Consolidated Customer Compensation Thread 2013
Dec 27, 2013, 5:09 am
#1591
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: IAD
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Rewards - LTPP
Posts: 4,240
Airline cancelled night flight, San Fransisco (SFO) to Medford, OR (MFR) on December 23rd. My daughter was on board at the gate at SFO, people were still boarding. Suddenly there was a very vague and brief announcement that the flight was cancelled due to weather. Passengers were told to leave.
My daughter called me. I then called the car rental agency employee at MFR who was staying late to wait for her, and maybe others. I told him the flight was cancelled due to weather. He was very suprised...no one had informed him yet. And, he said the weather was good there...in fact, a plane had just landed.
I called my daughter back. She said the weather in SFO was fine.
Quite later, she got to the airline help desk. There was to be no compensation, since it was "weather". Help desk told my dau the weather problem was in MFR. My dau argued briefly that another airline landed at MFR...the help desk shrugged and said it was up to the pilot to decide about weather....and no one could get re-booked for 48 hours, after Christmas.
So, she and others teamed up and rented a car and drove 350 miles to home. One man in this car pool said his wife was at MFR and asked about the "weather." The airline told her the problem was in SFO.
It seems to me the flight may have been cancelled for other reasons, in which case. How do I pursue compensation for her share of the rental car cost? Would a lawyer take this on as a class action? If you've read this far, I'll tell you airline was United or United Express, flight 5600....I tend to lump them together. Flights get cancelled, I understand. I just wish the airline would own up to what happened, and not make up a "weather" excuse.
I have talked to United since, and got nowhere.
My daughter called me. I then called the car rental agency employee at MFR who was staying late to wait for her, and maybe others. I told him the flight was cancelled due to weather. He was very suprised...no one had informed him yet. And, he said the weather was good there...in fact, a plane had just landed.
I called my daughter back. She said the weather in SFO was fine.
Quite later, she got to the airline help desk. There was to be no compensation, since it was "weather". Help desk told my dau the weather problem was in MFR. My dau argued briefly that another airline landed at MFR...the help desk shrugged and said it was up to the pilot to decide about weather....and no one could get re-booked for 48 hours, after Christmas.
So, she and others teamed up and rented a car and drove 350 miles to home. One man in this car pool said his wife was at MFR and asked about the "weather." The airline told her the problem was in SFO.
It seems to me the flight may have been cancelled for other reasons, in which case. How do I pursue compensation for her share of the rental car cost? Would a lawyer take this on as a class action? If you've read this far, I'll tell you airline was United or United Express, flight 5600....I tend to lump them together. Flights get cancelled, I understand. I just wish the airline would own up to what happened, and not make up a "weather" excuse.
I have talked to United since, and got nowhere.
File a compliant with DOT, they will look, see the weather in both places was fine, and UAL will get back to you with compensation. Address is here: http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint
I'm not normally a fan of filing DOT complaints, but I think in this case it's warranted. There is no one to hold UA accountable in these situations. Recently I was on a 5:45am flight from CHS-ORD. At 2:00am received an email that the flight was cancelled. I checked before I went to bed, the plane was already en route from EWR. Weather was fine in both Charleston and Newark. So I'm guessing it was crew related issue. Considering this was the first flight of the day I'm guessing it had something to do with the crew being out of place. UA said weather was the reason for the cancellation.
Dec 27, 2013, 5:22 am
#1592
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Dubai / NYC
Programs: EK-IO, UA-1K2MM, ETIHAD-GOLD, SPG-PLAT LIFETIME, JUMEIRAH SERIUS GOLD
Posts: 5,220
Not sure if baggage comp is supposed to be posted here but UA really (pleasantly) amazed me this week. I've had my share of baggage problems this year (and not one the 22 years I flew UA before the merger). One bag was never recovered. Filled out the paperwork a few months ago & sent it in. Figured UA would stall & stall & if I was lucky send me a check for $5 (devaluation of course). Well, to my pleasant surprise I received a nice apology in the mail not only with a check for $3400.00. (The max they are liable for ) but a $1,000 TC as well. Not enough to really replace what was lost (read STOLEN!!!) but still more then I expected. I can finally say. "Good job United"
Dec 27, 2013, 9:23 am
#1593
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Northern Calif./Eastern Ida.
