Smart travellers help please!

I was in Istanbul during the bombings last week. I have a Munich-SFO restricted T class ticket. I was unable to fly the day of the bombings from Istanbul until now. I am waiting at the Munich airport for T space to become available.

CO says it will not waive the change fee ($200)despite the fact that I could not physically get back to Munich on that day for my transatlantic trip.

First, Is it normal that they make me wait for a T class seat to become available and not just let me fly standy due to the terrorism?

Also isnt it normal they waive the $200 fee because of these bombings? They say that because CO only ticketed me to Munich that they are not responsible but back during 9/11 they let all US cities rebook without penalty not just D.C. or NYC.

I am 12+ years an elite on CO (have dropped from 10 year Plat on them to just silver now because of their lame service) and I am also a NW Plat.

I dont know what point to pursue this but I repect the FF's wise experience and will do as you say.

Thank you Ladies/Gentlemen!

CO is 100% in the right on this one. Since CO did not issue the ticket to IST (and, I'm assuming that this was not a conjunction ticket of some kind), the airline is not liable for the failure of another carrier to deliver you to MUC in time to complete your trip.

Unfortunately, this is one of the risks you have to accept when booking multiple tickets for a single trip. To be completely honest, CO is doing you a favor by still allowing you to use the ticket to continue on, albeit with a change fee -- some airlines would have deemed the ticket worthless and forced you to buy a new ticket altogether.

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The specific language from the CoC reads:

"In the event a Passenger misses an onward connecting flight on which space is reserved
because the Delivering Carrier did not operate its flight due to a Schedule Irregularity or Change in Schedule, the Delivering Carrier is responsible to arrange for carriage of Passenger or to make a refund."

Of course, if your ex-Turkey carrier was shut down by the gov't for a few days, I'm sure that carrier would claim Force Majeure.

As far as 9/11, or the start of Iraq fighting (or the blackout, for that matter), you've gotta view these things independently. If it affects 100,000 CO customers, they're much more likely to make a policy change than if it affects 100. Also, since the US airlines are all pretty much sheep, you probably won't see any extend special accomodation by themselves - they move with the crowd.

I'm surprised they won't just dump you on the next flight with a coach seat, though.

I don't think any of her flights departing Munich on these facts qualify as "onward connection flight" within the meaning of the CoC due to the fact that the tickets were not purchased as one interline ticket (she didn't specifically say this, but it seems to be the case).

So I think CO is technically correct here, although certainly from a mere customer-service standpoint, they could be more caring and less cruel here one would think.

I have to respectfully disagree. There has to be a point where the airline is simply not responsible (and therefore, has no business or "moral" obligation) for the actions of others, and a case where someone missed a flight due to the actions of another airline (on a DIFFERENT ticket to boot) seems to be at (or very near) that "point".

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[This message has been edited by avek00 (edited Dec 01, 2003).]

I actually agree with you inasmuch as I would say that Continental has no moral obligation to waive the change fee in the event of a wholly unilateral action by another carrier, for example if the Istanbul-Munich carrier had a mechanical problem which caused the cancellation (in such a case, I think it is clear that the purchaser assumed the risk by not purchasing a single interline ticket).

However, my take on the facts here was that the flight was cancelled for security concerns due to the bombings (I could be wrong, but this is how I read it).

Assuming this is true, I would think that Continental ought to have a slightly more emphathetic view toward waiving the change fee.

Thanks all for the prompt response...

"Her" is actually me, a guy though.

I am taking the community's wisdom and not srguing too loud with CO then as it sounds like all mostly agree with them.

IST-Munich was closed due to bombings so I would not have been able to get to Munich for the flight if I wanted to. I guess after all the money I spent on CO I thought they would at least let me standy for the next available economy class seat and not make me stay for 4 nights plus in $150 a night airport hotel waiting for a T class to appear when I know the load has not been 100%. But I appreciate the FF groups advise

Thanks All!

Avek00 is absolutely right IHMO. Yet if it was me I would feel that it wasn't all my fault either and if CO had a seat, but not in the right fare catagory, and didn't let me take it I would be none to happy with CO. This means that I would avoid CO in the future as I wouldn't be happy with their perfectly legal solution to my problem.


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dallasflyer, Let's put the fun back in FlyerTalk!

I would be raising a bit more hell if I were you. At this point, you've spent (or are planning to spend) $600 in hotel + incidentals + $200 change fee. Try to make a case with a supervisor and see if they can bend. Suggest that they explore other routings. MUC-AMS-IAH-SFO is showing T availability (T3) tomorrow, 12/2 (translation, wide open). Going AMS-EWR is oversold (Y6). Perhaps the agent you're dealing with is not being creative and exploring different routing options.

