Denied boarding
 

Good morning all. I've looked through the posts [and forums] with no luck regarding this query. What is the law/rule/regulation that discusses, or determines the amount of compensation a traveler is entitled to, when a US Carrier refuses that traveler to board a flight from the US to an international destination for an IMPROPER reason. Assume the worst case scenario. For example, traveler is refused boarding because he is bald; or she is wearing clothes from a discount store; or the gate agent is just having a bad day and takes it out on a innocent passenger.

I know that in Europe they have EC 261/2004. I also know that in the US, the Montreal Convention is supposed to deal with this issue. But I've read it a number of times and it seems to only deal with denied boarding due to a flight begin oversold. The same goes for 14 CFR 250. I also know that most airlines make the traveler waive consequential damages as part of the Contract of Carriage.

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Did something actually happen? Or is this just a thought experiment?

If something actually happened, then your vague description is going to generate vague answers.

My suggestion would be to either share the exact details or prepare yourself for either a ton or irrelevant responses, or possibly no responses at all.

There is no such regulations in the US DOT policies. If denied boarding due to oversales there are mandatory compensation.

When you say improper reason, that likely means there is some dispute over the reason -- such visa guidelines interpretation? There areno proscribed regulations on compensation in those cases, but you can request some, if you can convince the airline it was actually improper -- the specific issue matters.

Following on the prior poster, what was the motivation for this query?

Neither EU261, the Montreal Convention or any US rule are designed to deal with the situation where customers are denied boarding for reasons other than an oversale. The contracts of carriage for the various airlines spell out reasons why a customer can be refused transport on a flight (below is an example from American). Many of these are subjective and not subject to external determination of whether they are "proper" or not. If one is denied boarding because they failed to show up ontime, are drunk or disorderly (in the view of airline staff) or fail to hold proper travel documentation/visa, no compensation is due under any of these provisions.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-ser...sponsibilities

Sorry for the lack of specific issues. What occurred is as follows: Cuban National living in US purchases return ticket to Havana as follows: BOS-MIA-HAV. Traveler has valid Cuban passport and visa. Traveler is allowed to board BOS-MIA flight. However, gate agents in MIA do not allow boarding on the MIA-HAV leg indicating that their IATA screen states that traveler also needs to possess a Cuban Identity Card. Traveler did not bring her identity card because she did not know that it was required. Traveler has made same trip at least three prior times on same Carrier using same documents and was never asked for a "Cuban Identity Card." There was no such requirement noted on the Carrier's website and Cuban Consulate confirmed that there was never any such requirement for a Cuban National to possess an identity card in addition to a valid Cuban Passport and visa. The Carrier refunded only the MIA-HAV legs. In response to Traveler complaint, Carrier simply stated that Traveler did not possess the required identity card. For the purpose of this post, it would be instructive for me if everyone simply assumes that denied boarding was based on an improper reason that was not otherwise identified on the Carrier's website prior to the denied boarding. It appears from other responses, that there may be no federal regulations/laws rule that require compensation under the circumstances. I think that means that the contract law of the state that controls the contract of carriage would be implicated. any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately if the carrier's TIMATIC information was that an ID card was required - no matter how erroneously, that is their defence. Does the traveller have a printout for such? I wonder if the traveller was unfortunate enough to have run across a emigre gate/check-in agent.