What to do when an airline doesn’t follow its own rules

Can you force an airline to follow its own rules? Phil and Margaret Warker wanted to know after a disastrous return flight from Nassau to Washington via Miami. US Airways blamed the weather and offered them a $100 flight voucher for the trouble.

But the Warkers saw things differently. They believe they were involuntarily bumped from their Miami flight, and claim the gate agents in Nassau promised them more compensation. Who’s right?

Let’s hear from both sides, starting with the Warker family. Here’s their initial request.

On our return flight, US Airways lost our confirmed reservation through their own incompetence, so we were involuntarily bumped and we got home two days later after being rebooked on a different carrier, and we had to endure hours of frustration along the way.

There were no weather problems either time and no one notified us about any issues either time. This caused a lot of expense and problem for my family. We had paid more for direct flights and we were treated like dirt, and I am a Gold Star Alliance member.

We expect at least full credit for the fights and the $1,250 times three that we are legally entitled to under your rules.

Here’s US Airways’ response:

I am sorry to hear your flight cancelled from Washington to Nassau on December 25, 2009. The recent severe storms, compounded by the extreme weather across the Midwest, continue to create operational disruption. We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced and regret any negative impact to your personal travel plans.

Our records show your return tickets were used for travel on American Airlines from Nassau to Miami in the coach cabin and from Miami to Washington National in the first class cabin, I am sorry we cannot refund any portion of tickets that were used for travel, the tickets have no value.

To convey our apologies and regain your confidence, we have authorized three $100 Electronic Travel With Us Voucher(s) (E-TUV).

We know that you have many choices when it comes to traveling, and we thank you for choosing US Airways.

To which the Warkers replied:

I appreciate the response but I do believe that we are entitled to more compensation based on your own rules. We were told that weather had nothing to do with the cancellation on 12/25 but that it was due to crew availability. We had not been notified prior nor re-booked and we had to cajole your agent to book us later that day via Fort Lauderdale, and we arrived nine hours late.

On 01/02, we were told that your system had cancelled our reservation and so we needed to spend a full day in Nassau, then 13 hours at the Miami airport the following day. That we were involuntarily bumped was totally your fault and we were told that we would receive vouchers for both trips of $625 each times three so we are entitled to $1250 each according to your rules and this is what the customer service people told us in Miami and Nassau.

We also incurred many additional expenses as a result of the delay (parking, kennel, lost work, etc.) in addition to being completely stressed out in both directions, which impacted the enjoyment of our vacation. I am a federal law enforcement official and this impacted my work schedule.

I have opened an official dispute with USAirways via our credit card company so I hope that this can be resolved more to our satisfaction or we will not pay for this.

As a Star Alliance Gold member who has given your company a lot of business the last several years, I was shocked at how my family and I were treated. I trust that you will reconsider your offer of compensation, and consider full credit for the flights.

What now? I suggested the Warkers contact someone at a higher level at US Airways, which they did.

A few days later, I got the following email from the family:

We wanted to express our appreciation for your assistance in helping us resolve our issue with US Airways. We e-mailed the contact you gave us and after a somewhat testy phone conversation, they acknowledged that we were correct in our assessment of what we were owed – based on their own, published rules -and they paid us $800 per ticket (three of us traveled).

The normal customer service people seemed to have ignored our return trip troubles (where US Airways had cancelled our reservation and not reinstated it then got us home two days later) after they cancelled our outbound flight and had to rebook us, delaying us seven hours (I could have accepted their initial voucher offer if that was the only problem).

In the end, US Airways did the right thing after we got to the right people and relayed the facts. I travel a lot and I have had my share of delays over the years but we felt justified in seeking the compensation we did in this case. The US Airways customer service people on the ground in Nassau and Miami were also very good to us once they were aware of our plight. I guess the lesson is that if you know you are right, keep pursuing things until the remedy is satisfactory, and your advice and help was invaluable.

I’m happy to have been able to help, and pleased that US Airways did the right thing. But what made US Airways change its mind? Was it the appeal? The threat of a dispute? Maybe Phil Warker’s elite status? Or, did they invoke my name on the phone and suggest I’d write an article if US Airways didn’t fold?

I don’t know. I do note, however, that Warker’s email address ends in dhs.gov — that would be the Department of Homeland Security, the folks who also brought you the TSA. Perhaps US Airways just wanted to stay on the government’s good side.

There’s another possibility, of course. Which is that the Warkers were right, and that US Airways suffered from short-term memory loss. Either way, their conclusion that persistence pays when you’re in a dispute with an airline over its own rules, is valid.

