American Airlines quietly updated its Conditions of Carriage, which govern what customers can expect for money, a few weeks back.
This sounds boring but it's true: When you fly within the United States, you will want to find out what airline took from you.
J.T., an air industry journalist, first discovered the truth. Genter discovered that the airline illegally undermined key protections customers used take as a given.
1. American states that it is no longer liable for cancellations of flights or routes by "we (or partners). American states that if a flight is delayed for more than four hours, American will not be liable. The company can only issue a refund.
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The airline used to rebook passengers on empty seats.
Genter wrote for Forbes that while this [change] may sound reasonable, it can prove to be a great pain in practice." American Airlines can legally strand you at destination and/or force your bookings for last-minute flights to get you there.
2. American will not rebook passengers on any flight if there is a delay or cancellation. They will only search for seats on American-operated flights.
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Prior to this change being codified, passengers were legally entitled to be rebooked for any flight with open seating, regardless of who operated it. This revision drastically reduces the number of flights that American Airlines can offer you, and could leave you stranded in a city connecting with American Airlines for much longer than it did before.
Genter noted that this policy could cause a delay of just a few hours for routes with multiple American Airlines flights per day. This may be a delay of up to 24 hours for routes that have only one flight per day. This can make the difference between getting to a meeting or attending a special event, and missing it.
Genter stated that the exact same situation happened to him on a trip in Greece. American's crew shortage caused Genter to miss his connecting flight to Athens. Instead of making sure that he had the seats on the next flight available, American waited until a partner carrier had seats. This resulted in Genter losing a whole day of vacation.
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3. If American leaves you stranded overnight, it is the airline's fault. However, if the problem is common, or a mechanical issue, the company will pay for the hotel only if the airline has written authorization.
Genter tweeted: "So, make certain to stay in (long) the airport line to obtain a hotel," Genter said. You are not guaranteed reimbursement if your room is taken by yourself.
This is all legal. This information has been published in the Conditions of Carriage.
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Some airlines call this the "Contract Of Carriage", but regardless of the airline, all passengers agree to these conditions, usually unconsciously, by checking a box when purchasing a ticket. These rules are legally binding between the customer and airline once they have been signed.
Genter summarized the changes in Forbes as follows: "While AA's route network mirrors that of an mainline carrier," Genter said. "Their customer-unfriendly focus now closely resembles that a budget carrier. These changes are now known.
A few travel blogs wanted American to be on their side. They claimed that the airline should be credited for having its agreement printed and matched what it was actually doing in practice. This is the defense offered One Mile at a Time.
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It turns out that this is the official defense of the airline. American stated that they recently updated their contract of carriage in order to better reflect the Customer Service Plan and practices that we have had for several years. "These updates do not reflect any change in policy. They provide more information about what customers can expect during travel, in accordance to domestic travel regulations."
It's not a problem if the paperwork matches the behavior. We don't think it's worth praising the airline's legalese if they now allow passengers to share a piece of the pie.
We are most concerned about the possibility that an airline could legally leave us behind far away from home.
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We always think about the end result and how customers are affected. There is no doubt that consumers now have less protection. American Airlines is exposing them to greater financial risk in a year where the airline's schedules are less reliable.
We're not the only ones feeling this way. Other watchdogs reached the same conclusion almost unanimously.
Matthew Klint, Live and Let's Fly: “Once more, folks, we need a baseline of consumer protections within the United States." You should not be stranded if an airline cancels your flight. This is especially true when the airlines are able to take advantage of both taxpayer-funded infrastructure and direct subsidies through a variety of programs.
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Business Insider quoted Henry Harteveldt as saying: "The concern I have is that American Airlines employees who are not well-trained or well-versed in English would tell customers that they don't need to take you to your destination. We will give you your money back for the portion that was not used.
Paul Ruden, Travel Market Report: "There's something fundamentally disturbing about the possibility of an airline just walking away in such circumstances, leaving the passenger without a flight option and no credit to her account. The concept of "consumer protection" that has fluctuated over the years at Department of Transportation should be reintroduced to address the question of what the minimum obligation of a carrier is once it has agreed to fly you somewhere.
Chris Matyszczyk from ZDNet describes this as a "sneaky" decision and states, "The problem such recondite changes for passenger is that they don’t really know about them." They are affected until they do.
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Gary Leff, View from the Wing: "American Airlinesplease Stop." You are clearly wrong if you have employees who spend their time updating your rules to limit customer rights and updating your Contract of Carriage multiplely per month after being in business for nearly 100 years.
