formeraa

To the OP --

Your uncle arrived at his destination ON-TIME. Over the past 30 years of traveling, I've had agents put me on earlier/slightly later flights because of pending ATC delays, mechanical issues, seats are available, etc. I figure that it all evens out in the end. Yes, he had to wait at the airport a little longer this time (and gave up a bit of sleep). However, next time, it will work to his favor...

Overall, it's mildly frustrating but it's also a part of air travel.

dcpatti

Also imagine this scenario to give some better perspective: imagine the original plane was flat-out cancelled and the OP's uncle arrived at the airport to find he'd been booked into the alternate flight that he did end up taking. The situation would immediately change to "US has such awesome customer service; my flight was cancelled and by the time I got to the airport, they already had me on an alternate flight and I even had enough time to make my connection!"

I really can't see anywhere to be upset with how things worked out for the uncle. Yes getting up early sucks but the uncle would have had to do that, whether or not he'd made the cut for the smaller plane. Yes small planes suck but he was going to be on a small plane anyway, and it's 45 minutes from gate to gate, so at least it's a short suck.

Asking what the SOP is for general curiosity is fine; I think it's comforting to know that US gave preference to those with short connections when assigning who would go on the earlier, smaller plane and who'd be waiting an hour in TUS (and it does appear this is how they chose). I like knowing how things work behind the scenes

But I just don't see any harm has been committed here and if the question came from anything other than general curiosity, I'd think resetting expectations on travel would be wise.

BoeingBoy

While I generally agree with dcpatti, it's amusing see complaints all the time that are about evenly split between "the policy WASN'T followed and ..." and "the policy WAS enforced and...". The common thread to all of those seems to be whose ox was gored, or whether strict enforcement or creative interpretation of the policies helps the FT'er.

Just take this thread. If the OP's relative had missed the connection and had to spend the night in PHX because the IDB policies weren't followed, would that be ok too? Should adhering to policy depend on the effect on 1 passenger viewed in isolation, all passengers on the flight, or all passengers on all flights?

Maybe we need some guidelines covering when a complaint about agents/FA's/pilots/etc following policies (or not) is acceptable.

Jim

M20009

I'm sure small claims court would compel US Airways to start giving passengers compensation when they are rebooked on a later flight after a smaller aircraft is substituted or a person is inconvenienced. I mean, after all, it would probably be cheaper to offer hundreds of people each week immediate compensation rather than fighting a small percentage of those same passengers in small claims court ... assuming passengers think it is worth their time to sue over a delay.

As for the media, everyone already knows this happens. Force the airlines' hand and they will just increase ticket prices.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

But in this case nothing negative happened. The passenger got this his destination at the same time as originally scheduled. He was not at all inconvenienced.

M20009

I know, I was being sarcastic at the prospect of someone suing over a delay because of the economics of it.