  • kdt

    After a series of problems with US Airways — some supposedly weather-related, one involving a very nasty customer service agent, and others involving mechanical problems with their aircraft — I avoid this particular airline at all costs. I’m not saying that I will never book with them again — sometimes there really is no other choice — but I will and have paid more for a ticket on another carrier just to avoid flying US Airways.

  • Jose

    US Air used to be my favorite airline. They used to have the best counter people who were always willing to help you, no matter what. The flight attendants were outstanding and acted like they actually loved working for the company. Now, not so much. I used to fly them on a monthly basis, now I avoid like the plauge and have left my FF miles lapse with a balance of over 14K. I refuse to give my business to a company that does not treat its customer the way it should and can. Now, I tend to drive a lot more than fly, and yes, its by choice.

  • Jessica Brown

    We had a similar problem but it was even more transparent. My husband got bumped and they refused to follow their own contract and violated federal regulations. We had to use your website to get contact info and send a strongly worded letter. The result, the airline followed their own rules and then some!

  • al

    hello. has anyone ever had their luggage lost for 2 days from A.A.? we flew from northeast to carrivbean. however, my luggage went to london! called A.A. was hung up on, amongst other horrible customer experiences. they offered 20,000 pts. p.p. or $600 towards another flight in the next 12 months. did anyone experience this type of treatment, and if so, any advice? thanks! :)

  • Thalassa

    Chris, this was a great example of what this website should continue to be! An advocate for travelers who have truly been wronged by the airline (or bus line, train, etc).

    Good job!!!

  • Chicky

    US Air knew the Warkers had a case all along–they just hoped they would be happy with the $100 vouchers and would drop it. When Mr. Warker refused to drop it and someone higher up the ladder saw that dhs.gov in his e-mail address, and they heard “federal law enforcement official,” their tune was abruptly changed for them. If Mr. W. did drop Chris’ name, it probably didn’t hurt, however. LOL.
    I suspect the conversation went as follows, “Crap! This guy works for the feds! Crap! He said he would call that pest Elliott. Pay up, Smith. We don’t want this to escalate.” It’s amazing what working for the ding-dang government will get you, to say nothing of knowing the right people.
    I’m glad this was resolved in an appropriate manner.

  • Christine

    I used to have to fly US Air when I was in grad school. They were based out of the area and fares on other airlines were sometimes double. The service was usually awful, and flights were rarely on time. I flew about 4 round trips a year for 3 years and only 1 of them was on time. By the time I got close to a free ticket (right around graduation), they increased the points needed by some ridiculous amount and I was nowhere near close anymore. I was so fed up with US Air generally that I vowed never to fly them again and I donated the frequent flyer miles I had accumulated to charity.

  • Heidi

    US Airways ultimately did the right thing in abiding by its own rules and deliving on the promises made by its gate agents, but the fact that Mr. Warker is a federal law enforcement official should have nothing to do with that. Unless the trip was related to his work (perhaps it was, but it doesn’t appear so based on details provided), it is unethical of Mr. Warker to use his work email address for personal correspondence with the airline. As a government employee, we are under strict orders not to use our work email addresses for personal correspondence so as to avoid even the appearance of any kind of impropriety. The appearance of the dhs.gov at the end of his email address could be construed as having the support, and yes possibly the threat of the force, of the DHS behind this particular interaction. US Airways should show all their customers with respect and fairness, and they should definitely show special attention and regard to Gold Alliance members who have shown their airline loyalty, but the federal government should not be invoked (intentionally or not) to trigger US Airways into doing the right thing.

  • Drew Tipton

    I try not to fly USAir unless I absolutely can’t help it. I was a member of their frequent flyer program all the way back to 1990, and some of the things that have happened recently have just made me not want to fly them (in fact, I will book a triple connection to go to Tucson, AZ instead of flying US Air!)

    A bit over a year ago, I was on a US Air flight from Monterey, CA to Phoenix, AZ. The flight usually takes about 80 minutes. They allot 105 minutes for it, so we’re usually well ahead of schedule (at one point, I was taking this flight on a weekly basis, as a lot of us did)–and we make connections accordingly. We would accept a 30-35 minute connection (if you’ve flown USAir through Phoenix, you know that a 30 minute connection from a USAir Express to a mainline aircraft can be dicey), knowing that we usually get 20 minutes of padding by being early into PHX.

    Well, on this trip, shortly after we get into the air, the First Officer states that we’re going to have an “on-time” arrival into Phoenix, because we’re going to have to skirt a line of thunderstorms down near the Grand Canyon. OK. No problem. We can work with this.

