US airlines to offer meals, hotel rooms during extended delays

[Shorex]

https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/u-s-major-airlines-delay-meals-hotel-rooms/2022/08/31/id/1085398/

 

Caveat:

...if prompted by issues under the airlines' control

 

 

[6rugrats]

As far as I know, most of, if not all of these airlines, have always offered meal vouchers and hotels if the reason for the cancelation was controllable.  They have decreased the time from four to three hours of delay to be eligible, and increased the amount of meal vouchers for non-status fliers.

[iancal]

As far as I know this has always been fairly standard.  The only exception was weather delays. In the past we have had airline provided meal vouchers, hotels, and cabs when we have missed connecting flights.

 

Last month we were 7 hours late leaving Faro, Portugal.  It was a daytime flight.  We were given a mail voucher.   I also claimed compensation under the EU airline rules. 

 

 We claimed 600Euro each from the airline in late June.  We each got a cheque in early August for the equiv. of 600euro.

[em-sk]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

As far as I know this has always been fairly standard.  The only exception was weather delays. In the past we have had airline provided meal vouchers, hotels, and cabs when we have missed connecting flights.

 

Last month we were 7 hours late leaving Faro, Portugal.  It was a daytime flight.  We were given a mail voucher.   I also claimed compensation under the EU airline rules. 

 

 We claimed 600Euro each from the airline in late June.  We each got a cheque in early August for the equiv. of 600euro.

 

Legal requirements in Europe are very consumer friendly.  They apply to EU based airlines and non-EU flights when they depart from EU countries. 

 

This is the US catching up.   Many but not all US airlines have a history of also doing the right thing even if not required by law.  

Edited September 2, 2022 by em-sk

[iancal]

38 minutes ago, em-sk said:

 

Legal requirements in Europe are very consumer friendly.  They apply to EU based airlines and non-EU flights when they depart from EU countries. 

 

This is the US catching up.   Many but not all US airlines have a history of also doing the right thing even if not required by law.  

They also apply to EU carriers who fly from North America to an EU airport. 

 

 For us, all things being equal, we will select a Lufthansa, KLM, TAP,  Air France, etc. in preference to a domestic NA airline when flying to Europe.

 

Our compensation came from a Canadian carrier, Transat.  Frankly, we were surprised that our 600euro claim was accepted and paid without hesitation.

Edited September 2, 2022 by iancal

[6rugrats]

The US is not even close to "catching up" to EU261/2004.  As already stated, these new regulations are really not much different from what already was in place, but it makes a good news story.  

[Zach1213]

8 hours ago, iancal said:

Frankly, we were surprised that our 600euro claim was accepted and paid without hesitation.

 

The few times I've had to enact EU261, I have actually had pretty good luck (knock on wood). I've had to do it with Easyjet twice, and they were ridiculously helpful with it. Also did it once with AA, once with Brussels Airlines, and once with BA, and they were a little slower but still fairly good about it. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Zach1213

[CruiserBruce]

It might be noted this change came after the DOT threatened the airlines with more regulations if they didn't improve their customer service. We will see if this satisfies the DOT.

 

 

[iancal]

On 9/2/2022 at 5:15 AM, 6rugrats said:

The US is not even close to "catching up" to EU261/2004.  As already stated, these new regulations are really not much different from what already was in place, but it makes a good news story.  

My understanding is that the non EU countries like the UK and the Scandinavian countries have very similar, if not identical rules as EU261.

 

Canada has no real rules.  The rules have been purposely developed by the Transportation Agency to  have huge 'get out of jail' holes for the airlines.

 

It has made it very easy for Canadian airlines to skirt the rules and routinely  deny compensation. 

 

 The challenge is that the airlines had far more input into those rules  than did consumer groups.  They are designed to be essentially toothless and unenforceable  in practice.

Edited September 3, 2022 by iancal

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, iancal said:

My understanding is that the non EU countries like the UK and the Scandinavian countries have very similar, if not identical rules as EU261.

 

The Scandinavian countries are all directly covered by 261/2004. At present, the UK's divergence from 261/2004 is, I think, limited to specifying the compensation in GBP rather than EUR.

[em-sk]

6 hours ago, iancal said:

Canada has no real rules.  The rules have been purposely developed by the Transportation Agency to  have huge 'get out of jail' holes for the airlines.

 

It has made it very easy for Canadian airlines to skirt the rules and routinely  deny compensation. 

 

 

The Canadian rules are not as good as in the EU.  That is clear.

 

That said, they still force the airlines to reroute passengers onto competing airlines which I think is the critical item.  Compensation is nice but not as critical in my view.

 

[iancal]

2 minutes ago, em-sk said:

 

The Canadian rules are not as good as in the EU.  That is clear.

 

That said, they still force the airlines to reroute passengers onto competing airlines which I think is the critical item.  Compensation is nice but not as critical in my view.

 

Our impression is that Canadian airlines are skirting all of the rules ....including rerouting passengers when they can get away with it.

 

In our experience Canadian airlines will usually offer nothing or a small amount hoping that customers are ignorant of their rights.

 

My understanding is that Canadian airlines can cancel a flight.  They have up to 48 hours to provide an alternative without penalty. No so great for someone who is going away for the weekend.

