David and his wife weren’t allowed to board a connecting flight and had to wait several hours for another flight without compensation. U.S. Airways told them they checked in too late, but David is adamant that they were there in time.

He writes:

I don’t know if this is the proper means to notify your blog about these sorts of things. If it isn’t let me know and I will gladly redirect my email.

My wife and I were returning from our honeymoon last night and ran into huge problems with US Airways in Charlotte. Below is the complaint I am filing with US Airways (which is apparently the only way to have any action from within the company):

Upon returning home from Charleston, we were set to board flight [redacted] on September 12. We were told that a delay occurred due to early morning fog in Charlotte. We were also told that if we had a connection that left after 7:15 we would be able to make that flight. Upon reaching Charlotte, we checked with the gate agent where we landed (at concourse E at around 7:25) who referred to a flight list and said we could make it to our connecting flight (at Concourse C at 7:59).

My wife and I ran to make the flight and were in line before our zone was called. When our tickets were scanned we were informed that we were kicked off of the flight because we came in too late. At this point we were told that nothing else could be done and that we were *lucky* to be placed on the next flight at 10:15. We asked to see the shift manager.

When shift manager Sandra Corral refused to help. She was yelling and interrupting when we tried to explain the situation and refused to provide any sort of compensation for removing us from the flight. While this was occurring, the gate agents were negotiating with another passenger to sell their seat so that another couple could ride on the plane we bought tickets for. A woman was offered $250 in vouchers to I would like to reiterate: Our flight was delayed with a reasonable amount of time to make it to the connecting flight. Until the time our ticket was scanned to enter the plane, we were assured that we would be on the flight, and upon asking for any assistance for missing our original flight we were met with an unprofessional and uncooperative manager.

The part that really sticks out here is that while we were desperately trying to get some sort of compensation ( I would have simply been happy with a gift certificate for one of the nicer restaurants for dinner) they were handing out $250 to another passenger that wasn’t wrongly kicked off the flight. Humiliating.

Veteran travelers, have you seen things like this happen? What could David have done to have prevented it, and what moves should he make now to get some justice?

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.