Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is how the nightmare unfolded. I will use City A as my destination city and City B as the city where I had to make the connecting flight since I'm a little paranoid about people knowing who I am . I live in Honolulu and took a trip to city A. I flew from Honolulu to City B and took another flight to City A. After my time in City A was over I was supposed to take a flight from City A to City B and then another flight back to Honolulu. However, weather caused my flight from City A to City B to be delayed, causing me to miss my flight from City B to Honolulu. I eventually caught a flight from City B to Honolulu two days later, having to pay for two nights hotel in City B.
Now here's where I think I screwed up. Instead of booking on the same website (itinerary) like I usually do, I booked a roundtrip from Honolulu to City B on one website but booked the two flights between City B and City A separately on two different airlines on two different websites. Please don't ask me why I did this, I know it was stupid since I already heard about it being safer booking everything together. Bottom line is that I'm out over $1300, which is the change fee and fare difference from City B to Honolulu for me and my wife's ticket. Add in the hotel and lost work days and it's closer to $2000. I talked to both airlines and even the credit card company and they won't offer me any compensation, which is actually what I expected.
Here are my questions. Is there any possible other way for me to receive any kind of compensation that anyone knows of? If not I think I'll just have to bite this expensive bullet. The most important question is if I booked on the same website (same itinerary) would the airline pay for my hotel and just put me on the next flight without charge? I read an old thread and someone said it's always better to book on the same website and that I'd probably be protected if a delay like this happens (even weather related). I really don't want to make the same mistake again. I'm still upset at this. Thanks in advance.
If the flights had been on the same ticket, the airline certainly would have rebooked you on a later flight to your final destination. They probably wouldn't have picked up the cost of a hotel, though, since they aren't in control of the weather (that sort of compensation is owed when the the misconnection occurs because of things they CAN control, like maintenance problems).
I think you've learned a very expensive lesson, unfortunately. NEVER book connecting flights on separate tickets unless you can put a LONG delay (like 24 hours or more) between the flights!
Oh, and avoid OTAs like Expedia. When something goes wrong, the airlines tend to point to the OTA, and the OTA pints to the airlines, and no one's really helping you. Book the flights on an airline's website if possible, or use a REAL travel agent, for added safety.
If you bought travel insurance you might recoup some of the loss. Otherwise, it was an expensive lesson learned. Airlines don't cover hotels for weather related delays, and never cover lost time at work. The change fee wouldn't have occured if all tickets had been booked together.
2 days before you could catch the next flight? This sounds like either Spirit or Southwest? Those are the 2 main airlines that don't have reciprocal agreements with other carriers.
If it's Spirit.. Forget about it. Can't get blood from a turnip. Southwest, it's still a long shot, but there's a chance.
A weather delay is generally considered something "Outside their control", but if they leave you waiting for a connection for 2 days.. You'd have a good chance.. But, since you booked the legs separately, city "B" I think you used, was also considered your originating airport, and it would be considered that you could just go home and wait.
That is also one of the things that will bite you if you fly from a far away airport for a cheaper fare.. If the flight is cancelled, you're driving back home. so, like me.. I'll occasionally fly from CLT or ATL vs my home airport of GSP.. CLT is about 1.5 hours, ATL about 2.5.. I drive to Atlanta, flight is cancelled, next available the next day.. I have wasted at least 5 hours down and back home and then have to repeat it the next day.
2 days before you could catch the next flight? This sounds like either Spirit or Southwest? Those are the 2 main airlines that don't have reciprocal agreements with other carriers.
If it's Spirit.. Forget about it. Can't get blood from a turnip. Southwest, it's still a long shot, but there's a chance.
A weather delay is generally considered something "Outside their control", but if they leave you waiting for a connection for 2 days.. You'd have a good chance.. But, since you booked the legs separately, city "B" I think you used, was also considered your originating airport, and it would be considered that you could just go home and wait.
That is also one of the things that will bite you if you fly from a far away airport for a cheaper fare.. If the flight is cancelled, you're driving back home. so, like me.. I'll occasionally fly from CLT or ATL vs my home airport of GSP.. CLT is about 1.5 hours, ATL about 2.5.. I drive to Atlanta, flight is cancelled, next available the next day.. I have wasted at least 5 hours down and back home and then have to repeat it the next day.
If there were systemwide weather delays (as there have been many this season) then it could have been two days. The airlines will always take care of passengers in their prescribed order. Unaccomanied minors are #1 then frequent flyers in order of their status then those who missed connections due to that airline's delays then the rest of the pile. I got caught in a similar situation last month, and had a forced overnight in PHX. We got the first flight out the next morning (Friday) while others who had been waiting for flights Since Wednesday afternoon were still stuck--including a bride and her parents on their way to her wedding. We got the tickets because we have status and also because we were willing to downgrade from our first class seats to economy for the 90 minute flight.
People with international connections also often get some level of preference with rebooking.
But as a veteran of ground stops as the ATL, I can say that nothing beats being proactive and finding a gate agent or other customer service rep and politely planting yourself in front of them the minute your connection would go illegal (ie. below the airline's minimum connection time, assuming your next flight is still scheduled to depart on time) and very politely telling them that you now have an ex-connection, it's gone, it's pushing up daisies in the concourse garden, it's pining for the fjords that are reachable only on a once a day flight on Obscure Partner Airline.....
The key is to get yourself a seat as son as possible on a new routing because once you get that confirmed seat on a rebook, the airline is extremely reluctant to move you out of the confirmed seat, even for a million miler, because then you become part of their Involuntary Denied Boarding numbers, which they have reason to minimize as much as possible.
