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... I'm surprised American didn't fully comp rooms for them. It's not their fault the flight was cancelled late at night and they were stuck there in an uncomfortable situation.
It was cancelled due to weather. If Airlines comp rooms for weather--they would all be out of business/or ticket prices would go up. Airlines have no control over the weather.
Goodness sakes--people spend the night/get stuck at the airport all the time!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GiGi603
It was cancelled due to weather. If Airlines comp rooms for weather--they would all be out of business/or ticket prices would go up. Airlines have no control over the weather.
Goodness sakes--people spend the night/get stuck at the airport all the time!
I completely agree. ALL THE TIME.
I think the one mitigating thing was the medication(s) were packed in the checked luggage, so for some reason, ALL OF THEM had to exit the secure area and go to the baggage claim. I would think the airline would have handled that differently.
Why couldn't they, after they travelled en masse to the baggage claim, have gone back through security?
It was cancelled due to weather. If Airlines comp rooms for weather--they would all be out of business/or ticket prices would go up. Airlines have no control over the weather.
Goodness sakes--people spend the night/get stuck at the airport all the time!
True ^ . It's rotten luck and frustrating as hell to have a flight canceled due to weather, but it happens. Better the airlines cancel flights than to risk crashing in bad weather. And if airlines had to foot the bill for hotel rooms for all passengers every time they canceled flights due to weather, they'd all go bankrupt pretty quickly OR ticket prices would skyrocket.
Stuff happens. Welcome to real life, kids.
Also, I suspect the adults were much more ticked off than the kids were when the flight was canceled. It was just another adventure for the kids. It was definitely a poor decision to pack prescription meds in checked luggage, but the airline isn't to blame for that, though it could have been handled better. Also ridiculous that the chaperones weren't prepared for this contingency. Shame on them.
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Why couldn't they, after they travelled en masse to the baggage claim, have gone back through security?
Maybe they didn't have BPs for their rebooked flights yet? Those should have been available, but I'm wondering just how experienced the adult chaperones were with air travel. Maybe they thought they had to wait to get them till the next morning.
As I look at it with 20-20 hindsight I wondered why they scheduled a flight that was likely to strand them overnight if something went wrong- but I bet they were trying to save a night's hotel costs. I also suspect it could have gotten expensive really fast (even with discount vouchers) to put the kids up because, with all the concerns about sexual harassment, they probably wouldn't have wanted them to double up in the rooms.
As with most things that happen in travel, you suck it up and move on.
I think the one mitigating thing was the medication(s) were packed in the checked luggage, so for some reason, ALL OF THEM had to exit the secure area and go to the baggage claim. I would think the airline would have handled that differently.
Why couldn't they, after they travelled en masse to the baggage claim, have gone back through security?
Probably because they did not have a ticket for their replacement flight at that time
You can’t go through security w/o having a ticket
I assume some of these adults were parents
I don’t see 11 teachers or admins like a VP making a trip w/9 students
Likely they had lot of moot court paraphernalia that had to be checked because it was too much for carry on
The reason none of the adults sprung for the hotel rooms was maybe some of the kids didn’t have the money to repair their share
No way to tell about what financial resources the kids or the adults had
One of the primary reasons given for people who don’t relocate from the immediate impact area of a hurricane is that they do not have money for motels, gas, food living away from home...
Just my thought but if it was late at night why did ALL of them need to come out to the luggage carousels?
Even if they didn’t know what everyone’s luggage looked like they surely had phones to take photos and identify luggage. Let the people who needed the meds to retrieve luggage...
And you just have to think these are people who probably don’t fly very often
There are still people like that in America
Maybe they didn't have BPs for their rebooked flights yet? Those should have been available, but I'm wondering just how experienced the adult chaperones were with air travel. Maybe they thought they had to wait to get them till the next morning.
As I look at it with 20-20 hindsight I wondered why they scheduled a flight that was likely to strand them overnight if something went wrong- but I bet they were trying to save a night's hotel costs. I also suspect it could have gotten expensive really fast (even with discount vouchers) to put the kids up because, with all the concerns about sexual harassment, they probably wouldn't have wanted them to double up in the rooms.
As with most things that happen in travel, you suck it up and move on.
Late night flights usually have cheaper fares because of the risk you mentioned—being cancelled w/o a flight afterward to rebook and because people don’t want to travel that late and price compensates...
You always should include a buffer or emergency money when you plan to make a trip
And the more strained your circumstances (ie no extra cash/no balance on credit card/unequally financial resources in group) the more you need a cash pillow to draw from...
The kids probably had some money per diem from their school district—
Mine gives student athletes and other contestants for events food money when they travel
And the school would usually negotiate the cost of rooms directly w/the hotel—and the transportation costs
So the money the kids were collecting might have been for additional funds—spending money—
Unless the school didn’t sponsor this trip or they wanted to stay an extra day to sightsee and needed to pay for that on their own...
Just speculating since didn’t read article —which didn’t have lot of info about the background info
If they used a credit card to buy the airline tickets, it may have travel insurance to pay for a hotel that evening. (Trip delay or interruption coverage.)
I blame the adults in the group for this situation. I'm pretty sure it was the adults complaining more than the kids. Don't they know to never pack prescription medication, or anything else essential, in your check luggage, for situations just like this? To me it's common sense. Also, if they really wanted to get a hotel I'd figure at least one adult had a credit card on them, or is that asking too much? This wasn't a money issue, this was a bunch of people who couldn't adjust to a situation out of the norm. And it's not like you needed a PhD to get a hotel if you really wanted one. Another guess is that they just didn't want to spend the money.
Good lesson for everyone though, sometimes things go a little off course and you have to adjust on the fly. Just because you have kids with you don't expect people to break their rules to accommodate you.
I got stranded at O'Hare once. Dec 26, 2009 the day after the Amsterdam-Detroit al-Qaeda bombing attempt. Insane airport security lines at my originating airport delayed all the flights a few hours. I paid the United rate at the Hilton airport hotel and caught a connecting flight the next morning. I recall it was about $100. I don't remember why United refused to pay for the hotel. I guess the delays that day were out of their control.
I'm not going to sleep on the floor in an airport over a $100 hotel charge.
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