Rule 240 Revisited

By George Hobica

Much has been written about something called Rule 240. Some pundits claim it’s an “urban travel legend” and no longer exists. Others disagree.

What is Rule 240? Well, back in the days when airlines were regulated by a government agency, they all had to abide by some sensible rules to protect passengers in case of, among other things, a cancellation or misconnection that was within the airline’s control. These rules were incorporated in the airlines’ contracts of carriage. Post-deregulation, these rules no longer had to be followed, but some airlines, whether formed after or before deregulation, perhaps because they were too lazy to completely rewrite their contracts, kept the same rules. Airlines formed after deregulation typically didn’t incorporate these rules into their contracts, and some have done away with them.

Anyway, Rule 240 originally stated that in the event of a cancellation or flight misconnection, the airline would have to put you on their next flight out, or, if that wasn’t “acceptable,” on the next flight out of a competing airline if that flight would get you to your destination sooner, all at no additional cost to you. If only first class was available on the other airline, then they had to upgrade you. This only applied in circumstances under the airlines’ control, such as crew failing to show up, or mechanical problems.

So does Rule 240, or something like it, still exist? Well, we searched the contracts of carriage for a bunch of big and smaller airlines to find out, and near as we can see, several airlines, such as Alaska and United, still have something they call Rule 240, and others, such as Delta, Southwest, and Virgin America, have more vague language saying that they will put you on another airline at their “sole discretion” or that they “may substitute alternate carriers.” And some airlines don’t call it Rule 240 at all, instead using a numbering system of their own invention (Alaska calls it "Rule 240AS" for example, and Continental calls it "Rule 24").

Keep in mind that airlines can change their contracts at any time, and several of the larger ones have done so in recent months. And sometimes there isn’t a flight on another airline that will get you there sooner, especially if you’re traveling from or through a so-called “fortress hub,” such as Atlanta, a Delta Airlines stronghold, or there may be no seats available on the other airline’s next flight. Also, if you're traveling on a "bulk," "consolidator," or other unpublished airfare, then all bets are off.

To address the skeptics, in the chart below we’ve done our best to interpret the airlines’ policies, and have excerpted the actual language from their current (as of May 2010) contracts of carriage, which, although we're travel journalists not lawyers, we assume are legally binding documents. Below the chart, we’ve also provided links to the contracts on the airlines’ Web sites so you can see for yourself.

We've noted whether, near as we can tell, the airline will put you in first class on its own (or another carrier's) next flight out.

Rule 240 (or something like it) by airline

Airline	Coach?	First Class?	And we quote….
Air Tran	No	No	Not applicable
Alaska	Yes	Yes (amazingly, yes)	“If acceptable to the passenger, [Carrier will] provide transportation on another airline's direct flight, or combination of connecting carriers … in the same or higher class [emphasis ours] of service on the passenger's ticket at no additional charge.”
American	No	No	“When cancellations and major delays are experienced, you will be rerouted on our next flight with available seats. If the delay or cancellation was caused by events within our control and we do not get you to your final destination on the expected arrival day, we will provide reasonable overnight accommodations, subject to availability.”
Continental	Under some circum-stances	Yes on CO only	“CO will transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination in the same class of service, at no additional cost to the Passenger, provided that a Passenger who paid a Coach fare will only be transported on a flight in First Class or Business First Class Service subject to seat availability and if such flight will provide an earlier arrival than CO’s next flight on which coach space is available; Reroute Passengers over the lines of one or more carriers when a Change in Schedule results in the cancellation of all CO service between two cities.”
Delta	Maybe	Maybe	“At our sole discretion, we may arrange for your travel on another carrier or via ground transportation.”
Frontier	Yes (if arrival delayed 4 hours or more)	Only on Frontier	“If the delay or misconnection is caused by Frontier, Frontier will transport the passenger without stopover on its next available flight in the same or higher booking class, at no additional cost to the passenger. If Frontier is unable to provide onward transportation that arrives within four hours of the passenger’s original itinerary, or at the passenger’s request, Frontier will arrange for the passenger’s transportation on another carrier or combination of carriers with whom Frontier has agreements for such transportation.”
Hawaiian	Yes	Yes	“If the carrier causing such delay, or in the case of misconnection the original receiving carrier(s) is unable to provide onward transportation acceptable to the passenger, any other carrier or combination of connecting carriers, at the request of the passenger will transport the passenger … in the same class of service as the passenger's original outbound flight; or if space is available on a flight(s) of a different class of service acceptable to the passenger, such flight(s) will be used … only if it (they) will provide an earlier arrival at the passenger's destination.”
JetBlue	No	No	“Whenever Carrier cancels or otherwise fails to operate any scheduled flight, Carrier will, at the request of the Passenger either transport the Passenger on another of Carrier’s flights on which space is available at no additional charge or provide a full refund.”
Southwest	Maybe	Probably not	“At times, without prior notice to passengers, Carrier may need to substitute other…airlines…”
Spirit	No	No	"Spirit will not reimburse customers for flights that they take on other carriers."
United	Yes	No	“If UA is unable to provide onward transportation acceptable to the passenger UA…will arrange for transportation on another carrier…with whom UA has agreements for such transportation…in the same class of service as the passenger’s outbound flight at no additional cost to the passenger.”
US Airways	Maybe	Maybe	“When a ticketed customer holding confirmed reservations on a flight will be delayed because of a schedule irregularity (whether a missed connection, flight cancellation, omission of a scheduled stop, substitution of equipment or a different class of service or schedule change), US Airways will rebook the customer on its next available flight to the customer’s ticketed destination without additional charge. If US Airways is unable to provide onward transportation, US Airways may attempt [emphasis ours] to rebook the customer on the next available flight of another airline with which US Airways has an agreement allowing the acceptance of each other’s tickets.”
Virgin America	Maybe	Maybe	“Virgin America may, without notice, substitute alternate carriers…”