    About 20 minutes later, the pilot comes over the PA and says that there’s good news and bad news for those of us on the flight. The good news is that we’re going to cut 15 minutes off, and be our “normal, early arrival into Phoenix”… the bad news is that he’s been told by “Corporate” to “fly through the line of thunderstorms in order to save fuel.”

    At that point, I just about lost it, and only fly USAir when I absolutely have to do so. If 15 minutes worth of fuel for a CRJ-200 is worth so much to them that they’d sacrifice passenger safety and comfort?

  • Walker

    Chris,
    So what you are saying, is that he extorted US Air by using his dhs.gov email address?? Since this was a personal trip, he should not have been using a work email address, especially when its a government address.

  • Lisa S

    Oh please, people, let go of your jealousy at not having your own dhs.gov email address. The point of this story is that USAirways sucks (thanks everyone for reminding me why I don’t fly this airline) and eventually does the right thing when the right people are contacted. Chris’ mention of the email was interesting but not the main point of the story. To recap the main points: US Airways involuntarily bumped a family, the customer service people told the family what to expect in compensation, corporate tried not to compensate the family adequately, the family contacted Chris and the higher up people at corporate, and the situation got resolved. Thank you, Chris, for your personal help and for the great information on your site!

  • Joe

    Heidi, that’s a little misleading. Federal policy on government email use does vary significantly by agency and office. Some offices allow use of government email to conduct personal business such as financial management, scheduling doctor appointments, etc., when it’s done on the employee’s own time (lunch break) and doesn’t overburden the network. Sending a personal email from a government account is not by itself unethical.

  • Heidi

    Joe, I worded my response a little unclearly–I don’t mean to say that government employees absolutely can’t use their work email to shoot an email to a colleague to ask what their lunch plans or other such personal use. However, it is clear in this situation that the email would display to the reader, look who I am and who I work for, do you really want to mess with me? I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be such an explicit threat on the part of the sender, but federal employees, especially those in law enforcement, have an obligation to avoid even the appearance of impropriety which could have easily been achieved by using his personal email.

  • Noah

    I obviously don’t know what caused US Air to change its position, but Walker should be commended for the two pieces of correspondence to the airlines included here. He is firm, but calm. He explains what happened, what he wants, and why he thinks he’s entitled to it. He does not cloud that information with irrelevant editorial conduct, unnecessary accusations, threats or personal attacks on the airlines. I suspect that if more people used this strategy in their customer service requests, we would find that businesses would be more responsive to the requests.

  • Barbara

    I never fly US Air anymore. In addition to US Air sucking big time, the baggage handlers have a field day stealing from customers’ luggage. The last two times I flew US Air, my husband’s baggage was riffled and plenty was stolen. Got nowhere with them and now I go nowhere with them. I wonder if the flight attendants’ nasty behavior is because they’re treated badly by their employer and it just rolls downhill.

  • Blake

    Good job OP in finally getting a satisfactory resolution.

    Like Barbara, I quit flying US Air because of things getting stolen.

  • Judy

    I no longer fly this airline either. In Chicago the gate was changed 2 times without any announcement then the flight was cancelled. A trek to another terminal to see the agent. There was a 6 hour line since only 1 agent was available so I called the 1-800 number while waiting. The call center said the flight was cancelled due to no crew being available and rebooked us for the next day. I had to wait still for a hotel voucher but I had the name and direct number of the call aganet. When I finally reached the desk agent I was told “weather” cancelled the flight. I challenged that premise as I had the other information and requested a hotel voucher. This agent called the police and said I was behaving in a threatening manner. Luckily others in line vouched for me, thank god! I asked for a supervisor who backed up her agent, by the way. Long story short- I arrived 32 hours later at my destination, minus my luggage and having lost my car reservation and 1st night deposit at the hotel.
    USAirways should be shut down and their agents fired.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    This article and the other posts of bad experiences with US Airways doesn’t surprise me. It is their standard operating procedures to act this way based upon my experiences with America West and US Airways.

  • Joe Farrell

    An amazing thing I witnesses today. I’m sitting at a quick lube place that also rents U-Haul vans. Decent guy comes in to complain about getting charged $76 for a 1/16th of a tank of gas. He is a local military guy, and his bill for the truck rental for the day was $28. The fuel bill was $76. He drove the truck 32 miles. Has a receipt for 6 gallons of gas. The woman there tells him that ‘its at corporate and there is nothing she can do,’ and that he ‘has to call corporate.’ she then tells him he is on a futile mission because the truck tanks get measured at their lot and they always take their word for it.

