Is this enough compensation? Missed my connection because of an emergency landing

Close calls are the narrative glue of aviation journalism. Where would we be without stories of near-misses, mechanical failures and emergency landings?

We might be less understanding of Sean Norton’s problem. His Delta Air Lines flight from Philadelphia to Paris had to divert to Ireland on Nov. 19, causing him to miss a connecting flight. He wants to know if Delta helped him enough, given that a mechanical problem is a controllable circumstance.

This isn’t an easy case, and you’ll see why when we get into the details. But first, we have to acknowledge that things could have been much worse. Delta Flight 196 could have gone down, in which case I’d be hearing from Norton’s next of kin.

How far should an airline go to fix a schedule that’s disrupted by a mechanical failure?

Delta’s contract of carriage doesn’t address emergency landings, so the airline has a lot of discretion in addressing the issue.

Question is, did it do enough?

Norton says the flight to Paris was routine until about 2 1/2 hours before landing, when the right engine failed.

The pilot declared an emergency landing and diverted to Shannon, Ireland.

At the point of declaring an emergency landing, the pilot assured us everything was OK by informing us that he “just did this training on the simulator.” I was sitting on the right wing, the flight attendent came over and asked me if I could look out the window and “see if the engine was smoking.”

Let’s say that stress was rather high on this flight.

We landed safely in Ireland and on the plane I was told that we would be given vouchers once in the airport for food. I never received a voucher and couldn’t find a Delta representative to get one. So I spent my own money for Delta’s delay on coffee and breakfast and lunch.

Delta managed to get the passengers from Flight 196 to Paris six hours later.

I had booked an EasyJet ticket to Portugal, not connected with the Delta flight. When booking, I was quite positive that I would not miss this flight, given the eight hour layover that was scheduled in Paris.

As we landed, I realized there was no way I was going to make my flight. I asked the flight attendent if they could talk to EasyJet for me. They said no. The Delta representative told me that as far as they were concerned, they got me to my destination.

In the end, I spent an extra $450 getting to my final destination.

Delta offered Norton a $200 voucher for his trouble, and what he calls a “very smug response from a customer service representative.” He’d like to at least cover the expense of his connecting flight, but he’s also considering disputing his credit card charge for the entire Delta ticket.

I don’t think a charge card dispute would be successful. After all, Delta fulfilled its contract by delivering him to his destination — even if it was six hours later than he expected.

It would have been nice of Delta to contact EasyJet on Norton’s behalf to explain his circumstances. It would have been even nicer if he’d purchased both tickets together, through a travel agency, which would have allowed EasyJet to rebook him at no extra cost.

But I see his point — an eight hour stopover in Paris is more than enough time to make a connection.

I’m not sure if European consumer protections for airline passengers would apply to this situation. I think invoking them at this point would probably be unproductive.

So what do you think? Did Delta do enough?

I closed the survey just short of 800 responses. It was a close one!

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  • atlmom

    Delta did not fulfill their part of the contract. They said they’d get the OP to Paris at a certain time, and he was there 6 hours later.
    So should the OP book only on Delta to Portugal always because then he could be helped in a situation like this? Even if the fare was 10 times easyjet’s? Seriously – while sometimes one should take into account ease of travel vs. cost, it also depends on the difference of the cost.

  • Teresa

    A few extra points

    @Karen P: The OP’s flight IS covered by EU 261 rules. Flights originating outside the EU and terminating within the EU are covered if the carrier is licensed to serve EU countries (see regulation for technical definition). I assume Delta is licensed.

    @Karen P: If your flight from Paris to Philadelphia was cancelled and you were flown the next day, then you are DEFINITELY entitled to EU 261 compensation. Cancellation vaults you into a different category from simple delay.

    @Arizona Road Warrior: I went to the Squaremouth web site to see if I could see in the fine print how their missed connection insurance works. Let me tell you, trying to figure out whether a particular set of circumstances will be covered is REALLY hard. There are dozens of policies to search through. I was never sure that I had found the actual contract text. Much “missed connection” insurance seems to be limited to those participating on cruises and group tours, not just for a single flight, but you might never figure that out if you just click on the teasers on the web site. This is a real minefield — and on top of it, the premiums you quote are substantial as a percentage of the benefits available. So I stick by my original statement that getting insurance for missed connections is difficult to impossible.

    @Sean: if your flight really LEFT six hours late, instead of departing, you may have a valid EU 261 claim. By the way, there are some good websites which aggregate EU 261 experience and case law.

    A final issue that this story brings up is the practice of allowing passengers to fly standby on a flight earlier or later than their original booking. This used to be common, but now only a few airlines encourage it (JetBlue for example) and some only for a charge. If EasyJet made standby available as an option that might have helped the OP here. However I understand that some carriers may consider standby a staff time-waster that reduces carriers’ revenue from ticket change fees.

  • Teresa

    P.S. I meant to say in my last post:

    @Sean: if your flight really DEPARTED six hours late, instead of ARRIVING six hours late, you may have a valid EU 261 claim. By the way, there are some good websites which aggregate EU 261 experience and case law.

  • BucksterSF

    You know, as bad as I feel for the OP sometimes life just happens. Delta did what it could do to ensure the safety of the passengers. And I think only 6 hours of delay for a mechanical failure is pretty good. This is just one of those things you have to roll with. I don’t think Delta owes the OP anything.

  • BucksterSF

    To the folks who say “Delta will lose a valuable customer.” Get real. This is 2010 – people book by price or because they’re at a hub and they’re forced to use a dominant airline. Loyalty is history. We banished it long ago.

  • Carver

    @bucksterSF

    Loyalty is history. We banished it long ago.