Links to contracts of carriage

AirTran
Alaska
American
Continental
Delta
Frontier
Hawaiian
Jetblue
Southwest
United
US Airways
Virgin America

And if you're traveling within or from any member country of the European Union, you're protected by an additional set of rights that are even stronger than those in the airlines' domestic contracts of carriage or those issued by the US government:

See: Passenger Rights in the European Union.

Read our other useful charts

In case you missed them, these consumer-oriented charts have a lot of useful information:

The flexible search chart

The ship your luggage by UPS or FedEx ground chart
(very useful comments from readers)

The don't buy insurance from your airline chart

The cash back credit card chart

The frequent flyer fee chart

The constantly updated airline baggage fee chart

and The "other" airline fee chart

Categories: Airline Industry News

Even the term "vacation" is exciting and almost everyone enjoys taking vacations as a break from their daily, routine life. Vacations are a great break from the mundane routine and they are often treated as quite rejuvenating

by travel agency on Monday, October 03, 2011

Correct, I meant PHL and not PIT.

by matthewsoft on Monday, May 10, 2010

I have personal experience with both United/US Airways and Spirit. Although Spirit may say they will not refund a passenger who buys a ticket on their own, they did pay for all new tickets on American when their ORD-FLL flight was canceled because of a possible bird strike upon takeoff on the FLL-ORD flight. We all were very surprised when the manager at ORD came and told us all to move next door to American so they could all rebook us. She has corporate credit cards out and handed them to a bunch of first class ticket agents. It was really quick! We had to be booked to MIA instead of FLL as there were no more nonstop flights to FLL on AA [or any other carrier]. AA did have a 1-stop through DFW to FLL, but I think that ticket may have been more expensive as only a few people got on that flight [perhaps those making connections]. Although we had found 1-stop flights for only $100 or so, the AA ticket was $200 something. Even though we didn't make it to Florida until later that day, we did all make it. What's even more surprising is the fact that me and my travel companion only paid $9 for the fare [$9 fare club]. As far as United, I got caught up in a big east coast weather problem and US Airways/America West reservation merger meltdown. The first UA flight was on-time, but as were pushing back, something broke when they were releasing the plane. We could have just left, and deplaned on the tarmac in PIT, but the pilot didn't want to do that. So I got rebooked directly to RIC. RIC flight was late incoming from east coast [supposedly bad weather]. Left late and ran to my connection on US, but missed it [one of only a few on-time US flights that day]. US rebooked me on American [may have been UA ticket tho]. Although I got UA to put me back on their metal, I didn't end up getting to SEA until the next morning. It was an adventure to say the least, one I don't want to repeat.

by matthewsoft on Monday, May 10, 2010

good article was an eye opener

by plyometric training on Sunday, November 08, 2009

well that is interesting, didn't know about that whole rule 240 thing

by dresser on Sunday, November 08, 2009

great article mate , i always prefer to travel on delta flights

by sideboard on Saturday, November 07, 2009

rule 240 exists for sure. My brother works for an airline and he told me about it.

by wedding cakes on Saturday, November 07, 2009

i always prefer to travel on delta flights

by mirror on Saturday, November 07, 2009

Somehow I like Rule 240 because it kept airlines in check. Back then I once enjoyed PANAM upgrading me from economy class to business class of another of their flights, when the one I was scheduled to fly on developed technical problems. The good thing was I didn't have to pay any extra cost.

by Traffic School on Thursday, November 05, 2009

I was told that they could not put me on a WestJet flight and that if I wanted to take it, it would be all out of my own pocket.

by bookcase on Monday, November 02, 2009

It's somewhat good to revisit the rule airlines were bound to abide by in those days. Coming to terms with our past helps us to have a foothold of the future.

by Rave Clothing Store on Saturday, October 31, 2009

great article mate , i always prefer to travel on delta flights

by rug on Sunday, November 01, 2009

I have had both good and bad luck. The best example of good luck was: In October of 2006 I was traveling with my daughter from Sacramento to LAX for her to be on a TV show that night. Our flight on United was cancelled and no space available on a flight for 6 hours. The staff at United made reservations for us on SWA leaving in 1 1/2 hours at the same price. However, United would have to give us a credit and we would pay SWA. An extra step but we made our appointment in LA.

by Emo on Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Luckily I haven't had to deal with anything like this. All of my flights have been out on time, thanks goodness!

by bowling how to on Tuesday, October 27, 2009

I'm glad to hear about Rule 240 still being in effect with some airlines. It's a great policy!

by MIG Weld Techniques on Thursday, October 29, 2009

"next flight out of a competing airline if that flight would get you to your destination sooner" - genius. I never realised that... now to make good us of this knowledge!

