay the exorbitant price for the last minute ticket. So much for saving money. I made it back to Chicago, but missed the bus back to campus by fifteen minutes. I had to wait another two hours to catch the next one (another $40, by the way), finally returning at 2 am. My car was still at South Bend airport, and I couldn’t find a ride to collect it until Wednesday ($30 extra). The final kicker? A heavy baggage charge from DELTA randomly appeared on my credit card from the flight home (I hate dealing with Capital One).
Bottom line: I would not be writing this e-mail if the agent had offerend one iota of assistance or even sympathy. I know they are often the messenger who gets killed, and I always keep this in mind when I am dealing with them. Screaming at them is no more effective then screaming at your local gas station owner about prices. However, I expect this decency to be returned, and I truly feel that it wasn’t. I urge EVERYONE to vote for the airlines (most especially CONTINENTAL) in The Consumerist’s worst company contest… they are working harder than Hillary to win this thing.
Rule 240 does not exist. It was once a pillar of traveler’s rights back in the good old days when regulators wore suits and ties to work and struck fear into the hearts of businessmen. The rule, which required airlines to rebook waylaid travelers on the next available flight regardless of airline, officially disappeared with the Civil Aeronautics Board in the 70s. However, even though it is no longer enforceable in the “I’ll get my lawyer!” sense, it is worth asking ticketing agents to 240 you. Sometimes they are nice and help out. It didn’t work for Laura, but it was well worth a try.
Still, we can’t help but notice that the real disservice here is from Laura’s college. Who schedules a midterm two days after spring break? That’s just cruel.
(Photo: lunchtimemama)
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Sorry to hear about that horrible experince. You were flying into Manch? Where do you go to school?
Just a quick note … Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (Manchester, NH) is approx 40 mins from Logan … not 2-3 hours. Not that it has any real bearing on this story, except that if one had to transfer from Manchester to a flight at Logan, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
Some info you may not be aware of:
A ticket agent only knows the availability on his own airline. There is VERY limited information on how many seats are available on a different airline. The most he can do is make a reservation for you and you would then have to walk over to the other airline to see if they are willing to FIM you over, using your original ticket as payment. He can not force them to accept you…
If you are told there is a delay because of weather, it does not necessarily involve either the origin or the destination, so the guy yelling the weather is OK in Newark may be correct… The problem is the aircraft you will be using to get there is coming from somewhere with weather problems, which is going to have a ripple effect on all flights that day.
Contrary to what most people think, airlines are NOT in the business of screwing you over. We actually want to get you there and back. Sometimes shit happens that causes delays and cancellations… That people get upset is one thing, but to create some type of conspiracy theories based on this is just ridiculous.
@ghost77: if you have a car…
If you stuck to take bus (so you don’t spend a fortune on taxi), it can get more than that.
@DeltaPurser:
If what you say is true, how is it then that United, at Dulles, was able to get me on a Delta flight out of National when the United flight I was booked on was canceled due to mechanical reasons? I left the counter at United with a voucher that had all of the flight information that I simply handed to the Delta agent.
Who schedules midterms after spring break? Everyone does.
I feel her pain! I’m in the midst of dealing with Airtran for my son. He’s returning tomorrow so I’m waiting to see how it goes. I may very well end up writing a letter that ends up here.
My only advice for the young lady would be to either keep copies of all airline schedules (for her city pairs) or have wireless access on your handheld device to look this stuff up. She was clearly at the mercy of the ticket counter and her father had to step in to look for the flight on Southwest. I’m not blaming her at all, quite the contrary…but being armed with information really helps. Our own saga this week taught us a lot. I had to rely on my cell phone and a very helpful family member to look up alternate routes.
She could have said to Mr. Unhelpful Continential Agent, “I see that X airlines has a flight, can you assist me in making arrangement with them instead?” Instead she got met with a blank stare. Ugh. I really have airline travel. Clearly, this would have done little but you never know. An informed traveler is really the airline’s worst nightmare.
I hope the OP is also writing to the airline. Good luck!
@DeltaPurser: I was flying out on Continental, went to check in only to see that my flight connecting via Newark was canceled. The lady that helped me gave me a voucher for a flight on Northwest that connected via Detroit. She didn’t know / tell me that it was delayed by 2 hours but I was on a flight.
