Last week, the Department of Transportation announced it had established an online guide to the specific remedies offered by airlines to passengers who had experienced a cancellation or delay that was due to circumstances within the airline’s control.
(To view the dashboard, click here.)
Very soon after publishing the dashboard, which we think is a great idea, controversy erupted between the White House and the airlines about how influential the move had been in getting the carriers to upgrade their offerings.
“We’re proud to report that airlines vastly improved their plans,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Thursday. The Big Three (American, Delta, United) all fired back that while they had tweaked some language and clarified their rules on when passengers would receive compensation for canceled or delayed flights, they had not made any substantive policy changes. While the truth undoubtedly lies somewhere between these two positions, taking a look at the chart is informative in seeing the way different airlines are committed to customer service.
Frontier, Allegiance and Spirit have the most red X marks for non-provided remedies. (No surprise, they’re no-frills airlines.) And while all ten carriers covered will rebook a cancelled flight on their one of their planes, only half would do so on a competitor’s flight.
The DOT site has a list of traveler’s rights regarding cancellations, rebooking, vouchers and refunds, as well as links to each airlines customer service policies.
Regular travelers would do well to know their rights so they can properly get resolution whenever there’s a bump in the road. Teplis Customer Service department is there for our client’s travelers whenever they need assistance! Send an email to customerservice@teplis.com for immediate assistance.
