sokolov

Hi,

my US-flight (YHZ-DCA-LAS) was cancelled at late notice. I should have lifted off in 6 hours. Now I'm supposed to leave Monday evening, about 60 hours late. (And I understand why.)

US Airways says that they can not rebook me to other carriers, because those other carriers won't let them. They are tending to their own customers first. (And I would understand that.)

But is that really true? Or is US Airways just trying to save money by telling me that? Other carriers do have options to get to Las Vegas, but it is of course more expensive than what I paid months ago to US Airways.

I'm only Star Alliance Silver.

justhere

Probably true. Even in normal operations where I've been on an overbooked flight and asked to be put on a different carrier, they have had to call the other carrier to verify they'll accept the ticket.

Doesn't happen every time but has happened to me enough to believe what you were told. Also, I've been trying to help a relative whose flight was cancelled (not a US flight) and was told basically the same thing by that airline.

BoeingBoy

Almost certainly true. When you look at the number of cancelled flights on all airlines that operate in the northeast, every airline probably has thousands of passengers to accommodate with relatively few available seats on operating flights to work with. It would just make sense for each airline to look after it's own passengers before giving seats to another airline.

Jim

Segments

Probably true.

I recall an ice storm many years ago where I did successfully get rebooked on another airline for the next day. Luckily I decided to wait in the long lines immediately after cancellation to both get US to sign-off on the change, and to get boarding pass from the other airline. When I returned to the airport the next day there were signs posted that the airline was no longer accepting vouchers from other airlines.

sokolov

Yes and no. If seats go empty...

So what was the advantage of $AirlineAlliance again? :-)

Thank you to all three respondents!

BoeingBoy

But there's little chance of empty seats on the next scheduled flight of another airline but not on the next scheduled US flight.

Seamless booking and a lot bigger network with destinations US doesn't serve. But in irrops like the NE has had an alliance doesn't make extra seats suddenly appear.

Jim

LowlyDLsilver

Getting you someplace your default carrier (carrier of choice) doesn't go, Under NORMAL circumstances.

When the brown smelly hits the fan, every carrier is trying to get their own displaced customers where they are going (with preference to their high-revenue ones, of course) Helping alliance partners out is way down the list in weather events.

scottsam66

I think OPs smiley indicated his last comment was in jest...
Cheers

sokolov

It was easy to book a flight on WestJet. As per the Montreal Convention, Article 19, US Airways will have to reimburse me for the extra cost.

It would have been possible for US to get me to LAS tomorrow on their own flights (US/US Express), and I would have accepted a one day delay, but they were inflexible. I found a routing via Philadelphia and Indiana with open seats (as per the US website), but US Airways agent refused to even look it up. He said they would only fly me through certain airports, and Indiana wasn't not one of them. Interesting.

PS: Yes, I know, WestJet is NOT Star Alliance, but an interlining partner. Air Canada is Star Alliance, and they were selling tickets as well, if at a much higher price.

justhere

Given all the travel disruptions and flight cancellations the last couple of days, good luck proving your case.

Not sure it would be worth the time, effort, and costs, to prove to a court that US didn't act reasonably.

sokolov

Thahk you for your good wishes. It is easy to prove, because they didn't even try. A single phone call to WestJet and some extra $ was all it took.

justhere

Just something to think about but how are you going to prove that they didn't even try? How long after you asked them did you book the WestJet flight? If there was any delay at all, US could claim that the seat wasn't available at the time you asked but became available when you went to book. Again, given how dynamic this process is and with all the weather issues, flight cancellations, etc, it might not be worth the effort.

Either way, good luck and hope it works out for you.

Often1

If OP goes out and purchases a new ticket seriously believing that he will prevail in an Article 19 claim, he will be severely disappointed.

All he will get here is a refund of what he paid for his original ticket and he will be out the difference.

There is zippo requirement that US pick up the phone and call every other carrier everytime some customer calls in. Once US knows that other carriers, including *A, have blocked their inventory (and that has ocurred --- just look at the hundred threads from "stranded" pax around the US), it knows.

Best of luck.

mikew99

If other carriers have options to Las Vegas, US Airways could certainly call them up and buy you a ticket. They just don't want to spend the money, and the law doesn't (currently) require them to, so you wait....

phlwookie

I haven't seen this route to compensation mentioned here before, so I'll be interested if it works, but share the caution of others that it may not.

Article 19 certainly doesn't require rerouting to another carrier, nor the explicit reimbursement of the passenger doing it themselves:
http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/air.carriag...l.1999/19.html

Also, the US Canadian tariff (http://www.usairways.com/pv_obj_cach...lename/CGR.pdf) has these statements on p40-41:

I'm not expert in the order or precedence for tariffs, contracts of carriage, or the Warsaw and/or Montreal conventions, but I'd be interested in how this turns out. My guess is that US refunds the unused airfare and perhaps tosses a voucher in at most but doesn't refund the WestJet cost.

Does WestJet have interline agreements with other carriers, or are they like Southwest in that they won't sign over passengers to other carriers (or vice versa) during irregular ops?