CarolK

Does anyone know for sure if an airline goes bankrupt and you hold an e-ticket what is their responsibility towards the passenger?
Do they have to give you a flight on one of their alliance airlines? Thanks for the help.
Carol

BeachBoi

Your question is a little vague....do you mean out of business?If that is the case,once an airline shuts down,they are gone.If they declare bankruptcy and continue to operate,their procedures remain in place.

CarolK

Hi BeachBoi,
Thanks for the fast response. What I mean is if the airline goes belly-up would they fly you on a code share airline..say American -on British Air? Does that make any sense? Thanks,
Carol

AAFrequentFlyer

In the US, if you are 1/2 way through your trip and let's say the airline shuts down, other domestic airlines are ordered by law to accomodate you as best as they can for $25 to get you home.
Outside US, you are basically on your own, the other aliance airlines are not required to do any such thing, but would they do it? In most cases I do believe they would work with you, but it would not be free or easy.
If the airline shuts down before you take your trip, you are basically on your own. You could dispute the charge with the CC company, and/or get in line at the bankrupcy court(good luck with that option)
I hope that answers your concerns.

BeachBoi

I see....my gut feeling is that if an airline goes BU,as National did last year,you are SOL.....If you had purchased an e-ticket,unless you had converted it to paper,there would be no way to access the ETR,since the "owning" airline would be gone.Then if you had in fact converted the e-ticket to paper,it would be up to the alliance partner to accept the reservation and ticket.HTH,
S

AAFrequentFlyer

Let me verify few things BeachBoi posted,
domestically - it does not matter if you have e-ticket or paper
internationally - paper ticket would be the better option, but in a case like you presented, e-ticket would be sufficcient to for let's say BA to start the procedure to get you home - if they decided to do it at all, if they didn't, paper ticket would be just as worthless.
Now that being said, if you were in the middle of some 3rd world country, a paper ticket would be worth GOLD!!!

CarolK

Thanks all for all your help. I finally understand!!!!!!!!
Carol