FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Your flight is delayed so you will miss a connection -- what will the airline do?
Old Jul 19, 2006, 10:50 pm
  #11  
sftrvlr
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: BRS
Programs: BA GLD
Posts: 1,927
As others have chimed in, it all depends on the particluar carrier's rules and regulations, and (unfortunately) many times the agent you are dealing with. Airlines are pretty much protected when it comes to circumstances beyond their control. Witness United's Rule 85, pertaining to cancellations, missed connections and failure to carry. This part says that UA may cancel, delay or reroute a flight without passenger compensation "because of ANY fact beyond it's control."

INCLUDING BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION:

METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS, ACTS OF GOD, FORCE MAJEURE, STRIKES, RIOTS, CIVIL COMMOTIONS, EMBARGO, WARS, HOSTILITIES OR DISTURBANCES

UNSETTLED INTERNATIONAL CONDITIONS (ACTUAL, THREATENED OR REPORTED; OR BECAUSE OF ANY DELAY, DEMAND, CONDITION, CIRCUMSTANCES OR REQUIREMENT RELATED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TO SUCH FACT)

BECAUSE OF ANY FACT NOT REASONABLY FORSEEN OR PREDICTED

BECAUSE OF ANY GOVERNMENT REGULATION OR REQUIREMENT

BECAUSE OF SHORTAGE OF LABOR, FUEL OR FACILITIES AT THIS CARRIER OR OTHER CARRIERS

Pretty much covers everything beyond their control. When it's within their control, the first choice of the carrier will always be to transport you over their own lines and avoid paying a competitor to transport you.

Unfortunately, many of the frontline employees fail to grasp the concept of exactly how much it may cost to "push" your e-ticket to another carrier, or endorse your paper ticket. When I worked at the United rate desk, I'd often get calls from gate agents asking whether it would be OK to endorse a ticket (for example) from LAX to LHR to (for example) BA if the UA went mechanical. I would respond that it should be, then ask for the record locator; only to pull up the record and find a passenger who was booked at the lowest possible consolidator fare on UA had been protected in first class on BA! If you're the lucky recipient of this generosity, excellent score! If you're the bean counter at United HQ, you're pulling your hair out. Even though the agreed compensation between carriers for carriage during irregular operations is nowhere near the full list price (LAX-LHR in first class back then was approximately $1900 from UA to BA) it's still not quite the same as endorsing the UA ticket in the corresponding BA fare category and paying (for example) $190.

So the moral is, try to know your rights when something goes wrong. Forceful but polite generally works to your advantage during stressful times of irregular operations. But if the delay/cancel/miss-connect is due to any of the reasons above, your best hope is elite status with the carrier in question.
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