travdis

This happened a few years ago. Checked in for a flight to Paris after driving through a snow storm on the way to the airport. Got on the plane and sat for three hours. Finally we were taken off the plane when the airport was closed due to the storm. Thousands standed at the airport. They told us it would be a couple days before we would get out of town. I went home.

Because I was only going to be gone for four days, I decided to cancel the trip but no refund would be given because we had already checked in and went onto the plane.

Two years has passed and many letters written but still no refund. Is it worth pursuing?

Robespierre

Is it worth pursuing? It depends on your contract with the carrier, which is probably spelled out on the back of your ticket.

I believe most carriers agree to get you to your destination within a certain number of <u>hours</u> of the scheduled time or they owe you a substitute accommodation. But there may also be a <i>Force Majeure</i> (Acts of God) clause reading &quot;You're Screwed.&quot;

I would file a Small Claims brief, asking them to at least get you to Paris and back. They might give you a seat they couldn't sell just to make you leave them alone.

travdis

Has there been any successful small claim court suites against the airlines? With so many angry people and so many terrible customer service situations, you would think there would be thousands of lawsuits if there had been a history of success.

lincasanova

i have read articles in conde nast?? i think, about their ombudsman who looks into these cases and helps out when able.
you might try them.i have seen this if not in that travel magazine, another.hopefully someone can tell you for sure which one.
seems to do good to get this into print and out in public.

good luck. your airline, if not already ,will probably be in chapter 11 soon, so i would move fast on any new ideas. small claims court is an excellent idea, but i don't know if there is a time limit on presenting the cliam.

Ronda

Channel 4 in the San Francisco Bay Area has a &quot;Contact 4&quot; department that helps consummers with problems. Do you have a newspaper or television station with such a program in your area?

http://www.kron.com/Global/category....8&amp;nav=5D7v

Flyboy

Airlines aren't responsible for the weather and you will see that in any contract of carriage. The airline offered to reaccommodate you and it was your choice to bail on the trip. Presumably, it was not a refundable ticket so it is not surprising that you wouldn't be offered a refund. Whatever rights you may have had to apply credit from the ticket you purchased are almost certainly gone because it's been two years. At this point, I would consider your chances of making any recovery to be somewhere remote and nil.

Robespierre

Airlines, although not being responsible for the weather, will generally accommodate their passengers if an airport is closed, regardless of whether the tickets are refundable or not. Just taking a passenger's money and weasling out of any obligation &quot;because we had already checked in and went onto the plane&quot; is something that an airline could plan on doing to me exactly ONCE.

Here's what I'd do: tell them that the Fodors community would be most eager to hear the name of a carrier who treats their customers that way.

Flyboy

The normal practice would be for a window to be provided, during which time the affected travelers have the opportunity to arrange reaccommodation. It is often possible do this without change fees, but it may require making the trip within a certain period of time, too. Regardless, that is the time to take care of things like this.

If it had been me, I would have tried to work out arrangements before ever leaving the airport -- either over the counter or through the central reservations number and either with or without change fees. It's generally possible to do, so long as the flight hasn't departed. Once it has and the passenger doesn't have an oar in the water, things become more difficult.

I didn't get the impression that the airline was necessarily trying to &quot;weasel out of any obligation&quot;. I would have to know more than what the OP provided to know if that was truly the case. One thing that is critical to know is at what point did the passenger begin the process of trying to arrange reaccommodation? So far as I can see, the passenger is STILL talking about a REFUND and that was probably never a very likely possibility.

Robespierre

&quot;I realized we contracted to get you to Paris on December 22, but through no fault on the part of either you or the airline, we couldn't do it, so we're keeping your money. See: it says right here that the airline wins in a tie.&quot;

Patty

What were your options at the time this happened? Did you not want to reschedule the trip? I would have looked for ways to use the ticket funds to travel to Paris at a later date, or to another destination depending on the carrier. Since the entire airport was closed due to weather, I would not have expected the airline to provide a refund. You could certainly give CNT's Ombudsman a try, but since so much time has already elapsed, I would just let it go.

LoveItaly

IMHO I don't think you have a chance in &quot;you know where&quot;. Storms are &quot;Acts of God&quot; so to speak.

They would have flown you after the storm but (and understandably) you did not want to do this because of only having a few days left to enjoy your vacation.

IMHO you should have spoken to a Supervisor at the airport. But in any case I would imagine you had purchased a nonrefundable ticket?

And a &quot;few&quot; years has passed.

I think I would just forget this one.

But sure sorry you had this experience. I would have been heartbroken.

nellyanne

Dear Travdis:

It depends on what airline and where you were flying from. If it is a French Airline, you may have a chance as they have a strict secular society and don't believe in &quot;Acts of God.&quot; But if you happen to have been wearing a turban that day, forget about it!! You don't say where you are from, but I assume it's aint anywhere near San Fran --silly Ronda! There they have those left wing consumer advocates that are ruining our god-fearing corporatins by threatening law sits over every little misfortune. Well, I would assume it was someplace like Washington DC or somewhere down South, where, if they get a dusting like you describe, they panic and close down the city! If, so, you best forget about it. In those locales, Acts of God are usually punishment for the evildoers. You best just pray for forgiveness. But if you don't believe in &quot;acts of god&quot; I would pursue it until you are blue in the face.