The return trip on the other hand, not sure why Northwest had my flight land 40 min before my connecting flight took off. Not normally an issue, but I was in the last seat on the first leg and had to go from Concourse C to Concourse A in Detroit, and that is not a quick trip.
i love hearing stories about “know it alls” getting the shaft. it warms my stony little heart.
@Sudonum: Happens on a daily basis… It would still involve the ticket agent making a phone call to the other airline’s ticket counter to actually confirm that there are free seats and that they are willing to accept you at face value.
Your voucher is not a ticket per se, it’s a FIM (Flight Interruption Manifest) which shows the receiving airline that the original airline will pay them the the money collected to accept the passenger…
In other words: if you paid $100 dollars for a ticket on Delta and your flight was cancelled, they would have to pay United the $100 to accept you on a flight. So it’s up to United to decide if they are willing to accept you at face value. If they think they can sell the last two seats to someone for $400 each, then they will most likely not accept you… But since FIM’s are usually last minute, most of them are accepted.
“Still, we can’t help but notice that the real disservice here is from Laura’s college. Who schedules a midterm two days after spring break? That’s just cruel.”
And I’ll bet money that NEXT week there’ll be a consumerist.com post taking college professors to task for squandering student tuition money by canceling class the day before a long break, or otherwise caving in to the demands of students wanting a cushy academic schedule to fit their own personal travel plans.
If the college calendar calls it a class day, then by gum I’m likely to schedule a quiz or exam that day, even if it is 8am on the Monday after spring break, or 4pm the day before Thanksgiving. It isn’t cruel; it’s efficient use of valuable class time.
@euleria: Jeez! Lighten up! The “cruelty” bit wasn’t meant to be taken so seriously… god.
I’m so confused by this item.
Where were you flying FROM, and TO, and WHEN? How did you make it to Boston (per the text by Carey)? You were trying to get to Chicago from South Bend? Your car was at South Bend airport but your campus is in Chicago? Your parents live in Chicago but you flew via Newark? How did Delta get your credit card info? You drove your car to Manchester?
I cannot parse the travel directions and plans of this student. How did you end up in Boston? Hell, were you ever actually IN Boston? Southwest doesn’t fly out of Logan.
My head hurts from reading this. I’ve spent too much time trying to parse this to care about some college kid who can’t figure out that flying halfway across the country on a Sunday evening before a vital Monday morning event is risky at best, especially at a time of year when winter storms are still quite possible. But from a college student who can’t write clearly about it is just painful. (Sorry kid if Carey messed up your text.)
Well, important lesson here: determine how much you value stress and money. You can usually only save ONE of those two at a time. I hope you did well on your exam.
I’ve stopped flying Manchester/Boston Regional (still Manchester to me!) a year ago. I’ve been flying from Cedar Rapids, IA to Manchester, NH for 2 years since I was in college. Through the lack of flights, and the problem that if there is ANY sort of weather, Manchester absolutely collapses, I’ve decided to drive the 45 extra minutes to Logan Int’l. Since I started doing that at the beginning of this year, I haven’t had any problems.
Bottom line: Suck in Manchester. And Continental does suck.
OP: Why was your flight canceled? The reasoning drastically effects how you may invoke Rule 240. If, for example, it was due to weather (even if it was the weather elsewhere in the system preventing a plane from being available), the airline’s liability is only to get you on their next available flight or refund your ticket.
“Using your father’s miles” means what, you were flying on a free ticket, i.e. a premium from the airline where they makes their excess/spare capacity available to you at no/little charge.
That’s likely the issue right there. However much you were inconvenienced and looking for alternatives, there were likely some full fare paying customers in the same situation. Beyond that, there were likely full fare paying, loyalty-program customers looking for the same treatment. Those people naturally would have been well ahead of you in terms of priority for service and alternatives from the airlines — especially for alternatives which would have cost them real money (rather than just allocations of excess capacity.)
Ultimately, you get what you pay for — and with a free ticket, you were looking for far more than you paid for. You also often get the customer service you ‘pay for’ as well — with exaggerated drama queen statements like “literally running into a brick wall”, you should probably expect an eye roll or two.
