Travel

When things go bump in the flight

There’s the Bill of Rights. Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man. The U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But what about your “rights” when you fly? Do you have any, really? You may be surprised to learn that even though the Department of Transportation has recently announced some new passenger regulations, there are probably fewer than you think, and your rights vary depending on the country you’re flying within or from. Before you head off to Grandma’s house — or wherever — this holiday season, let’s do a quick rundown of your options, shall we?

The airline sells more fares than it has seats on your flight. Someone’s got to stay behind, and that someone is you. You might be entitled to cash compensation. If you’re bumped from a flight and the airline rebooks you to arrive an hour or less from your original arrival time, there’s no compensation. Two to four hours, you are entitled to as much as $650 (the actual amount will be up to 200 percent of the applicable one-way fare); over four hours, up to $1,300 or 400 percent of the one-way fare. You’re entitled to receive payment in cash. Do not accept a travel voucher since these often come with restrictions and extra hassle. Take our advice — tell them it’s money or nothing.

You’re stuck on the plane for more than three hours before take off or upon landing. You have the right to request to deplane after your domestic flight has been delayed on the taxiway (a.k.a., the “tarmac”) or runway for more than three hours; or four hours if it’s an international flight. This doesn’t mean that you’ll actually get off the plane — there are loopholes — but it never hurts to make the demand.

A cancellation or delay means you’re missing what you were flying to attend (i.e. a funeral, Christmas Day) in the first place. Why go on a pointless trip? Most airlines’ contracts of carriage — you can access all of these at www.airfarewatchdog.com, by the way — contain a provision that allows even those flying on non-refundable tickets to drop out and get their money and fees back. Delta, for example, stipulates in its contract that “in the event of flight cancellation, diversion, delays of greater than 90 minutes, or delays that will cause a passenger to miss connections, Delta will (at passenger’s request) cancel the remaining ticket and refund the unused portion of the ticket.” Most airlines have a “Rule 260” or similar in their contracts covering this situation.

Your flight is canceled. Now what? Here’s a surprise for many people — there’s no one hard-and-fast government regulation covering this instance anymore. The old days of Rule 240 are just that — the old days. It’s still practiced by some airlines, but it’s not rule of law. Yelling at an airline representative to get you hotels and meals won’t get you anywhere — unless the airline’s specific contract states that they give out such things. Many airlines will attempt to get you out of their hair on the next available flight, even on a competing airline, but not always. For example, Delta says it will “exercise reasonable efforts to carry passengers and their baggage according to Delta’s published schedules and the schedule reflected on the passenger’s ticket, but published schedules, flight times, aircraft type, seat assignments, and similar details reflected in the ticket or Delta’s published schedules are not guaranteed and form no part of this contract.” In essence — don’t count on anything.

So the airline has lost your luggage. Recently revised U.S. D.O.T. rules require the airline to reimburse you up to $3,300 per incident, but only for domestic travel. However, the airline may ask for receipts or proof of purchase for claimed items, and may depreciate the value of the suitcase and its contents. There’s a different set of rules for international travel, and the liability limits may be considerably lower. (It’s always wise to take advantage of the airline’s excess valuation option when flying internationally). Reimbursement depends on the airline and the country you’re flying from or within.

The airline says your baggage isn’t lost, but just delayed. This is somewhat of a murky area. You can’t ask the airline for lost luggage compensation until it admits that it can’t find your bag, but what if you were flying in your gym clothes and have an important business meeting that evening? In their contracts, some airlines state they will allow you to purchase reasonable replacement items, and recent Department of Transportation directives have gotten tougher on airlines in such circumstances. The department issued a warning to the airlines in 2009, stating that “carriers should remain willing to cover all reasonable, actual and verifiable expenses related to baggage loss, damage or delay [emphasis added] up to” the maximum $3,300 limit on domestic flights. Receipts will be required; expect the reimbursement process to move very slowly.

So you’ve purchased the wrong flight by accident. As long as you make the change within 24 hours, you can either cancel your non-refundable fare or rebook different dates. New DOT regulations require airlines to hold a reservation for you for 24 hours without paying for the fare so that you can shop around (and correct any mistakes you might have made).

You check in at the airport, only to find that the airline has moved your seat without telling you. Nothing you can do, really. Airlines reserve the right to assign you to any seat they choose.

The routing of your upcoming flight changes without warning. Say you buy a $130 fare from New York to Denver, nonstop. A few weeks before departure, the airline sends an e-mail, informing you that you’re now flying a regional jet to Philadelphia to catch your new flight to Denver. They didn’t cancel the nonstop — they’ve just moved you to another flight. Yes, you can insist on a refund, but the airline has no obligation to honor the original routing. None whatsoever.

Service changes mean you’re staying in your destination longer than expected. So you’re going to Buenos Aires. Congratulations! Except that between the time you booked and the time you travel, your airline decreases service to the destination from daily to five times weekly. This means that your return flight has been canceled. Now you’re spending extra, unplanned nights. Do you have a right to ask the airline to compensate you? Unfortunately, no. And most travel insurance policies won’t cover you, either. At best, you’ll be offered a refund and told to book a last-minute flight on another airline at considerably higher cost. This is one of the most pressing areas for new airline regulation.

The passenger in the seat next to you isn’t so much in their seat as they are in their seat and half of yours. Talk about a touchy subject. Say a clinically obese passenger sits down next to you, raises the armrest, and spills over into a portion of your seat, squishing you into the window. Or worse — say you’re in the middle seat and surrounded. While many airlines have language in their contracts of carriage that they will refuse to transport passengers who cannot fit into a single seat, or require them to buy two seats, such rules are rarely enforced. You can request to be re-seated (perhaps in business or first class if there are no seats available in economy class), or to be put on the next flight out, but that’s about it. Airlines such as Southwest have clear rules requiring passengers of size to get themselves as many seats as they need to fit. Note: In Canada, passengers of size are not required to buy two seats under disability clauses, so don’t even mention it.

For more detailed coverage of the above issues and for the lowest fares from New York area airports available right now, check out airfarewatchdog.com