What circumstances do you ask for compensation?
 

When do you ask for compensation?

a. airline has a 20 minute bag guarantee and your bag comes out at 22 minutes after passenger door open
b. wifi doesn't work and there's an announcement at the beginning of the flight
c. other problem with flight (describe)

Do you wait a certain length of time before complaining again?

In general I do not ask for compensation. I just report the issue. However, when I do ask for compensation I specifically ask for $$. My minimum starting point is $100, which I have received in each case but one when I was given $50.

a) No, it's trivial.
b) No, even if not announced. I'm not harmed in any way.
c) I had hot tea spilled on me and had to sit the remainder of the journey wrapped in a blanket while my clothes were dried. Received some miles.

I wouldn't ask for compensation for any of those instances.

Had a soft drink sprayed over my white pants on JAL. FA was so upset about it and insisted I take a dry cleaning voucher to cover the cost. I said I didn't want it but eventually took at it to make her feel better. I left a negative review on a hotel who offered me approximately $500 in accommodation if I took it down. I didn't take it down.

I don't really ask for compensation.

Never ask, and when vouchers and stuff are offered, I don’t take them. I’ve gotten some miles occasionally for super delays, but I don’t care and it’s not something that I would ever ask for.

Aside from ORC (I want my miles that i would have earned). I don’t think I’ve ever asked for anything in a million + miles and however many countries visited.

I just dont don’t want to be bothered.

I want to get to and from where it says on the ticket. I can handle anything else myself. It’s just not a way I value my time to seek compensation when things go wrong.

Such a strange way to go through life thinking you are owed things when they don’t go how you want.

I've never asked for compensation for inconveniences on a flight. I was, however, once given a very generous voucher when I called Delta about rebooking options during a bit of a flight cancellation mess at MDW last year. The rep said she was giving it to me because I was patient, I was nice to her, and I didn't ask for anything. Whether those reasons were true or if they were just giving it to all passengers on the affected flight, I admit that I didn't turn it down. :)

It depends on the circumstances and how willing the airline is to help. When Delta canceled my next-morning LGA-FLL departure during a snowstorm, and the best option was rebooking BWI-ATL-PBI, and they were pleasant about it, I didn't go after them for the bus fare to Baltimore or the Tri-Rail to Fort Lauderdale. But in example (a) above, if I'd paid a baggage fee or been forced to gate-check a bag I normally carry on, I'd have put them on the hook at the 20:01 mark. I wouldn't complain about nonfunctional wi-fi as I see it as a "nice to have" (even when it's advertised and perhaps swayed my decision to fly with that airline, such as JetBlue). Other inflight problems I'd deal with case by case, but generally if I arrive within a reasonable time and having received reasonable service for my ticketed cabin, I wouldn't bother.

Seth

I've asked for compensation twice from AA. The first was when my bag was damaged, and the second was when a work trip was seriously impacted by rolling delays that resulted in an overnight and refusal to pay for a hotel (despite being maint + crew timeout issue). The Plat line gave me $300/pp voucher which I found acceptable since that was more than the initial ticket cost.

Honestly I'd probably fill out the bag thing (example A) because free points are free points.

I ask for compensation only if I've incurred an out-of-pocket expense due to the airline's fault. For example, if my flight is cancelled and I am rebooked on a different flight to a nearby airport, I will ask for ground transportation costs. This has happened a few times, for example my flight to SNA is cancelled and I'm put on a plane to LAX.

I would not bother asking for compensation for a delayed bag if it's a matter of 2 minutes, which is not worth the hassle. I would also not ask for compensation for lack of wi-fi, unless I had paid extra for the wi-fi, in which case I'd of course ask for a refund.

I'd offer that this particular case falls into the "it depends" category ... if I'm traveling on business, and need a rental car anyway, it's probably immaterial whether I pick it up at SNA or at LAX ... otoh, if I'm returning from a trip and my car is at the airport where I was expecting to arrive, I'd absolutely seek to have the airline cover ground transportation

thinking back 20 years, I actually went through this: SJC-EWR-BWI was uneventful, but BWI-IAH was delayed ~3 hrs for a mechanical; rather than having me wait 6 hours for the SJC flight, CO sent me IAH-SFO with a 1+10 layover, a SuperShuttle voucher, and an upgrade

I usually only do it when I consider I've been seriously inconvenienced. Some scenarios:

1, Recent flight from LUX to FRA to SIN (and onwards to BNE) - flight cancelled due to the plane being stuck in New York as there was a mechanical failure. Got in a day late so asked for (and got) compensation as per EU rules and I'd lost a night of prepaid accommodation
2, A few months before on the same flights - flight cancelled due to late arrival of my incoming LUX-FRA flight which had been due to bad weather in the morning. Again, a day late, but was refused compensation as weather is excluded. I disagree that weather delayed my flight as such (they had time to get a replacement and if Lufthansa can't find a new plane in Frankfurt, where can they) but it's not worth the effort sometimes.
3, In flight entertainment in business wasn't working for whole flight LAX - LHR. As I was upgraded for a pittance, I let this one slide as I enjoyed business class and watched some movies on my laptop when I wasn't reading or sleeping
4, FRA-MAD flight was delayed 3 hours - didn't bother asking for anything as I wasn't working in MAD until the next day so it was either 3 hours in the airport or 3 hours at the other end

I claim the 2500 miles from delta's 20 minute bag guarantee every time I can. 2500 miles isn't much but it takes 10 seconds to make the claim online. There's a certain airport I semi-regularly fly into that I will check my bag to even if it's a short trip (and I have the time - it usually comes out between 25 and 30 minutes) since I know I will always get the 2500 miles there.

I generally don't ask for compensation when I experience delays or things like that because I'd prefer airlines put safety first and don't second-guess not flying because they need to check something with their plane or wait for weather to clear up. I know people have gotten compensation in those circumstances, but I wouldn't want to discourage airlines doing that, even if me complaining actually doesn't matter.

No wifi or mistakes on their end, I will ask for compensation. Like one time a Southwest plane started boarding early and left early so I missed all the boarding groups because I was connecting from elsewhere, so I was pissed that I had to sit in a middle seat when I had an A boarding pass, and I didn't even have time to buy any food during my connection. So I complained about that.

a) 2 minutes? Not enough to worry about - if it'd been 30 minutes, then I might have said something depending on my subsequent travel plans (I'm assuming the 20-minutes starts when the doors open and pax are exiting) and if I was at risk of missing a connection.

b) I might complain, especially if the IFE was affected, but I wouldn't necessarily expect anything.

c) I missed a JEOPARDY audition because of a long flight delay (I couldn't travel the day before because of work commitments) but since the airline did get me to my destination eventually, the only compensation I asked for (which I received) was a refund on my seat selection fees as they put us on a different type of plane and I didn't get the exit row seats I'd paid for.

generally, I'd agree with the "2 minutes isn't enough to worry about" premise, but there have been a couple redeye arrivals at BWI where my bag showed up at T+21, I just missed the shuttle bus to the MARC station, and therefore had to wait ~30-40 min for the next train to DC

the worst part of that story is that the AS baggage service rep by the carousel wasn't able to process the 2500 mile compensation, and Customer Care resisted my email request saying I should have gone to the baggage service office before leaving the airport

a couple months later (at SEA) my bag appeared at T+43 ... I emailed a request for an additional 2500 miles since they had busted the 20-minute guarantee twice ... and got no pushback at all