@DeltaPurser:
In your reply to Sudonum, You said “Happens on a daily basis…”
Well this was a day when the CSR did not fullfill that obligation to the customer. Failure of CSRs and companies to do what is right, moral, and concurrent to good ethical business practices is the underlying reason for the Consumerist.com. So, that is why her story was posted on this site.
Maybe you should post your perspective on the Anti-consumerist.com website… but no one would read them.
If you want to post here and not look like a consumer-hater, I suggest you lend your insider wisdom to help remedy the problematic situation and help this and other consumers work better to attain what should be a mutual goal…
A SATISFIED CUSTOMER, today, tommorrow, and the next day. That might even pull us out of a recession because a happy consumer spends money.
@DeltaPurser:
So if I’m understanding you correctly, in my instance, the United agent was able to see, via computer, that there was a Delta flight, that might have some availability, but the agent had to actually call Delta and confirm availability and also confirm that Delta would take me for the price I paid United? In the mean time, if someone walked up to the Delta counter at National and bought a ticket for that flight, while I was in the cab on my way to National, Delta could have then bumped me as well?
“Laura’s experience presents the perfect opportunity to clarify once and for all what Rule 240 is and isn’t.”
I read the whole thing and the comments, and still have no idea what Rule 240 is and isn’t. Just that it apparently doesn’t exist anymore. Helpful!
@Antediluvian: I had the same reaction. I couldn’t keep the to/froms straight.
@BugMeNot2: Ditto here.
@Krolls: Stalk much?
Ditto to everything DeltaPurser has said. As a former airline employee working primarily with involuntary re-booking, I do suggest that people ask about rule 240, but it’s not a magic bullet and in most situations it won’t work. This is particularly true during peak travel periods (holidays, summertime, and spring break being prime examples) or weather incidents. Most airlines have a policy of not pursuing rule 240 options when we know that other airlines also have heavy passenger loads, primarily because it can be extremely time consuming and in those situations it rarely produces results. With an entire planeload of passengers (or several, in really ugly situations) waiting to be re-booked you simply can’t realistically spend 20 minutes contacting every other airline on one person’s behalf when you know the odds of finding a better solution are extremely slim. There are some rotten apples who are just too lazy to do their jobs, but generally when an agent doesn’t do something you think they ought to, it’s because they have knowledge you don’t (if two minutes ago the alternative flight you want was overbooked by 10 with 10 more passengers waitlisted, I can tell you it’s pretty much physically impossible for me to give you a guaranteed seat without a single keystroke) or because they want to use their time in the most effective manner to help not just you but all of the other people in line behind you as well.
Another bit of advice for people in this girl’s situation – your personal situation may seem dire to you, but you have to keep in mind that you’re talking to someone who has heard dozens of peoples’ stories in a very short period of time (for some of us we hear it all day long), and odds are that your situation won’t sound nearly as dire in that context. You may be at risk of missing a test, but someone before you may have been trying to get to the bedside of a loved one who is on the brink of death, or traveling alone with several small screaming children, or trying to make it to their sister’s wedding that they are in. As my supervisor once said, “It’s cruel to say people, but as you’ll soon see, in this business someone is always dying somewhere.” So keep some perspective before you try to play the sympathy card, because unless the situation is truly life-or-death you’re more likely to evoke exasperation than special treatment. That said, please do mention it if something life-or-death is going on, we aren’t heartless! It won’t change the facts (if there are literally no seats available until the next day, that will limit our options for helping you), but most agents really will go to extraordinary lengths to help someone in an extremely tight spot.
@Dualityshift: Uhhh perhaps I am a college student who flies into manch often?
Its called being friendly
@Krolls: See, that was my first reaction to your comment — maybe a fellow student. Honestly, if that’s stalking, you’re doing it wrong.
I fly out of Manchester all the time, and I haven’t seen any evidence that the airport “collapses” during bad weather. What I have seen is that one of the major hubs (Philly, O’Hare, Newark, or Detroit) shuts down and because Manchester is an “off route” airport (in other words, all flights to and from Manchester must go through a “hub” airport), then all the flights in and out of the major hub are also canceled.