    These seemed a little curious and the Marine pilot had receipts showing he put 32 miles on the truck and bought 6 gallons of gas for it – and they were charging him $8.88 a gallon for a little over 8 gallons of fuel, which seems a little excessive to me. Lets not even get into fact that he was getting 5.333 mpg in a truck advertised as getting 10mpg over all – I saw it on the poster right in their office.

    anyway, my first thought was: lets see if we can help this servant of us all. He claimed he returned the vehicle 3/4 full which was as he got it, and they claimed it was 11/16ths. I knew that making the argument over how a 1/16th in a truck gas tank gauge could be read was futile. So, being the noisy snoop that I am I interrupted his pleading and asked if I could ask a question, since they were loud enough to overhear. The woman said sure, thinking I’d come to her aid. I asked her if they rented the vehicles by fleet number – she said sure. I then asked her if they bought gas and charged it to the specific truck to keep track. A very uneasy yes to that one.

    So I asked her – look up the next rental. She said ‘whats that gonna prove.’ Well, lets see what you [and it was HER since it was a small shop] rented the truck out as with the fuel level – and if you’d bought any fuel for it. That definitely got a nasty stare. But at that point she was stuck. She looked it up and yep, they rented it out the very next day – with a 3/4 full gas tank. She understood exactly where she was at that point.

    The serviceman had not caught up yet. She turned on her nice face and said that ‘why, I’ll call corporate on Monday. I’ll be sure to call you right back and make sure that fuel charge is taken off, it must have just a been a misunderstanding.”

    Its funny how accommodating people can be caught in a scam, or, perhaps just a simple misunderstanding, or a variable beat-u rent a truck fuel gauge which they always interpret in their favor. Or just trying to take advantage of a serviceman. Its happened before when locals, whose economy depends on these kids and their families spending that money locally, take advantage of the service people in their midst – hopefully less now than in the past.

    Anyway, I walked this guy out and by time we got to his car he figured out what had just happened. He thanked me and I told him if he does not hear from that woman on monday to call me, and that I’d call her Tuesday to make sure she did what she was supposed to do.

    Next time ask me about the moving truck fuel tank scam to make an extra $1000. But this is a travel blog but I figured a rent a truck fuel ‘misunderstanding’ would be just as applicable!

  • Sean

    US Airways always cracks me up, I’m forced to fly them by the assistant that books my travel. Recently, I had a flight from Houston to Philadelphia (connecting on to a regional airport in the NE) canceled 12 hrs before due to weather preventing the flight from getting to Houston. They rescheduled me on a flight to Charlotte, which would get me to my destination 4 hrs later. I tried to get them to switch me to a United flight that would get me to my destination the same time but through Chicago instead. I was denied, they said the flight was full (yet I could book it online). An hour later I was called again, and my flight to Charlotte was now canceled as well due to weather. At this point, I was asked if I was willing to fly out of “alternate” airports. I asked what the alternates were and were told Dallas and New Orleans. Dallas is 4 hrs from my house, New Orleans is about 8 hrs, how is that even reasonable? The only option left was the United flight to Chicago, which now wasn’t full. In addition, I’d also have to connect through LGA and get to my destination 9 hrs later then originally planned. There was a direct United flight to my destination from Chicago, but again, I was told that flight was full. I then asked if I had confirmed seats on any of these flights, and was told that they couldn’t do that, but it’d be up to the gate agent (which meant they only had “elite” seats available.) I proclaimed my disgust that I was Star gold and couldn’t get a seat and suddenly she could assign me seats on the US Airway flights, funny how the story changed once again.
    After all was said and done, when I got to the airport to check in with United, I had to have a ticketing agent help me since my reservations were completely lost in the system. After he found my reservations, he asked why I was traveling to New York at all being they had a direct flight to my destination from Chicago. I asked him that’s what I’d like to know and next thing I knew he had me booked on the supposedly full flight that US Airways couldn’t put me on.
    On a similar vain, after missing a flight in Philadelphia due to snow in Houston (go figure) I asked to be booked on the direct flight at 5:45 am to Houston on Continental. Instead, I was routed to Chicago then Houston on United. The Continental flight was again supposedly booked full. That night I noticed on the Continental website, I could purchase a ticket for $84 one way on the 5:45 flight.
    I really think United and Continental should look at removing US Airways from the Star Alliance, it doesn’t offer any thing to the team other then rebooks from “weather.”