by Hamster Go on Friday, October 30, 2009

This is why the travel agent is playing a pivotal role in the industry. I have had nimerous clients call me while seated on the plane that the flight is a no-go, find them someone else, by the time they dis-embark, they have a new reservation with either the same or competing carrier and they are on their way, unlike those that have booked with the airline directly, or worse through on online agency with no support, they stand in line until there are no seats left on anyone and are stuck. To clarify, 95% of my clients are corporate, though.

by table on Saturday, October 24, 2009

I am from Vanuatu and also now am reading in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Fonts with math support serif fonts sans serif fonts typewriter fonts calligraphical fonts uncial fonts.Sums up the standard type fonts using the fontfactory."

by chest on Sunday, October 25, 2009

I was notified that I had been arbitrarily rescheduled for a flight the following morning. I again checked weather maps across the US and learned that it was essentially clear everywhere. I was perplexed that weather could remain bad all day and they would know it was bad when the day hadn't even started. I truly feel I was being given an "excuse.

by furniture on Monday, October 26, 2009

Gone are the days when those airlines were being regulated to abide by such rules. Well, it's good to revisit those rules.

by Air Transportation on Monday, October 26, 2009

Will rule 240 apply to tickets purchased with frequent flier miles? If not, is they any airline rule for dealing with travelers using frequent flier miles on cancelled flights?

by antique on Saturday, October 24, 2009

I think rule 240 is up to the airline company - their own terms can trump rule 240 so not sure if it's applicable everytime for every airline.

by Gents Talking Watches on Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Very useful information. Didn't realize that there were so many hidden rules and regulations.

by web developer on Tuesday, September 08, 2009

phew! I usually fly Northwest, and like them best, so I'm safe with rule 240.
i'm taking a flight with a connection in a week, so i'm nervous about delays/cancellations.

by austria railway tickets on Friday, September 18, 2009

Great blog, I had no idea about all those carriers having such rules. I understand now that all they want to do is to protect themselves. What happened to customer service?

by pokies on Tuesday, September 08, 2009

y friends are booked on a flight that was suppose to leave on October 10th to Peru...and the airline cancelled the flight for that day and are offering to reroute them on October 11th.

by Club Penguin Cheats on Friday, August 28, 2009

Just this past Monday my flight was canceled from Nashville to Oklahoma City due to mechanical problems with the plane. Northwest did rebook me on a flight the following day, offered me a hotel room, gave me $15.00 in meal vouchers, and upgraded my flight on the leg from Nashville to Memphis from Coach to First Class. The leg from Memphis to OKC remained Coach. It does appear that they are continuing to live by Rule 240, at least in my experience.

by Cheap Auto Insurance Quotes on Monday, August 31, 2009

I had a very similar experience to you on Northwest, at least they are way better than my experiences with Delta and United.

by phd in psychology on Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Thanks for reminding me and others about this rule. It always seemed like a myth to me. Glad the fine print for several airlines has been laid out here.

by Kids Games on Wednesday, September 02, 2009

very good

by Hal? Y?kama Makinas? on Thursday, August 20, 2009

It seems that Rule 240 is not in used by any airlines as of now. While people travel from one place to another, they need some kinds of guarantee.

by travel bookmark on Saturday, August 01, 2009

I was told that they could not put me on a WestJet flight and that if I wanted to take it, it would be all out of my own pocket.

by online interior design degrees on Thursday, June 11, 2009

Rule 240 is not followed as it should be, because some airlines pick and chose how they interpret the ruling, and in most cases it differs widely.

by Tampa Doctor Ratings on Tuesday, July 14, 2009

We flew from SFO to London on Virgin 2 yrs ago. Our flight was cancelled & Virgin promptly put us on an AA flight to LAX then to London. The flight in LAX was put on hold till the 10 of us arrived.

by Char on Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I had a terrible situation with Alaska Airlines in February 2008.
My husband and I were going to Maui, Hawaii for our honeymoon. Approximately 45 minutes after we boarded our plane we were out on the tarmack and told that there was a problem with the plane and that everyone needed to get off.
We had to run approximately 1km in freezing temperatures (-22) to get back to the airport terminal.
Once inside we were told that there had actually been a small fire in the cockpit and that they were hoping to put us on the next plane arriving from Seattle so that we could still catch our connecting flight in Seattle.
I am not sure exactly what happened next but the end result was that the plane they had in mind would not be able to turn around and go back to Seattle in time for us to catch our connecting flight.
We raced back through security to the main terminal and back to the ticketing desk in hopes of getting onto the next available plane.
We were the 3rd couple in line and it took over an hour for us to have our turn at the counter. We were very polite and the agent did the best she could to accomodate us given the circumstances. There was only one of her and a line up of at least 300 people and I felt terrible for her. After checking multiple flights and many different connecting city options it turned out that the only way for us to get to Maui before Sunday (we were supposed to fly out at 4am on Friday) would be for us to take 5 separate flights.
I was nearly in tears thinking about how we were going to waste the first two days of our honeymoon in airports. I called a friend and had her look online to see if there were any flights to Maui with other airlines. We discovered that West Jet had a flight that was leaving within a couple hours and we could be in Hawaii by Saturday morning rather than Sunday afternoon.
I was told that they could not put me on a WestJet flight and that if I wanted to take it, it would be all out of my own pocket.
We ended up taking 5 flights over a 36 hour time period to finally get to Maui. On top of that we were flagged for extra security screening (apparently this is common when you have flight/ticket changes). We had to go through the full security screening 5 different times!!
Alaska gave us each a $200 voucher towards another flight but we haven't decided if we want to try again.

by Chelsey in Canada on Friday, December 12, 2008

Your summary of EU passenger rights isn't quite correct, from my reading.

