lady_di

When checking into the Zurich airport, holding paper tickets issued by United and having received emails that morning confirming our flight, we were told by Swiss Air that they had no record of us for the flight to Chicago.

After working with the downstairs person for a lengthy amount of time, then being sent to the transfer people upstairs and working with them for a lengthy amount of time, and finally running to the gate and spending a lengthy amount of time there, the flight left and we were not on it.

We had to spend the night in Zurich (all 4 of us -- my husband and two kids), fly the next day to Washington D.C. and then to San Francisco, and then rent a car and drive home (near Sacramento, our original ending destination).

Now the "customer service" person at United tells me the best he can do is $150 vouchers for each of us. Is this truly the best they will do? If not, how do I go about talking / writing / emailing the right person so that we can receive fair compensation?

And is the compensation always in travel vouchers? We're a little leery about booking United again after this fiasco.

kybourbon

Did you book directly with United? I would read their contract of carriage.
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,1360,2743,00.html

lady_di

With all due respect, have you tried to read that document? I think we'd fall into "Denied Boarding Comp" on page 34 but it doesn't specifically address having to stay in hotels, pay for meals, rent cars, etc. I'd really like to get a phone number of someone, other than the person in customer service that kept repeating his "this is in no ways meant to compensate blah blah blah" until I got frustrated and ended the call. Does anyone know how I should address this?

Flyboy

While you weren't able to board your original flight, this isn't really a situation of "Denied Boarding Compensation". That applies to voluntary or involuntary bumps on flights that are oversold for their capacity -- not the situation you are describing.

Rather, it appears to be a ticketing problem and it is not even clear if it was a mistake on the part of United or on the part of Swiss Air. Regardless, kybourbon's question about who issued the tickets to you is important to the discussion. If United issued the tickets directly to you, then they have some responsibility. Regardless, they are offering you a total of $600 in the form of vouchers, which isn't all THAT bad if you fly them regularly -- (and it's actually pretty good if they didn't issue the tickets directly to you.)

We had a situation last year where we were re-routed on a United flight and then the flight was delayed until the following morning on a mechanical. We received hotel & meal vouchers for the overnight, plus $100 vouchers. Was it great? No, but it probably made us whole to a degree.

In your shoes, I think I would document all of the extra expenses and explain the situation in a letter to their customer service department. (You can probably get the address off the website or just call and get it.) If you don't think $150 per person is adequate, then you should state what you think is reasonable (actual expenses would be a good starting point.)

Personally, I would probably take the vouchers for $150 per person and chalk it off, but it's your call. Good luck!

lady_di

Thank you, flyboy...that was what I was looking for. Yes, the tickets were issued directly from United, and I agree that we don't know if United never booked with Swiss or Swiss messed up, but I still feel the problem should be United's and not ours. You said you got hotel + meals + $100 in vouchers? I guess that's what I will ask for. Thanks again.

clevelandbrown

I've not researched this, but I have read that the EU imposed draconian measures to deal with the problem of stranded flyers. My recollection is that the airline is to house and feed you, get you on a subsequent flight, and give you cash of up to 800 euro, apiece, for a long flight (I think you get cash, but can accept a voucher if you wish). These rules apply to flights originating in the EU, such as yours.

Regardless of the cause, United sold you tickets, and Swiss Air apparently had no space on the plane. I'm not sure which airline will have to pony up, but I would not let them put me in the position of having to deal with both while they each blame the other, so I would find someone knowledgeable about the EU denied boarding regulations, see what they think about this, then make an appropriate written demand on (probably) United.

How to find someone knowledgeable about the regulations? I don't know anyone, but I would start by posting your situation on the cheap flights forum at
http://eurotrip.com

I know there are lawyers with expertise in this field, but I would be surprised if that were an economically viable choice, although perhaps you could get one to write a letter for a few hundred dollars.

Flyboy

I'm not convinced that the problem was no space on the plane. It still seems to me that it was an issue of Swiss Air not seeing a ticket for them in their system.

chartley

Switzerland is not in the E.U., so presumably a flight from Zurich to the U.S. would not be covered by E.U. regulations

LoveItaly

Well for heavens sakes, one does learn something new every day, lol. I knew Switzerland did not use the euro but I did not know it was not part of the European Union.

clevelandbrown

As an American of Swiss descent, I am mortified to have forgotten that Switzerland is not in the EU. I think I may have to go back to apologize, and wonder again why my ancesters emigrated.

LoveItaly

clevlandbrown, you make me feel better, lol. I thought chartley was wrong so I went on Google. And yes, charltey certainly was correct.

Maybe that is why some people I ran into on Capri who had property in one of the EU countries said they also had an apartment in Switzerland. They could only stay in the EU countries 90 days out of every 180 days so the other 90 days they said they lived in Switzerland. I never did understand that, but that is probably because Switzerland is not part of the EU?

lady_di

Well, the resolution to the problem was that we settled with United's customer service department on $300 in credits per person ($1200 total). I'm happy now.