Continental Cancellation

Old Dec 11th, 2008, 05:58 PM
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Continental Cancellation

My college son's early morning flight was cancelled this morning. He was put on stand-by for over 6 hours and waited while several over-booked flights left before they gave him a seat.
Isn't there a policy where they give you some form of compensation if your flight is cancelled? They initially told him it was due to weather but it was clear this morning and the snowy weather was yesterday afternoon. All the other flights left today on time. Your help with this is greatly appreciated! Karen
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Old Dec 11th, 2008, 06:23 PM
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If you complain, you may get a few hundred miles or a travel voucher of a very small amount. It's up to you whether it's worth the trouble. Number is 800-932-2732.

Sounds like he does get to his destination same day. Can't really expect they'll give you much.
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Old Dec 11th, 2008, 06:55 PM
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That would make me insane - as I have 2 kids coming home from college in the next weekas well.

Weather can be a factor, even if it is not bad in origination or destination of a particular flight - it often involves equipment or crew in some far away location. With very little redundancy in the system these days, bad weather in one region can screw up the entire country.

In general, you get compensation if it is the airline's fault - and weather does not fit into that category.
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Old Dec 11th, 2008, 08:52 PM
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The weather does not have to be in your area to be the cause of a service disruption. Especially if it was an early AM flight, weather the previous day could have created a problem getting the aircraft into the place he was departing.
And to answer your question - no, if the cancellation was due to weather the airline is not required to provide any compensation.
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Old Dec 12th, 2008, 07:04 AM
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Even if it's the 100% airline's fault in cancelling the flight, there still don't need to give you anything other than food vouchers. If you're held overnight because of their problem, then they'll provide accommodations. But your son was only 6 hours late and didn't require overnight stay.
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Old Dec 12th, 2008, 07:20 AM
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Thanks to you all! Thinking back on it, he was delayed 8 hours with no compensation, not even a food voucher. He did get home thankfully the same day. I may encourage him to write a polite letter and see how Continental responds.
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Old Dec 15th, 2008, 07:06 PM
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rkkwan: Even if it's the 100% airline's fault in cancelling the flight, there still don't need to give you anything other than food vouchers. If you're held overnight because of their problem, then they'll provide accommodations.

Not on American Airlines. Two years ago, I took a bump from an overbooked flight, took an alternative through Phoenix. Got to Phoenix, not only was the connection too tight but there was no reservation on the other airline (USAir)! I was stuck overnight because it being Christmastime, all outbound flights were booked.

Somehow, American claimed this was my fault, that I hadn't run fast enough to get from Terminal 4 to Terminal 2 or something ("You should have made it."), that I was somehow responsible for USAir having no record of the reservation, so they refused to give me any compensation, other than my original bump voucher, which I had to eat into to pay for meals and a hotel. And they were sarcastic and nasty about it, too - I called and asked more than one person, even a supervisor.

Needless to say, American has been at the bottom of my list of preferred airlines ever since.
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