New Airline Tactic for Overbooked Flights?

[sengsational]

I hope someone tells me I'm over the top on this, but knowing how slimy airlines tend to be lately, especially US(eless) Air. Maybe this can be a post to collect 'yeah, this happened to me' too comments, and we can see what airlines let this happen.

The airline collects your email an/or cell phone number to give you alerts about your flight. That seems great....until they lie to you.

11 hours before scheduled departure, an American Airlines email said our plane would be 30 minutes late taking off. Not a big deal.

But 6 hours before scheduled departure, an American Airlines email said our flight would be delayed 2 hours and 10 minutes.

So you wake-up early in your Paris hotel room, get this email, and do you still show-up at the airport on-time for the original departure, or do you hit the snooze bar?

Luckily, we never saw that email until later; we got kicked off the hotel wi-fi before that misleading email from American Airlines was sent, or I might be writing this from Paris. We got to CDG two hours before the originally scheduled departure and started boarding on-time with a plane that was fully booked, and they were calling for volunteers.

So, slim-ball tactic (AA/US Air realized they were "too over booked" and wanted to encourage some people no be a 'no show'), or just an oversight?

 

[marko]

I hope someone tells me I'm over the top on this, but knowing how slimy airlines tend to be lately, especially US(eless) Air. Maybe this can be a post to collect 'yeah, this happened to me' too comments, and we can see what airlines let this happen.

So, slime-ball tactic (AA/US Air realized they were "too over booked" and wanted to encourage some people no be a 'no show'), or just an oversight?

Interesting tale! My experience with airlines (over 4,000,000 miles on one airline alone, 6MM total) has me wondering if you're giving them too much credit.

I'd chalk it up to incompetence coupled to a twitchy scheduling system. I just don't think they're THAT clever.

 

[akck]

I think it was an honest mistake. I was on a flight where they thought the flight we'd be delayed for an hour initially. Turned out to be about 20 minutes with most of the time taken to fill out paperwork.


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[rodi]

On an international flight I'd be too nervous to trust the delayed flight notice... I'd still show up on time.

Glad it worked out for you.

More importantly- did you enjoy Paris?

 

[Peter]

On an international flight I'd be too nervous to trust the delayed flight notice... I'd still show up on time.

+1

 

[pb4uski]

+2 I would only show up at a different time if they changed the scheduled times for the flight.

 

[sengsational]

+2 I would only show up at a different time if they changed the scheduled times for the flight.

Yep, I know I would not have simply pressed the snooze bar since I had a car scheduled. Without the scheduled transportation, I'd probably have checked the schedule, and, at least the one at the airport, said 'on time'.

About the trip, should anyone be interested in my ramblings:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/touring-paris-for-4-days-78416.html#post1625213

 

[45th Birthday]

They owe compensation for international flights that arrive late, so they do everything they can to avoid that.

 

[sengsational]

LOL, American delayed my flight over the pond by 8 hours (turned my flight into the cheaper red-eye that I was trying to avoid), and I didn't get squat, even though I pursued it with them. Is there somewhere else to complain? It's been 8 months.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

I got a notice via text message on my cell phone that my flight had been delayed 20 minutes. I was sitting in an airport lounge at the time. I decided to go to the gate on time anyway. The flight left at the scheduled time, not the delayed time. Don't know if anyone missed the flight because of the message, and wondered how they could make a mistake like that, since I got the message only about an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave.

 

[ivinsfan]

Automated messages just aren't that reliable unless it's an actual flight cancellation IMO. I was once at the gate when boarding already had started and I got a text saying the flight would be delayed one hour. Took off 5 minutes early...

I don't think it's deliberate, just that the system is not bulletproof and completely up to the minute. Honestly I'm not sure why they send day of travel notices because things change so quickly...I ignore them anyway and always go to the gate. I've have gate announcements that were completely wrong too, like at departure time saying we'll be delayed 15 minutes when the incoming flight isn't even on the ground.

 

[sengsational]

A lot of anecdotes about incorrect alerts!

I was once at the gate when boarding already had started and I got a text saying the flight would be delayed one hour. Took off 5 minutes early...

I imagine if I were in the security line, I'd not run to the front of the line, and so miss my flight at my own expense.

...wondered how they could make a mistake like that, since I got the message only about an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave.

My experience was a notice that came 6 hours before, so maybe there was some maintenance that didn't need doing after all, or something. But one hour? Hmmm. That sounds like the airline had intent in that case. Do you recall the airline? Is there an agency that tracks the accuracy of these notices? Seems like an easy problem to solve...subscribe one email address to every flight*, then cross-reference with the actual departure records.