[em-sk]

2 hours ago, iancal said:

Our impression is that Canadian airlines are skirting all of the rules ....including rerouting passengers when they can get away with it.

 

In our experience Canadian airlines will usually offer nothing or a small amount hoping that customers are ignorant of their rights.

 

My understanding is that Canadian airlines can cancel a flight.  They have up to 48 hours to provide an alternative without penalty. No so great for someone who is going away for the weekend.

 

If the flight is canceled or delayed by more than three hours the airlines has to offer the passenger the next available flight (on their own or a partner airlines flight) and a seat is available in the same class of service.    If the delay would result in arriving over 9 hours late then they have to also offer to rebook onto a competing airline if space is available. 

 

The 48 hour limit is a special case when it is due to a snow storm or other event that shutdown the entire airport..

 

What I find annoying is that WestJet switched to outsourcing their gate staff in all the secondary airports (including Victoria).  The contractors don't have training/access to reroute onto non-partner airlines.  They basically have to call into Calgary to have someone do it for them.  

 

The financial compensation only kicks in if the reason for the delay is under the control of the airline.  That is where they are playing games by claiming everything is out of their control which is nonsense. 

 

Canadian airlines are also required to move passengers around or assign seats at no cost to ensure that young kids are seated next to their parents.  

 

Here is the details.  https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/air-passenger-protection-regulations-highlights

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

[iancal]

14 hours ago, em-sk said:

 

If the flight is canceled or delayed by more than three hours the airlines has to offer the passenger the next available flight (on their own or a partner airlines flight) and a seat is available in the same class of service.    If the delay would result in arriving over 9 hours late then they have to also offer to rebook onto a competing airline if space is available. 

 

The 48 hour limit is a special case when it is due to a snow storm or other event that shutdown the entire airport..

 

What I find annoying is that WestJet switched to outsourcing their gate staff in all the secondary airports (including Victoria).  The contractors don't have training/access to reroute onto non-partner airlines.  They basically have to call into Calgary to have someone do it for them.  

 

The financial compensation only kicks in if the reason for the delay is under the control of the airline.  That is where they are playing games by claiming everything is out of their control which is nonsense. 

 

Canadian airlines are also required to move passengers around or assign seats at no cost to ensure that young kids are seated next to their parents.  

 

Here is the details.  https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/air-passenger-protection-regulations-highlights

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

The real question is the 'they have to' part actually practiced????  No different than the thousands of comp requests that have been turned down.  Or couples who have each claimed but received entirely different reasons why the airline refused their claim.

 

When I pay a premium for my seat on a long trip I am hardly going to give it up to some family member who decided to cheap out and not pay for their specific seats when in reality they all want to sit together.

 

After a 7 hour delayed flight in Faro, as we were in line to board the aircraft, Transat personnel came along and handed each person a one page explanation of their EU261 consumer flight rights...including instructions on how to claim.   

 

Can you just imagine AC, Westjet, Transat, etc doing that for delayed domestic flights???    I certainly cannot.

 

The EU261 rules, IMHO, really demonstrate how truly impotent the Canadian Transport Agency is when it comes to consumer rights and the enforcement of those sub standard  rules in practice.

Edited September 4, 2022 by iancal

[em-sk]

5 hours ago, iancal said:

The real question is the 'they have to' part actually practiced????  No different than the thousands of comp requests that have been turned down.  Or couples who have each claimed but received entirely different reasons why the airline refused their claim.

 

When I pay a premium for my seat on a long trip I am hardly going to give it up to some family member who decided to cheap out and not pay for their specific seats when in reality they all want to sit together.

 

After a 7 hour delayed flight in Faro, as we were in line to board the aircraft, Transat personnel came along and handed each person a one page explanation of their EU261 consumer flight rights...including instructions on how to claim.   

 

Can you just imagine AC, Westjet, Transat, etc doing that for delayed domestic flights???    I certainly cannot.

 

The EU261 rules, IMHO, really demonstrate how truly impotent the Canadian Transport Agency is when it comes to consumer rights and the enforcement of those sub standard  rules in practice.

 

The Canadian compensation levels (if its the airlines fault) is $900 (under 6 hours),  $1,800 (6-9 hours), $2,400 (over 9 hours).  I think that is fine.  The problem is the airlines are going to try to define every delay as not being their fault to avoid having to pay it.  Those rules need to be tightened.

 

The rules around re-routing and re-booking are reasonable and I have found generally followed by Air Canada and WestJet.  The airlines that are the problem are these ultra-low carriers like Swoop and Flair.  

 

Parents are not being cheap by not picking seats ahead of time.  If you traveling with small kids and you phone the airline call center the airline is required to assign seats for everyone together at no cost.  The proper solution to this problem is to fix the airline booking software so this just happens automatically and not at the gate.     

 

I have been on Air Canada domestic flights severely delayed where they provide a handout with a discount code to use on the next booking pre-COVID.  Should it be more than a 20% discount on your next booking?  Yes.  

 

As we get more of these Ultra low cost airlines coming into the Canadian market I think we need the rules bumped up to something closer to the Europeans.