Comments on: Travel fail

By: Joe Jones

Joe Jones — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:02:01 +0000

...but if a delay en route causes you to miss a connection on the same itinerary, you can get on the next available flight at no extra charge, regardless of cause.

By: Joe Jones

Joe Jones — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:01:19 +0000

Under US law, the airline has to give you a hotel and cover your meals if they delay you overnight due to their own fault (maintenance, etc.) but you usually don’t get a hotel for weather-related issues or “ATC delays” unless you’re one of their elite customers. This is often a source of fierce disputes at ticket counters.

By: Roy Berman

Roy Berman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:33:07 +0000

OK, I rebooked both my departing flight and returning flight for exactly one week later, and I ended up with a total price still about $100/10,000 yen lower than the one JAL had quoted me. Of course, with the 7000 yen or so I blew going to and from the airport, paying to call the booking center in Manila, and the entire wasted day I still came out slightly behind.

By: Jade Oc

Jade Oc — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:16:24 +0000

For what it’s worth, the only time I ever had a flight cancelled due to a storm (of such proportions FEMA was called out) I was given a complete refund by United – this was however using a free mileage ticket. Places like HIS might not be so cooperative. Airlines in general have rules that state what they must do – in the EU for example, a delay of so many hours gets you so much comp, and they must spring for a hotel if it’s over X hours.

By: Roy Berman

Roy Berman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:07:16 +0000

Well, there’s a big difference between airline fault, passenger fault, and events beyond anyone’s control. In a case like this they could easily tell me to go fuck myself, but they seem to be pretty helpful. I still haven’t gotten my rebooking done yet though, so we’ll see…

I think in the case of a storm they have no legal obligation to help you out, but in cases where it might be hard for you to find a place to stay or something they probably will help out in some way for customer relations.

By: M-Bone

M-Bone — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:02:36 +0000

“AND it’s on the same ticket/itinerary as the delayed flight which caused the missed connection.”

I’m wondering – they are obligated to get you where you are going, but what about a hotel if there is a delay for something out of their control like a storm?

By: Joe Jones

Joe Jones — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:02:27 +0000

By the book, your ticket should generally become invalid unless you call the airline beforehand and ask them to stop holding your seat. Many airlines will bend these rules to avoid complaints from already-irate passengers, but some won’t.

I recall that one time, my family’s neighbor was flying from the UK to South Carolina, taking British Airways for the transatlantic portion and then connecting to Spirit in New York. The BA flight was delayed, and they missed the Spirit flight as a result. Spirit refused to honor the ticket for the missed flight and made them buy another full-fare ticket to South Carolina; to add more injury, there were no seats available (even as a standby) until three days later, so they had to pay for a hotel as well.

The only time you’ll always be covered is if you miss a connecting flight AND it’s on the same ticket/itinerary as the delayed flight which caused the missed connection.

By: Jade Oc

Jade Oc — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:35:43 +0000

Interesting (and cheap, especially if it includes fuel surgouges). I’ve only ever needed to check airline prices for airlines that are major enough to have a big Japan presence so get the Japan price anyway.

By: Roy Berman

Roy Berman — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:13:46 +0000

The ticket was bought online from Cebu Pacific for a LOT cheaper than anything I saw in Japan. I was pretty pissed that after they closed checkin their employee in the airport just left and their office was closed by 6pm so I had to get an international phone card and call up their Manila booking office, but at least they were pretty reasonable about helping me once I managed to get in contact.

The ticket I got was 33,000 round trip, Kansai to Manila. Of course, I’ve now lost a lot of the savings through my own stupidity.

By: Jade Oc

Jade Oc — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:09:51 +0000

Was that a ticket bought through somewhere like HIS or the bucket shops? Those are the cheapest, but I would be surprised if you could even reschedule a missed flight (pretty sure you can’t). If not, I’d be interested to see the sort of ticket you got (presumably it was cheap enough to make it worth buying in the first place).