Shouldn't be surprised, but ...

December 29, 2015 3:57 PM

My daughter checked her bags at the front counter for a United flight to Quito via Houston. Was told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and that she was involuntarily bumped. She was there well ahead of time. The next flight out (to Quito) that they were able to scrounge was on 1/1/16, rather than her scheduled 12/29/15. As compensation for this complete foul-up, they offered her $200, with some sort of claim that they were treating her first leg to Texas as her destination for the day. What should she do?
posted by bullatony to Travel & Transportation (14 answers total)

Where is she? In the original city or in Houston? And where are her bags?
posted by hoyland at 4:01 PM on December 29, 2015

The Department of Transportation has posted consumers' rights when they're involuntarily bumped here. If these rights do apply to your daughter's situation, she may be entitled to greater than $200 compensation for a multi-day delay.

If your daughter's flight was operated by one of United's codesharing partners, her rights may be different. You could check out United's or its partners Contracts of Carriage here.

Also, did you call United and discuss the situation with them?
posted by golden at 4:08 PM on December 29, 2015 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: That's what I get for staying under 100 words. She's in Columbus, O. Bags are en route to Quito.
posted by bullatony at 4:09 PM on December 29, 2015

$200 seems like complete bullshit. If they checked her bags through to Quito, her ticket was supposed to get her to Quito.

There are specific remedies prescribed in the Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights.

If she's more than four hours delayed to Houston, it seems like the would owe her four times the cost of her one-way ticket, up to $1300, even leaving aside the "destination for today" nonsense.
posted by mskyle at 4:09 PM on December 29, 2015 [10 favorites]

More questions.... Did they ask for volunteers before bumping people? Was she flying standby? Was she booked via United the whole way (i.e. not a codeshared thing where she booked via United but was taking the second leg on a different airline)? Was she given an offer that she accepted or did she tell them at the time that this offer was unacceptable? Did you check United's policy on bumping? Have you checked DoT guidelines (on preview, also read this)?

My guess is that she can get significantly more money out of United but she may have no recourse trying to get to her destination any earlier.
posted by jessamyn at 4:10 PM on December 29, 2015

Here is United's Contract of Carriage. (pdf)
posted by jessamyn at 4:10 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

Based on the contract Jessamyn linked (section 3 (b) on p. 37), she might have to _ask_ to be booked on another airline for United to consider booking her on another airline. Another airline might have an earlier flight to Quito.

If space is available on another Carrier’s flight regardless of class of service, such flights may be used upon United’s sole discretion and the Passenger’s request at no additional cost to the Passenger only if such flight provides an earlier arrival than the UA flight offered in 3) a) above.

If you can find a flight you'd prefer, maybe call them with that flight in mind.
posted by amtho at 5:30 PM on December 29, 2015

If none of the above are effective she could consider taking her case to one of the aggrieved consumer columns like The Haggler. Which I hope she will, because United deserves all the bad publicity they get.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 5:39 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

In addition to whatever you can get done in the moment to make her current travel situation better, she should write an aggressive letter and do an executive carpet bomb until United compensates you guys appropriately.

A month ago somebody asked a question about writing letters to companies, and I posted a letter I wrote to Delta a bunch of years ago here.

This is complete bullshit. Get angry, write up a storm, and send it to every possible person you can. Good luck.
posted by phunniemee at 5:49 PM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]

Turn to social media (Facebook, Twitter) if time is of the essence. Corporate shaming can get results. Just be polite and persistent.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 6:32 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

Utilize the airline's twitter account. I have learned that is the first and best place to fuss.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:10 PM on December 29, 2015 [5 favorites]

Sounds like she should be getting $1300. I got $1300 for a 2.5 hour bump/delay for a one hour flight. $200 is just wrong.
posted by cecic at 7:16 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

To give you some perspective, yesterday, there was an oversold flight from Dulles to Denver. United initially offered $200 (in credit) per person for up to 5 people to give up their seats. It eventually jumped to $500.
posted by NailsTheCat at 8:38 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Welcome to Rule 25. It was called that in the regulated days, and on older carriers like United and American, it's still Rule 25. In particular, Rule 25, Section 4, Part B.

