mile ho

My wife rarely flies for business. But tonight she was flying from BHM to DFW via CLT (one ticket one way purchase; not two separate flights).

She was supposed to be on tonight's Flight 373. Here's what happened.

Due to mechanical, her flight was about 30 minutes late leaving BHM. The gate agent and flight attendants were saying the connections would all be okay. When she got to CLT, she got out of the plane and ran to her departure gate. Her watch read 10.09 and departure was scheduled for 10.11. My wife had a boarding pass in hand for that flight that she received back in BHM. The gate agent told her that she was out of luck and that it was actually her fault for not being at the gate 5 minutes prior to departure. My wife had run the whole way and was out of breath even. The plane had already pushed back. Agent was ambivilous to my wife's problem, first even trying to tell her that she had no recourse as it was weather. Found out later from the folk at baggage that it was indeed mechanical that caused the late flight from BHM. Still my wife was at the gate 2 minutes before departure. The gate agent refused to give her a hotel room.

My wife finally found someone at Special Services? that was willing to her a room. She gets into a cab and the cabbie wasn't sure how to get to the hotel so my wife called the hotel for directions. Guess what? The hotel had no rooms. Back to the airport.

A very nice lady in Baggage services helped my wife with a room and and found out for certain that it was mechanical.

How should I go about handling compensation for this? I'm also wondering if the flight (373) wasn't sold out and they needed her seat and just took it. That would explain why they pushed back early. Is there any way to find out if US 373 from CLT to DFW was full tonight?

I'm thoroughly hacked off here. Any advice (other than don't fly US) as far as how to tackle this?

Thanks in advance to my fellow FTers.

chuck1

Doesn't really matter if it is full or not.

The agent is more concerned about getting their flight off the gate on time than getting called in to explain why they got a flight off the gate late.

You can call it shortsighted considering it was the last flight of the night and they ended up paying for transportation, hotel and I hope meals too.

I think the only way the agent would have held the flight is that if someone higher up in operations or whatever it is called at US Airways specifically took the responsibility to delay the flight. It is not something the agent can do on their own without getting in hot water.

In any case, if the agent had misconnects or oversales from an earlier flight then it was a bonus for them to get the people on the plane and get it out.

It stinks but that is just how it is now.

mile ho

Seriously? I mean that gate agent knew my wife's plane had landed. They pushed away from the gate before the stated departure time. They couldn't have waited 5 stinking minutes for her to make it to the plane? I ain't buying it. If a plane leaves a gate 5 or even 10 minutes late I doubt quite seriously that the gate agent gets called on the carpet; it happens all the time. And having atleast one pax that was 5 minutes away from boarding the flight?

And it does matther if it was full or not. The simple fact they pushed away from the gate early - especially if they were full - means they used this tactic to keep from paying involuntary denied boarding.

cedric

There's a reason that US has the best on-time performance. For most of us, getting the flight out on time 95% of the time beats the 5% chance that we'll misconnect when we're running late - regardless of the reason.

In order to depart on-time, the doors need to close early. The contract of carriage states:
That seems to be exactly what they did. There is no compensation due.

Certainly not your wife's fault - but delays happen. Not sure how not flying on US would avoid this situation in the future. From your profile, it seems that your main carrier is AA. Here's what AA has to say about the same situation:
If airlines like US and AA always waited until the last minute, flights would frequently be delayed. That would cause further delays in (re-)printing the manifest, closing the luggage compartment (in case of gate checked bags), etc.

Ultimately, your wife received a hotel voucher and got rebooked for the morning & the other 120 passengers on the flight get to their destination on time. That's exactly what is supposed to happen in situations like you described.

mile ho

The flight into DFW arrived 6 minutes early. Had the gate agent simply waited for the connecting pax from that plane - prob only my wife - all 120 passengers would have still arrived on time.

cedric

You seem to disagree with US' policies. The boarding agent at the airport did nothing contrary to those. I guess you could advise US that you disagree with their policy, but I'm not sure how far that's going to get you. After all, when the ticket was purchased, the contract of carriage was agreed to.