My last experience at Manchester was with United. I had a flight with mechanical problems and Untied spent 7 hours lying to the passengers and jerking them around, so by the time they actually cancelled the flight 7 hours after it was supposed to be in the air, there were slim pickings. To United’s credit, they did rebook me on a flight to Chicago through Delta Express, and although I wasn’t happy to be 12 hours late, I did get there the same day.
About a month later, I received an apology letter from United and a $100 travel voucher. The voucher is pretty useless now that ticket prices have gone through the roof, but I suppose they made the effort.
Untied=United
On second thought, perhaps “Untied” would be a better name for the airline.
A big tip for you all:
When bad things happen to flights while you’re at the airport, don’t just wait in line. Get on the phone while you wait and call the airline’s reservation line. They can rebook you on different flights over the phone, and you can basically jump in front of everyone standing there in line by asking them to protect your itinerary, offer you other options, and make you better prepared with more information. Then, when you get to the front of the line, if you’re still in limbo, you know what choices you have. Call the other airlines that you’re thinking of taking as alternatives, and see if those are even real options in terms of availability. Know who else flies to where you’re going, and take action! The person who knows to do this first, gets the seat.
On a more related note, unfortunately as for the original story above, there were a few things working against her. First, she was at a small airport station, where airline agents tend not to be experts in rebooking people and handling crises. There are few mainline flights at Manchester, and the likelihood of her getting useful help in a timely way were low. I believe CO/UA/DL all handle this station as an “express” service, i.e. connections handled by a subsidiary. All the more reason to get on the phone and have the full help of the reservations agents.
Secondly, she was on an award ticket, which actually should count as a fully “paid” fare, but perhaps in the airline agent’s mind, did not warrant being endorsed over to another airline, although that did sound like a lazy agent. Also, the fact that her ticket was not paid with cash complicates the matter.
Finally, where the girl went to the other airline’s counter to see if she could get on the flight — there was no chance of that happening anyway. When flying on anything less than a full fare, the original airline that issued the ticket has to first endorse the ticket over to the new carrier for it to be accepted. Airlines will not just accept tickets from other carriers — how do they know they’ll be paid? She basically wasted time waiting in the Delta and United lines, sorry to say. Even if they had told her that there was space, she would’ve had to go back to Continental to get that ticket transfered, which doesn’t sounds like it would’ve happened.
here’s a big tip for you all:
When bad weather or mechanical delays strike a flight that you’re on, don’t just wait in line at the airport desks to get your flights rebooked. Get on the phone while you’re in line, and call up the airline’s reservation phone number. They have the ability to rebook you, offer you other options, and help you, all while everyone else is standing there doing nothing. Especially at smaller stations, served by “express” subsidiaries of mainline carriers, where the staff is not expert in rebooking or handling crises, you’re basically helping yourself to jump ahead of everyone else in line and save yourself time.
On the topic of the girl in the story, she unfortunately had three things going against her. First she was flying into/out of poorly served airports, where the choices are few. Combine that with agents at such airports who don’t often handle these things well, and it was bound to have problems. All the more reason to get on the phone and ask for help.
Second, was her award ticket. These are actually paid tickets, they are not “free”. But it probably complicated it, in the mind of that agent, about whether it could be transfered over to another carrier.
Finally, she wasted precious time going to wait in line at Delta and United. Even if they had told her that there was space available, they wouldn’t be able to accept her ticket without it having first been endorsed over by the issuing carrier — Continental. Airlines don’t just accept tickets from other carriers — how do they know they’ll be paid? She would’ve had to go back to Continental and that unhelpful agent, to have it endorsed, which doesn’t sound like it would’ve happened anyway. So it’s not like her frustration is warranted — she probably would not have been able to get on those flights even in more ideal circumstances.
Bottom line, make calls while you wait, and get as much information about your situation as you can. Probably booking herself on Southwest was the best thing she could’ve hoepd for in the circumstances.
sorry, duplicate post there because the comment system appeared to have lost the first one…
@Sudonum: You can only do a rule 240 in a situation where a confirmed seat is available (and most agents will not set up a rule 240 for another agent if they can’t give a specific seat assignment with that confirmed seat, but that isn’t always possible). With a seat assignment there is no way they can bump you off the flight, and since most rule 240s are booked in the highest priority class even without a seat assignment it is highly likely that even if the flight is oversold you’ll get on.