Programs: Amethyst Premier Plutonium Medallion
Posts: 20,640
i posted this in another thread, but i thought i had better put it here too in a more complete form.
in late May 2013 I had a medical emergency that forced me to cancel a flight. i went through all the required paperwork to get a refund of the ticket and refunds denied it on account of insufficient paperwork. sent it back to them again, asking them to look at it, and reconsider. again denied. sent to 1K voice, who sent to refunds supervisors, who asked for more paperwork (which had already been provided). sent in paperwork AGAIN, and heard nothing for 6 weeks. after all this it's now November.
at that point i sent everything back to 1K voice -- original PNRs, receipts, doctor's notes and hospital bills, and email correspondence with 1K voice and refunds department. told them to sort it out in 7 days or i'd be going to DOT.
next day got a phone call from someone on exec customer care team in Houston, telling me it had been handled, and to expect a refund in 7-10 days. also gave me 20,000 RDMs for my time and trouble.
personally i'd rather have had my money back 6 months ago, and the 6+ hours of my life back that i spent on the issue. guess it goes to show that often the letters "DOT" are all they understand.
in late May 2013 I had a medical emergency that forced me to cancel a flight. i went through all the required paperwork to get a refund of the ticket and refunds denied it on account of insufficient paperwork. sent it back to them again, asking them to look at it, and reconsider. again denied. sent to 1K voice, who sent to refunds supervisors, who asked for more paperwork (which had already been provided). sent in paperwork AGAIN, and heard nothing for 6 weeks. after all this it's now November.
at that point i sent everything back to 1K voice -- original PNRs, receipts, doctor's notes and hospital bills, and email correspondence with 1K voice and refunds department. told them to sort it out in 7 days or i'd be going to DOT.
next day got a phone call from someone on exec customer care team in Houston, telling me it had been handled, and to expect a refund in 7-10 days. also gave me 20,000 RDMs for my time and trouble.
personally i'd rather have had my money back 6 months ago, and the 6+ hours of my life back that i spent on the issue. guess it goes to show that often the letters "DOT" are all they understand.
Dec 27, 2013, 9:47 am
#1594
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
I'm not normally a fan of filing DOT complaints, but I think in this case it's warranted. There is no one to hold UA accountable in these situations. Recently I was on a 5:45am flight from CHS-ORD. At 2:00am received an email that the flight was cancelled. I checked before I went to bed, the plane was already en route from EWR. Weather was fine in both Charleston and Newark. So I'm guessing it was crew related issue. Considering this was the first flight of the day I'm guessing it had something to do with the crew being out of place. UA said weather was the reason for the cancellation.
The notion that so long as you stick your hand out the window at origin and destination, that the weather is flyable inbetween is naive (and to the extent that any serious person actually followed it, quite dangerous). As one of a thousand examples, the crew could time out as the result of a WX delay taken earlier in the day. Or as a second, there could be unsafe conditions anywhere along the route with minimal opportunities to vector around that system.
Me, I'd rather arrive late and safe than die in a crash while armchair operations experts make decisions about what's safe.
Dec 27, 2013, 10:00 am
#1595
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Mexico
Programs: UA 1K, AM Gold
Posts: 33
UA 895 ORD-HKG-SIN
Broken seat in J (only reclined halfway and didn't return to upright position, so was stuck in this half resting position for the entire flight.) The seat was not fixed during the layover in HKG. Got apology card, seemingly never processed for a very long time. I ended up writing to 1kvoice asking what happened and got 10,000 miles. I would have expected more, to be quite honest, because it's a very long flight and it was rather frustrating. The response was at least from a human, not a standard form letter, so that was nice.