Incidentally, as a last resort, you can leave tomorrow MUC-SFO RT (returning as a throwaway in a couple weeks) for $1,100 on the routing I mentioned thru IAH.

Channa:

The airline is ALREADY bending the rules by honoring the ticket of a no-show passenger for just the admin. service fee. Honestly, it is highly unlikely that ANY other airline would go beyond the generosity than CO has demonstrated to date with this situation. AA, UA, DL, or BA for that matter wouldn't think for a second to honor the ticket at face value with no additional penalties.

[This message has been edited by avek00 (edited Dec 01, 2003).]

I didn't say he should shoot for no penalties. I think he's still out the $200, but I don't think he's gotta sit there for four days to get out of there when there are wide open flights via IAH tomorrow.

You are absolutely correct that the airline is within its legal rights here and is extending a courtesy. Given the circumstances, though, it's not clear what the other carriers would do. This is not a simple case of someone simply missing a flight by four days and showing up. Unless you have some sort of precedent as to what AA, UA, DL, or BA would do in this exact same circumstance, your statement is unfounded. In fact, since you mentioned BA, BA is very used to interline connections. Combine that with the extenuating circumstances, and BA's service ethic, I'd be willing to bet our original poster would have little or no trouble being accommodated on the next available BA flight with an open seat had he bought his ticket from them.

Avek00 --

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of other airlines' actions. While CO may be a good domestic carrier, it obviously isn't up to international standards. I am sure that AA would have re-accomodated the passenger free of charge -- on a standby basis assuming that he could show proof of his original booking on the day of the bombings.

It's simply part of being a FULL SERVICE airline. These sorts of extenuating circumstances happen and quality airlines don't try to gouge their customers (who by the way pay their salaries)! This is absolutely the most ridiculous airline story that I have recently heard.

Everyone has there opinion of how much stretching an airline should do. Avek's is obviously much closer to the airline's than most's but that's cool... Anyways, here's my 2 cents:

I don't think it was COs moral responsibility, I think it was the GAs moral responsibility. Sometimes mercy is the right way to go. I am a Delta flyer, and when I first started traveling heavily about a year ago, I didn't know all of the CoC rules. I was on a multiple leg trip TUL-MEM-MCO-TUL. I made it to MEM, and went to bed in my hotel, ready to go to MCO in the morning. I used the automated system in the hotel to get a wake-up call, and that was the only alarm I set. The power went out overnight and the system went down, leaving me to wake-up 5 hours after my flight. I rushed to the airport and got on standy. I got to ATL at noon, and after waiting for 4 MCO flights, I was going insane!!! I had to get out of ATL, so being a "youth," I went over to Terminal C and hopped on the next Airtran flight taking advantage of their X-fares. So, after a LONG day, I got home... I went to work Sunday morning and started working, but I decided that I would call DL to verify the rest of my itinerary. I was of course told it was cancelled etc... So I got on the phone... They said they wanted 600 dollars. I told them where to stick it, and got on WN. lol, to try to make an already too long story a little shorter, I wrote a 6 page letter to them asking for mercy and was given a refund for the portion of my trip that I had not used ($260).

This was totally my fault. I should have set another alarm. The point is... there are rules to prevent misuse of the system, and the Establishment cannot present themselves as bending the rules all the time, but a person within the group should be able to bend and flex.

The moral of my story: People are people, and people screw up. If there was a seat on the flight... they should have put him on, IMHO.

Avek I dont think they are binding the rules too much on this ticket as it always stated that changes were permissible with a $200 change fee which is what I will end up paying. Do you work for CO BTW?

Channa I saw those 3T class seats open but for some reason when I call the elite desk they do not seem able to book them. They "dissapear" when through faring them via IAH for some reason.

JJglaze your story is providing some humor here in a boring airport hotel. At least you were young and inventive. I do think there is some difference between sleeping past the alarm clock that went dead and missing the flight because Al Quaida is bombing the hell out of your city
Your idea of saving the receipts and evidence plus Turkish airline tickets to prove this even is interesting. Who could I write to once I get home? As a 12+ Plat member I have had no luck with that We Care desk. ANy addresses guys?

Thanks for at least making this a learning experience all!

I don't work for CO per se, but my title on the left-hand side will indicate which way my CO politics lean.

Honestly, I think your best bet is to eat the change fee and make every effort in the future to book all of your flights on ONE ticket. If you had booked IST-MUC-SFO as a single ticket (even with the different carriers), you would not have had this problem. You were placed in this situation because your flying is on two non-related tickets, so neither airline has any obligation to the other to make sure that you are in a position to travel on both tickets.

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