Again, by waiting an extra 10 minutes for your wife (and how would they know how fast she walks, if she stopped on the way to the gate, etc), there would have been a further delay to print a new manifest. Ultimately, if they didn't close the aircraft gate at -10 and door at -5, but rather closed the gate at +0 and door at +5, then the flight would have arrived late. Airlines have to draw the line in the sand somewhere. US is very clear on where that line is. Overall, that's a huge benefit to travelling with US. I don't agree with all of their policies, but this one is a win for the consumer.

FYI I checked Southwest's contract of carriage as well, and they also have a 10 minute rule.

Superguy

Yes, AFTER his wife fought with US and went to a different agent.

First agent lied about it being weather and didn't bother to check for sure and/or couldn't be bothered.

Most airlines I've dealt with have ensured that there was space available at the hotel before sending me there.

Yes, he found some who ultimately helped him, but the first agent refused and the second caused her to come back to the airport to get booked somewhere else.

Is that worth a lot of compensation, no, but her experience was certainly not how it should happen.

Maybe some miles or a $50 off cert or something like that for the hassle.

Ottermatic

As annoying as it is when this happens to me, I understand their reasons for sending the plane on its way regardless. That being said, I think more than half of the OP's acrimony could have been avoided had the gate agent acknowledged that it was a mechanical issue that caused the original delay and issued a hotel voucher without the runaround. (Saying it was her fault for not being there earlier is a bit of salt on the wound, too.) Delays happen, but I think good customer service can diffuse a lot of the resulting annoyance on the part of the traveler.

The flight attendants saying that all flights would be fine probably didn't help matters either, but I think that's minor by comparison.

OM

Ottermatic

^ +1

mile ho

Glad you brought up Southwest. Over the last 10 years I've been on many, many last flight outs on WN (I'm not a WN apologist, I assure you). I would guess that we've sat at the gate for 15 minutes past departure more than a 25 times over those 10 years waiting for weather or mechanically delayed pax.

Now one might say it was because WN didn't want to put anyone up in a hotel or incur the other costs involved with this sort of problem. And if it's weather there are no costs. I've never complained when they waited. Know why?

Many of those delayed pax are wives and husbands, mothers and fathers or just folk who what to get home or wherever they're going that night. A FEW extra minutes won't hurt. And too, I've been that tired sole who wanted to get home that night and was the last to board after being delayed.

Nothing sounds quite so good as "Yes sir, Mr. xxxx, we've been waiting for you. Hurry on."

So making the conscious decision to NOT wait for someone who has arrived 5 minutes too late due to mechanical (more US's fault) is a win for the passenger?

NOT IN MY BOOK.

mile ho

Thanks for noticing more of the problem than others here.

I wonder if Chuck and Cedric would be so nonchalant if they had been left by less than 5 minutes, then lied to and blamed, then to top it off, given the runaround (literally and figuritively) regarding a room. Bet not.

I will be working on my wife's behalf for compensation. I know most people on this board don't think she is entitled to much.

If the US rule is hard and fast (which I doubt very seriously) I think it is indeed a bad rule. Common sense has to play into these sorts of situations. These are people not simply cargo. But I think it says alot about that particular gate agent's attitude toward pax when she LIED about the reason for the late plane from BHM, told my wife it was her fault (WOW), and then that she was on her own as far as finding a place to sleep when she KNEW it was mechanical. That right there is egregious behavior.

No, I'll be encouraging my wife to seek more than token (50.00) compensation.

geo1005

I don't know what this means.

The gate agent for the departing flight from CLT to DFW followed proper procedure and had the flight close its doors and push back on time. It does not matter if the flight was full or not. The real issue here is that you wife's inbound flight was delayed and she missed the connect. We can all say it would have been easy to hold the DFW flight for your wife but, as any experienced traveler can attest, that's the exception to the rule and you are lucky when it happens. It's not something one can expect compensation for when it does not.