Broken seat in J (only reclined halfway and didn't return to upright position, so was stuck in this half resting position for the entire flight.) The seat was not fixed during the layover in HKG. Got apology card, seemingly never processed for a very long time. I ended up writing to 1kvoice asking what happened and got 10,000 miles. I would have expected more, to be quite honest, because it's a very long flight and it was rather frustrating. The response was at least from a human, not a standard form letter, so that was nice.
Dec 27, 2013, 11:41 am
#1596
Join Date: Jun 2013
Programs: UA 1/MM SPG gold, CEO: Grandmother of 4
Posts: 557
UA 895 ORD-HKG-SIN
Broken seat in J (only reclined halfway and didn't return to upright position, so was stuck in this half resting position for the entire flight.) The seat was not fixed during the layover in HKG. Got apology card, seemingly never processed for a very long time. I ended up writing to 1kvoice asking what happened and got 10,000 miles. I would have expected more, to be quite honest, because it's a very long flight and it was rather frustrating. The response was at least from a human, not a standard form letter, so that was nice.
Broken seat in J (only reclined halfway and didn't return to upright position, so was stuck in this half resting position for the entire flight.) The seat was not fixed during the layover in HKG. Got apology card, seemingly never processed for a very long time. I ended up writing to 1kvoice asking what happened and got 10,000 miles. I would have expected more, to be quite honest, because it's a very long flight and it was rather frustrating. The response was at least from a human, not a standard form letter, so that was nice.
Dec 28, 2013, 6:14 am
#1597
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Dubai / NYC
Programs: EK-IO, UA-1K2MM, ETIHAD-GOLD, SPG-PLAT LIFETIME, JUMEIRAH SERIUS GOLD
Posts: 5,220
UA 895 ORD-HKG-SIN
Broken seat in J (only reclined halfway and didn't return to upright position, so was stuck in this half resting position for the entire flight.) The seat was not fixed during the layover in HKG. Got apology card, seemingly never processed for a very long time. I ended up writing to 1kvoice asking what happened and got 10,000 miles. I would have expected more, to be quite honest, because it's a very long flight and it was rather frustrating. The response was at least from a human, not a standard form letter, so that was nice.
Broken seat in J (only reclined halfway and didn't return to upright position, so was stuck in this half resting position for the entire flight.) The seat was not fixed during the layover in HKG. Got apology card, seemingly never processed for a very long time. I ended up writing to 1kvoice asking what happened and got 10,000 miles. I would have expected more, to be quite honest, because it's a very long flight and it was rather frustrating. The response was at least from a human, not a standard form letter, so that was nice.
Dec 28, 2013, 4:24 pm
#1598
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: UA 1K 3MM , Marriott Amb, Hyatt D, HH D, Hertz PC
Posts: 851
Flight 1263 12/26 PHX-ORD. Broken DirectTV controls (screen worked but volume/channel did not). Wrote 1K Voice before takeoff and received response the next day followed by $150 travel cert today. More than satisfactory response IMHO.
Dec 28, 2013, 4:32 pm
#1599
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sacramento
Programs: UA 2MM/GS; SPG Lifetime Plat; MHC Lifetime; Tar Heel forever; and I "Dig the Pig" at Piggly Wiggly
Posts: 12,152
While I'd be glad to get that, too....are you kidding me? For a non-functioning volume control? No wonder they are so messed up. They seem to be all over the board -- high and low -- in what they offer.
Dec 30, 2013, 2:14 am
#1600
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SFO/SMF
Programs: Holder of six "persona non-grata" awards
Posts: 1,914
Am I entitled to anything?
Infrequent MP Silver flyer here:
Departing BCN en-route to SFO via EWR. UA now planning a refueling stop in BGR (Bangor); this will cause missed connection and delay EWR to SFO by two plus hours.
Am I able to recoup anything...bonus miles, etc?
Never happened to me before.
Thanks for advice.
Departing BCN en-route to SFO via EWR. UA now planning a refueling stop in BGR (Bangor); this will cause missed connection and delay EWR to SFO by two plus hours.
Am I able to recoup anything...bonus miles, etc?
Never happened to me before.
Thanks for advice.
Dec 30, 2013, 2:43 am
#1601
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
Happens not infrequently during winter months. See thread here.