@BugMeNot2: Rule 240 does exist, it just isn’t legally enforceable, mostly meaning you can’t sue if the agent declines your request for it. Basically it’s an agreement between airlines to accept each others passengers when there are operational problems, so the second airline honors the ticket of the first.
Most airlines won’t do it in situations out of airline control (weather, air traffic control delays, that kind of thing) unless it’s going to take more than 24 hours to find a new flight for the passenger with the original airline. Some have a policy of 48 hours or longer in these situations, and some jerky agents just refuse to do it at all. If it’s the airlines fault (mechanical problems, crew problems, etc) they usually do it if they can’t rebook you within four hours of your original flight and the new flight(s) get you in no later than an alternative flight on the original airline (i.e. if one flight leaves in four hours but you have to connect and will have a two hour layover resulting in you getting in after another flight leaving in five hours, it isn’t done).
So in short, you are asking to be put on another airline’s flight, just in more formal terms. The main power in it now is it makes you sound more familiar with airline policies and procedure.
I teach at a major university and yeah, I would schedule a midterm either right before or after a break–students tend to think class is optional at these times, otherwise, and life happens before and after breaks. HOWEVER, unlike the airlines, if a student got stranded due to a canceled flight and could show me documentation, I would be much more inclined to give her an alternate exam–free of charge. Although I am strict about classes and attendance, I am also a human being. I
It’s unfortunate that 240 didn’t work for her. The one time I had to use it when UA canceled my flight, I had no problems at all getting them to rebook me on Delta.
@euleria: Any teacher who schedules a test on the first day after break is a moron, sadist or both. I want my students to do well!
@kepler11:
Agreed, waiting in line is often the worst thing you can do in this situation, I have the airlines phone number locked into my cell phone just for this reason.
I always thought Rule 240 only applied if the delay itself was not weather-related, but I guess it differs from airline to airline.
Here’s a short little article I found about Rule 240 that may prove useful:
[www.msnbc.msn.com]
@danseuse322:Getting students to realize that attendance is not optional on the first day after break, doesn’t have to be dealt with in such a primitive fashion as giving a test. Hopefully you aren’t teaching a class which requires any sort of creative thinking.
the class I teach (I’m a TA) had a midterm the day after spring break. Yeah, totally not my idea. I had to come back early too, since I normally don’t do anything at school on Monday and was hoping to be away for an extra day.
in all my flights around the country as well, as a couple across the atlantic, i’ve never had any of these problems. i’ve flown on more than a dozen different carriers or their subsidiaries.
the closest i came i guess was i got to the airport 3 hours ahead of time in vegas but still missed the flight. since american is such a failure at realizing that the same conventions in vegas happen at the same general time every year, as well as being announced within a month of the last one ending, they didn’t book the extra help to compensate for the higher than normal amount of passengers. no other airline in the stretch of the check in gate that i could see had their line backed up the way american did. so despite the 3 hour advanced show up on a domestic flight i missed that one. they bounced me around the country a little bit but i ended up getting home only a few hours after i was originally supposed to. the attendants i dealt with were all really nice to me and i knew it wasn’t their fault but the tards behind the employee scheduling.
i’m going to burn a buddy holly cd later in hommage to the airplane gods for my good fortune.
Midterms right after spring break? Tough cookies! I had a 15 page psychology paper due every spring semester right after spring break. If you wanted to spend your break lounging poolside, that was your prerogative but you better had your paper done. Profs didn’t accept any excuses.
I can say with experience that airlines do not always accept “reward tickets” from other airlines, even in the same alliances as CO and DL in SkyTeam. I have worked in a small outstation for both DL and CO and where UA is also located, and even times where seats were available on the plane, due to it being a “rewards ticket” the other carrier would not accept the ticket. SkyTeam members “should” accept other aiance member rewards tickets in most circumstances, but I have been flatly told “no” when I 1) know there are seats available (although not “reward tickets” class ofervice) and 2) know those seats will be empty when the flight leaves. This happened on an island, where no other transportation other than a boat that night was available, except for the second carrier’s flight.
