Originally Posted by
trooper
Im curious as to whether those wanting pax to always be "given a break" (regardless of the actual rules) and not wanting to exchange "courtesy" for money etc.... would ALSO extend that courtesy to airlines departing from Europe...by NOT demanding EC261 compensation for delays?? I mean the airline may have broken the "letter" of the contract, but if they do everything possible to reduce the delay etc...well... let's apply the Spirit of it shall we? Because "things happen" - to airlines as well as individuals.... Right? No?
Presumably that is "different"...
Private party contracts and government regulations are entirely different things. It's between the two parties to address breaches of contract. The government has set regulations (presumably for a reason) and they must be applied uniformly to all situations. It truly is comparing apples to oranges.
This is just pretty basic customer service--OP probably should have been given the benefit of the "flat tire" but certainly wasn't "entitled" to any accommodation. It's actually the exact type of scenario you would train your front line agents on (passenger clearly overslept and is 10 minutes late, what should you do?). Note that what "should" you do is a different inquiry than what "can" or "are you required" to do.
People giving OP a hard time have either (1) never worked a customer service industry job or (2) don't care because they can hide behind the anonymity of the internet to harass other people to make themselves feel good.