Q. about flight cancellations due to weather and influence of fare & elite level
 

Due to the blizzard in NY a friend of mine is stranded in Florida. He told me that CO will only confirm a seat for him on Friday (3 days from now) because there is no availability to reschedule him within his fare class which is probably a Q/T.

I have never been in this situation but I was wondering as an elite if CO would help me more than my non-elite friend. Would I home sooner or would they hold me to the same no waivers, no favors restriction?

Any first hand experience?

Keith

The short answer is no. I just got back from Dulles. Was scheduled on Sun, and they didn't have me rebooked until Wednesday because I didn’t rebook quick enough

My successful tactic was to get on the first departing flight this morning (less stragglers early) via standby. It worked for me and the gate Agent informed me that MY gold meant absolutely nothing towards the standby waitlist. Is this also true???????? When I get more sleep I will discuss ALL of my problems I had with CO as they took the "weather" argument to a new level of customer disservice!

KebaNYC,

What do you mean by "no availability to reschedule him within his fare class which is probably a Q/T"? Are you suggesting that CO due to a weather related cancellation, your friend is being required to look for an alternate flight with Q inventory? Or are you saying that because it was a Q ticket that they won't reaccomodate your friend on another airline? Or that they won't reroute him through another city? Also, is he talking to phone reservations or to a ticket agent at the airport?

In the same vein, what do you mean by "no waivers, no favors restriction"?

My experience is that the phone agents only have the ability to rebook most tickets on flights that match the original itinerary. The airport agents have much more latitude to resolve operational issues by putting you on any semi-reasonable routing to any semi-reasonable destination.

As an example, I was flying on a Q ticket LGA-CLE-DTW. I got caught in a snowstorm and stranded in CLE overnight. That first night, the phone agent was only able to book me on the 5pm flight the next day. I went to the airport the next morning and got the ticket agent to agree to fly me CLE-EWR-DTW, some thing the phone agent was not authorized to do. Unfortunately, inventory had dried up overnight. I ended up getting a flight back to LGA and credit for my original fare.

Kudos to Continental for Handling the Snowstorm With Class

I was scheduled to fly NW from HKG to NRT to EWR (very low fare). NW cancelled the NRT to JFK flight because of the impending storm in NY and gave me the choice of staying in HKG or going to NRT and being rerouted. I chose to go to NRT. At NRT, NW rerouted me to CO to EWR. Well, given the snowstorm, CO was diverted to IAH. My luggage made it with me, which impressed me as this all happened so quickly.

When I got to Houston, CO put me and everyone else in coach at the Sheraton (where Sheraton upgraded me to a junior suite, as I am Platinum with Starwood, gave me my Platinum amenity and lounge access). The hotel was automatic. We did not even have to ask for it. They also gave a $10 dinner credit which I did not need as I had enough to eat at the lounge.

CO had advised us to call in the morning to find out about rerouting. Well, I called at night and the first person I spoke with set me up on one of the first two flights out to EWR the next morning (Tuesday). Then when she set it up and found out that I was a transfer from NW said that I would have to wait for a call later from the people that were dealing with the NW transfers. It was getting a bit late, but very shortly CO called and said, yes I was confirmed for one of the first two flights to EWR Tuesday morning (CO set up a special flight after the snowstorm). Not only that I would be in First Class! Not bad. Some other people got on later flights, but I believe my Platinum status helped me get out fast.

A few months ago I was flying LGW-IAH-COS. The IAH-COS section was cancelled due to weather. At first the IAH PC Club agent said they would do nothing (except an infamous "We Care Pack", of course). Then she realized I had just come in from an Int'l flight, and she came to me and offered a room and meal vouchers. She said they *always* do that for px arriving on international flights. Everyone else was on their own.

BTW--Last night my husband and I were scheduled to fly HNL/EWR/IAH/SFO/SLC/COS (mileage run), and 10 minutes before boarding in HNL I got an e-mail from CO that our EWR-IAH flight was CX this morning. We had 40 to 45 minute connections all the way, and couldn't afford a single delay. CO offered to reroute us HNL/IAH/COS. I didn't like the idea of losing all those miles, but I also didn't like the idea of being stranded in EWR.

There was some question whether an itinerary change would be allowed, considering our convoluted routing and interline (DL), but they checked and were able to do it. There was some discussion among the PC agents that a seat needed to be available in the fare class we purchased (B), but I don't know what the conclusion of that was.

They also gave us two aisle seats in the center section of the 767, and blocked the middle seat, so it CAN be done. They said there were a lot of non-revs waiting to return to the mainland after the Aloha Run yesterday, so the flight would be "pretty full", but BF was still available for revenue upgrades. They wouldn't give us an Op upgrade because "we don't do that any more", but of course they offered a revenue upgrade, which we didn't take. I noticed when we took off BF was pretty full. One or two people paid for UP-REV, or what ever they call it, but not enough to fill the cabin.
Guess who got the seats?

They couldn't get the luggage off in time, so it went to EWR. It was just delivered to our hotel in COS a few minutes ago. I was impressed.

Do you think we can collect the miles for our original routing under the circumstances?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

For the discussion lets say that he had a "Q" ticket for his original flight. When the flight was cancelled he was given the first available flight with "Q" availability which was Friday, not the first available seat. He was informed that he could stand- by at the airport for earlier flights. I understand this policy and I would think that in order for CO to confirm you outside of your booking class they would be doing you a favor to help you get to your destination sooner.

I was asking as an elite if CO would help you get a confirmed seat sooner, even if it would mean booking you in a different fare class.

I am relatively certain that my friend was talking to a phone agent.

Keba

Keba,

It is neither Continental policy nor a contract of carriage provision that a passenger affected by a cancellation can only be confirmed on the next available flight with the same booking class available. Anyone who represents otherwise is deceiving you or your friend.

True, though it is quite common for CO phone reps to use this sort of verbiage, even in irrops situations.

Whether it's poor training, or they're just trying to get rid of the call to get their call times better, or a deliberate item on management's part, I don't know. But I have run into this a handful of times (both in irrops situations and in schedule change scenarios), and you really have to force the issue with them to get what you're entitled to.

Yes, I experienced this labor day weekend, trying to get out of New Orleans with hurricane Gustav. FC seats available for purchase, but CO would not put me on a flight unless it had my fare code. CO has been trying to improve its irregular ops situations - but I do not see where they have.

(This is a real old thread)?

Wow, thanks for pointing that out. I suppose this issue has been going on for some time then...