In the instance of Continental transferring a “rewards ticket” to United, it is up to United to accept it, but in my experience the rules do not permit it, and it is up to a supervisor to override that rule, if they even can.
I read this story with much annoyance. I work in corporate travel and it never surprises me how little the airlines are willing to do for their own customers. They hate travel agents and did away with our commissions yet we always seem to have to do their job for them.
It shouldn’t matter how much you paid or didn’t pay for a ticket, every customers life is important and they should all be treated as VIPs.
I wish agents for US airlines were as nice as agents for Int’l airlines. Qantas agents in Australia continue to amaze me with their top-notch service and they’ve always gone the extra mile for me.
One of the agents actually ran after me after I had left the ticket counter to let me know about a gate change… would this ever happen in the US? no.
So if you spend $30,000 a year on tuition…and manage to avoid the “cruel” instructors who give exams or collect papers or expect active thinking of their students during the two (!) fluff days after each in-semester break, how much of that $30K have you squandered? If we figure two wasted instructional days per 15 week semester, that’s 2.7% of your class time wasted, or approximately $800 in tuition money.
In order to give college students what they paid for, sometimes we have to give them experiences they don’t actually want, that aren’t easy and convenient.
It’s not cruel: it’s conscientious.
why don’t they just have “self-serve kiosks” (computers connected to the internet) where people can look for their own flights in these situations where staff are too incompetent to help.
@euleria: Who said anything about fluff? No, you have a required, graded activity on that day. But I guess if you have limited teaching skills, creating an activity would be too difficult. Perhaps your comments were also directed elsewhere, but I made no mention of the day before vacation – only the day after.
@UpsetPanda: A paper can’t be equated to a test in this case. You have the option of getting the paper done before break, you don’t have the option of taking a test before break.
Ah, Spring Break. What a terrible time to be a traveler OR an airline employee. Spring Break is, by far, the WORST time of year to try to fly– worse than Christmas, worse than Thanksgiving, worse than the freakin’ apocalypse.
Why? Because the schools stagger their Spring Breaks. It’s not one super-terrible week, it’s about THREE super terrible weeks of non-stop disgusting. Every flight to everywhere on every airline is not only sold out but OVER sold. Plus, it’s the Springtime– all it takes is one storm, one delay, one cancellation to send everything everywhere on everyone into a death spiral of stupid. And it happens, every year, without fail.
In this case, both the OP and the airline employees really did everything that they could to resolve this craptastic situation. Better yet, the OP handled herself with class, patience, and maturity– bravo to her!
I’ve worked for a major airline, I am a travel agent, and I travel a LOT (several times a month), so I fancy myself something of an expert on all things air-travel related. This is the first post on the Consumerist that I’ve ever read where the OP did everything PERFECTLY. Mind you, it still didn’t work out, but that’s not really the point.
I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that UA/CO/DL were all telling her the 100% God’s honest truth when they said that they couldn’t get her out until Tuesday. When every single flight, on every airline, is sold out to capacity and now you’ve got 150+ passengers that need to be reaccommodated, well, that’s gonna take some fancy math.
Contrary to popular belief, the airlines don’t just have a stockpile of perfectly good planes sitting in the hangers, ready to go. Plus, you need a flight window, which the FAA controls, and a crew to staff the new flight… Most of the time, adding a new flight is just not an option. So you have to wait until seats become available on regularly scheduled flights. (Sucks, but it’s the reality of the situation…)
A few notes:
When you’re traveling on a voucher or a mileage ticket, you CANNOT be Rule 240′d onto another airline– CO issued you a ticket on their airline for “free” so your ticket has no actual face value to any other airline, especially one that is not a “partner” airline (CO & UA are in opposing alliances.)
If she had been on a regular ticket, and the delay or cancelation was NOT weather related, the airline could have just FIM’d her onto another carrier. Contrary to what Delta Purser said, the customer service agent CAN see availability on all the other airlines and can swap your ticket out and rebook you on another airline, assuming that there is another airline running that routing that still has space available. After the FIM is complete, you would walk over to the new airline’s ticket counter with your itinerary and get checked in like any other paying customer.
