So if you think you have been spun a line by the airline and your compensation has been denied - then watch out for Euclaim. www.euclaim.co.uk
It is run by Henrik Noorderhaven. He delights in that wonderful old fashioned of past times - exposing liars, and he gets paid for it by getting you the consumer compensation.
In tomorrow's (October 13th at 2000) Dispatches program on the UK's Channel 4 TV station - he was the featured part of the story.
He has exposed BA as the WORST airline in Europe for cancellations.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/Business/mhidkfeyidsn/rss2/
Here is the link for C4- however only UK stationed computer machines can view the program. (And special thanks to Professor Stuart for this one!
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatches/the+trouble+with+british+airways/2490477
What Henrik does is to track the airlines performance and looks for chronic conditions, for example BA914 and BA915 operated LHR-FRA and back. It has been canceled 27 times so far this year.
BA actually cancels 2% of all its flights. This makes it the worst airline in Europe. Further it loses a lot of bags - 2.5 million or a similar number about 2.7% of all bags.
So much for the World's Favorite Airline.
Now of only someone would do this for the US airlines and check out the invocation of Rule 240 and domestic and international compensation. The US airlines are even worse. OK - they fly more but nearly 70,000 cancellations for the first 6 months of this year is not a pretty sight.
Airlines - time to behave and get better at doing what you are SUPPOSED to do. Of course IATA and ATA are crowing about how much better they are this year than last year. But there is this new issue of leaving early which makes it even harder to cope.
I should know - I have been a victim MORE than once.
Cheers
Showing posts with label airline cancellations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airline cancellations. Show all posts
12 October 2008
22 July 2008
Are Airlines Cheating on Flight Cancellation Compensation?
Dearly beloved
Every year there are a large number of hassles with equipment and weather outages. But this is to be expected in any times. In 2007 we had several major - indeed spectacular - disruptions in the winter of discontent that saw jetBlue meltdown its operations on two separate occasions.
So where are we now? In 2008 so far this year according to published news reports things are not good. Thus far for the first 6 months of the year there have been over 65,000 flights canceled. That is twice for all the number of 2007.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008043947_webcanceledflights10.html
But don't worry the FAA and DOT have implemented new compensation for passengers whose flights are disrupted. That should fix it right?
Er - actually no. Now anything that is what it is gets labeled as a "weather disruption" and is not subject to any compensation.
For your reading pleasure I enclose a response to a request for compensation due to Delta's policy - not weather disruption.
Start with my formal complaint (at the bottom) and work back up to the reply at the top.
Sounds remarkably like a catch 22 problem. Don't you think? So are the airlines cheating? The numbers indicate that they are - the amount paid out according to the DOT has not increased yet the number of flights canceled is running at 4x. Something doesn't sound or feel right
Thanks Delta - my loyalty to you shows no bounds.
Timothy
EMAIL CONVERSATION FOLLOWS:(Hint start at the bottom first).
Dear Mr. O'Neil Dunne,
Thank you for your e-mail describing the problem you experienced.
Our goal is to make your travel experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible, and we regret you didn?t receive the high level of service we strive to provide. Our airport representatives are expected to always be responsive, and offer precise, complete information. It sounds like that didn?t happen in this case, and we will continue to make efforts to improve in this area.
When traveling from U.S. Cities, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all passengers must be at the gate at least 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Passengers who do not comply with the published check-in times are subject to having their seats released and subject to re-assignment.
Federal regulations require an airline to give compensation to a passenger who is denied boarding on a flight due to an oversold situation. This particular rule is not applicable in the event of a flight irregularity such as a mechanical or weather delay. Accordingly, we must respectfully decline your request.
Mr.O'Neil Dunne, thank you again for giving us an opportunity to respond to your concern. We very much appreciate your Medallion loyalty to Delta and look forward to the privilege of serving you again soon.
Sincerely,
Mandisa T. Reid
Manager
Customer Care
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Name: Mr Timothy O Neil Dunne
Email Address : timothyo@t2ni.com
SkyMiles Number: 0543535041
COMMENT DETAILS:
Email about Past/Future travel: Past
Nature of Comment: Complaint Concern
Email Pertaining to: Flight_Delay_Cancellation Email about Other topic:
Comments:
Below (in reverse) is my itinerary.
03 Jul 2008 Delta Flight 1051 from Atlanta, GA to Seattle, WA (YV)
02 Jul 2008 Delta Flight 4481 from Manchester, NH to Atlanta, GA (L)
30 Jun 2008 Delta Flight 5169 from Cincinnati, OH to Manchester, NH (K)
30 Jun 2008 Delta Flight 1632 from Seattle, WA to Cincinnati, OH (KV)
The nature of my complaint is twofold.
1. The decision to fly or not fly was not provided by Local Staff in Manchester and no attempt to accommodate passengers was made. Given that the flight would have been an illegal connection, the ground staff should not have boarded passengers such as myself with tight connections.
2. At Atlanta we arrived technically early and i could easily have made the connection except for the fact that the ground staff took 30 minutes to get the hand bags off the aircraft.
3. On arriving at the gate with 10 minutes to spare (the agent closed the door on me) I was told i had arrived late. On looking at the boarding list I saw that in fact the ground agent had in fact closed the flight early (at 2025)and had actually given away my seat BEFORE the due time.