You are protected if any of the following are true (regardless of class of service, type of airline e. g. Low Cost):

Flight starts within EU (any airline*)
Flight is to EU on an EU-domiciled carrier

* What's not clear is if this only applies if the ticket is purchased from an entity based within EU for non-EU domicilied carriers, and whether an airline website for an EU domiciled airline used abroad would count as purchased from within EU

If the ticket is on a non-scheduled charter airline available only as part of a packaged holiday, slightly different arrangements apply (but still pretty strong, and probably not worth covering in detail for your audience).

It's fair to say that some airlines will attempt to deny this rights at the airport, and will only cough up required compensation in response to a small claims court action within a relevant jurisdiction (country of airport or country of incorporation of carrier).

by Miles Thomas on Wednesday, October 15, 2008

When a Northwest flight I was on was cancelled completely and I was rescheduled to fly out much later and arrive much later than I had intended I was told by a Delta counter person at the airport that you should find out who the airlines partners are (Delta is Northwest's) and approach them if your airline refuses to help you to your standards. They ended up "stealing" our flight from Northwest under the rule and putting us on the best one they could, apparently Northwest had to pay the difference.

by Kat on Monday, October 27, 2008

What about Spirit Air? I was scheduled on a direct flight from Detroit to Los Angeles and the flight was canceled due to pilots calling in sick. After waiting for 3 hours I was finally given a flight out the next day on a connecting flight. I showed up for that flight only to find out that at the time it was booked I was told it wasn't confirmed and the flight was booked. I'm a bit confused because Spirit Air gave me the itinerary with the confirmation number on the print out. The only thing that was done by Spirit Air was put me on a connecting flight later that day and no compensation was given. Am I entitled to some kind of conpensation from Spirit Air?

by Traci on Friday, September 12, 2008

In reference to Rose comment on oct 292008. What is a FIM (flight Interruption Manifest.

by natalie on Friday, November 07, 2008

You need to do some home work. Ask about what's called a FIM. (flight interruption manifest)

signed former airine station manager

by Rose on Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Interesting chart, the only time I was ever rerouted because of an airline problem was recently on Spirit Airlines. Although I only paid $9/each-way before taxes for the flight to FLL, the manager at ORD got out the corporate credit cards and took us all over to American to be rerouted to MIA. We thought we were going to be stuck and I was checking one-way flights on my laptop, and in fact one passenger in front of us already booked on American herself before the manager came out, oops! Seems like Spirit almost never cancels their flights tho, flightstats.com didn't show one cancellation out of ORD, so I was quite surprised, but they think it was a bird strike on the way to ORD. Needless to say I was quite happy I didn't have to pay a one-way flight for two people since our hotel/car/etc were all non-refundable Priceline bidding. As a result, I have three more trips booked with Spirit!

by Matthew Weyer on Thursday, October 30, 2008

No, not recently. Several years ago Northwest cancelled a flight and tried to get us a seat on Delta Airlines. After contacting them and sending our luggage to them, NW sent us to the Delta ticketing counter who decided they wouldn't accept our tickets after all even though they had empty seats of the same class. They didn't tell us why but we had purchased them from a discounter. The NW agent told us they would transfer our luggage back to a later NW flight. When we arrived in Italy on the later NW flight, it did not have our luggage on it. Two days later the Italians delivered our luggage which had been found on the the Delta flight that refused our tickets. So much for the requirement to fly with your luggage. Good thing we weren't terrorists.

by Jan H. Zimmerman on Monday, August 04, 2008

Not exactly what you wanted to hear, but I was in a similar situation last week. I was on Delta out of CHS, connecting thru Atl, final destination Omaha, NE. Checked in online the day before, printed my boarding passes; showed up at the airport at 6:30 for a 7:20 AM flight. When I arrived, flight status was showing delayed by 2 hrs, due to bad weather the day before causing crews to arrive late and therefore restricted from flying without required rest. The delay caused me to miss my connection in Atl, so Delta had unilaterally rerouted me on next avail flight. Okay, I understand crews needing rest, but because there are weather delays so often, can't the airlines have a contingency plan for such an occurrence? This was the first flight out, and it threw a kink in the works for the rest of the day for flights into/out of Atl. Stupid. PLUS: they wouldn't give me a boarding pass in Charleston for my Atl leg, although the ticket agt insisted that because I had a receipt that said "CONFIRMED RESERVATION", I was guaranteed a seat on the later flight out of Atl, which I knew was BS. And sure enough, there were of us in Atl who had been rerouted with no seating assignments, and the flight was oversold, so it was a crap shoot as to who got on and who didn't. I did, thankfully, but some people did not.

