April 5, 2006
US Airways evil contract of carriage
An airline contract of carriage is a legal agreement between you and the airline you're flying. Normally, when an airline cancels a flight, passengers have the right to phone cards, meal vouchers, and hotel rooms, not to mention the next flight to your destination (on any airline).
US Airways has changed all that so that one unlucky US Airways passenger ended up with only 200 dollars compensation after he spent hours in a plane sitting on the runway (I hate that), had his flight cancelled, waited two days for another one, and was promised 600 Euros compensation.
The travel troubleshooter can't do anything about it since US Airways has revised their contract of carriage so that it let's them get away with pretty much anything. We are issued this word of warning, however:
I'm concerned that passengers' rights are being eroded with each revision of an airline's contract of carriage. I suspect US Airways is hardly alone in rewriting its responsibilities to better suit its bottom line. And I wonder if the day will come when the contract will allow an airline to wiggle out of its obligation to fly us anywhere at all.Posted by James Trotta at April 5, 2006 3:20 AM
purchased tickets through aero california from los angeles to cabo san lucas, with travel to commence in ten days. My wife was informed that the flights were cancelled because of safety violation shutdown and was given only two options of airlines for travel at $200.00 more per ticket and leaving a day later with the return to los angeles one day earlier.WHAT CAN WE DO.
Posted by: andrew graham at April 6, 2006 4:29 AMContact the Miami Herald troubleshooter!
Posted by: James Trotta at April 7, 2006 1:52 AMGreat article. To my knowledge, US Airways has the most "evil" contract of carriage among the US airlines, but even by their standards, this is pretty dispicable.
I am posting a link to this article on my blog about budget adventure travel at www.guerrillatraveler.blogspot.com. I think my readers need to know about this problem too.
Guerrilla Traveler
Thank you Guerrilla Traveler - you have an interesting blog there. Nice and specific theme.
Posted by: James Trotta at April 8, 2006 4:02 PMWhat travel agencies do you recommend? We have been to the DR two times and are thinking about hawaii, with a cruise so we can see all the islands. I have never been on a cruise and am skeptical, as we are not really wealthy but want to do this. thanks in advance
Posted by: Vikki Flanagan at April 10, 2006 4:43 AM(IANAL) It's worth noting that if you're flying to/from the European Union you may be able to make a claim under european law (Regulation (EC) 261/2004) and/or the Montreal Convention.
Posted by: Donal at May 3, 2006 4:21 AM