I flew recently, with a connecting flight inside the US to an international flight from NY. I mentioned out loud that the last time I did this, the flight was delayed (ailine’s fault) , I missed the connection and got a free hotel room at the airport Ramada Inn , and took the next day’s flight.
The ticket clerk (Continental Airlines desk) said “we’ve stopped that policy. Now if you get stranded, no matter what the reason, the hotel is your responsibility”
She made it sound like this was a new policy at all the airlines.
It this true?
Nah. I was delayed, airline at fault, missing a connection in IAD to Frankfurt. United covered hotel cost and a token amount for a meal. That’s normal when the airline is at fault, and possibly even required (it’s complicated).
Several times last summer I missed connections at ORD because of weather related events. In THAT case the airline tries to arrange a reduced rate hotel and does not normally cover any incidentals, although at one spot they gave out a kit with toiletries if you checked your bags. They normally would not pay for lodging in case of “act of god” type of stuff.
ETA: wherever they’re not required by law to do something airlines will do whatever they feel is in their best interests. The judgment of what is in their best interests will change from time to time.
A friend of mine (and his infant son) flew from Las Vegas to Indianapolis via St. Louis just last Wednesday, and was stuck in St. Louis overnight due to a mechanical problem. The airline (I’m pretty sure it was American) put him up in a hotel in St. Louis until the next morning.
It may no longer be SOP to give free hotel rooms to stranded passengers for ALL airlines, but I figured most of them still gave out vouchers for vastly discounted rooms… Not that Continental has ever been one of the better airlines anyway.
Don’t recall the airline (maybe US Airways or Southwest), but one of my colleagues got stuck a few months ago on a West Coast to East Coast trip due to weather delays. He got a hotel room plus a small amount of money for food for the duration.
I used to work for a company that found discounted hotels rooms for airline passengers stranded at airports. We served all the major airlines except American and they all gave free rooms for misconnections if it was the airlines fault.
“Acts of God” however, were not considered free and you’d get a pink slip instead and called out 800 number and we’d offer you a discounted hotel room (you paid more than the airline did). Acts of God were such things as weather, strikes, terrorism acts and such.
Mechanical failures were considered airline faults and you got a free room. First class passengers always got free rooms. Which seems fair if you consider the cost of a first class ticket. So if you flew first class and it was a snow storm you got a free room.
Now sometimes if a city had a huge convention there were just no rooms to be had, or very few. And in that case you were out of luck. For instance if Chicago had a city wide convention and we could only find say 10 rooms, the airlines were very picky who they gave those free rooms out to. So they may not give you a room and save it, in case a first class passenger got stranded.
Or if the city was booked up or nearly so, it often became more economical to move the plane. For instance, the airlines paid about $59.00 (this was 10 years ago) per room in San Francisco. However the rooms at the same hotels in Los Angeles were only $19/room. So if we told the airline this, and they new they’d simply divert the plane. So let’s say the plane was going Chicago to Tokyo with a stop over in San Francisco. If they knew there were going to be problems in SF, they’d reroute the plane to L.A. simply because it cost less to put the passengers up overnight in L.A. then in SF.
Once you get a behind the scenes look at how airlines work it’s really a wonder anyone gets anywhere at all, much less safely
Terrorists = God? I’d almost like to be in the particular situation where I was stranded due to a terrorist act, just so I could point out this line of reasoning and ask the airline why they hate America so much.
In this case it means things that are beyond their control. Which makes sense for terrorist acts, but might be a bit shaky with regards to strikes or other work stoppages.
Perhaps they were meaning “acts beyond the airline’s control” … in which that would qualify. I personally don’t think terrorist acts are “acts of God” but they are acts beyond the airline’s control or responsibility.
It depends on the source of the delay/cancellation. This is typical at the airlines that I’m familiar with. If you need to know the details of what any particular airline is or is not liable to provide in the event of a cancellation, look up their “Contract of Carriage”, typically found on the airline’s homepage somewhere. (If you are ever denied boarding due to an oversold flight, the contract of carriage will also spell out exactly what you are entitled to as compensation. This is worth knowing as I’ve heard gate agents give an incomplete account of what a passenger can receive.)