I didn't think to ask if there was another carrier with a flight that would have gotten me into Atl in time to make my earlier connection, but apparently, it's at their discretion. Hmmm. I wonder what they would have done if I'd demanded to be put on another carrier's flight??? Probably nothing.

by janet segell on Monday, August 04, 2008

As a former airline employee and now a travel agency owner, I have seen this rule trampled. When I worked for a MAAjor airline we would do everything possible to get the traveler to their final destination ASAP, if not on our AAirline, anothers, even on bucket fares. Today is a different time and place. Most of this boils down to "service". Of which not one domestic carrier strives - to my knowledge - believe in. This is why the travel agent is playing a pivotal role in the industry. I have had nimerous clients call me while seated on the plane that the flight is a no-go, find them someone else, by the time they dis-embark, they have a new reservation with either the same or competing carrier and they are on their way, unlike those that have booked with the airline directly, or worse through on online agency with no support, they stand in line until there are no seats left on anyone and are stuck. To clarify, 95% of my clients are corporate, though. So paying the difference or getting the refunds is not normally a problem.

by Jack Gaffney on Tuesday, August 05, 2008

by cheryl scroggins on Friday, August 08, 2008

Caught in the Wednesday debacle of United's pilot law suit and abuse of 'sick' leave abuse, an agent tells me that my 4 mileage first class tickets are not eligible for any compensation. In rescheduling, there are no first class non-stops, my original itinerary, until I agree to pay $150 per ticket. They then magically appear!

by Sis on Saturday, August 02, 2008

I just had a very nice experience with American last week. Due to weather my DC-Boston flight was cancelled. When the agent went to rebook me he said he could get me on an 11:30 flight the next day. I asked if there was any way to get home earlier. Without any hesitation he said"I can book you on United's 6:30am flight." American did not have to do offer another airline since my cancellation was not "within their control." Nice job American!

by Gen on Friday, August 01, 2008

Having been caught in the July 30 UAL pilots lawsuit/abuse of 'sick' leave policy slowdown, I'm told that my 4 mileage first class tickets are not eligible for any compensation. In rescheduling, there are no return, non-stop first class, my original routing, available until I agree to pay $150 per ticket. All of a sudden, seats are available!

by Sis on Saturday, August 02, 2008

I recently flew Delta from St. Louis to Miami. My outbound flight was delayed 10 hours due to "weather. " When I inquired about flying on other airlines through different cities, I was told they were not authorized to transfer me. I also checked the weather and learned that it was clear or had cleared during the day. The problem was simply that Delta was backed up and I was flying on a small connector flight that generated little revenue to them. I missed my daughter's bachelorette party while sitting in the airport.
My inbound flight, four days later, was cancelled due to "weather. " I was notified that I had been arbitrarily rescheduled for a flight the following morning. I again checked weather maps across the US and learned that it was essentially clear everywhere. I was perplexed that weather could remain bad all day and they would know it was bad when the day hadn't even started. I truly feel I was being given an "excuse." They would not reimburse me for food, room, or another flight. I would have missed work as well. I chose to fly on Southwest and pay whatever it took to get me home. They were fabaulous - on time, gave me a great fare, recognized my frustration, and were happy to have my business. The employees at Southwest understand that the reason they have a job is because they have satisfied customers.

by Kim on Monday, August 04, 2008

I have found that just good common sense works best for me, ie: politeness and compassion for the airline staff.

When the s#%t hits the fan, these people are about to experience a very bad day (think of your bad days!).

I will approach the ticket agent and say something like, "I'm so sorry you have to go through this - it must be murder. Is there anything I can do to help get me on a flight to my destination within several hours? And would you like me to help some of your unruly passengers calm down?"

You'd be surprised how simple courtesy, and an understanding of the staff's situation, can make a difference! Can you imagine being on the front line of 300 angry passengers?!

Identify with their situation, praise and thank them for doing a good job despite terrible circumstances, and you will be rewarded. It's a win-win situation.

Remember, you'll always get more with candy than poison. Just put yourself into their position and think about how you'd like to be treated... and what you'd do for that wonderful passenger who took the time and effort to comfort your nerves.

Safe skies to all.

by Jeff Lipsitt on Thursday, July 31, 2008

One of my concerns, is that on United, to use my frequent flyer miles between Chicago and Seattle, I have to take a flight from Chicago that stops in Orange County, change planes and go to San Francisco, then change planes and go to Seattle. My understanding is that if there is a delay (say, at O'Hare), I can only be rescheduled for exactly the same destination itinerary (including the two stops)---even if there may be seats available on a United flight that goes directly to Seattle, my final destination. This seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Is this really true?

by mmeade on Friday, August 01, 2008

Last April I was to fly back to Chicago from Westchester County Airport in NY on American (Eagle). We sat on the tarmak for an hour as the airplane crew waited for a flat tire to be checked. Finally, they told us we had to deplane.

There was only one flight left for the day and that was on United. Seriously short of computers on the gate side, they sent several of us out past security and to the ticket desk to get our rerouted United tickets, with the admonishment to hurry because the plane was leaving right away.
We had to go through security again, and could not get any preferential placement on the line. I ran back to United to get someone to help us through. It didn't make a difference. Several of us were asked to step into a holding area, with no explanation, while others on the line went through. We were there for 10 minutes (and I was frantic).

Finally, I learned that we had been tagged for an extra individual security check on our tickets, so felt they had to find more personnel to do the individual checks. The manager of TSA there ambled across the airport obtaining another guard's help and then ambled back with him again. They did a very slow check on us, and finally I ran out to the plane, to find they had just pulled back the staircase leading to it. I was told (along with two others) that it was too late, and to go back into the airport.

There were no additional flights out to Chicago that day. No compensation was offered. American said the problem occurred with the United ticketing. United said the problem occurred because of TSA (security group). TSA said it happened because the airline people were too lazy to fill out the necessary papers to keep the ticket from tagging us for extra security (apparently, when there is a very late check-in, the "machine" automatically tags that person for extra security check.) This is a small airport, and everyone knew what the situation was with the mechanical failure and reticketing.

