Originally Posted by
danger
Straight out of the AA DOT ruling:
https://www.transportation.gov/sites..._2015-11-3.pdf
When are people going to learn that calling these fares "error" and "mistake" is only making a rod for their own backs. You Have Been Upgraded and Scummy Flying are two of the worst offenders.
It probably makes no difference though. The current DOT position doesn't distinguish between whether the passenger knew or not whether it was a mistake. It only requires the airline to show it was a mistake. And NZ have potentially done that (provided what they say is true of course!).
If this was to go to a tribunal or court, the law around mistake would come in to play, and whether the passenger knew, ought to have known, or did not know, may become relevant.
Perhaps NZ is setting themselves up for an argument that additional expenses could not be reasonably incurred if the passenger knew it was an error?
All that happened after the last major mistake involving the CAT and DOT was that the DOT strengthened the position of the airlines. DOT was bombarded with - at times - tenuous arguments about what people said they believed. The same might happen here that DOT sides with the airlines over what is reasonable for incurred expenses. I'm not sure that's what we want?