Friends flight from MCI to SXM was cancelled due to aircraft mechanical problem. He can't make a connection in CLT so they told him he would have to fly tomorrow. He was denied any compensation. Is this the normal way USAIR handles cancelled flights? :confused:

Why can't he make a connection in CLT?

-JC

Why can't he make a connection in CLT?

-JC

b/c the first segment (MCI-CLT) was cancelled.

At the very least, meals and a hotel should have been provided.

Was there any other way to get to SXM that day other than US? If so, he should have been rebooked at no charge.

You get a hotel if your flight is canceled in a connecting city. If the cancellation is in the originating city, no hotel is provided since the passenger presumably lives within reasonable distance and can go back home.

The terms of cancelled/delayed flights are spelled out clearly:
http://www.usairways.com/customers/travel_policies/terms/terms.htm#Delayed%20and%20Canceled%20Flights

The 710am MCI-CLT US flight(#740) is the only one that can connect with the nonstop flight to SXM (#877). The only other airline providing a single connection option was delta, but that flight left at 540am. There were double connection options on AA leaving later in the AM, but all of them eventually connected in SJU with a 1033pm arrival.

I guess I would have preferred to just make the trip and get there at that point rather than go home and arrive a day later. So, in that case I would have firmly demanded to be put on another airline (i.e. AA), even if it meant a triple connection.

You get a hotel if your flight is canceled in a connecting city. If the cancellation is in the originating city, no hotel is provided since the passenger presumably lives within reasonable distance and can go back home.

The terms of cancelled/delayed flights are spelled out clearly:
http://www.usairways.com/customers/travel_policies/terms/terms.htm#Delayed%20and%20Canceled%20Flights

The 710am MCI-CLT US flight(#740) is the only one that can connect with the nonstop flight to SXM (#877). The only other airline providing a single connection option was delta, but that flight left at 540am. There were double connection options on AA leaving later in the AM, but all of them eventually connected in SJU with a 1033pm arrival.

I guess I would have preferred to just make the trip and get there at that point rather than go home and arrive a day later. So, in that case I would have firmly demanded to be put on another airline (i.e. AA), even if it meant a triple connection.

He asked about another airline but the availability wasn't there. (from SJU to SXM). Would it be a useless thing to try to contact USAIR for compensation? Or, because he left he just lives with it? Thanks for the help.

He asked about another airline but the availability wasn't there. (from SJU to SXM). Would it be a useless thing to try to contact USAIR for compensation? Or, because he left he just lives with it? Thanks for the help.

It sounds like no compensation was due because:

1)He lives in MCI so no food/hotel

2)They made a reasonable effort to get him to SXM that day on other carriers and there was no availability.

There's not much else in the way of recourse. Cash compensation isn't going to happen. Maybe US will give him some miles for his trouble, but that's not a routine occurence.

What spiff said. I suppose if he wanted to cancel the whole trip they might refund it if it negatively impacted his plans there. Otherwise, he should show up tomorrow and hope for that flight to operate.

Some people will often fly to the connecting point the night before to make caribbean flights the next day just for the added piece of mind. They incur the hotel costs at the connecting city, of course, but they are more assured of getting on the one and only flight to the caribbean destination that day.

I also wonder if the airline would compensate for any hotel fees in SXM for no-showing (since many require 24 hours or more advance notice for cancelation). That's something for Consumer Affairs to handle, and probably on a case by case basis. In the end, it might be best to plead with the hotel manager upon arrival, with proof of the airlines' mechanical cancelation to just avoid the charge all together and be done with it.