The contract of carriage describes your rights and the airline’s responsibilities, and when dealing with a difficult ticket agent can be invaluable.
Schedule Irregularity – any of the following irregularities:
a) Delay in scheduled departure or arrival of a carrier’s flight resulting in a Misconnection;
b) Flight or service cancellation, omission of a scheduled stop, or any other delay or interruption in the
scheduled operation of a carrier’s flight;
c) Substitution of aircraft type that provides different classes of service;
d) Schedule changes which require Rerouting of Passengers at departure time of the original flight; or
e) Cancellation of a reservation by CO pursuant to Rule 5.
C) Change in Schedule - When a Passenger’s Ticketed flight is affected because of a Change in Schedule, CO will, at its
election, arrange one of the following:
Transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination, next Stopover point, or
transfer point shown on its portion of the Ticket, without Stopover in the same class of service, at no additional
cost to the Passenger, provided that a Passenger who paid a Coach fare will only be transported on a flight in First
Class or Business First Class Service subject to seat availability and if such flight will provide an earlier arrival
than CO’s next flight on which coach space is available;
Reroute Passengers over the lines of one or more carriers when a Change in Schedule results in the cancellation of
all CO service between two cities;
Advise the Passenger that the value of his or her Ticket may be applied toward future travel on Continental within
one year from the date of issue without a change or reissue fee; or
Provide a refund in accordance with Rule 27 A) if the Passenger is not transported as provided in C) 1) or 2) above
and does not choose to apply the value of his or her Ticket toward future travel as provided in C) 3) above.
D) Force Majeure Event - In the event of a Force Majeure Event, CO without notice, may cancel, terminate, divert,
postpone, or delay any flight, right of carriage or reservations (whether or not confirmed) and determine if any
departure or landing should be made, without any liability on the part of CO. CO may reschedule passenger on another
available CO flight or refund any unused portions of the ticket in the form of a travel certificate.
E) Schedule Irregularity
Liability - Except to the extent provided in this Rule and the Warsaw and/or Montreal Conventions, CO shall not
be liable for any Schedule Irregularity.
34
Delay, Misconnection or Cancellation
a) When a Passenger’s ticket is affected because of a Schedule Irregularity caused by CO, CO will take the
following measures:
(i) Transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination, next Stopover
point, or transfer point shown on its portion of the Ticket, without Stopover in the same class of
service, at no additional cost to the Passenger, provided that a Passenger who paid a Coach fare
may only be transported on a flight in First Class or Business First Class Service subject to seat
availability and if such flight will provide an earlier arrival than CO’s next flight on which coach
space is available; or
(ii) At the Passenger’s request, provided that the tariff covering the original transportation permits
routing via the carrier which will transport the Passenger, CO will re-accommodate the Passenger
in the same class of service on the next available flight on another carrier, or combination of
carriers, if the length of the delay to the Passenger’s destination exceeds two hours.
b) In the event a Passenger misses an onward connecting flight on which space is reserved because the
Delivering Carrier did not operate its flight due to a Schedule Irregularity or Change in Schedule, the
Delivering Carrier is responsible to arrange for carriage of Passenger or to make a refund.
CO will provide a refund in accordance with Rule 27 A), if the Passenger is not transported as provided in C) 2)
above.
F) Amenities for Delayed Passengers
Lodging - The Passenger will be provided one night’s lodging, or a maximum allowance for one night’s lodging
as established by each location, when a CO flight on which the Passenger is being transported incurs a Schedule
Irregularity and the Passenger incurs a delay that is expected to exceed four hours during the period 10:00 p.m. to
6:00 a.m.