Generally, as a matter of courtesy, the original airline’s ticket agent will call the new airline to make sure that their flight isn’t showing availability when it’s actually oversold and to give them the “heads-up” that more pax are headed their way, but they don’t HAVE to do that. When a FIM is processed, it’s done. Complete. With or without the new airline’s permission, you’ve got a completely valid ticket on them, a ticket that they have to honor.
A regular ticket can also be “endorsed” (which is what asking for a “Rule 240″ is actually referring to) and offered up to another airline, however that is a far less effective way of doing things– endorsement is kinda old school, a relic of the days of paper tickets. Most new agents won’t even understand what you’re asking of them. It’s not worth the hassle. Just get FIM’d by your ticketing carrier. (Contrary to what Delta Purser said, the FIM is processed by the original carrier and involves completely reissuing your ticket. An endorsement means that the original airline prints your e-tickets to paper, writes “RULE 240″ on them, and then leaves you free to wander the airport all by yourself, begging someone (anyone!) to accept your tickets at face value… Not a very efficient or pleasant way to do things.)
Consumerist needs to quit telling people to use the term “Rule 240.” Unless the ticketing agent is 50 and has worked for the airline for 25 years, chances are they will have no idea what Rule 240 means. But every single agent will know what a FIM is and what you’re asking for. Using the right terms will go a long ways in getting what you want and are entitled to.
In addition, if the delay was NOT weather related and they could not accommodate her on another flight for a few days out, she would be entitled to hotel and all meals until she was reaccomodate.
As far as the recommendation to “call the airline” and not wait in line. Well, that couldn’t hurt but it’s not going to be the most effective way to deal with things. The people with the MOST power and MOST ability to make things happen are the people at the ticket counter at the airport. The people at the reservations call center cannot FIM you onto another airline and usually cannot even accommodate you for something on your original airline if your ticket is already showing “checked in.” (Which most are, since most people check in online the night before they leave.) Unless all you’re hoping to accomplish is to get rebooked on the same airline for a flight later on down the road, you’re not going to get anything done by calling the reservations number.
Finally, when it comes to Southwest… Southwest is kinda off in a world of its own. The reason no one else offered to put you on those Southwest flights is because Southwest doesn’t show their availability to anyone else, doesn’t allow anyone else to book people on them, and won’t accept Rule 240′s or FIM’s. If they were they only one with the availability and routing to get your to your destination on time, then more power to you and you were right to snatch up a ticket on them. But there’s nothing that any of the agents you talked to could have done to put you on a Southwest flight. (There’s a little bit of danger involved in flying on Southwest because of that– if they cancel a flight, even if it’s totally their fault, they cannot/will not put you on another airline… You just have to wait for another Southwest flight to become available.)
Since the OP did not use the return portion of her ticket because of a CO cancellation, she is entitled to a refund. Because it is a mileage ticket, she needs to contact the mileage plan desk of CO and request that they put the miles that were unused back in her father’s account, along with issuing a refund for the unused taxes. She should also write a letter to Continentals customer relations department regarding the additional expenses incurred– the parking, the bus, the time, the difference in ticket cost. I wouldn’t expect a check or cash back from them, but if the letter is professional and polite, she’ll probably get a nice voucher good for CO flights.
As a side note, I’ve never flown on CO or worked for CO but I do know that they’re one of the best airlines in this country– they receive some of the HIGHEST customer service evaluations of the entire domestic airline industry, so I wouldn’t write off flying with them just because of this one (unfortunate but fairly unavoidable) incident.
@Sudonum: Well, United wouldn’t tell Delta to send you over if it was that tight. Once they have told you to go over there, then you’re pretty much guaranteed a seat.
@Id_LQQK: Sorry you took my comments as “anti-consumerist”… I’m simply telling you how the show is run. I guess you are correct in that the agent didn’t do everything in his power to help her out, but as pointed out by others, it would be impossible to spend 20 minutes on each person who got bumped when you’re talking about 200 people from a full flight.
@Kaix:
I agree and disagree. Ever flown Mexicana?