OK, need some assistance from you more seasoned travelers. Here is the situation: On Thursday evening, I had a flight from New York to Austin on American Airlines with a connection in DFW. Well, I got to DFW about quarter before 10, and found out that my connecting flight had been canceled. There was no bad weather in Dallas. The flight had simply been canceled. I had to get to Austin for a 9:30 conference on Friday morning, so the 1:30 PM flight they had rebooked me on wouldn't work. The only flight they could get me on that would work was the next morning on a Southwest Airlines flight, which was of course out of Love Field. Despite the flight not being canceled for weather reasons, they refused to pay for lodging. The farthest they would go was to arrange a discounted rate at the comfort inn. The cab ride to the hotel was $22, then the cab ride the next morning was $35. So all told, I am now out about $140 because they chose to cancel this flight. (A side note, they actually put me on an American flight when I got to LUV, and it was half empty). So anyone know what the airlines are required to do in this situation? I was under the impression that since it was not weather related, they were on the hook. If they try to claim it was weather related, is there any type of form they have to file with the FAA on something like this that I could request. I'm pretty good at making myself such a pain in the *** that companies will generally give me what I want just to get rid of me, but I'd like to have as much ammo as possible before I go calling Gerard J. Arpey's office. Thanks
There is a FAA travel manifesto that you can find ny googling it. At the very least they should have been able to give you a cab voucher.
First, go to AA's website an download a copy of thier customer agreement. It will detail what they contractually obligate themselves to do in the event of a cancellation, and under what circumstances. I believe there are also some federal regulations that specify certain obligations regarding cancellations, as well. A google search should turn all this up pretty readily.
They should have given you a reason for the cancellation. I know everyone hates the airlines, but in my experience they almost never just straight-up lie to you. I like my job and I like my company, but I don't like it enough to tell lies to passengers just to make the company look better. I know from personal experience that a large majority of AA workers are disgruntled over the last few years of understaffing and paycuts. I really doubt that Jane Doe the gate agent would lie just to protect a company she doesn't enjoy working at. The hotel voucher doesn't come out of her pocket, so she has no personal reason not to give it to you if the cancellation was for anything other than weather. I know that's a broad brush stroke, but it's just what I've seen. Just because the weather in DFW and AUS was good does not mean it wasn't canceled for weather. The plane may have been coming in from anywhere else in the country where bad weather was delaying it's departure. Good luck though. Keep going up the chain until you get reimbursed.
Here are conditions of carriage for most of the american based airlines. It looks like this part "American Airlines for hotel accommodations only when you are on an American Airlines flight that is diverted to an unscheduled point and the delay at this point is expected to exceed 4 hours, between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.." wouldn't allow for any hotel accommodations, but you might be able to make an argument because of the overnight stay in a city that isn't close to your home.
First of all, find out the real reason for the cancellation, if you can. If it is not due to Force Majeure, as listed in Rule 240, then yes, they due owe you room accomodations for the night. Where they might disagree is that you were transferring to a different airport for your departure the next morning. And good luck getting them to reimburse the taxi cost, but I would try nonetheless. Here is what I would do. 1) call their customer service number and explain the entire scenario [cancelled flight, no weather involved, had to switch airports for a flight that met your travel needs, failure to offer voucher for hotel accomodations, failure to offer voucher for taxi]. If the customer service rep does you no good ask to speak with their supervisor. And keep asking to be bumped up until they tell you there is no one else to talk with, and they will tell you this. Make sure that at every juncture you get the name, employee number, and position of every person that you spoke with. Should you not receive satisfactory results that way f/u with a certified letter to their customer service department. You will eventually get some sort of compensation, more than likely it will be a travel voucher worth the last leg of your original itinerary. And as for whether or not airlines lie about the reason for flight cancellations, they do. I have personnally experience it. The favorite reason they currently like giving out is "cancellation due to Flight Control," meaning the tower. There are a couple of lawsuits regarding this particular tactic currently in the court system. Flight Control cancellations are under the purview of the FAA, and they are not in the business of giving out information concerning what flights they have cancelled, which is why airlines have decided to go the route of blaming them, as they feel it makes them untouchable. Of course, I could just be a bitter air traveller that is tired of flying an average 250k miles a year for the last 5 years.
Just because it's a hub doesn't mean anything. Airplanes cost way too much to just have a spare just lying around not being used. There are reserve crews, but on the worst days they run out too. I'm not saying they aren't understaffed, probably every carrier making a profit today is at least a little understaffed. But that's usually just a secondary problem to the weather. I'm not giving you a hard time. I'm completely disgusted with all the legacy carriers of today and I really hope you get reimbursed. But I swear every single time I have a weather delay I hear from numerous passengers who are convinced that we are using the weather as an excuse.
I will. Anyone know if there is any specific form that the airline needs to file with the FAA when they cancel a flight due to weather reasons? I have yet to find anything that says what an airline has to do other than say "weather"
Any idea whether it is easier to get miles back than cash or a voucher? Do you think it makes a difference whether it was a mileage redemption originally?
