By Kelsey Blodget for Oyster.com
It’s 1 a.m. when we know for sure that the plane isn’t
going to take off. Not tonight. We’ve been sitting on the runway for hours, and
after a maintenance problem that turned out to be nothing and the jet refueling
guys that never showed, we’re heading back to the gate.
The bureaucratic tap dance we then endure -- rebooking our flight (that won’t leave until the next afternoon), attempting to locate
our luggage (unsuccessfully), trying to book an airport hotel (also
unsuccessfully) -- leaves us grumpy. After the umpteenth frustrating customer
service encounter, I start to get slightly hysterical. Despite making my living
as a travel expert, it turns out I am not always a good traveler.
Photo by Cynthia Dial
Countless travelers have found themselves in just this
situation and can well relate to the misery. Mere hours after falling asleep to
the sounds of the jungle in Costa Rica, somehow,
inexplicably, my husband and I find ourselves sleeping in Miami International
Airport under harsh fluorescent lights. (We would have preferred to crash in
a South Beach hotel overlooking the ocean, but alas, it wasn't in the
budget.) He is wearing his Panama hat with a macaw feather tucked in the brim,
a souvenir from our trip. I am wearing a Miami sweatshirt that I bought in a
gift shop, because my spaghetti strap maxi dress isn’t enough to combat the
airport chill. After hours of travel -- unwashed, bleary-eyed, and now sprawled
across the airport chairs like hobos -- we must look like quite the pair.
Upon finally arriving back in New York City, I decide to
investigate just how often things go so awry -- and what, if anything, passengers
can do to prepare themselves. I want to know everything -- which
airlines are the worst, which airports are the worst, what compensation
customers can expect, and what they’re legally entitled to. Of course travel
won’t always go smoothly, but it’s always possible to increase your odds that
it will, and to respond intelligently when it doesn’t. The result of my
findings, I hope, will be your ultimate survival guide to a delayed or canceled
flight.
Envoy and Spirit Airlines Are Actually the Worst
The fact that cut-rate carrier Spirit Airlines doesn't
have a great track record when it comes to flight cancelations and delays
should come as no surprise. Customers should expect to pay for those cheap
fares in other ways -- one of which is the much higher than average chance of
not arriving to their destination on time, or at all. In June, only 49.9
percent of the airline's overall reported flight operations arrived on time,
according to the August 2015 Air Travel Consumer Report issued by the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT). And 4.9 percent of its operations were
canceled altogether -- a number surpassed only by Envoy, a regional
affiliate of American Airlines, which had 5.2 percent of operations
canceled.
"Consumers can limit their exposure to cancelled
and delayed flights by avoiding flying on regional jets, which tend to be
canceled more often than larger planes," George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com,
says.
I flew American Airlines, which had 1.1 percent of
operations cancelled. For on-time flights, American came in eighth out of the 12
airlines ranked in the report -- one ahead of United.
Hawaiian, Alaska and Delta Airlines are the Best
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the carriers with the fewest
cancellations in June were also the carriers with the most on-time flights. For
on-time flights, Hawaiian Airlines came in first, followed by Alaska and the
once-hated (by me, at least) but now much-improved Delta. (Forbes writer Ken
Krogue also noticed the airline's recent improvements, and I
distinctly remember seeing a subway ad a few years ago from its "Keep
Climbing" campaign declaring that "The Only Way Up is Up," which
turned out to be an accurate assessment of the airline's trajectory.) Though
the DOT hasn't released July data yet. Investopedia reported, July data from Flight View showing
that Delta moved up in July to take first place for on-time flights.
"As we show in our airline performance rankings,
some airlines are better at on-time performance (notably, lately, Delta), and
at not overbooking (JetBlue, for example)," Hobica says."Consumers
concerned about the small chance they’ll be bumped -- and it is a
small chance -- should book on airlines that perform better."
In terms of cancelled flights in June, Alaska had .4
percent, Delta .3 percent, and Hawaiian just .1 percent.
It Might Be Wise to Avoid a Layover in Chicago O’Hare
Chicago O'Hare International Airport is one of the
country's busiest airports -- and it had one of the worst track records in June
for on-time arriving and departing flights, according to the DOT report. Only 66.2 percent of arriving flights were on
time, and 63.8 percent of departing flights. Compare that
to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, an even busier
airport that managed to have 80.1 percent of flights arrive on time and 76.2
percent depart on time, and it's easy to see that Chicago's numbers aren't too
great.