Have they rebooked you on a new connection to SFO? If not, you should call and see if you can get it rebooked now. Check the available flights first and have your best alternative(s) in mind.
Whether UA will give you any compensation probably depends on how substantial the delay in getting you to SFO. If it's only two hours, not really worth complaining about IMO.
Have they rebooked you on a new connection to SFO? If not, you should call and see if you can get it rebooked now. Check the available flights first and have your best alternative(s) in mind.
Whether UA will give you any compensation probably depends on how substantial the delay in getting you to SFO. If it's only two hours, not really worth complaining about IMO.
Dec 30, 2013, 10:55 am
#1602
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SFO/SMF
Programs: Holder of six "persona non-grata" awards
Posts: 1,914
Happens not infrequently during winter months. See thread here.
Have they rebooked you on a new connection to SFO? If not, you should call and see if you can get it rebooked now. Check the available flights first and have your best alternative(s) in mind.
Whether UA will give you any compensation probably depends on how substantial the delay in getting you to SFO. If it's only two hours, not really worth complaining about IMO.
Have they rebooked you on a new connection to SFO? If not, you should call and see if you can get it rebooked now. Check the available flights first and have your best alternative(s) in mind.
Whether UA will give you any compensation probably depends on how substantial the delay in getting you to SFO. If it's only two hours, not really worth complaining about IMO.
Dec 30, 2013, 4:10 pm
#1603
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sacramento
Programs: UA 2MM/GS; SPG Lifetime Plat; MHC Lifetime; Tar Heel forever; and I "Dig the Pig" at Piggly Wiggly
Posts: 12,152
Am asking for a non-status friend who was (with husband) on award ticket.
Saturday's flight IAH-FRA was delayed two hours due to "cargo" problems. Thus, Sunday's return flight FRA-IAH also was delayed.
They missed their connection home; it was last flight of the evening, so UA put them up in a local hotel.
They flew home this morning, arriving 12 hours later than expected. Also, because it was a work day, friends could not pick them up at airport and they had to shuttle home.
What's reasonable?
Saturday's flight IAH-FRA was delayed two hours due to "cargo" problems. Thus, Sunday's return flight FRA-IAH also was delayed.
They missed their connection home; it was last flight of the evening, so UA put them up in a local hotel.
They flew home this morning, arriving 12 hours later than expected. Also, because it was a work day, friends could not pick them up at airport and they had to shuttle home.
What's reasonable?
Dec 30, 2013, 4:43 pm
#1604
Join Date: Mar 2012
Programs: Mileage Plus 1K; Marriott Platinum; Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,355
HNL - EWR flight up front on 767-400 for Mrs. Transportprof and me. One lie-flat seat broken, only manual recline which didn't go all the way to lie flat. Checked luggage damage only visible after departing airport - extended handle broke off on PATH train from Newark to Manhattan. Bought new suitcase for $200.
Wrote to 1K voice, received $300 electronic travel certificate x 2 within one business day.
Wrote to 1K voice, received $300 electronic travel certificate x 2 within one business day.
Last edited by transportprof; Dec 30, 2013 at 7:45 pm
Dec 30, 2013, 7:38 pm
#1605
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, UA Nobody, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,372
Am asking for a non-status friend who was (with husband) on award ticket.
Saturday's flight IAH-FRA was delayed two hours due to "cargo" problems. Thus, Sunday's return flight FRA-IAH also was delayed.
They missed their connection home; it was last flight of the evening, so UA put them up in a local hotel.
They flew home this morning, arriving 12 hours later than expected. Also, because it was a work day, friends could not pick them up at airport and they had to shuttle home.
What's reasonable?
Saturday's flight IAH-FRA was delayed two hours due to "cargo" problems. Thus, Sunday's return flight FRA-IAH also was delayed.
They missed their connection home; it was last flight of the evening, so UA put them up in a local hotel.
They flew home this morning, arriving 12 hours later than expected. Also, because it was a work day, friends could not pick them up at airport and they had to shuttle home.
What's reasonable?