I blew a gasket. I was told I could take the next plane out in the morning. No apologies, no accountability, you're on your own. After much pressure, they offered a night's accommodations, but since I was near my sister's home, I did not need it. The problem was that I needed to be in Chicago first thing in the morning, and because of the bungling of a number people and systems, I was not going to be able to get out, even though the opportunity had been there. After about an hour of loud and obvious complaining, American gave me a $200 voucher in "compensation."

(Meanwhile, my sister, who had heard about the situation in a voice mail I left her, had come to fetch me, and ran in quickly to find me. She got a $50 parking ticket for leaving her car momentarily along the curb to do so. The reason I flew there was to support her after she got a cancer diagnosis. By the time the night was through, we were both completely stressed out. I wonder why I'm getting to hate flying?) This was my second disastrous experience at Westchester County Airport.

by mmeade on Friday, August 01, 2008

I booked a flight from Columbia, SC to White Plains, NY. My flight was cancelled due to weather issues. I asked to be rerouted because I had to be in NY that night, and the Delta attendant put me on a flight 2 hours later. I actually arrived to NY earlier than expected. My returning flight was delayed, and I had a connection in Cincinatti. So, I wasn't going to make it. I would've had to stay in Cincinnati overnight. So, I asked the attendant to do something about it. She put me on a non-stop flight that same night (like 4 hrs later). I think that rule works. In both cases, I benefited from the change because I didn't arrive to White Plains, I arrived to LaGuardia which is the airport I wanted to go from the beginning but it was so expensive. On my way back, I arrived earlier as well. On top of that, I sent an e-mail because my flights were changed so many times, and the customer service wasn't as great. So, they gave me and my sister 2 $100.00 voucher . It really worked out for me and for my sister who was travelling as well.

by Candy on Thursday, July 31, 2008

I've been a supervisor for a major airline for 8 years and we've never written 240 on a ticket. We can not stand when people even mention it. The standard rule is that if the flight is cancelled due to weather or anything outside that airlines control, the airline is under no obligation to doanything except book the customer on the next available flight. If the flight is cancelled due to something in the airline (mechanical delay or crew issues) then we will automatically start rebooking all customers on the next available flight on any airline using the rule 120.20 THe problem with people (like oprah, she announced this) thinking the airlines are obligated to move everyone regardless of reason, that is unfair and causes a lot of trouble for everyone because the computers are now set up to where an employee can't change a ticket without an override. Trust that the people in the airlines want you gone as badly as you want to be gone. We all fly too and yes, you may be stuck in the airport a few hours, but we're stuck in there every single day and its not getting any easier...

by Julie Maloney on Thursday, July 31, 2008

I've been flying American pretty religiously for about 13 years. They used to be the cheapest and they had good service. I flew to Cancun last January and then was able to use frequent flier miles to Australia this past March. On both trips, American "canceled" my flights, but would not officially cancel them as they would then be required to rebook everyone. Both times the reason for the major delays were mechnical problems. If I remember correctly, according to the gate agents, American had 3 planes (all of which we were scheduled to take) allegedly break on the Cancun trip. We even boarded one and then had to get off, go to another gate, and wait for another plane that they eventually declared broken as well. There was another flight on American with open seats available, but because they wouldn't officially cancel the flight, they wouldn't rebook us. I almost ended up spending my 30th birthday in the airport in Texas because American refused to rebook anyone. The delay also significantly reduced an already short trip. On the Australia trip, after several delays and refusing to give any indication as to when we would be leaving, they again announced that the plane was broken, but they wouldn't cancel the flight. After a 16 hour flight from Melbourne to LAX and many hours waiting in the airport, it took a lot of crying, telephone calls, and begging of the gate agents in LAX before someone finally agreed to rebook me on the earliest flight to Boston the next morning. Everyone else was forced to hang around the airport all day. They eventually found a plane and got everyone else into Boston at about 3am. After the long flight from Australia (and actually getting into LA earlier than I had left Melbourne), I was not capable of sitting in the airport all day, getting into Boston at 3am, and then driving the 2 hours home. So not only will they not rebook you on a competitor's airline, they won't even rebook you on their own airline - even when the delay is their own fault. Oh, and after being stuck at LAX all day with no ability to leave the area since they wouldn't tell us what they were doing or what was going on, they eventually did get around to giving us a whopping $10 for a meal.

by Stephanie on Thursday, July 31, 2008

Will rule 240 apply to tickets purchased with frequent flier miles? If not, is they any airline rule for dealing with travelers using frequent flier miles on cancelled flights?

by Joe on Thursday, July 31, 2008

My mother and I traveled roundtrip on American Airlines from JFK-BCN in May. Upon arriving at the BCN airport to return, we learned that our flight never showed up from JFK due to weather. When we told them we had to arrive in JFK to connect to subsequent flights, we were immediately sent to the Delta counter, where we were assigned Business class seats on the next flight to JFK (our AA seats were coach) which left 1 hour earlier than the original AA flight. No questions asked. I believe the fact that we were at the airport 3 hours before our original flight certainly helped, as after they filled up that flight, others had to have other arrangements made to return. However, AA did everything possible to get everybody home. On the other hand, last summer my son and I were traveling from PHX-HNL on Hawaiian Airlines. When an airplane part malfunctioned, we were forced to wait until the next day for the next HA flight to HNL. We were given meal and hotel vouchers and transportation, but no mention or attempt was made regarding placing us on another airline's flight that day.