Airlines are Doing a Worse Job of Making Customers
Happy This Year
The DOT announced Tuesday that consumer complaints filed with the Aviation
Consumer Protection Division this year have risen significantly --
specifically, they're up 20.3 percent in the first six months of this year
compared to the first six months of last year. So if you've become accustomed
to a smooth flying experience, it may be time to get ready for a bumpy
ride.
You Are Entitled to Compensation if You Are bumped From
a Flight
If you are bumped from a flight involuntarily due to
overbooking, the airline owes you money, even if they rebook you on a later
flight. If your rebooked flight arrives at your destination one to two hours
later, the airline still owes you an amount equal to 200 percent of your
one-way fare (with a $650 maximum), according to DOT rules. If you get to your destination more
than two hours later (or more than four hours later for international flights),
you are entitled to 400 percent of the price of your one-way fare, up to
$1,300.
But if Your Flight is Delayed or Cancelled
That's right -- if your flight is delayed or canceled,
the airline owes you squat. Some may choose to provide food vouchers or hotel
accommodation, but it's entirely at their discretion. When my American Airlines
flight was cancelled, we did get food vouchers but not a hotel voucher.
Many airlines have set policies in place that can be found
on their websites; United, for example, says it may offer free hotel
accommodations for delays that exceed four hours between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. if
the delay or cancellation was within its control. Alternatively, American Airlines only provides a "distressed
passenger rate" voucher for a discounted hotel room when the cancellation is due to bad weather. So when the cancellation was American Airlines' fault, as
it was in my case, passengers can expect to figure out their own sleeping arrangements.
Most Flights Are Delayed Because of a Late-Landing
Aircraft
As noted, the cause of the delay is an important
factor in what compensation the airline might offer you. So it's a good idea to
understand what causes them most often. According to the DOT report, an average
of 74.8 percent of flights were on time in June, 8.8 percent suffered a delay
to a late-arriving aircraft, 7 percent were delayed because of an air carrier
delay (read: something that was the airline's fault, such as maintenance or
crew problems), and 6.3 percent were due to a National Aviation system delay
(something like heavy traffic volume at the airport or another airport
operation issue). Just .9% were due to an extreme weather delay, a
comparatively low number.
Knowing that, American Airlines' policy of only
providing discounted hotel rooms for cancellations due to weather seems a lot
less generous (and for them, certainly less expensive) than United's policy of
providing free hotel rooms for air carrier delays. In short, if United had
stranded me overnight in Miami instead of American, I would have been a happier camper.
Your Domestic Flight Shouldn’t Get Stuck on the Tarmac
for More Than Three Hours
Unless the pilot deems there is a security concern, or
air traffic control believes that returning to the gate would significantly
disrupt operations, your domestic flight is not allowed to stay on the tarmac for more than three
hours. And the flight attendants must provide you with food and water after
two. (On my flight, when we finally got water and granola bars after being
stuck on the tarmac for what felt like far more than two hours, we thought the
flight attendants were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts; turns out
they legally had to.) And yes, you must be allowed to use the bathrooms.
Avoid Checking a Bag, Especially on Envoy
After our flight fiasco, we didn't see our bags again
for several days. We got them eventually, but it's good to know that some
airline carriers have a better track record with your baggage than others.
Unsurprisingly, good ole Envoy Air has the worst record with mishandled bags in June, with 10.5 reports per 1,000 passengers
("mishandling" meaning bags that were lost, delayed, damaged, or
pilfered). American Airlines was fourth worst, with 4.3 reports per 1,000
passengers.
If Your Bags Are Permanently Lost, You Will be
Compensated – But Expect It to Take Awhile
If the airline loses your bag, they do have to compensate you, but
expect to haggle over the value of your goods and wait four weeks to three
months to get paid. If the airline deems a passenger claim exaggerated they may
deny it altogether. Receipts will help you prove the value of your lost belongings.
Don’t Just Wait in Line at the Airport – Call Customer
Service, Too
After the airline announced that our flight was
canceled, there was a mad gallop to the customer service desk. Smart passengers
didn't just wait in line to rebook their flights -- they also called the
airline customer service number. This will almost always result in quicker
service, and as you are competing against the other passengers to rebook the
best remaining flights, time is of the essence. You may not want to step out of
the line altogether, though; if there are food or hotel vouchers on offer, you
can't get those over the phone.
#travel #traveltips #travelingcynthia #airlinetips #cancelledflights
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