jetsetter

Someone recently posted in this thread that if you miss your flight because you arrived at the airport late, for whatever reason, that no airline will give you a free pass. This may be technically correct by the book, but I have been flying since 1989 on a lot of different airlines, and all of them have a sort of unofficial policy that they will accommodate passengers who miss their flights. This is sometimes broadly called the flat tire rule, and eg UA had (or used to have, not sure) a more official policy called a Missed Trip Policy.

Basically it is up to the agent what they do if you miss your flight, and you may very well get three different interpretations if you talk with three different agents.

This past weekend I was with two people that missed their 10:00am flight on B^, and showed up at the airport around 4:00pm or so. I did the $50 change by phone because I bought an EMS seat and there was only one EMS seat on the new flight and I wanted to make sure I got a good seat. My two friends who missed the flight were accommodated by paying the $50 same day fee at the ticket counter. Again, that is not the official policy, but that is what happened in real life. The two friends did not push it, but they may have allowed them to go standby instead of paying the $50 depending on the whim of the agent who helped them.

This all being said, US and UA for elite flyers have better accommodation than B6 because by official policy they waive the same day change fee for elites. This is one reason I fly US 3-4 a month.

Sure, yes, I could negotiate with B6, and probably 99% of the time get the situation resolved to my satisfaction despite their official policy, but on US I would automatically bea acccommodated on an earlier flight, and by unofficial policy would be accommodated on a later flight. US, like B6, official policy does not discuss accommodation on later flights when you miss your flight.

One other aside I read on the B6 web site, I believe the mobiel site, that they will accommodate standby on the next later flight if a pax misses their flight. I'm not sure if that is still official policy, or if its just some old content on the mobile pages.

I'm curious also as a Mosaic level flyer if officially or unofficially they waive the same day confirmed fee at the airport?

But in conclusion, no matter what the policy is or isn't, what you get depends on what you can negotiate with the agent and the rapport or lack of rapport you have with the agent. That is really the key, and completely trumps anything else!