For passengers traveling from the United States to a foreign point, subject to the exceptions in section d) below, UA shall pay compensation to Passengers denied boarding involuntarily from an Oversold Flight originating at a U.S. airport at the rate of 200% of the fare to the Passenger‘s first Stopover or, if none, Destination, with a maximum of 675 USD if UA offers Alternate Transportation that, at the time the arrangement is made, is planned to arrive at the Passenger‘s Destination or first Stopover more than one hour but less than four hours after the planned arrival time of the Passenger‘s original flight. If UA offers Alternate Transportation that, at the time the arrangement is made, is planned to arrive at the Passenger‘s Destination or first Stopover more than four hours after the planned arrival time of the Passenger‘s original flight, UA shall pay compensation to Passengers denied boarding involuntarily from an Oversold Flight at the rate of 400% of the fare to the Passenger‘s first Stopover or, if none, Destination with a maximum of 1350 USD

So. When can they not have to cough up 400% of the fare? Section D

EXCEPTIONS: A Passenger denied boarding involuntarily from an Oversold Flight shall not be eligible for denied boarding compensation if:
(i) The flight is cancelled;
(ii) The Passenger holding a Ticket for confirmed reserved space does not comply fully with the requirements in this Contract of Carriage Requirements regarding ticketing, check-in, reconfirmation procedures, and acceptance for transportation;
(iii) The flight for which the Passenger holds confirmed reserved space is unable to accommodate the Passenger because of substitution of equipment of lesser capacity when required by operational or safety reasons or, on an aircraft with a designed passenger capacity of 60 or fewer seats, the flight for which the passenger holds confirmed reserved space is unable to accommodate that passenger due to weight/balance restrictions when required by operational or safety reasons;
(iv) The Passenger is offered accommodations or is seated in a section of the aircraft other than that specified on his/her ticket at no extra charge. Provided, if a Passenger is seated in a section for which a lower fare applies, the Passenger will be entitled to a refund applicable to the difference in fares;
(v) The Passenger is accommodated on Alternate Transportation at no extra cost, which at the time such arrangements are made, is planned to arrive at the airport of the Passenger‘s next Stopover, (if any), or at the Destination, not later than 60 minutes after the planned arrival time of the flight on which the Passenger held confirmed reserved space;
(vi) The Passenger is an employee of UA or of another Carrier or other person traveling without a confirmed reserved space; or
(vii) The Passenger does not present him/herself at the loading gate for boarding at least 15 minutes prior to scheduled domestic departures, and 30 minutes prior to scheduled international departures. See Rule 5 D) for additional information regarding boarding cut-off times.

As to flying on someone else? The industry term is "walking" as in "We're walking you to AA, flight leaves at 1250 from Terminal 3." If you have status, they may offer it without asking, but otherwise, you have to ask. Being walked also limits your denial compensation -- none if they get you to the first stop within an hour of when they would have gotten you there in the first place, $675 if between 1-4 hours late, and $1350 if more than four.

The key, really, is "did she hit any of the exceptions?" If so, IDB compensation is off the table. The one that you usually lose on here is (iii), when they swap to a small aircraft or they have to limit seating because of balance or hot-and-high airport issues. You see the latter in tiny aircraft, but the form crops up when the 777 breaks and they swap in a 767.

What you need: The ticket number, patience, and hopefully a note on the record explaining why they IDB'd her.

Call ticketing. Ask for an agent. Explain the situation, give the ticket number, and ask why the IDB happened. If it's not in the contracted exceptions, then politely says, "Well, the contract of carriage states that..." and you should be home free at that point, because you'll have them stating it was an IDB, and it wasn't one of the exceptions.

But that's the key -- the reason. If it's in the exception list, then you're out of luck. If she volunteered, your also out of luck.

To give you some perspective, yesterday, there was an oversold flight from Dulles to Denver. United initially offered $200 (in credit) per person for up to 5 people to give up their seats. It eventually jumped to $500.

Not that this is *voluntary* denied boarding, and that's a whole different beast. There, you are making a deal to give up your seat. Heck, once I got $500 for moving from first to coach.
posted by eriko at 10:50 PM on January 20, 2016