Ticket to Fly

SoftSummerBreeze — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 09:27:02 -0800

What is the airline's obligation to me when they ask me to change to a different flight because of over-booking? I was booked on a flight from Dulles (DC) to Sacramento with a 1.5 hour layover in Denver this past weekend. They called me up to the ticket counter and asked if I wouldn't mind changing to a later non-stop flight that would essentially get in at about the same time, and they would give me a free ticket for my trouble. Ok. Sure. No problem.
I was told to go sit down and they'd talk to me in a bit. Just before they were ready to close the doors the ticket agent waves me over and says I can get on this flight. I told him I'd rather wait and go on the non-stop flight he'd offered me. So he printed out my new boarding pass. I asked him about the free ticket he'd mentioned earlier and he said that I was no longer qualified for that because *I* made the choice to change flights. No, actually I hadn't. He offered me another flight and I accepted due to over-booking. I still feel I'm owed the ticket for a free flight w/in the next year. I don't know why there was a seat - in first class even - available at the last minute, but I agreed to change my flight and had already made arrangements to be picked up at the later time. Should I fight this? Do they, in fact, owe me the ticket?

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Ticket to Fly