Did you read the contract of carriage carefully?
WHEN we buy a plane ticket from point A to point B, we usually get there without incident. Aside from a few delays, the odd cancellation, or the occasional lost bag, airlines generally do what they say what they’re going to do.
Still, one airline industry expert believes that most flyers have no idea how vulnerable we all are to the whims of these multibillion-dollar airlines, and how much power they have over us.
“You have virtually no rights,” travel writer Joe Brancatelli, founder of the business travel site JoeSentMe said. “If the airlines can screw you, they will.”
Of course, no one’s implying that airlines are evil entities out to toy with you and swindle you out of you money. But in a worst-case scenario, in the rare case when circumstances pit you against a major airline, Brancatelli suggests you recognise that the deck may be stacked against you.
Here are six things travellers may not know about airlines.
1. You signed a contract with the airline, whether you know it or not
“When you buy a ticket, you’re technically agreeing to the airline’s contract of carriage,” Brancatelli says. The contract of carriage, or COC, is a document put out by airlines that is effectively their contract with their passengers. And since each airline drafts its own COC, it shouldn’t surprise you that it’s heavily tilted in the airline’s favour.
“The airlines pretty much write the contracts that you agree to,” says Brancatelli. “And we passengers treat them just like we treat mobile phone contracts: We don’t read them. And that’s where most of the bizarre stuff is buried.”
Airlines post their contracts of carriage online. They usually have similar policies and include similar language in their COCs. While steeped in legalese, they make for some intriguing reading because of the interesting (and slightly unnerving) nuggets they include. Such as …
2. The airlines don’t really have to take you anywhere
Brancatelli warns that your ticket is not a contract, and the arrival times and destinations printed on it aren’t binding. “The airlines say in their contract of carriage that they have no duty to honour their posted schedule, which means you can’t complain that they’re 11 hours late — they have no duty to take you where the ticket says you’re going,” he says.
Look closely at the contracts of carriage and you’ll see the airlines give themselves one big out that allows them to opt out of taking you where you want to go, when you want to go. The Big Three all have language in their COCs that, with slight variation, mimics the following: “Times shown in timetables or elsewhere are not guaranteed and form no part of this contract. Schedules are subject to change without notice.”
They also say the airline “may alter or omit the stopping places shown on the ticket in case of necessity.” Guess who gets to define “necessity” (hint: it’s not you).
“Their contract says, ‘We know what the ticket says, but if we don’t want to fly you to Christchurch, we’re not going to fly you to Christchurch,’” Brancatelli says of the airlines. “And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
It’s obvious the airlines include such language to protect themselves from overly litigious passengers who would almost certainly try to sue over a weather-related cancellation or a flight that was diverted to another city due to a medical emergency or security scare.
Brancatelli acknowledges that airlines aren’t seeking carte blanche to fly passengers wherever they want to on a whim.
“I’m not saying the airlines routinely take people who are planning to fly to Christchurch and dump them in Auckland,” he says. “But they claim the right to do it. And people should know that the ticket gives them virtually no protection.”
Wait, that doesn’t look like Christchuch .
3. Class mapping
“Class mapping is a totally different category of egregious,” Brancatelli says about a standard airline practice few travellers know about. The “class” in “class mapping” doesn’t refer to different levels of airline service — first class, business class, economy, etc. — but rather to different fare classes airlines charge for any given flight.
With class mapping, Brancatelli says, passengers who book a flight with multiple stops are automatically bumped into the highest fare class for each segment of that flight.
So if you’re booking a flight with one or more connections, Brancatelli says, you are vulnerable to class mapping.
“On a simple journey it may mean a couple of bucks,” he says. “But on a longer-haul international journey, we may be talking about hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars.”
How do you protect yourself from class mapping? It’s possible, but it takes some effort. Brancatelli recommends going online and comparing the overall Proute fare the airline quotes you against the individual fares you’d get if you were to book separate flights for the different legs. Whichever option is the cheapest is the one you go with.
4. Flying is a cattle call
“There are federal regulations about how much space you must give cattle when you’re transporting them, but there’s no federal regulation about how much legroom the airline has to give you.”
That’s true: Regulations mandate a minimum amount of space that livestock are allowed on trains and trucks when they’re being transported. One consumer group, FlyersRights.org, is lobbying for federal seat standards on planes.
But for now, at least when it comes to the room we have on flights, humans are at the mercy of airlines, especially the budget ones with notoriously cramped seats.
5. Tickets are no longer exchangeable
There was a time when, if your flight was cancelled and the gate agent was feeling charitable, your airline would rebook you on another airline’s flight at no additional charge. That practice was called interlining, and it’s fast becoming a relic of air travel.
Brancatelli remembers the good old days: “When there was a cancellation, Delta would say, ‘Sorry, we had to cancel our flight. But I see in the computer that another airline is flying in an hour, so we’re gonna get you on that flight.’ Now, their answer is, ‘Sorry, pal. Tickets are no longer exchangeable among airlines.’
“Now, your airline ticket is only good on the airline that wrote it.”
6. Even if your carry-on bag is ‘regulation’ doesn’t mean it’s getting on a plane
You slavishly measured your carry-on bag. You placed it in the little measuring bin in the terminal. But then you get to the gate and the flight attendant says, “Sorry, but you can’t bring that aboard” — even though that same bag has been carried aboard dozens of previous flights.
Turns out, following all the carry-on rules doesn’t mean your carry-on is getting on. “None of their published rules about carry-on bags can be enforced by you,“ says Brancatelli. “None.”
Go back to the contracts of carriage. Most airlines include the size limits for carry-on bags in their COCs. But there’s also usually a clause that means the airline employees make the final call as to which bags get on board the aircraft.
Brancatelli says it’s a frequent complaint: “Business travellers tell me, ‘This carry-on’s been with me for 25 years. It fits in the sizer. It meets the rules the airline publishes.’ And the flight attendant or gate agent says, ‘I don’t want this bag in the cabin.’ And if you don’t check it, not only do they have the right to deny you passage, they will claim you’re interfering with the flight and call a cop and have you arrested.”
So how do you deal with these shocking realities of air travel? Brancatelli says there isn’t much you can do. Arguing is often pointless, especially if you get the wrong employee.
“If they’re in a bad mood, they will call a cop and you will be arrested,” he says. “Don’t be an airline lawyer.” Instead, it’s best to do what the airline crew tells you to do and take up the matter with the airline after the flight.
Again, chances are you’re going to fly and everything’s going to go according to plan — yours and the airline’s. We should add that most of the airline workers we encounter are extremely nice and helpful people.
But in dealing with the airlines, it’s always good to know where you stand. And the reality is, just as when you’re flying in an plane, you’re not standing on solid ground.
This story originally appeared on YahooTravel and was republished via FoxNews.
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