4. The accomodation desk in the terminal was inaccurate with information provided to passengers and failed to accommodate me correctly. I was told SPECIFICALLY that i had a confirmed reservation on the next day - which turned out not to be true. If you investigate the PNR history you will see that in fact the seat was only cleared when I called to the agent and had them re-book the seat on the flight as opposed to the standby status the airport agent had booked me on.
Therefore in light of the fact that I was unable to travel on the correct flight - not to mention the appalling way customers are being treated by your airport staff - i request a DOT mandated compensation as the misconnect was due to Delta action not the stated Weather related delay which contributed but did not actually cause the misconnect.
Would you like a reply to your e-mail?:yes
FLIGHT 1:
Flight Number : 4481
Date : 02jul08
Departure City : MHT
Ticket Number : 2347270848
Every year there are a large number of hassles with equipment and weather outages. But this is to be expected in any times. In 2007 we had several major - indeed spectacular - disruptions in the winter of discontent that saw jetBlue meltdown its operations on two separate occasions.
So where are we now? In 2008 so far this year according to published news reports things are not good. Thus far for the first 6 months of the year there have been over 65,000 flights canceled. That is twice for all the number of 2007.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008043947_webcanceledflights10.html
But don't worry the FAA and DOT have implemented new compensation for passengers whose flights are disrupted. That should fix it right?
Er - actually no. Now anything that is what it is gets labeled as a "weather disruption" and is not subject to any compensation.
For your reading pleasure I enclose a response to a request for compensation due to Delta's policy - not weather disruption.
Start with my formal complaint (at the bottom) and work back up to the reply at the top.
Sounds remarkably like a catch 22 problem. Don't you think? So are the airlines cheating? The numbers indicate that they are - the amount paid out according to the DOT has not increased yet the number of flights canceled is running at 4x. Something doesn't sound or feel right
Thanks Delta - my loyalty to you shows no bounds.
Timothy
EMAIL CONVERSATION FOLLOWS:(Hint start at the bottom first).
Dear Mr. O'Neil Dunne,
Thank you for your e-mail describing the problem you experienced.
Our goal is to make your travel experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible, and we regret you didn?t receive the high level of service we strive to provide. Our airport representatives are expected to always be responsive, and offer precise, complete information. It sounds like that didn?t happen in this case, and we will continue to make efforts to improve in this area.
When traveling from U.S. Cities, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all passengers must be at the gate at least 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Passengers who do not comply with the published check-in times are subject to having their seats released and subject to re-assignment.
Federal regulations require an airline to give compensation to a passenger who is denied boarding on a flight due to an oversold situation. This particular rule is not applicable in the event of a flight irregularity such as a mechanical or weather delay. Accordingly, we must respectfully decline your request.
Mr.O'Neil Dunne, thank you again for giving us an opportunity to respond to your concern. We very much appreciate your Medallion loyalty to Delta and look forward to the privilege of serving you again soon.
Sincerely,
Mandisa T. Reid
Manager
Customer Care
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Name: Mr Timothy O Neil Dunne
Email Address : timothyo@t2ni.com
SkyMiles Number: 0543535041
COMMENT DETAILS:
Email about Past/Future travel: Past
Nature of Comment: Complaint Concern
Email Pertaining to: Flight_Delay_Cancellation Email about Other topic:
Comments:
Below (in reverse) is my itinerary.
03 Jul 2008 Delta Flight 1051 from Atlanta, GA to Seattle, WA (YV)
02 Jul 2008 Delta Flight 4481 from Manchester, NH to Atlanta, GA (L)
30 Jun 2008 Delta Flight 5169 from Cincinnati, OH to Manchester, NH (K)
30 Jun 2008 Delta Flight 1632 from Seattle, WA to Cincinnati, OH (KV)
The nature of my complaint is twofold.
1. The decision to fly or not fly was not provided by Local Staff in Manchester and no attempt to accommodate passengers was made. Given that the flight would have been an illegal connection, the ground staff should not have boarded passengers such as myself with tight connections.
2. At Atlanta we arrived technically early and i could easily have made the connection except for the fact that the ground staff took 30 minutes to get the hand bags off the aircraft.
3. On arriving at the gate with 10 minutes to spare (the agent closed the door on me) I was told i had arrived late. On looking at the boarding list I saw that in fact the ground agent had in fact closed the flight early (at 2025)and had actually given away my seat BEFORE the due time.
4. The accomodation desk in the terminal was inaccurate with information provided to passengers and failed to accommodate me correctly. I was told SPECIFICALLY that i had a confirmed reservation on the next day - which turned out not to be true. If you investigate the PNR history you will see that in fact the seat was only cleared when I called to the agent and had them re-book the seat on the flight as opposed to the standby status the airport agent had booked me on.
Therefore in light of the fact that I was unable to travel on the correct flight - not to mention the appalling way customers are being treated by your airport staff - i request a DOT mandated compensation as the misconnect was due to Delta action not the stated Weather related delay which contributed but did not actually cause the misconnect.
Would you like a reply to your e-mail?:yes
FLIGHT 1:
Flight Number : 4481
Date : 02jul08
Departure City : MHT
Ticket Number : 2347270848
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