by Lisa M. on Thursday, July 31, 2008

Will rule 240 apply to tickets purchased with frequent flier miles? If not, is they any airline rule for dealing with travelers using frequent flier miles on cancelled flights?

by Joe on Thursday, July 31, 2008

we booked a flight on allegiant air six months in advance for our vacation. two weeks before our departure date we were e-mailed that our flight home was canceled and we would have to take a flight two days later, had we done this we would have had to pay fifty dollars each way times four people to change our plans, which we couldn't have done even if we had wanted to-as i said our plans had been made months in advance. we asked the airline to pay for the extra lodging since we were a family traveling on a budget and there were no openings for the extra nights at the grand chateau with such short notice and we were traveling with two pre-teens so we couldn't stay just anywhere and buying new tickets that close to our travel date was not an option because as i said earlier we were traveling on a budget. allegiant air said the only thing they would do was refund our money or send us back on their next flight no empathy, no understanding- they could have put us up at any one of the many hotels they deal with on a daily basis probably at no charge to them but no they refused to do anything to help. i did not know about the contract of carriage because it was my first flight, i simply read through all the rules and regulations printed after getting my tickets and figured that i was somehow protected-wasn't i surprised, well to make a long story short we didn't let allegiant air wreck our vacation we figured it out and had a great time........but you can bet we won't be using allegiant air next year when we fly to florida for our cruise. thanks for listening

by lori on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Love the "Probably not" in WN's First column!

Thanks for doing all the legwork to keep us up to date on Rule 240. It's greatly appreciated.

by ftboxo on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I can vouch for American Airlines. Several months ago, when they were having their equipment problems, I was booked on two flights -- New York/Chicago/New York. They made alternative reservations for me, both of them within 30 minutes or so of my original AA reservations. And at no additional cost to me. I was very pleased with their service.

by wendy morris on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I had round trip tix from Newark to Manchester NH with Continental and they called me 10 minutes before the car service was to arrive to take me to the airport to tell me my flight had been cancelled. They booked me on the next morning's flight, which was unacceptable, since I'd miss half a workday (I was traveling on business). I called and asked them to book me on the evening flight and they said no. I asked if they could find me another carrier that would get me there the same day. After 10 mins on hold, I was told they "could not do that." They offered me a flight that night to Boston, but I'd still have to get myself to Manchester on my own. I finally decided to drive. They gave me a full refund. Turns out they canceled the flight I would have taken home, too. Hmph.

by Barb on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

by Art Clinton on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I recently used Rule 240 on United Airlines when they standed me in San Francisco overnight. There was no way that I could be left in San Francisco for the night as I had a business meeting the following day.
They flew me to an alternate city that was acceptable to me and gave me a $50 voucher for use toward future travel.

by Jerry B. on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

When Delta airlines changed the departure time for a connecting flight my wife was to be on such that the connection was no longer possible (in fact, a so-called "illegal" connection), we asked that she be put on another carrier. Delta refused, resulting in her arrival home 13 hours later. When I later wrote Delta about this, we got a very insulting letter. Delta, an carrier we once preferred for its outstanding service, now resides at the bottom of our airline preference list.

by JonK on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Rule 240 exists. If an airline cancels a flight for other than weather or air traffic control, a traveler can request protection on another airline - rule 240.

by Karmen on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

phew! I usually fly Northwest, and like them best, so I'm safe with rule 240.
i'm taking a flight with a connection in a week, so i'm nervous about delays/cancellations.

by flovebunny on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

It's important to note that the "next available seat" on a given airline might not be any time in the near future. Two years ago, Continental canceled my brother's late afternoon flight out of Little Rock for weather reasons and offered its next available seat TWO DAYS LATER. By the time all passengers had been dealt with the offer was up to THREE DAYS. And no compensation since it was a weather delay. I managed to get Continental to refund half his round-trip fare, which paid only part of his fare on Southwest, which had plenty of seats available early the next morning. In my opinion, Continental's handling of this incident was not acceptable.

by Eric on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Last year we flew on US Air from Boston to St Kitts. We booked the entire RT flight with US Airways. They had us change planes in St Maarten. St Maarten has a rule that requires you to be checked in a minimum of 1 hr prior to leaving on your connecting flight. US Air neglected to do this and MANY of us were stranded. Although we were there in plenty of time to walk over to the plane - 3/4 of the people on our flight from the states were denied boarding on our connecting flights that were all originally booked with US Air on various island airways. No compensation was offered. US Air said it was a problem with the island airlines and the island airlines said it was all booked with US Air and it was their problem. Needless to say, after HOURS waiting for a flight that wasn't booked, we arrived. However, I would rather swim than fly US Air ever again.

by Caren Maynard on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Last January a friend and I were going to Vegas for 2 days. Our non-stop flight was at 8 am from Minneapolis. I live 3+ hours away, so we were on the road when I got a call on my cell phone (around 4 am) saying that our flight on US Airways was cancelled. They could put us on one in the late afternoon, around 5 pm. I said I found that unacceptable because our trip was for such a short time. I asked about a different airline, I was on hold for about 10 minutes, but he came back saying that we now had reservations on a Northwest non-stop flight that left at 9 am.
Sometimes, you just have to ask. I hope I am not an exception, but the rule.