EXCEPTION: Lodging will not be furnished:
a) To a Passenger whose trip is interrupted at a city which is his/her permanent domicile, or
b) When the destination city airport that is designated on the Passenger’s Ticket and the city airport that the
Passenger is diverted to are both within the following city groups:
(i) Baltimore, MD (BWI)/Washington D.C. Dulles IAD)/Washington D.C. National (DCA)
(ii) Brownsville, TX (BRO/Harlingen, TX (HRL)/McAllen, TX (MFE)
(iii) Burbank, CA (BUR)/Los Angeles, CA (LAX)/Ontario, CA (ONT)/Orange County, CA
(SNA)/Long Beach, CA (LGB)
(iv) Chicago, IL O’Hare (ORD)/Chicago, IL Midway (MDW)
(v) Colorado Springs, CO (COS)/Denver, CO (DEN)
(vi) Dallas, TX Dallas-Ft. Worth International (DFW)/Dallas, TX Love Field (DAL)
(vii) Ft. Lauderdale, FL (FLL)/Miami, FL (MIA)/West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
(viii) Houston, TX Bush Intercontinental (IAH)/Houston, TX Ellington AFB (EFD)/Houston, TX
Hobby(HOU)
(ix) Oakland, CA (OAK)/San Francisco, CA (SFO)/San Jose, CA (SJO)
(x) Newark, NJ Newark International (EWR)/New York, NY La Guardia (LGA)/New York, NY
Kennedy (JFK)/White Plains, NY (HPN)
(xi) London, UK Gatwick (LGW)/London, UK Heathrow (LHR)
c) When such interruption is due to circumstances outside CO’s control such as weather condition and air traffic
control delays.
Meals - Passengers will be provided with one meal, per Passenger, if the delay caused by CO to the Passenger
under this Rule will extend beyond normal meal hours. When lodging is furnished in accordance with 1) above,
the Passenger may be provided up to two meals.
Ground Transportation - When lodging is furnished in accordance with 1) above and ground transportation is not
furnished by the hotel, CO will provide ground transportation to the place of lodging via public conveyance.
Communication - CO will provide one three-minute long distance telephone call when the delay caused by CO
under this Rule is expected to exceed two hours.
Passengers with Special Needs - During a Schedule Irregularity, CO will provide such amenities as are necessary
to maintain the safety and/or welfare of certain Passengers such as Qualified Individuals with Disabilities,
unaccompanied minors, or the elderly.
So… for CAL looks like if it’s a delay, misconnect, or cancellation that they deem “Their fault” (essentially- this generally ends up being construed as a mechanical issue. Weather delays or cancellations don’t count) they should put you up in a hotel for the night- unless you’re unfortunate enough to be stranded in one of the listed city-pairs.
All this being said, I have seen an airline cancel a flight (due to a mechanical), but because of horrible weather also affecting flights in the area, end up reporting the canceled flight as a weather cancellation, which removes their obligation to provide anything. :-\ It’s a real nasty industry sometimes. YMMV and all that jazz.
I’ve had it happen both ways in the last 6 months. Delta flight missed last connection of the evening in Atlanta, Delta put me up.
Virgin Atlantic was 3 hours late arriving from London, missed connection on another airline, booked independently from Virgin and Virgin said sorry, we don’t cover it.
Apparently their policy is that if you booked the whole thing through them, including connections, and they screw up, it’s their fault and they will pay. But even if they arrive several hours late, causing a missed connection, they will do nothing if you booked independently.
But they were really nice on the phone when they explained it to me. Which is why I like them.
Plus the stewardesses are gorgeous… unlike BA, who seem to strive for the most crabby, unattractive battle-axes imaginable in their Club World section. Ick. And BA doesn’t even serve Guinness anymore. No wonder they’re swirling the drain.
IANAL, but “act of God” is just a legal term that means events outside of human control. It has nothing to do with any deities. I think terrorist acts would be considered “acts of war” which are also beyond the parties’ control.
I’m reading that differently — I think it’s saying that if (say) your final destination is San Francisco but your flight is diverted to Oakland, they won’t provide you with lodging in Oakland even though they didn’t get you to the destination listed on your ticket.
Note that the Contract of Carriage provided by Av8trix uses the term force majeure instead, which is a bit more of a catch-all.
