That’s like saying getting the choice whether you get burned at the stake, crucified, or impaled is more equitable than being keelhauled. If they didn’t have their bullshit overbooking policy, none of this would be an issue.
I understand why hotels and such overbook - because I know plenty of people who make multiple reservations for hotels, car rentals, restaurants etc . and don’t necessarily worry too much about cancelling if they haven’t given a credit card number. That said, if I’ve already paid in full for my hotel room ands it’s too late to cancel ( which might be 10 minutes after I made the reservation ) , I shouldn’t be the person who gets bumped. And they shouldn’t accept more non-refundable pre-payments than there are rooms.
Well, at least it gets you out in the open air.
This!
I use 3rd party providers often and usually have no problems. But when I do the hotel itself will not only not do anything to assist you, they will get irritated by you.
This past Valentines Day my wife and I rented a room for the weekend that had a whirlpool in it. But the whirlpool didn’t work and we were told it wouldn’t be fixed by the end of the weekend. We didn’t book through the hotel and were told they would not comp us for the inconvenience. I suggested a dinner in the hotel restaurant. “Had you booked through us we’d consider it. But you didn’t so it’s not happening” the manager exclaimed.
When I contacted the 3rd party vendor they were also unsympathetic when I explained that I contracted for 3 nights with a working whirlpool and the contract was not fulfilled. I went back and forth between them and the hotel management and parent company. In the end the vendor offered me a refund of $17 TOTAL. $17 against the $920 it cost me. Where they came up with $17 I’ll never know.
I also received a mailed letter that read “Mr Beitz, we consider this case closed. Please stop contacting us. Fuck you and drop dead.”
Okay, it didn’t say the last line but might as well have.
Was it a branded hotel?
I don’t think so. There wasn’t a brand or chain in the name.
This caused us to cancel our United credit card, donate our miles to an Asian charity, and never fly United again.
Yeah the independent owned and operated unflagged hotels tend to pull that shit since they don’t have to worry about GSS scoring or passing QA inspections by the brand. I guarantee that if all of you and the tour operators called and complained to the brand, they would be all up in the hotel’s shit … especially if it is a Marriott property. Mr. Bill don’t play around with that.
Question: If I have an airplane reservation paid for and buy a seat and check-in 24 hours ahead, will I still be bumped? I assume so since, you know, those 3 deadheads have to get to Kansas City for a flight. But excluding that, once all the seats have been booked, can they still sell Seat 22B or would everyone after that be on standby?
FTR: Although I may not like it if I were bumped, I get that the airlines have to get the right people to the right place at the right time because of FAA regulations.
I’m on a flight right now but had volunteered to take a later flight for $500. The check-in kiosk allowed me to specify how much I would accept for being voluntarily bumped. I chose the highest of the amounts shown.
You can be bumped. Most questions are answered at the DOT link below. There are circumstances where they can deny you boarding, and others where they can even remove you from the plane.
Basically if they bump you for a weight or safety issue, then that’s just too bad. If they just oversold, then they have to compensate you. Longer delay means more compesation.
https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales
As you’ve probably seen, airlines will typically request volunteers to take a later flight. In my experience it is a bidding process. The airline starts offering 250 frequent flyer miles and a drink coupon, and nobody takes it. Eventually they get up to a $500 flight voucher, and there is a big rush up to the desk.
Only time I ever saw someone forcibly bumped after boarding was when Frontier didn’t have enough infant life jackets on the plane. We delayed hours while they tried to get some, and eventually they started asking for babies to volunteer to take a flight the next day.
They were short a volunteer, andended up kicking off one baby. Mom was rightfully upset. I felt bad for them, but the bottom line was they were not flying today, whether it was because the whole plane didn’t fly, or just they didn’t fly.
I can imagine why that mother would be upset; imagine your child having to fly on his or her own the next day?
Not to mention the baby dealing with hotel staff on its own.
$1100 for two nights?!? Maybe I am just out of touch about travel costs today?
Something similar happened to us- My wife went to Pennsylvania. She needed a room at the airport for the return trip (she had a shuttle bus from the event, so not exact take off times). I booked and paid thru an online company. When she arrived at the hotel with the paperwork, they said they had no record of the room reservation or the payment, so she had to pay again. The online company gave me a full refund fairly fast, but the room wasnt expensive, like $70 or something.
Resort island
Memorial Day weekend
Saturday & Sunday
$400/night+taxes & resort fees+$200 for incidentals
Thank you, that makes more sense.
Yes, going on vacation it is always handy to have more limit on the card or card, etc, in case things like this happen.
Supplemental to the above. They will also exaggerate, lie, or mislead to get out of said compensation. A friend of mine flew recently, and they were greatly delayed - but not for the reasons claimed. My friend was flying first class, and he overheard the staff talking/complaining quietly. The flight was “late” because they were short on crew, and while they were filling said crew, they ended up running over allowed hours for some of the current crew, meaning they basically cycled through 2.5 crews, running 4 hours late. But they didn’t compensate anyone, instead blaming the delay on “adverse weather” - which was a light rain at the destination, where I was sitting at the cellphone lot giving a blow by blow of the hot sun, with intermittent drizzles.
But by blaming the “inclement weather” the airline got to avoid comping anything to the passengers.
I think part of the problem is that airlines and hotels are ultimately just responsible for refunding what you paid them. If I had not gotten that second hotel paid for, the first one would have refunded me but it still would have cost me another $400 - the difference between prepaid no cancellation and showing up at the last second. I know Southwest didn’t refund me the price difference between their ticket and the emergency United tickets a couple Christmases ago. Maybe their attitude about you as a commodity would change if they had to not only reimburse you the $400 for your ticket but the $5000 for the cruise they caused you to miss.
Just a couple of weeks ago, they were looking for volunteers on my flight. They offered $800 credit from the start. I guess they got enough people because there was only the one announcement.
A good travel insurance plan takes care of this sort of issue.