Once the first few raindrops or snowflakes hit runway, it's every travel party for themselves, and it amazes me how many people just passively wait until connection is already missed before trying to wrangle a rebooking. Remember- you don't want to wait until there are 3700 people ahead of you in the rebooking queue.
True. We know we would misconnect even before we left Orlando, so we had tickets with seat assignments for the flight out of PHX the next morning and I had already booked a hotel before we even went to the gate at MCO. I was pretty stunned how many people were approaching the gate agents and refusing the rebooking but instead badgering them and thinking their connection would be waiting for them and refusing to believe otherwise.
We were in the handicap seats as my husband was recovering from a serious injury and he needed to preboard or hold up an entire plane as he was pushed in a chair or walked at a snails pace down the jetway, so we were well within earshot of the conversations. It was sadly comical.
The other thing I couldn't believe was the number of people who slept at PHX that night. Hotel rooms were readily available and cheap. We got a Residence Inn room that included breakfast for just under $100, there were budget hotels in the $50 range. Why anyone would sleep on a filthy airport floor instead of getting a room with free breakfast is beyond me--particularly the half dozen or so families with small children who spent the cost of the hotel eating crappy overpriced airport food the next morning.
True. We know we would misconnect even before we left Orlando, so we had tickets with seat assignments for the flight out of PHX the next morning and I had already booked a hotel before we even went to the gate at MCO.
Well, now we know all the legs and there went your privacy... Muahahahahaha.. What evil can we accomplish with this information? Oh yeah.. Pretty much nothing.
Though, we can go back and look at the historical flights.. And in the past 2 weeks.. MCO to PHX doesn't seem to have any flights that were significantly delayed.. There were some delays, but a maximum of about 1 hour.
Let's do some guesswork here..
I can say.. that SWA evening flight has a bad track record. Flight 1198 or 385, pending on the day.. That seems to be often delayed. But.. Since no flights leave PHX for Honolulu after 1:55pm.. You weren't on that flight.
The only possibility I see here.. You were on United/USAir flight 556, 7:35am depart from MCO.. Arrive PHX 9:08am
Then, either United/USAir flight 664 departing at 10:45am, or flight 694, departing 1:55pm.. I'll bet on flight 664.
Now, if i'm right about that.. You allowed yourself about an hour 45 to retrieve your bags.. Check in and check bags for the next flight, go back through security, get to your gate and board the plane.. On a good day.. That's a stretch. I don't know what the security lines are like at PHX, but.. I'd be nervous doing that even somewhere like GSP, which has two tiny terminals and you can run the length of the airport in under 5 minutes.
And, if I'm right about that.. You made a bad decision in your booking, but.. That's not telling you anything that you haven't already figured out. I guess PHX to Honolulu is probably busy, but i'm still surprised they couldn't fit you on a flight for 2 days. They run 3 flights a day.. Well.. 757-200's it would appear.. That's about 600 people a day, it is the busy season..
Oh, and avoid OTAs like Expedia. When something goes wrong, the airlines tend to point to the OTA, and the OTA pints to the airlines, and no one's really helping you. Book the flights on an airline's website if possible, or use a REAL travel agent, for added safety.
How am I supposed to avoid OTA when a particular airline can't take me all the way to my destination city? Isn't booking on an OTA the only way to book flights if there are no direct flights from my home city to my destination city? Ex. if I wanted to go to Istanbul from Honolulu, which airline website could I use to book my flight(s) to Istanbul?
All the major legacy carriers have dancing partners through assorted alliances, code share agreements, and partnership agreements, and even a few LCCs like, I think, Jet Blue also have their partners. These partners let you single ticket your way essentially around the world.
Going to ITA Matrix, which is a database of flight arrangements for pretty much everyone but Southwest-
It will give you flight routes that will let you book them on a single ticket even if multiple airlines are involved, and if you miss a connection through 'act of God' (ie. weather) then that single ticket means it's their responsibility to get you to your next destination in as timely manner as possible with no fare increase for you.
I picked Depart HNL on October 13, Return from IST on October 23
Route option #1
Honolulu to Newark on United, Newark to Toronto on United, Toronto to Istanbul on Air Canada
then
Istanbul to Frankfurt, Germany on Lufthansa, Frankfurt to Vancouver on Air Canada, Vancouver to Honolulu on Air Canada
Price- $1130 (note that you can't book directly on ITA Matrix and will need to recreate the route on United or Air Canada's web site to purchase a ticket)
Route option #59-
Honolulu to Seattle on Delta, Seattle to Amsterdam on Delta, Amsterdam to Istanbul on KLM as a code share with Delta
Istanbul to Rome on Alitalia, Rome to Los Angeles on Alitalia, Los Angeles to Honolulu on Delta as a code share with Alitalia
Route option #87-
Honolulu to San Francisco on United as a code share with Swiss International, San Francisco to Zurich on Swiss International, Zurich to Istanbul on Swiss International
Istanbul to Zurich on Swiss, Zurich to San Francisco on Swiss, San Francisco to Honolulu on Unided as a code share with Swiss
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. I live in Honolulu and took a trip to city A. I flew from Honolulu to City B and took another flight to City A. After my time in City A was over I was supposed to take a flight from City A to City B and then another flight back to Honolulu. However, weather caused my flight from City A to City B to be delayed, causing me to miss my flight from City B to Honolulu. I eventually caught a flight from City B to Honolulu two days later, having to pay for two nights hotel in City B.