As for the GA comments about your wife's inbound flight, it sounds like she misspoke or possibly gave a made-up answer about it being late because of weather. Bad move (IMO) on the GA's part and if this is what happened, it is inappropriate. The GA never should have involved herself in the issue other than to say the DFW flight closed its doors and left on time per policy and that your wife should go see the Special Services desk to address the issue. The GA for the DFW flight isn't authorized to give out hotel room vouchers so that conversation was likely begun in the heat of the moment and was a non-starter.

In the end, she was given overnight accommodation (not sure what to think about the first hotel being full issue). That said, I don't see much here to warrant significant compensation.

Superguy

I threw out the $50 figure as I know US tends to be cheap. Also, as with most airlines, what you get depends on status with the airline. If you can get more, more power to you. I just don't think US is going to offer a GM much. If she has status, it's not obvious and she may do better.

UA used to be ridiculously generous with compensation, especially if you're a 1K. I once got a $250 voucher simply because I sent my F meal back because it was gross. Not bad on a $290 L fare mileage run.

That said, I understand your wife's frustation as I've had UA pull that crap on me. I was in SLC and the incoming flight from SFO which was to be our flight to DEN was delayed for ramp reasons (I checked UA's site and saw). Well, we were about to board and then got put on ground hold due to weather in DEN and were delayed about another 30 minutes. Once we boarded, the FAs swore up and down that connections would be held, blah blah. I was skeptical but they insisted. So what happens when we get to DEN and I get to my plane? Door's closed and I'm SOL. Fortunately, the "earlier" flight was delayed and hadn't left yet so I was able to get on that. I was traveling with a 4 year old and had just run thru the airport to see the door closed, so I can sympathize with the fun she had.

When I got home, I complained to UA. I focused on 2 two things: that the incoming flight from SFO was delayed due to UA's fault and secondly, that the FAs were adamant that connections would be held. Had the incoming flight left on time, we would have left on time and never would have hit the weather delay. I ended up getting compensated.

I'm not sure how US will react, but your situation is very similar to mine. Focus on the mechanical setting the whole thing on motion, and the promises as secondary. Then hit the first GA's attitude and lie.

Good luck.

AirJam389

mile ho-

you're clearly very upset about this situation, and at least partially justified in your frustration. However, you'll probably get farther if you calm down about the whole saga and focus in on the couple of areas where US really did make a mistake. If you drop the melodramatic sob story and interact with the airline level-headedly on where the airline actually made a mistake, you'll probably get more traction.

I know it sucks, but you just need to forget about the fact that they closed the door to your wife's flight. They followed their policy correctly and had no obligation to hold it for your wife. It doesn't matter that they could have if they really wanted to. The fact is that they didn't really want to, and they're not going to pay you for that.

The real breakdown was the customer service after the fact. The GA shouldn't have lied to your wife. Unless she knew for sure what the situation was, she probably should have just told her that she didn't know the exact situation but that she should take her boarding passes to customer service so that the situation could be resolved. Instead she lied (or was misinformed, or something) and got the runaround about getting a hotel room. You might be able to get some compensation here.

As for the full hotel, that was probably just laziness on the part of whoever printed the voucher. I'm guessing they're able to just print a voucher that you can just take to the hotel, and they don't have to check the hotel's availability before printing the voucher. They might have been a bit lazy, and they could have handled it a bit better, but they didn't do something totally ridiculous and absurd.

Your biggest problem here is that ultimately US followed the CoC and correctly provided overnight accommodation. Your wife was just unlucky enough to get some poor customer service along the way.

So, rather than calling and yelling at someone about sending a flight out, why not call/email and explain why you were significantly disappointed with the customer service experience and that you'd like them to help make you whole for the hassle they caused. My guess is this strategy will get you a lot farther - but I still wouldn't expect hundreds of dollars or thousands of miles

thphilly

It can happen both ways whether they hold the connecting flight or not. Just last week I was flying PHL-PHX-SLC. The flight out of PHL was delayed at least 45 minutes. US held the connecting flight gate open in PHX at least 10 minutes past departure time (I'm not really sure how long). Now that may have been because there were at least 6 people making that connection and adjusting all of their itineraries may have been difficult for US.

I'm sure there is a cost-benefit analysis for what US does and sorry your wife came out on the unlucky side of that.