I went out of town recently for three days, which ended up turning into four days, thanks for a very long and very inconvenient airline delay.
On my way home from Phoenix, I had a layover in Los Angeles. I had four hours to spend at LAX, which I thought was plenty of time before going to Vancouver, and then off to Smithers. Turns out it was not enough.
As soon as I got to my gate, the information board was saying the incoming plane was delayed by 15 minutes, which I thought wasn’t horrible, so I grabbed an (overly expensive) coffee and sat down.
Shortly after, police and firefighters escorted a man in handcuffs off the plane. I didn’t think much of it, but assumed that was the delay. But then the information board flashed a new delay, it would now be two more hours.
I did the math in my head and thought I was still ok, I could make it. But then another hour popped up and I knew I would be cutting it close.
My heart sank. I tried asking around, I needed to know what the delay was about. Another passenger on my flight said there was an unruly passenger on the incoming flight that destroyed a row of seats. The airline needed to switch out the seats.
Then the information board said we were changing gates and getting a new plane. I knew at that moment I wasn’t making my connection to Smithers. So, everyone waiting for this plane, moved across the airport. And then another delay, now the airline needed a new crew because the plane was a different size.
We were told to scan a QR code to talk to an airline representative who would help us with connections and get us some sort of compensation. I was offered a $15 meal credit. I walked around LAX, nothing was under $15 but I didn’t have much of an appetite. I just wanted to get home.
Finally, we were allowed to board, almost six hours after we were supposed to. While in line at the gate, someone told me she had already applied for compensation and was awarded $400 cash for the delay. I thought, I’ll deal with it when I am home, because I still have a long way to go.
After yet another delay on the runway, we finally took off and finally got to YVR. I changed my flight from Smithers to Terrace because there is currently only one flight into YYD and I didn’t want to wait until the following day to be home.
I was grateful for the late flight into YXT and very grateful for a local sister-in-law who picked me up and let me hang out at her house until my husband could come and rescue me. Of course, my bag didn’t make it and we had to wait until the morning flight to bring it to me before leaving Terrace. It turned out to be a very long journey home.
Once home, I looked at the United Airlines website, and according to their own policies, I was entitled to $400 because there was a delay of more than four hours due to a mechanical issue. (Which is the reason for the delay that I was told at the gate by a United agent.) So I applied and received an email back with a $125 travel credit to be used with United.
That didn’t make sense. (Also, useless to me because I won’t travel with United again in the foreseeable future. Nothing against the company, I just don’t have any plans to travel to the United States.
I emailed customer care back and I was told that it was an operational issue for safety reasons and therefore I was not eligible for the $400.
Unreal. I will try one more time but I don’t have my hopes up. Airline travel protection is a joke.
It isn’t so much that I feel entitled or want the money, it is the fact there are laws and policies but it seems like companies can choose when to follow them. So, what is the point?
