Little is more frustrating than initially reviewing your cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, onlyto learn once you arrive at the airport that your flight has been cancelled andyou are facing major delays before being placed on another flight.
Before 1978 all U.S. airlines were required to offertransportation on a competitors next flight if that flight would get thepassenger to his destination sooner because of a delayed or cancelledflight. Airlines were even required toplace coach class customers in first class if only a first class seat wasavailable.
Rule 240 mandated by the now defunct Civil AeronauticsBoard was incorporated in all airlines contracts of carriage. Only Acts of God (such as inclementweather) were exempt from this rule.
Because airlines are no longer required to follow thisrule, most airlines have ceased putting passengers on competitors flights whentheir own flights have been delayed extensively or cancelled due to mechanicalproblems. Their passenger contracts havebeen revised to exclude Rule 240.
The good news is that three airlines continue to include Rule240 in their contracts: Alaska, Frontier,and United. If an airline employee fromany of these airlines refuses to place you on a competitors flight when unableto find you a seat on a soon departing flight to the same destination, then youshould remind the employee that its passenger contract includes Rule 240 andrequest to speak to a supervisor, if necessary.
Alaska is the only one of these airlines that still includeslanguage in its contract promising to place passengers in a higher class ofservice than what was paid for if that is all that is available.
The problem these days with planes flying so full is thatoften there are not open seats on other airlines, particularly ones that willdeliver a passenger to his or her destination faster than the next availableflight on the original airline.
In Uniteds definition of force majeure (Acts of God)exclusion includes mention of a shortage of labor which means that theairline would not be responsible for putting passengers on a competitorsflights if a crew did not show up for a flight because their inbound flight waslate.
Even if the airline you are flying on no longer includesRule 240 in its passenger contract, customers would be well advised to askairline representatives if they can be placed on another airline in the eventthat the next available flight on the original airline involves an extensivedelay.
Even airlines not required to do so by their passengercontracts, when so inclined, routinely place passengers on competitors flightsif there is space available. Given thatsuch moves are up to the discretion of airline personnel, fliers should ask ashumbly and nicely as possible.
www.cheapfares.com