    ______

    Hardly. I think there are a few hundred thousand loyalty program members of elite membership who might disagree with you.

  • http://www.worldbite.net Preston Smith

    The attendant asked if a passenger could look out the window and check to see if the engine was smoking?

    I just about fell over laughing when I saw that one. Good thing they didn’t ask a lawyer–they could have wound up in a emotional duress lawsuit.

    In any case, I think Chris is right that Delta could have given a call to easyJet. But maybe Delta did… I worked in travel and you would not believe the games played between hotels and agents, for example. Still, I’m kind of surprised the traveler lost money on this.

  • David Z

    I’m rather curious on the “smug response from a customer service representative” the OP got. I figure it wouldn’t have lead to all this if Delta’s agent was, say, more empathetic or so to his situation, even if they wouldn’t necessarily do more than what they’re expected?

  • PauletteB

    I doubt that Delta has to worry about the OP’s “loyalty.” He sounds like a price shopper, and if Delta has the lowest price for his next destination, he’ll jump on it. And how do we know that what the OP calls a “smug response” from the customer service agent wasn’t in response to his unrealistic demands? One of the best ways to ensure that you don’t get what you want from customer service people is to DEMAND that you’re ENTITLED to it.

  • http://www.middle-aged-diva.blogspot.com Carol C.

    This is so a “customer service” issue. From attitude to “can -do” attitude, airline employees control how passengers come out of a situation like this. However, good customer service has gone the way of real-people-answering-customer-service-lines, which is to say it’s gone for good. He should have gotten food vouchers. He should have been helped with his Easy Jet situation. Easy Jet should have tried to assist. And no one should have been smug.

    But hey, that’s the perfect world that doesn’t exist.

  • Fred Munroe

    I see a Delta error and a Sean error.

    Delta’s contractual obligation is to deliver the passenger within a reasonable period of time. l believe that is “within 4-hours of scheduled time” under US FAA guidelines. 6-hours means that Delta did not deliver as agreed.

    While Sean was sitting in Shannon, he should have called EasyJet and advised them of his status. If they had been advised of this problem earlier, everyone would have had more choices. Since I have never had to modify a ticket with EasyJet, I am not sure how flexible they would be. But Sean should have asked to be moved to a later EasyJet flight and indicated that he might still make the original flight and would be willing to be standby on it, if that was the case.

    Sean expected Delta to fix the problem, even though he had time in Shannon to fix it himself and he wants Chris to fix it now. This does not sound like a very pro-active traveler.

  • Lisa S

    This case is why people hate the airlines.

  • Jonathan M

    “It would have been nice of Delta to contact EasyJet on Norton’s behalf to explain his circumstances. It would have been even nicer if he’d purchased both tickets together, through a travel agency, which would have allowed EasyJet to rebook him at no extra cost.”

    The problem with that Christopher is that easyJet don’t interline. He couldn’t have booked this ‘together’ even if he wanted to and easyJet wouldn’t have cared if Delta HAD called to advise of the delay. As far as easyJet would have been concerned, the customer missed/was going to miss his flight and needed to change his booking for a reason that wasn’t anything of their causing.

    If EU legislations covers the delay by DL, great, that’s what he should get. Otherwise, no compensation is due – but he does have a nice story about how he survived an engine failure! (I have too, in a DC4, and it just added to the experience in a good way).

    It was DL’s fault for diverting and getting him to Paris late. It was his fault for buying a separate ticket from Paris. Neither had any relation to the other as far as DL or easyJet were concerned.

  • http://Dorothy4mkay@msn.com Sasha

    I don’t understand why 2 hours was not enough time for him to make his connection.

  • flutiefan

    I can’t stand it when people lump “the airlines” together. NO. This is an issue with ONE airline, possibly 2. When you have a problem with your Ford, do you complain about “the car dealerships”? When you’re unhappy with some clothes, do you whine about “the department stores”? If you have an issue with the iPhone, you don’t go on about “the cell phone companies”, do you?
    C’mon man.

  • Sean Norton

    I primarily asked Christopher for advice, not to fix my problem, wondering if he thought the compensation was fair. I missed my connection because we landed around 3:00 pm Paris time. My flight closed boarding at 3:50. And I had to switch terminals in CDG, which takes time (shuttle bus).
    In the end, I was annoyed with how Delta treated me and at their form-like response to my complaint.

    Thanks to Christopher for putting up the poll. He has indicated that Delta is holding firm on their valuation. I have assigned the travel voucher to Camp Sunshine, an organization in Casco, Maine that provides respite, support, joy and hope to children with life-threatening illnesses and their immediate families through various stages of a child’s illness. http://www.campsunshine.org/

    In the spirit of the Holidays, I challenge Delta to donate (to Camp Sunshine) the remaining amount, in travel vouchers, of the added cost to my travel, which I estimate to be around $250.00.

  • http://www.clarkecomputer.com Charles Clarke

    Sean, be glad you’re alive. Good job on the donation of the voucher.

    I agree with Fred Munroe that both Delta and you could have done better. Though I don’t know that I would have thought of calling EasyJet at Shannon either. Or have thought of seeing if I could have made a change and flown from Shannon.

    I really like the pilot (Not reassuring! Would have preferred “just refreshed himself on this on the simulator.”) and flight attendant’s statements (How about responding “I thought this flight was non-smoking!”.

  • Honna3030

    I don’t really understand this analogy. Could you explain more what you mean by “keep your money and not fly you? ”  Do you mean if your car breaks down on the way to the airport, would the airline not refund your ticket?  I don’t think they would.  They would charge you a cancellation fee etc. if you missed your flight.

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