UMprof

Sitting in 1C from DTW-SAN on Thurs night 11/30, the F/A spilled some (not a lot) red wine on my pants while pouring for the guy in 1D. I was half asleep and felt something wet on my knee, opened eyes and saw a blurry dark image of the F/A pouring something. Figuring it was water or something else innocuous, i went back to sleep.

Waking up around landing, i found a decent sized stain from the red wine on my pants. Not being a regular wine drinker I didn't immediately realize that these are very difficult stains to get out. Hence I didn't bring it up with the F/A (and he never mentioned it to me when he spilled it). I got it laundered Friday at the hotel but the stain didn't come out.

So what can i do, if anything, at this point? This must happen all the time (?) although I only saw 1 similar thread and in that case it was all handled on the spot. Any advice on who to contact if it's worth my time at all?

FWIW, the F/A was very good otherwise - nice guy and i'm sure many of you know him as he's quite recognizable (think his name is Tom). A middle aged guy with huge biceps; looks more like a bouncer than an F/A!

Radiocycle

I believe that you have a legitimate claim.

The FA that spilled the wine will be held accountable, so be sure and send in a factual explanation of what happened and any positive comments you might want to add about his service.

Contact TTU from the nwa.com website or another option is to call NW customer care 701-420-6282 and speak to a customer care manager, they are empowered to resolve all issues related to a prior travel experience on Northwest.

Please post the resolution to your claim here.

Good Luck!

RC

AlexM

Or if you liked the attendant, just buy new pants?

DBCme

Interesting question. I think the 1st response is about right - send a message to NW and i'm sure they, without admission of guilt of course, would offer a small token of compensation for your inconvinience.

I think your right this probably happens more often than rarely. While not an intentional act, when are they also still responsible for the mistake? In your scenario, since you were sleeping, if the plane hit a sudden bump of turbulance causing the flight attendant to miss the glass- is he still responsible? (I'm not suggesting that happened, more exploring likely scenarios that have happened in the past).

Regardless, in your situation i'm sure they'll deal with it to everyone's satisfaction. But, if it caused extensive financial harm (ie: spilled on laptop keyboard) i'm thinking the airline wouldn't be as quick to pay out and more questions would have to be asked.

channa

I think this sort of thing is fairly routine. I bet if you sent in the cleaning bill and replacement receipt, they'd cut you a check.

If you ask for a voucher, you may do better in terms of dollar value though.

ORDguy

I have had beverages spiiled on me by seatmates, FA's and myself so I have learned along time ago to wear jeans or black slacks when I travel. Also a little club soda will remove most evidence of spills. I have never filed a claim...spills happen.

xfa617

RC -

Not sure what you mean by "held accountable" - it's not as if they dock our pay for the cleaning costs or put negative notes in our files. As someone else said, spills happen, they're accidents, the company will reimburse people for cleaning in most cases.

Now, if we're deliberately pouring wine on your pants, that's a different story....

msvacation

There is a product on the market called Wine Away that might get that stain out. I'd try that first before you toss your pants. In my family, I'm known as the "Stain Queen" cuz I can get just about any stain out of clothing.

I should think that if you filed a claim, NW would give you something towards cleaning/replacing your damaged clothing.

nathockens

I spill wine on myself all the time. Weekly during the summer. My dry cleaner has gotten it out every time.

Maybe the launderer at the hotel didn't notice it; you could take it to your dry cleaner and point out the stain...

UMprof

Thanks all for the responses. I'll try another laundering to get the stain out once i'm home and if that doesn't work I'll go through TTU as RC suggests. Of course I'll have to do it quickly or it may seem a bit strange to bring it to NWs attention too much after the fact.

I did specifically note the stain (it was hard to miss) on the laundry request form, but they probably didn't apply any special stain removal stuff since they didn't charge me any extra! I'm currently living in Singapore so it's unclear whether i can get my hands on some of the stain removal products mentioned but I will certainly try.

I'll complete the thread when a resolution is reached. Thanks.

psychtobe

I was flying PDX-EWR on CO - in Y, of course - and the FA threw half a cup of coffee on my lap. She apologized profusely, cleaned up the area, and after restocking the cart in the galley, brought me and the person next to me a cleaning voucher stating CO would pay for cleaning up to such and such an amount - just send the receipt in with the voucher.

Obviously, this is a planned-for event and I would expect no problems from NW. Asking for the voucher before deplaning probably ensures a smoother transaction.

MSD0508

On a CO IAH-EWR flight today, FA accidentally spilled a full glass of wine on my FC seatmate. After apologies and clean-up, FA returned promptly with a voucher for cleaning.

troyintn

So I guess it does happen more often then first thought. If they have vouchers on the plane.

headstrong

NW doesn't have cleaning vouchers. If a spill happens, the F/A will give you an address to send your cleaning bill to. NW tells the F/As to then note it on paperwork which is silly because half the time we don't get the proper paperwork.

artemis021

Did you try drycleaning? They might be able to get the stain out. Seems logical to try there first.