by Laurie on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

My job doesn't require that I travel much anymore but the last time I did, I was on an American Airlines flight (New Orleans, La. to Dallas, Tx) that never left the ground. While taxiing out to the runway the plane's back up brake system began to fail. We sat for 10 minutes while Maintenance diagnosed the problem, red-x'd the flight, and sent us back to the terminal. All 250 passengers were left fending for one of only three seats available on the only other AA flight to DFW that day. The line at the AA counter was long and was not moving. Remembering the article about Rule 240 (by Peter Greenberg) I printed only weeks earlier I called AA reservations and, when told there were no other AA flights available that day, I invoked rule 240. The rep politely put me on hold and after a short period came back on and told me that she had checked with Northwest Airlines and they had a flight at 4:00 pm (about a 3-hour wait) but, unfortunately, it was already booked. However, she went back to work looking for another flight and a few moments later came back on to tell me she found a Delta Airlines flight, also at 4:00 pm, and booked me on that. It was going through Atlanta and would get me into San Antonio (home) that evening. She said to simply pick up my boarding pass at the Delta counter. I picked up my luggage, stepped out of the AA line, and walked past over 100 people from my original flight and headed... home! Thank you AA, you have world class customer service.

by Michael Fisk on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I had booked a family of five for a personal trip via Continental about a year ago. They rescheduled two of the five to a different connection for the outbound trip three days prior to the flights! Supposedly, when the reservations were made, a note was inserted that both res #'s were a 'companion'-type and had to be together.

I called the 800#, and explained that although they were ticketed for a different return date, the two rescheduled were supposed to fly with their PARENTS on such-n-so flight.

As the phone agent hemmed & hawed, I finally asked her: "Do you really want a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl to travel unescorted on your airline?"

That pretty much got the gears spinning. By the end of my 25-minute conversation, the entire family was outbound together; and the phone agent actually apologised.

Of course, now they are all older--but I still make sure everything's in writing (e-mail) before I hang up that telephone.

by Jennifer on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

In March 2007 my Delta flight from Seattle to JFK was cancelled due to an East coast snowstorm. Delta wanted to reschedule me on the same flight 2 days later, but I politely but firmly asked to be booked that same day on a different airline. They ended up booking me on an Alaska flight to Salt Lake City, to reconnect with Delta on a SLC-Atlanta-LaGuardia flight. The two Delta legs of the trip had no Coach seats available, so the agent asked if it would be okay to put me in First Class... I sighed, and said yes, I could put up with that.
For that, and for the way they dealt with other harrowing elements of that trip, I thought at the time that Delta provided outstanding service in their attempt to get me to my destination -- and now I see from this chart that they really weren't required to do all that they did. I ended up being very expensive for Delta on that trip, relative to my original ticket price!

by Tamara on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

US Airways was very cooperative with me when Expedia.com purchased red-eye tickets on one of their flights, rather than normal tickets. We had ordered weeks in advance (at least one month), and US Airways got us a flight with Delta, and even paid the difference. Yay US Airways!

by Stuck in Syracuse on Tuesday, July 29, 2008

What about Spirit Air?

by Ryan on Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I think this would be Spirit Airlines Rule 240 equivalent.
When a ticketed passenger holding a confirmed reservation on a flight will be delayed because of a schedule irregularity (including but not limited to, a missed connection, flight cancellation, omission of a scheduled stop, substitution of equipment, a different class of service or schedule change), Spirit will rebook the passenger on Spirit's first available flight to the passenger's destination without additional charge.
Can be found here http://www.spiritair.com/contractofcarriage.aspx

by AstroCity on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Just last week, Continental called my cell at 11:07 p.m., only five hours before I was scheduled to drive to the airport to catch a 7 a.m. flight. The recorded message informed me the flight had been cancelled.

Before I called Continental's 800-number, I did a quick search on Kayak.com to determine which flight would get me to my destination nearest the originally scheduled flight. When the Continental agent told me they had scheduled me on a random flight that would place my arrival more than two hours after the original flight, I simply stated, "I would prefer to fly on Delta flight ####."

"Delta?" the agent responded.

"Yes, I would prefer to fly on Delta flight ####," I repeated.

"Well, I'll have to get a supervisor to okay that," she explained.

"Thank you," I replied. "I'll be happy to wait."

After waiting 63 minutes on hold, I got the Delta flight. Which was still better than arriving seven hours later than I had planned.

by Rebecca McCormick on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

We've actually provided links to the EU rules before. We'll add them to the bottom of this posting. Thanks.

by on Sunday, July 27, 2008

Does anyone know what the rule is for Copa Airlines? My friends are booked on a flight that was suppose to leave on October 10th to Peru...and the airline cancelled the flight for that day and are offering to reroute them on October 11th. Is Copa Airlines obligated to help them get on another flight (regardless of airline company) on October 10th?

by Lily on Monday, July 28, 2008

As a "Customer of Size" I think it would be really helpful if you could also put together a list of airline policies as it relates to CoS.

by Tim on Monday, July 28, 2008

Of course if you are flying out of Europe on any international carrier or into europe on a european carrier you get a whole host of protection and compensation thanks to the EU.
Good outline is available here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6199297.stm

happy flying
kevin

by kevin on Sunday, July 27, 2008

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