Alaska Airlines diverted our flight - anyone know about cash compensation?
 

No, you're not going to get compensated for a weather diversion that was beyond the airline's control. Honestly a total of $1000 in travel bank credit sounds like a really great deal (I don't think AS' contract of carriage provides for any compensation for weather diversions, so this was an agent trying to do something nice for you) and likely is far more than what you paid for a one-way rental car. Sounds like you made out pretty well.

OP:

Dunno about you, but that sure sounds like they got four $250 credits each, and per the T&Cs you can apply four travel certificates on one reservation. So, $1000.

Hats off to Alaska for the generous goodwill gesture. You are entitled to nothing.

Thank you
 

Somebody at AS will get counselled if AS ever audits the $1,000 for a weather-related diversion.:D

Seriously, why on earth should there be any compensation and why should AS pay for a rental car. OP's travel insurance ought to cover the rental.

Was your AS flight cancelled after being diverted to CMH, or was it scheduled to continue on to Washington subsequently (perhaps the next day)?

If AS did not offer to transport you to your ticketed destination -- even after some delay -- I
​​​should think that you would be entitled to some cash compensation/partial refund of fare paid -- but you might have to sue (or get the media involved) to obtain it.

Not just "sounds like," that is a really great deal. I had a weather diversion in the Spring and I was given a $100 voucher. That seemed reasonable to me.

Because AS never transported OP's family all the way to IAD?

FWIW - with this situation, OP's family could have invoke trip-in-vein and asked to transport back to the origin and got a full refund. Given the circumstance, $250 each in lieu of a refund sounds fair.

What were they offering in terms of IRROPS recovery? They have an obligation to continue you on to your final destination. Did they continue the flight later on? Send a replacement crew? Rebook you guys on other flights out of CMH?

Still interested in just HOW they said they would get you to the destination? If they did NOT offer SOME answer to that then you likely have a real case against them. ( If OTOH they offered flights to you - next day perhaps? - ...and you CHOSE to rent a car instead...then..no.)

I will presume this group of 4 were not the only people on the plane. This was likely a full or nearly full plane. I will then presume that AS likely prepared to move a crew into Columbus In the morning to move the piece of equipment to intended destination. Therefore AS would have been able to fulfill their obligation.

But this is just a guess. I doubt that AS gave everyone on the flight 250. The car rental and driving is a personal choice. I suspect the car rental one way was not 1000k.

Finally did AS get you home? I suspect they didn’t cancel your ticket and you got home on AS.

Overall weather sucks and is inconvenient but I value my family much more than anything. 13 hours is a long work day for some people and I would state that 13 hours for a pilot and crew is a reasonable limit for safety.

So it looks like we are talking about AS1084 SFO-IAD. The aircraft returned to SFO the following morning without ever continuing on to DC. In that case I would think they are entitled to reimbursement for the car and probably the goodwill gesture they received.

Looks like the return flight AS1077 from IAD was cancelled on 7/4. It also appears that on 7/5 they up gauged to an A321, probably to add more passengers that had been stranded at IAD.

So they just stranded a planeload of people in the middle of Ohio?

Its possible they sent a rescue plane from an east coast location, but I cant find it on flightaware. I know the original aircraft returned to SFO.

I think this is the question that many posters are asking of the OP; what did they tell you when you deplaned? My "guess" is that if the equipment did not go forward, then the offer was made to book the passengers on other airlines the following day....but I have no idea if that happened. I would find it hard to believe (though some here would disagree) that AS would just dump passengers without trying to get them to their original destination; whether they pay for hotel, etc. I do not know, but I am pretty sure they were booking passengers through in a time that may not have worked for the OP.....I hope they comment.

Shouldn't the OP also get a full refund? After all they had a ticket to get from point A to point B and AS did not take them from point A to point B

The $250 is about in line with the compensation that AS usually gives in situations like this. It's not required but it's standard for them.

As far as arriving a day late... stuff like that happens when you fly. If it's really important to be somewhere on a certain day, fly a day or two earlier. Arriving a day after your scheduled arrival is not all that uncommon.

There's no doubt in my mind that AS provided an alternative means of getting everyone to the final destination, though it may not have been ideal or acceptable to OP. I just can't fathom Alaska landing elsewhere due to weather and saying "sorry, we're pretty close, best of luck. no refunds" and that being the end of it. Perhaps OP didn't wait around to hear what the alternative was and doesn't know, or isn't monitoring these forums today to provide an update as to what was offered by AS.

It seems like if you turn down the alternate accommodations you should still get a refund.

If my flight is canceled, and they offer me a flight the next day, and I refuse, I can cancel for a full refund.

I understand that this is a little different because they got part-way there. OP probably could have claimed "trip in vain" and gotten a full refund and free transportation back home from the mid-way point... and they are asking for less than that.

Personally I would call (not email) AS customer care. I find that their agents are usually pretty accommodating. I'm not sure how much of this is due to status and how much is just regular policy. Still, emailing is likely to get you a canned response that may or may not have any bearing on the message that you wrote. On the other hands that phone agents are really good at listening, explaining the situation, and offering what I've always considered to be more than reasonable. They also seem to have a fair amount of discretion.

"Trip in Vain," like "Rule 240," is airline jargon that sometimes gets used without being fully understood. It is more of a guideline than a policy.

There is no guarantee that an airline will issue a full refund for a Trip in Vain if the delay or cancellation is outside its control (e.g., weather).

It happened again today (AS 266 SFO-EWR). The flight was diverted to BOS, canceled upon landing, and passengers were NOT offered alternative flights, with weather cited as the excuse. This is according to a report from a friend.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...650Z/KSFO/KBOS


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...dd6944a847.png

The plane is being posited BOS-EWR tomorrow morning for the recovery segment EWR-SFO. Passengers on tonight's EWR-SFO were offered booking on the recovery segment or other airlines/AS flights either tonight or tomorrow.

I guess I should be grateful then that a SEA-EWR flight a few weeks ago (that had my unaccompanied minor 7 year old onboard) was diverted to Dulles due to weather and then finished up at EWR only about 4.5 hours after the originally scheduled. :)