bagpiper1962

I recently returned from a vacation that was cut short by 2 days due to a cancelled flight. The connecting flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. To make a long story short, my wife, 4 kids and myself had to change cities 2 times and got to our destination 2 days late. We were put up in hotels and got food vouchers (not enough$) What are my chances of getting some sort of compensation from the airline if I complain about the ruined vacation (5 days instead of 7). I don't want to give specifics until I communicate with the airline.

Keith

I think the chances of getting a travel voucher are good.

Keep the letter requesting compensation as brief as possible.

Keith

toedtoes

Keep your letter specific to the facts. Don't include extraneous comments, insults, etc. Include the exact compensation that you're looking for. Keep it professional and brief.

From your post here, I think you have a very good chance of getting compensated. The fact that you aren't discussing details, getting emotional, etc. are all in your favor.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

bagpiper1962

Thanks for the responses. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

rkkwan

I'd be very surprised if they give you more than a few thousand FF miles or a small voucher for future travel.

BjorkChop

Did you purchase Cancellation/Interruption insurance? If you did, you can put in a claim to be reimbursed the amount you paid for those lost days. It will be prorated. If not, don't count on being reimbursed by the airline. They are hardpressed to reimburse for when a flight delay or cancellation IS their fault but they won't reimburse for a tour or cruise package that has nothing to do with them.

ricebird

If the airline tickest were paid with a credit card, you might be able to get reimbursed by the credit card company because of trip interruption or cancellation. I know my card with Citibank covers such incidents.

Cush

You should contact Continental Airlines directly or by posting a review on www.FlightReviewCenter.com. You need to complain in order to get something back out of it.

Cush

Seamus

Cush - did I miss something - where did OP say it was CO?

bagpiper1962

Thanks for the link. I didn't see anything there about my flight yet, however I did find some talk about it on tripadvisor.

I've sent out my complaint and am awaiting a response. Sorry about the lack of specifics at this point,(airline,destination),I want to give the airline a chance to respond.

bagpiper1962

In case anyone is interested, I sent 2 letters of complaint, one to the customer relations section and a cc to the CEO. I also sent an email through the airline website..........No Reply at all!
How long is appropriate? It's been 2+months

AAFrequentFlyer

What airline?????

clevelandbrown

From what you have posted (bearing in mind that you admit not making a full disclosure), it sounds like the airline has already given you the compensation which you agreed, by buying the ticket, would be complete.

So I don't understand why you would want more than you bought. Delays happen, and when the airline sees some fault on their part, they provide room and food for the period when they have caused the delay, but that is the limit of their liability. It seems greedy to demand that they give you more than you bought. It doesn't seem that you have documented any economic harm here, so what to you expect them to do? Turn back the clock and avoid the delay?

I would think the most you can expect is some sort of good-will gesture, such as some mileage coupons that you can use to take a chance on another mechanical delay with that airline.

I also suspect that people who write multiple complaint letters concerning the same matter create a delay in responding to their letters (regardless of any ill will they engender by, in essence, telling everyone but the CEO that you think they cannot handle their job). My experience in responding to complaint letters is that multiple inquiries will lead to multiple reviews of an initially accurate response, with stylistic, but almost never, substantive changes. In short, a full and acccurate response will not be delivered until it has been reviewed and reviewed and reviewed, so they is substantial delay added to the processs.

I'm sorry your vacation didn't go as planned, but I think that you should realized that things do not always go as we wish or plan; sometimes it rains, and sometimes planes break.

wombat7

Returned from LHR last week on Air Canada - the headphones for the inflight entertainment did not work. I was offered 8,000 FF or $200 travel coupon (w/o asking) - Took the coupon

Keith

clevelandbrown, I couldn't agree with you less.

When they bought the ticket, the compensation, to which they agreed, was to fly on a given day on given flights. Not on less pleasant flights two days latter.

Bagpiper is being unhappy in a measured way. They didn't go on at length about how bad the airline was or condemn it, they simply asked us if it was appropriate to request further compensation. Hardly "greedy."

Keith

clevelandbrown

Keith,

You apparently fail to read or comprehend the contract of carriage to which you agree when purchasing the ticket. I suspect a lot of people don't bother reading the terms of contracts before signing them, but that hardly invalidates those terms.

LT

clevelandbrown, I don't understand why you apparently feel that it's OK for the airlines to treat paying customers like dirt. If you went into a restaurant, ordered the steak, and got fish instead, would you just simply say, "well, I came in here to eat, and they are supplying me with food, so therefore, I should just be happy with what I got"? This seems like the crystallization of masochism . . .

There are many people who save up all year to take that special vacation. To have an airline not live up to the basic promise of getting pax from A to B on at least the dates (even I've given up on getting there on time) they initially promise is patently unfair and should not be tolerated. Why is it that most people would not put up with this kind of treatment with any other business, but with the airlines, it's "different?" Why not hold ALL businesses accountable?

rkkwan

It's because these people are buying discount fares with restrictions. If one wants a "guaranteed vacation", buys a full fare ticket with a lot more flexibility, or buy a very comprehensive insurance policy.

The airline's role is to get you from point A or point B. Not on a specific flight. But if one's on a full fare, they can get endorsed to another carrier, or just refund and buy the ticket on the other airline and get there.

LT

"It's because these people are buying discount fares with restrictions."

Well, not really. Of course, every airline is different, but I looked at DL's contract of carriage:

Transportation to Your Destination

Delta will transport you to your destination on our next flight on which seats are available in the class of service you originally purchased. At our sole discretion, we may arrange for your travel on another carrier or via ground transportation. If acceptable to you, we will transport you in a lower class of service, in which case you may be entitled to a partial refund as set forth below. If space on the next available flight is available only in a higher class of service than you purchased, we will transport you on the flight, although we reserve the right to upgrade other passengers on the flight according to our upgrade priority policy to make space for you in the class of service you originally purchased.

In other words, unless there are too many higher-fare pax ahead of you & not enough seats, there is no distinction based on fare.

However, since the OP did not say what airline was his/her carrier, he/she may have taken a LCC, in which case there would be no option of being rebooked on another carrier. Also, if he/she went to a destination that was only marginally served by the carrier (e.g., 2 flights/week), then that would change things a bit, as well.

Still, if the OP went on a legacy carrier & they could have rebooked him/her on another airline, IMO, it would have been shoddy not to do so.

rkkwan

But there are the words "At our sole discretion".

If one's on a full fare, he can get a refund and go on ANY flight he wants on any carrier.

Anyways, I don't see why the OP needs to be this secretive. Stating the name of the carrier and destination is not going to make any difference to the outcome, and it'll give us more to go on about what could have been done, or should have been done.