I am in a hotel near the airport of Deseret’s capital city. I was supposed to be flying back to Colosse today, but things did not work out as planned. After a few hours in the car driving down here, I was informed that the first leg of my flight was postponed due to weather. That postponement would mean that I would miss my connecting flight. No other flights, on any other airlines, were going to get me to Colosse. And because it was an “Act of God” I would not get lodging for the night. So I type this from a hotel room.
What’s particularly annoying is that I paid for extra legroom for the flight down and according to the contract, I won’t be getting that money back. Also, I prepaid for checked luggage. Tomorrow, I will have to pay for my checked luggage again.
It’s well documented, and not an altogether negative thing, that airlines are keeping their fares low by nickel and diming. I say that this is not an altogether negative thing because it makes sense for people who bring along extra stuff and want extra legroom to pay more. However, while they are required to make alternate arrangements for Acts of God to get passengers to their destination, and not upcharge you for the ability to do so, I guess they get a pass on the nickel and diming.
Either that or the lady behind the counter really hated me and none of the above is true.
That’s totally ridiculous. As someone who doesn’t need more room on a plane and almost never checks luggage, I realize I’m the benificiary of some of their nickel-and-diming. However, charging you extra for something that you never receive, due to no fault of your own, and not being refunded for it should be illegal. Ditto on the baggage checking - you paid for it once, which gets everyone else all the way to their destination.
What scares me the most is that these policies seem to [i]reward[/i] airlines for weather delays.
Comment by Linus — January 2, 2012 @ 11:05 am