HookemHorns

Recently, my flight from RDU to BOS was delayed. I got notification of this delay less than an hour before the flight, and after checking in at the airport, the GA informed me that is was a weather delay and the flight would probably cause a forced misconnect at BWI (the flight did end up misconnecting by an hour). The problem: all of the forward flights from BWI to BOS were full until late afternoon the next day, resulting in an overnight stranding. Although I had travel insurance to cover the stranding, this would cause me to miss the beginning of a conference I was attending (total delay of about 24 hours). In the end, I decided to book the only seats left from RDU-BOS on DL (given it was an hour before the flight, the tickets were about $700 each), taking the risk that travel insurance may or may not cover this cost. Here's the twist - when I requested a letter from WN for the travel insurance claim,WN stated the problem wasn't weather, but rather crew scheduling issues.

Unfortunately, my travel insurance, like most, will not cover this as it is considered a foreseeable/preventable (by the airline) event. So, the short of it: yes, I know my flight schedule was a little bit tight, and yes, I know I took the risk of arranging other tickets at my own expense. Now that I've confessed my sins, it appears other on this board in similar circumstances have been successful in negotiating goodwill vouchers from WN. My question - I'm out $2100 for 3 DL tickets, is it unreasonable to ask WN for $400 in LUV per seat, or some RR points, as a goodwill gesture, and if so, what's the best channel ("contact us" on the website, twitter, phone, etc?)

Cledaybuck

You got a refund from WN for your tickets correct? Because, you are certainly entitled to that. I don't think it is unreasonable to as for some sort of compensation as a goodwill gesture, although I don't know what is an appropriate amount or the best method. Others would probably know better. My one compensation for a delay on WN came to my e-mail a day later without me saying a word.

HookemHorns

Well, that's another story. I was using travel credit from a previously-cancelled trip. Unfortunately, the travel credit expired a few days after this trip, so although the travel credit was refunded to the original PNR, it ended up expiring. I did contact WN about this, and made the argument that since I made a good-faith effort to use the travel credit, I would appreciate it if they would reissue it as a LUV voucher with extended expiration, they wouldn't have any of that, so effectively, no, I didn't get reimbursed.

Often1

Unfortunately, the chances that WN (or any carrier) will cover alternate travel arrangements which you choose to make voluntarily is between slim and zero. WN's COC (just like other carriers) expressly excludes consequential damages and those include exactly what you did here.

I suspect that the letter you received from WN is a matter of semantics. "Crew scheduling" likely means that the weather delays caused the crew scheduled to perform your flight to time out and there were no backup crew at a station such as RDU. While you are likely speaking to a brick wall when speaking to customer service, it is worth a call with the specific ask that the letter be reissued to specify that the flight was cancelled due to a "lack of crew available to perform the flight on account of a weather related delay." Maybe pointing out that what the GA told you is what you relied on might help.

When this does not work, consider filing a DOT complaint noting that WN refused to issue an accurate letter. Be careful to note that the crew issue is correct and you are not disputing it, simply that it is not the entire story. That too will likely fall on deaf ears, but it is always possible that the slightly elevated paralegals who deal with DOT, may generate something for you.

Gig103

Well that's lame of them. If it was me I'd try escalating that. Good luck.

expert7700

weather advisories are often given during boarding warning people that IF you have a connection you may be stranded. sometimes I don't hear it announced at all, instead just a sign below flight status/time at the gate.

It is then up to you to fly another day/time or knowing you risk paying your own accomodations and arriving a day late if you misconnect

If your flight was ultimately cancelled then you have a strong argument to revive the voucher for a few months but it will still be locked in your name.

To have WN reimburse another carrier ticket is unheard of.

What travel insurance company do you have that would have otherwise let you buy a full walk up fare on another carrier on the (justified in this case) opinion that you will misconnect? Sounds like I want to buy a yearly policy from them. What if the connection had an equivalent delay or was held for connecting passengers after you flew the other carrier?

HookemHorns

Well, in my post, I never asked them to buy the ticket. If I were on a legacy carrier, I would have tried to get them to endorse the ticket to another carrier. In this case, that's not an option, as LCCs have no interlining agreements. My question is whether there would be a case for compensation in the form of WN "currency", either miles or vouchers, for such a delay. My request is based on an hour of research in this forum where I identified cases such as this (delays or misconnects of 6-30 hours) where passengers were offered anywhere from $200-$400 in vouchers towards future travel. Given that there are at least a dozen such anecdotes in the past year, I feel like this is not an odd request, so I'm seeking information from those who have successfully pursued this path to see if I might succeed at doing the same.

There are plenty of travel insurances that have trip interruption provisions. Although most are geared towards cruises, they do not exclude other prepaid events such as shows, plays, or conferences. Many do not exclude buying a walk-up fare, but may have a cap on cost. In the case of mine, $500 per passenger per incident. Given that documentation is required for all claims, I expect that they would not pay if the connecting flight was held, and I could have made it. Fortunately for me, the letter from WN states the connection would have been missed, and there was no available flight the next AM. Unfortunately for me, the plan excludes things they deem under the carrier's control. That said, I don't consider the travel insurance central to the issue at hand - I just threw it in to avoid the inevitable "you should have bought travel insurance" post.

Often1

WN's refusal to enter interline ticketing agreements is one of the major reasons why some businesses will not let their people use it unless there is no alternative. That is a conscious policy on WN's part, so arguing that the lack of an interline agreement is what led to you purchasing a new ticket will not gain much traction at WN.

Your use of "compensation" may have caused some confusion. There is none due. You are likely thinking that WN might toss some form of customer service gesture your way and it is possible. However, given that this was an event beyond WN's cotntrol, I do not see much more than something token.

I would escalate the funds issue. A reasonable extension seems called for under the circumstances.

Finally, I would push the "crew time" issue a bit harder.

HookemHorns

Yes, perhaps the phrase I intended was "goodwill gesture"...no expectation of amount (the numbers I posted were just based on research of other posts), but anything would be appreciated. I did press the travel funds issue, and for the benefit of anyone else in this situation, factual but polite explanation through the "contact us" portion of the website did result in WN issuing LUV vouchers for the funds, with an expiry of six months. That seems like fair resolution for this issue. As part of that process, they did confirm that it was not a weather-related crew scheduling issue...they flat out didn't have crew for the inbound flight for RDU, so it was delayed.

ursine1

Were the funds reissued minus the $100 fee per passenger?

HookemHorns

Ugh...those sneaky devils! I didn't even think to check. Yes, they deducted $100 per passenger! Now I just really think that's unreasonable. Other issues aside, if I hadn't been able to get there on another airline, I still would have had to cancel this flight because there would have been no point it going - I'd have missed too much of the conference. IIRC somewhere there is a provision that if an airline can't get you to a destination within a certain timeframe, they are required to refund your money in the original form of payment, although I guess in my case that would be "expired travel funds".

MSPeconomist

HookemHorns

Ah, there's the rub. Small business owner, paying for self plus two colleagues to attend/present, with anyone not checking in by 11am possibly loosing the ability to attend heavily-scheduled lectures, so no real benefit to leaving anyone behind, as then there would be sunk conference fees. Given the lack of context, I agree completely - I would have left any ancillary people behind. Visibility at the conference was worth me paying $2,100, however I still feel a bit let down by WN.

lougord99

I think you have a great chance to get a $200 voucher per person. I have gotton $200 by emailing them through the contact us link on the web site and asking for that.

HookemHorns

Perfect...thanks! I will send WN a polite summary of the situation and ask for $200, and see how it goes.