Pricey Tripped Up,
I used to be one in all three adults who led a backpacking journey to the Colorado Rockies this previous June with six teenage Boy Scouts from Troop 876 of Savannah, Ga. After seven nights tenting, our tenth evening — June 26 — was to be aboard a redeye to Kennedy Airport, adopted by a morning flight to Savannah, each on JetBlue Airways. However our Denver departure was delayed over two hours and we missed the connection. We waited for 3 hours in line, solely to politely be advised the subsequent flight obtainable was 5 days later, even after we supplied to fly to Atlanta, Charleston, S.C., or Jacksonville, Fla., as an alternative. JetBlue wouldn’t present a lodge. So we opted for a refund (plus $12 meal vouchers), rented two automobiles and drove 14 hours house, racking up about $1,200 in journey bills. However when our refunds from JetBlue got here by means of, they totaled $261 for 9 of us, solely 18 % of the unique value. A customer support consultant later defined to me by cellphone that we had been reimbursed for under the New York to Savannah leg. We consider JetBlue ought to have gotten us on an earlier flight on a special airline or at the very least reimbursed us for the 9 fares and charges totaling $1,458, and maybe chipped in for the bills to get house. Are you able to assist? Spencer, Savannah, Ga.
Pricey Spencer,
Phew! I believed you had been going to ask me how one can feed six rising Boy Scouts on $12 meal vouchers at an airport meals court docket.
You had each proper to obtain a full flight refund from JetBlue Airways. The Transportation Division requires airways to supply refunds if flights are “considerably delayed,” no matter purpose, and the federal coverage accommodates no detectable clause permitting JetBlue to reimburse a laughably tiny proportion of the unique value. Derek Dombrowski, a spokesman for the airline, admitted that JetBlue erred right here, and advised me that somebody would attain out to you. You reported again {that a} consultant known as and apologetically agreed to credit score you the complete $1,458, throwing in 9 $100 vouchers for future journey.
As Mr. Dombrowski later defined to me in an e-mail: “Our coverage on this circumstance — the place a buyer just isn’t rebooked after a canceled flight or because of a missed connection out of the client’s management — is a full refund supplied to the unique type of cost for your complete one-way journey.”
“We apologize for this error,” he wrote.
But it surely sounds extra like two errors to me. Once you initially noticed the paltry reimbursement, you known as JetBlue they usually doubled down with the sketchy single-leg rationalization. (And even then, how was a single leg price solely $29?) I do hope that JetBlue will adhere extra carefully to its coverage sooner or later.
The airline seems to be proper on the remaining. You weren’t seemingly entitled to these lodge rooms and even to an earlier flight on a special airline.
That’s as a result of on June 26, thunderstorms triggered 1000’s of delays and cancellations within the Northeast. Earlier within the day, in keeping with knowledge from Flightaware.com, the plane that you’d finally take from Denver spent over eight hours on the J.F.Ok. tarmac, seemingly grounded by storms. It took off two hours late for a flight to Denver that night, in flip delaying your flight. That meant your flight delay was “uncontrollable,” confirmed Mr. Dombrowski, that means it was not the fault of the airline — a class that additionally contains security-line backups, air site visitors management issues and different points.
If the delay had been the results of, say, an airline staffing scarcity or mechanical subject, that may depend as a “controllable delay,” and you’ll have been supplied a lodge keep.
Huge storms are one factor. However typically simply how “uncontrollable” a delay is can get murky. Many a frequent flier can recount a time when an airline knowledgeable passengers of a “weather-related delay” on an ideal day for picnicking at each the airport of origin and vacation spot. That’s as a result of with some planes flying a half-dozen or extra legs each day with self-imposed tight turnaround instances, climate anyplace could cause a delay anyplace else. And guess who will get to determine whether or not the delay was controllable? The airways themselves.
I crunched some numbers from the Transportation Division’s month-to-month Air Journey Client Experiences and located that of all of the delays within the first 4 months of 2023, the newest knowledge obtainable, simply one-third — 157,485 of 471,608 — had been deemed “air provider delays,” outlined as “because of circumstances inside the airline’s management.”
“It’s not at all times straightforward for the patron to know whether or not an airline is in charge for a flight delay or cancellation,” wrote Ethan Alpern, a spokesman for the Transportation Division, in an in depth e-mail answering my questions on how airways decide delays. Excessive climate, nationwide aviation system points and safety delays are only a few official classes.
The tables of statistics that the federal government publishes in these experiences is fairly complicated. For instance, airways typically declare a delay is the results of “late arriving plane,” which implies it isn’t formally an “air provider delay,” though, in keeping with Mr. Alpern, half of these delays are the fault of the airline.
There may be potential excellent news on the horizon: One month earlier than your journey, the Transportation Division introduced a rule-making course of that can higher make clear what counts as a controllable delay. There isn’t any exact timeline when that’s rolling out, however within the meantime, anybody who suspects an airline might have known as a delay uncontrollable when it was truly the airline’s fault are inspired to register a criticism, stated Mr. Alpern. (The division seems to be into each criticism and contacts the airline when vital, he famous.)
Info on simply what airways will present within the case of controllable delays can now be discovered simply with the Transportation Division’s “Cancellation and Delay Dashboard,” on which 10 of the biggest carriers in the US make specific their commitments for rebooking, lodging, floor transportation and so forth for caught passengers. The dashboard additionally hyperlinks to specifics for every airline.
For controllable delays, JetBlue is one in all 5 of these 10 airways that has dedicated to ebook passengers on a accomplice airline when vital. In keeping with your story, JetBlue officers did try and ebook your group on American Airways, regardless that they didn’t should in these circumstances, so kudos to them. Alas, JetBlue’s code-share settlement with American ended on July 21, so future Boy Scout troops (and different passengers) may not be afforded the identical largess.
This brings up yet one more murky subject: There isn’t any official or public checklist of airline partnerships, in keeping with Mr. Alpern. Mr. Dombrowski of JetBlue declined to reply my query about whether or not the provider has some other agreements with airways that may permit rebooking for controllable (and typically uncontrollable) delays.
Lastly, these $100 vouchers had been additionally a pleasant contact, however I think about you’ll a lot reasonably favor reimbursements on your automotive rental and associated bills. Nicely, let’s put it this fashion: N.B.A. gamers usually tend to discover ample leg room in coach than delayed passengers are to be reimbursed for bills that aren’t preapproved in writing. Most airways make that clear within the contract of carriage you conform to while you ebook a flight.
The one factor that would have saved you right here is (tepid drum roll please) — journey insurance coverage.
That’s the reason I had you examine which bank card you had used to ebook the journey, hoping it was one of many fancier ones, just like the Chase Sapphire Most well-liked or American Specific Platinum playing cards, that embody a visit delay profit. It was not. For future journeys, you would possibly wish to contemplate shopping for trip-delay protection. Simply learn my current column on journey insurance coverage for extra unhealthy information earlier than you do.
When you want recommendation a few best-laid journey plan that went awry, ship an e-mail to TrippedUp@nytimes.com.
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