* Legislated, of course. That would be the hard part since, well, no comment as to why that would be hard.

 

[HFWR]

I've told this story before... I had a flight on SWA from Dallas to Detroit. There had been a massive ice storm (or two?), so I arose early, checked LUV and STL, and checked the airline website. No mention of any problems. We left Dallas, flew to St. Louis, circled the city, then the captain announced that the airport was closed, so we headed west to Kansas City. SWA then put me on a flight to Baltimore, and after a five hour layover, I finally boarded a flight to Detroit.

Apparently no one wanted to "own up" to the problems; better to load us onto the cattle car, er, uh, plane, since then we were trapped...

 

[Midpack]

+2 I would only show up at a different time if they changed the scheduled times for the flight.

+3, though the OP's story is indeed surprising, good way to really unnecessarily irritate your customers...

 

[foxfirev5]

And the kids at work can't understand why I let my passport expire and refuse to fly.

 

[Chuckanut]

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

 

[aja8888]

35 years of flying all airlines, many of which are no longer with us. The best advice:

Show up when the flight was originally scheduled, and at least an hour ahead of that time.

 

[flyingaway]

Last year, I had a delayed international flight back to US and missed my connection. Later United sent me an e-mail asking for feedback. At the end of the survey, they asked me if I wanted some future flight credits or some miles (for appreciation). I chose miles and was asked to enter my United FF number. After that, I hit the submit button and the system was hanged there. I tried it at least 5 times with the same outcome. I did not get any compensation. I thought they deliberately prevented me from entering my FF number to avoid compensation.

 

[athena53]

I've have gate announcements that were completely wrong too, like at departure time saying we'll be delayed 15 minutes when the incoming flight isn't even on the ground.

I always go to the Arrivals Board and look for the flight that's coming into our gate and check its status. Once I actually went to the gate agent and pointed out that the inbound was scheduled to arrive about 10 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off. She just smiled cryptically and said, "I'm supposed to tell you that the flight takes off at (the posted time)".

There was, however, one dark and stormy night at Newark where the agent pretty much said they were making decisions where to deploy a flight as planes came in, so they could end up sending you out from a different gate. I appreciate it when their honest answer is a simple "we don't know".

 

[fritz]

Sengsational- my years of business travel found Northwest pulling a similar scenario. They canceled my flight out of Midway via email without a whole lot of time to make arrangements, and had me depart from Ohare w/o changing my return flight (figure that one out). They had also cancelled my flight out of Minneapolis due to mechanical issues and that same plane goes to another gate and eventually leaves for another destination (not enough passengers to make it worth their while). They also had so many categories of pre-boarding, that when it got around to regular boarding - no one was left but us frequent flyers of other airlines One of my group had his laptop stolen in their MN high flyers private club hangout.

Southwest was fairly reliable, but you can sit on your butt a for "a while" waiting for them to get clearance to take off (when no one else was crazy enough to do it). Always liked SWA - one of my favorites (the flying bus).

American Airlines always seemed to sit on the tarmac (any tarmac, anytime) waiting for a gate - always late.

Got a free ticket from ATA for making me wait at Midway for over 8 hours for a flight to Dallas. They went bankrupt two weeks later (had to know this was coming when they handed them out that day)...

My words of wisdom to those that still travel by air -

• "The later in the day - the later the delay".
• Try not to fly in the a.m. on Mondays, or the p.m. on Fridays.
• If there's an illness going around - you'll most likely get in passed to you on a plane. Sick people will not forfeit their ticket if they come down with an illness that they should stay home with (kind of like a cruise ship and all those "unexplained" pass-around illnesses that come aboard). I spent almost an entire business trip in a hotel room with the flu - probably should have gone to the emergency room.

I am one of those retired former frequent business air travelers that no longer flies unless it's unavoidable. Every time I'm forced to fly - my experience is that it just keeps getting worse. It was much nicer pre 9/11.

 

[marko]

Got a free ticket from ATA for making me wait at Midway for over 8 hours for a flight to Dallas. They went bankrupt two weeks later (had to know this was coming when they handed them out that day)...

Back in the 60's my friend worked for a company that was American Airlines largest single customer by far. He and his boss had missed an evening flight home and were stuck for the night.

His boss picked up the phone, made some loud noises and within an hour, a plane was pulled up! They got on as the only passengers and were flown back home. AA actually brought in a plane special for them.

I trust my friend's story; he never embellished or stretched facts. Of course this was the 60's and things were quite different.