My father is on flight 53 LAX-HOU-EZE

It was supposed to leave at 2:30 pm and connect to EZE, but, they were informed that due to mechanical problems, the flight was delayed 2 hours.

This means that his connection to EZE is gone. The next available is on the 23rd at 9 pm, arriving on the 24th.

I called CO Plat to better inform myself on the situation and see what he can expect since I don't know the IDB rules on CO... and the rep claims that the flight was delayed due to weather, thunderstorms in Houston...

I know that airlines use this wild card to get out of everything.. frustrating.

He lands in Houston in a couple of hours .. I told him not to leave the airport without some form of compensation. Aside from asking to get booked on an earlier flight on another carrier, what else can he get? I was aiming for a voucher for credit, but that may be a long shot at this point

ideas?

Likely not much you can do to get to EZE. Next day is likely your only option. Going another carrier would likely be the same.

I suggest you look around and book him a hotel. He may be able to ask CO for reduced hotel rate - but if weather he will have to pay.

The is a prime example of a direct flight - single flight number - with two different aircraft. In bound is late but the continuation of the flight leaves before.

I think there should be a rule that for direct flights - the outbound must be held and wait for the inbound - otherwise the airline needs to make it two separate flight numbers.

There were no thunderstorms today in Houston, so that's a crock of crap.

well, I went to Flightstats.com and did a historical search for flights landing in HOU today between 7pm and 9 pm

A great chunk of them landed on time. Doesn't a weather problem usually affect most flights? Not just CO and express jet flights?

yes, but how does one prove this?

yes.. no rain here today

It doesn't actually have to rain . You could have had rain in Omaha or Denver or anywhere the plane traveled thought and if that held up the flight, then it was "weather related".
I get this song and dance every time I fly into EWR. It is either that or ATC flow control. Unless you are on the plane and it literally breaks down, you have little recourse in proving that your flight wasn't affected by the infamous "weather"or "ATC".

Without a doubt, it is one of CO's greatest shortcomings.

Surely no one in here would EVER suggest that an airline would LIE !!!!!

Here are the stats for the flight and its inbound:

Continental Flight: 53
Departure Date: Aug 22, 2010
Status: Arrived Gate 1 Hour 59 Minutes Late

Departed:
Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Scheduled: 2:30 PM
Actual: 4:39 PM
Gate: 62
Check-in: Terminal 6

Arrived:
Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)
Scheduled: 7:50 PM
Actual: 9:49 PM
Gate: C-37
Bag Claim/Arrivals: Terminal C

Aircraft: Boeing 757-300 aircraft #869
------------------------------------------------------

Continental Flight: 1605
Departure Date: Aug 22, 2010
Status: Arrived Gate 19 Minutes Late

Departed:
Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)
Scheduled: 11:55 AM
Actual: 12:11 PM
Gate: C-43
Check-in: Terminal C

Arrived:
Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Scheduled: 1:16 PM
Actual: 1:35 PM
Gate: 62
Bag Claim/Arrivals: Terminal 6

Aircraft: Boeing 757-300 aircraft #869
----------------------------------------

Inbound was 19 minutes late, hardly enough for it to be 2 hours late leaving. I doubt this was weather.

The only other option would be Copa via PTY. The EZE flight departs around 11 am or so I think, so if he could get to PTY early enough that could be an option, although I don't know if CO and CM use each other on re bookings, but it may be worth to ask?

Flying via CM would put in PTY by tomorrow night around 9pm.

Today's CO53 was operated by 737 ship #869 and began the day in PDX, running the red-eye to IAH as CO208. Looks like it was running about 20 minutes behind when it landed in Houston around dawn.

It became CO1605 headed to LAX, and likewise made that hop about 15 minutes behind schedule. The plane, now on the ground at LAX, had a scheduled 75 minute turnaround.

Over 3 hours later it leaves LAX headed for IAH as CO53.

Weather in Houston could not have been the cause. There was hardly a cloud in the sky here all day, and it was well over 100 degrees and quite dry.

I can't speak for weather in LA, but I'm sure the OP's father could. Pax there would know if it was realistically a weather delay or not.

Weather between the two airports should not have been an issue, as flights are regularly routed around foul weather conditions with minimal impact to schedule.

As for proof, it should be easy to verify with NWS observations of actual field conditions. Par example, http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KIAH.html shows an hourly history of the conditions at IAH such as temperature, cloud cover, visibility, wind speed, precipitation, etc. You can pull a similar report for LAX.

Flight delays due to weather happen, yes. This does not reasonably sound like one.

As if no other carrier is guilty

Your father probably should have been rebooked

on both flights for tomorrow as they knew about

the total itin and that he would be stranded

True, but I think CO is more guilty than most at trying to pull this stunt.

It may be the arrogant CO culture where they think they can do no wrong.

In my nearly 50 years of high mileage flying I"ve probably

seen just about every kind of problem (many more than once)

For the largest percentage CO has taken very good care of me

Certainly has not been the case with almost ALL of the others

If it weren't for dumb luck I'd have no luck at all

The industry changes all the time. What CO (or any airline) did to you 50 years ago may not be relevant at all today.

CO used to take great care of me as well (though that was 5-10 years ago). About 10 years ago, UA used to be a lot more arrogant (sort of how CO is today). I actually switched from UA to CO as my primary because CO had a better attitude and upgrades were more plentiful. I later switched back from CO to UA as my primary because UA had a better attitude and upgrades were more plentiful. Things change.

While I certainly respect all the flying time you've put in, everything is constantly changing, and like any business relationship, one should from time to time reassess other offerings and their performance to determine whether there is a better value proposition elsewhere.

I find it much more relevant to look at the past couple years or so of interactions rather than aggregating many years of data, because the further out data may not represent anything that's going on today.