chrisj500

I'm normally someone who would just move on, and not complain much - but the Christmas holiday trip I experienced had me furious.

Outbound flight:
1st attempt is partially my fault for not being at airport soon enough, even though plane is delayed I'm denied boarding. I'm at the counter 35 mins+ early, I have Pre-Check, and can likely bypass TSA - even though plane is late and hasn't arrived- I'm rebooked for following day.
2nd attempt, last flight of day is cancelled (not due to weather.)
3rd attempt / day, flight is delayed ~3 hours due to mechanical problem- but does get me where I'm going.

Return flight:
1st attempt: Plane boards 1 hour late, and then it's announced that plane is over weight. No volunteers, and staff moves down list for involuntary de-boarding. Last in is actually a flight crew, and instead myself and another passenger are selected for de-boarding. I had checked in 2 hours prior, and 2nd passenger claimed 6hrs. I'm given a flight voucher and a taxi credit for different airport arrival.

2nd attempt: rebooked on later flight with a wait time of about 6 hours. One hour past depature time, flight is cancelled. I have company arriving, so I grab a rental car and drive through the snow for several hours - arriving home at 3:30AM.

3rd day - I go to pick original airport to pick up my bag, and ask desk to cancel 2nd leg; I'm told that there is nothing that can be done - and that I'll have to contact customer service via website.

I was too furious to call at this point, and I just called tonight to have 2nd leg cancelled. I was told that I could rebook the 2nd leg for a $150 change fee since I did not call within 7 days. It's suggested that I contact customer support via the website to have the fee waived.

I'm trying not to be melodramatic or ask for anything unrealistic; I'm leaving out some other more minor details that made this trip even less desirable.

I ask this as someone who only travels a half-dozen times a year or so, if you were in my shoes- what would you ask of US? The change fee is obviously obnoxious - and I've restrained myself from exploding on anyone at US at this point.

I've thought about asking for status, or some value of points - but it's difficult for me to put a value on any of this. The original ticket was worth about $1K.

whytravelsomuch

Sounds like you just had a string of bad luck that started with not getting to the airport on time for the first flight. We've all had travel experiences like that at one point or another.

I'd suggest writing an email to the airline via the website. Keep the email concise, factual and devoid of emotion. You will most likely end up with compensation in the form of voucher towards future travel. There is no chance of them giving you status so dont even bother asking for that.

qvzn

What is the amount on the voucher?

Some of the real experts will no doubt chime in here, but I think since you were INVOLUNTARY Denied Boarding, the compensation should be paid in cash (check), not a flight voucher

Maybe someone else can confirm this is the case? If it is, you could possibly pursue that with customer service, but it should normally be provided by the GA

As for the rest of the posted--I got pretty lost around where you had to drive somewhere, what original airport you're talking about and why you still had a "2nd leg" at that point. If you can post the actual airports/cities maybe it will make more sense

Also--you mentioned this was a Christmas holiday trip, so are we to understand this all happened back in December (2012? )? That might make it harder to claim for compensation, but it shouldn't preclude it

whytravelsomuch

Not necessarily.. Being bumped due to weight and balance as well as the size of the aircraft (which wasnt mentioned) all play a roll in how the bump is classified.

gottigotti

I don't quite follow the whole story. Dates and flight numbers would be helpful. If there was indeed weather (snow as you mentioned) you may be out of luck. Not sure how the weight and balance issues play in any compensation.

On the outbound was this an international flight? Did you not check in online? If there was only one flight a day to a destination and you miss the check in cut off that can create cascading problems for you which is what you experienced here.

I'm willing to bet you get a $200 travel voucher for your troubles.

Superguy

I think it's not an IDB if the weight and balance is on a RJ, but is an IDB if it's on a mainline flight.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

redtop43

A few years ago I was IDB'ed in LGA for weight/balance. I'm pretty sure it counts as IDB.

Weight and balance can mean a lot of things. For example, in bad weather they might plan to carry extra fuel in case they have to circle or even divert. More gas = fewer pax. But I haven't heard of that being called WX.

In my case, the US GA halucinated and thought they could offer me whatever they wanted, not what DOT mandates for IDB. This was long enough ago that they were offering RT vouchers. I negotiated with them for a non-capacity controlled voucher and took it rather than chase the money. (I was on an award ticket anway, so I'm not sure how IDB compensation should be priced.) I eventually had to fight with US to redeem the voucher, but I was ultimately successful.

I'm confused about the OP "cancelling the 2nd leg" also. It would be one thing to skip a segment on an outbound and then have to fight with them not to cancel the rest of the trip. Possibly they would let you reschedule the final leg, and I guess that sometimes that would be worthwhile. Last week I had the final segment of the outbound part of a trip cancelled. But the outbound was 3 segments, DL-US-US and the return was DL-DL, so missing a US segment wasn't going to impact the DL return. When it's the last leg, you mostly just forget about it.

Now the OP SHOULD have gotten compensation for the IDB.

The story is a bit confusing, because the OP talks about on the return, driving several hours through the snow, then returning to the original airport the next day to get his bag. Was the entire return trip cancelled. Even if it's WX, don't you have the right to cancel your ticket and get a refund if they can't get you there that day? I know that about 10 years ago, I had bought a ticket for a girl I was dating (back in my dating days) and by the time of the trip, she wasn't going to come. I was mentally writing off the ticket, but an hour or two before the flight I got a call from the airline warning that due to weather, the flight might not make its connection. I called the airline and they did let me cancel and refund the ticket.

