Tag Archives for compensation.
An American Airlines passenger flying from Charlotte to Munich purchased a business class ticket that they say cost them $4,600. Once they boarded they discovered that their seat did not move. It did not recline. It did not turn into a bed. It was just a seat – not the thing they had purchased.
Michael Trager, who runs frequent traveler and casino loyalty site TravelZork, had one of the most interesting “bump” stories I’ve heard in a long time. He was involuntarily denied boarding on an American Airlines flight last week, and airport staff refused to provide him any compensation saying that they “do not care about DOT Rules.”
Delta Air Lines was reportedly forced to pay out $1,500 per passenger when their Los Angeles to Tokyo Haneda flight was overbooked by 42 passengers. That’s $63,000.
Some guests head down to the front desk and complain about their hotel stay, every single time. A former Hyatt and Hilton employee talks about tracking a customer’s complaint history, the compensations they received, and notes about the guest. The hotel knows who’s a serial complainer, just doing it for the discounts, free breakfast or points. One guest wanted free champagne every day.
A woman who flew American’s flight 2555 from Orlando to Dallas – Fort Worth on Tuesday was in seat 15A. The middle seat beside her was empty, and she says the man 15C “violated her.” She reported the incident to flight attendants, filmed it, and nothing was done.
Journalist, former Presidential speechwriter, and private pilot James Fallows complained on twitter about his United flight that was delayed just under 24 hours – and he attributes the decision to delay rather than cancel the flight to an anti-consumer conspiracy.
His followers on twitter are wrongly led to believe that this is so passengers aren’t entitled to a refund. Nothing could be further from the truh.
Delta Air Lines paid 13 passengers on an overbooked Boston to Rome flight up to $4,000 each – plus covered their hotel rooms for the night – to get them to give up their seats.
The flight had already boarded when an agent came on board still looking for volunteers, and she ran an auction. You can hear her raising the price to $3,500 begging someone to “take one for the team” and “go shopping.”
My take is that he maybe should run away from this relationship? I don’t claim to have very much data to work off of, but there do seem to be warning signs.
Delta Air Lines flight 5637 from New York JFK to Columbus was overbooked on Saturday, and a gate agent found himself begging passengers to take $1,300 and travel at 9 a.m. the next day.
The airline started off offering $800. That’s more than you’ll find American or United offering most of the time. The agent worked his way up to $1,300 volunteer – and he was selling it.
The starting gun on taking care of customers in the event of controllable delays and cancellations – compensating customers for failing to deliver the product that airlines have sold – has mass appeal, and signals a concern by the current administration for middle class concerns in a way that they think can differentiate themselves from their opponents. Precisely because this legislation won’t be acted upon, the President can paint Republicans as unwilling to protect voters from unpopular businesses.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
