mendota98

On Saturday Dec. 18 , my family of three was booked to fly LAX to Heathrow on Air New Zealand . The flight was cancelled due to closing of Heathrow. Air New Zealand handed the passengers a paper to call a hotel service. That was all they did.

Their phone numbers have not worked in three days. On both Sunday and Monday the employees at the airport said we would have a good chance to fly out the next day.

They never said how many people were on standby or how many seats would be available. As of today Tuesday people remain sleeping on the terminal floor.

On Monday I bought Tickets to Paris for Thursday and we are staying at a hotel in LA.

So what can I do to voice my concerns for a complete breakdown in customer service: Air New Zealand offered no help with transferring the ticket to another airline , provided no written information on our status or could tell us when would fly from LAX

==Mike

spaarne

LHR was shut down. What do you expect? In the USA airlines have no responsibility for weather delays nor liability for costs therefrom. They get you on the next available flight.

J62

I agree with spaarne. The news of LHR flight cancellations is all over the news. Unfortunately you and many thousands of other passengers have the same problem on every airline. Nobody can tell when all passengers will be accommodated.

What airline do you expect ANZ to put you on? It will take BA, VA, or any other airline flying to London a week or more to handle all their own disrupted passengers.

scfphoto

Read this article it may give you some ideas to follow up on.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18...tml?ref=travel

HappyTrvlr

My freinds have been stranded at LHR since Friday; none of the airlines can work miracles where weather is concerned and their Customer Serivce staffs are overwhelmed with calls and rebookings.

J62

According to the NYT article Mike has no redress. The regulations apply to flights on EU airlines and on flights that originate in the EU. Neither of which applies in this case.

hetismij

It does apply in this case since the flight is from LHR to LA, not the other way around but I'm not sure he compensation rules apply in this case - it is an Act of God, not the fault of the airline.
If they do apply then you must apply to ANZ for compensation. There are organisation which can help - but they will take a cut of the cash.

If you google you will find all the rules and forms you need.

hetismij

Oops sorry misread - no it doesn't apply in this case as the flight starts in LA. Sorry!

Viajero2

Do you posters above realized that the Original Poster (OP) is NOT complaining about the cancelled flight? If you do, then why are you reiterating the weather issues?

Read and Comprehension skills: priceless.

The OP is compalining about the inability of the airline to address properly the very basic issues that their stranded passengers are in and to provide very basic information regarding their passenger status. Very simple and very reasonable expectations. It is obvious to me as a reader of this post that Air New Zeland has a very poor contingency plan in place to deal effectively with passengers during weather emergencies. So simple.....

spaarne

LOL. ANZ did more than it was obliged to do. It gave Mike a number to call to get a hotel room. Then all he has to do is stand outside and get transport, of which there is plenty at LAX along with curbside porters. If Mike has a problem with that he should get on his knees and talk to the Big Guy. Web sites and phone lines to the airlines were overloaded yesterday.

Viajero2

WOW!! ANZ handed a number to call to get a hotel service. A shining example of OUTSTANDING customer service because that is where all of Mike's problems stopped and were resolved.

I have heard of low expectations, but to think this is satisfactory customer service is pathetic. Really.

mlgb

If all he wants to do if voice his concerns to ANZ and he is able to use a computer, the information will be on their website.

I think he just needs to vent.

Wonder how he was able to rebook.

mendota98

Thank you for the replys. Yes Viajero2 you've hit the nail on the head!

Air New Zealand on Saturday could have said there are only 10 seats available on each flight each day.

As of Monday there were 120 people ahead of me on standby. My family lined up on Sunday and Monday and waited 8 hours. They would not tell me this information. I found it out from a fellow passenger.

Isn't this called "transparency"?

==Mike

mendota98

Update: On December 21, 2010 I contacted ANZ by phone from LAX and asked for a refund for the tickets. They said yes. It's now Feb. 4, 2011 and my credit card has not been credited.

Now on the phone ANZ says they do not issue refunds only credits for future travel. At LAX the passengers were repeatedly told that a refund could be issued.

Do Not Fly Air New Zealand.

janisj

"<i>Do Not Fly Air New Zealand</i>"

And why is that exactly? They are offering you a full credit - right?

PatrickLondon

There's a magic word missing here: insurance. This is exactly the situation you take out insurance for.

ElendilPickle

I'm sorry you had a bad experience due to weather, but I really like Air New Zealand and wouldn't hesitate to fly with them again.

Lee Ann

nytraveler

If the flight is cancelled due to an Act of God (weather, landing airport closed etc) the airline's only responsibility is to get you on the earliest flight out possible.

The problem with working with an airline with a minimal presence where you're traveling is that they have very limited resources to help. Often it takes them some time to get back to you - since they have few flights to put you on (and the other airlines are busy accommodating their own passengers).

They do not owe you hotel, food, or even information. Act of God says it all - and you are on your own. A list of hotels - or even more arrangements at a hotel - is above and beyond.

I think people need to understand the pressure that airlines are under with low airfares, high fuel costs and booked solid flights. If it is an Act of God - most do nothing for you - unless you are first class or highest level frequent flier members.

I had this happen on American at O'Hare - thunderstorms and all equipment grounded - and not only did they not give us a list of hotel, the agent I reached told me all hotels in the area were fully booked. (This wasn't true and I got one - as well as had my corporate agent rebook my flight. If I had waited to hear from American I would probably still be there.)

Sassafrass

Of course, you should have been treated better at LAX. I don't know about any of the legal requirements of the airlines under those circumstances. Do want to say, though, that I was on a flight that same day from Bergamo, Italy to Dublin. Weather became so terrible that Dublin ws closed. We were, very fortunately, able to land in Cork. Ryan Air rented buses and took those passsengers who still wanted to go, on to Dublin. I opted to not get on a bus in the late afternoon, in the middle of a blizzard, and go to an airport that was already closed. Stayed in Cork a couple of days (at my own expense) and took the train later (again, at my own expense). One of the best, last minute travel decisions I ever made. The busses, I heard later, took over 12 hours from Cork to Dublin. I understand the OP is really just venting about their treatment by ANZ (and rightly so), but everything was such a mess by then, that the airlines were going crazy just dealing with passengers who were already in route. At least the OP was safe and warm. Passengers stranded in England and Ireland were even without food (and, in Ireland) water part of the time. Most public transportation had stopped, so people could not even get from the airport to hotels. I felt so lucky that we had not landed in Dublin.

Sorry about your loss of money, but maybe you can at least plan another trip and use the voucher options offered by ANZ.

mendota98

nytraveler: the point of this post is not that the flight was cancelled and we had to wait. THE POINT IS ANZ NEVER TOLD ANY PASSENGER WHEN THEY COULD FLY OUT OF LAX! There may be still some there. If there is one LAX to London flight each day , all the flights are full and 300 passengers from Saturday's flight are sitting in the terminal then when does the 300 passengers leave?

People were willing to fly to other airports. Like Gatwich or Manchester. BTW total snow accumulation at Heathrow was 3 inches that day.


Maybe they could have asked for help from their "partners"? They did not.

ANZ people told us we would leave in 2-3 days and they did not have the capacity to accomplish this.

What happens when It snows next year and the same thing happens?