We all understand that in WX cases you don't get compensation, but can the airline really say "We gave you a ticket to fly on Monday, in fact we'll fly you Thursday if you still wanna go - but that's your only choice, no refund even though we won't take you?"

dcpatti

I think it's the number of seats that counts, like what's IDB on an E190 isn't IDB on a Dash, but I don't have the numbers handy.

Also, paying customers will be put off the plane before crew if the crew is positioning for working a flight, because if the crew doesn't make their assigned work flight, no one flies.

kudzu

Here's US Customer Service Plan regarding Denied Boarding ... (emphasis mine)

chrisj500

Yes, I apologize I didn't want to go on a long rant - so I tried to thin down the story.
I typed leg, but really meant return trip. (At least one of the cancelled flights did include layovers, the final attempt did not. I apologize for the confusion, I was typing this after calling US, getting angry after getting off the phone about the change fee, and having a few drinks.)

Outbound flight , attempt 3 - involved a stewardess and pilot fighting publicly in front of the passengers as well. While I felt awful for the stewardess, she cried the entire flight. She couldn't get through the announcements, and some folks thought that she was scared because of the equipment change out. Obviously, that's speculation. We actually hit a patch of strong turbulence that caused a long drop, and people were getting freaked out with the stewardess crying while trying to do announcements. (This is the first time I've ever seen the seat oxygen mask lecture while in the air.)
I don't understand why US would force an upset stewardess to fly. I realize that probably would have cause outbound flight #3 to be cancelled, but I was almost ready to give up at that point anyway.

I did get a flight voucher ($450) for the involuntary boarding of outbound flight #1, and this was regional small aircraft. I did tell passenger #2 that we could request cash, because I thought that was the case from what I've learned here. The desk staff looked frazzled when I mentioned it, so I let it go. I think there is a multiplier when you have to wait past a certain # of hours as well, so I'm not sure if the amount was even correct. $450 seems fair though, although at that point - I would have preferred to have been going home.

The 2nd outbound flight that US booked me on was a United one that was cancelled due to equipment change / and lack of crew (funnily enough at one point it said taxiing and awaiting crew simultaneously even though the craft had never left DCA), and this is the one-way flight that US is willing to let me rebook - if I pay a $150 change fee.

I'm pretty certain that weather was not inclement in either city at any departure time, but by the time I had left and driven many hours now overnight- it began accumulating on the highways in the mountains of WV. This was the only time I remember a weather situation forming locally- that's why I grabbed a rental car before I become trapped the next day as well, as the storm was predicted to move in the following day. And, as I said - I already had friends awaiting for me in DC.)

The desk staff at CRW were extremely apologetic and very friendly, the folks at DCA were not. The agent at CRW actually spent 15 minutes entering notes for me, so that when I called customer service they'd understand the mess that I endured.
One of the staff at CRW told me this happens every year- the regional aircraft can't handle all the holiday luggage- so they apparently endure this every Christmas.

I drove into a different airport (BWI) which is closer, and then took a cab home.
I was optimistically hoping I could grab Metro, but the mountain snow slowed down the driving and thus Metro was closed.

After I had requested the cancellation at DCA the next day, the DCA desk said that there was nothing they could do for me and I'd have to email customer service. Although the taxi cost the same (and under the marked limit), the taxi voucher was marked for IAD (as that's where the UA flight was headed) so the desk at DCA re-iterated that they could not help me. I probably should have escalated to a manager at that point, but I was so frustrated that I was about to lose my cool.

DCA was the original departure, CRW was the destination, so as you can see this was an expensive hour+ flight. Normally, I'd just drive during the holidays- but I wanted to spend more time with the family / friends not less.

So I figure I'm out the $60 one-way car rental, out the $70 taxi fare, now required to pay a $150 change fee on the return trip should I use that, out $50 in gas, and all the time wasted in airports.

The original DCA gate agent was confused, and thought I was going to Charleston, SC - not Charleston, WV. She had already began rebooking me, and like I said - I have some responsibility for that as well. This also delayed everything, and I was really annoyed when I realized the plane didn't board for another hour.

There were multiple flights per day, I'll follow up with the details when I start drafting an email to customer support. Is there a place where you can see historical flight status? I should have been documenting this all along.

This will be the first instance I've ever complained about a trip with any airline.

WiscAZ

My best advice in these situations is leave the emotion out of the letter, stick to the facts, and be concise. I'm still having a little trouble following everything. Good luck with contacting them.

jimcfsus

Let me pass on some advice that the gate agents at CRW passed to me 20+ years ago when I first moved to West Virginia...

Refer to CRW as "Charlie West" and CHS as "Charlie South". That way you will never get the agents confused as to where you are headed. Now whether that will work today, who knows, as we know the gate agents are paid little more than minimum wage (especially the regional based ones) and aren't trained in the same manner that the mainline agents were 20 years ago.

whytravelsomuch

*No airline forces anybody to fly. If the flight attendant felt she was unfit to fly, its her responsibility to pull herself off the trip. While she may have to answer as to why she cant work the trip, nobody would force her to fly.

*IDB compensation rules would not apply in this case (unless the regional plane had more than 60 seat) since it was a weight and balance issue. The $450 voucher was quite generous considering they werent legally obligated to do anything.

*Weather doesn't necessarily have to be bad in the origin or destination of a flight, for weather to affect a flight or crew availability. Its possible things such as weather in a city where the plane is coming from, weather en route, etc. all can affect flights.