This Week’s Featured Link
American Airlines Updates Its Contract Of Carriage Again To Further Limit Passenger Rights – View from the Wing
No, no it doesn’t. A variety of bloggers picked up on American’s contract of carriage changes previously, and there was a big focus on how American said it would only be liable to give you a refund if your flight is canceled/delayed more than 4 hours. The thing is… right below that, American also said how it would provide reacommodation options. Somehow, this got ignored and twisted into the idea that American just has to give you your money back and might strand you. Now, American listened to all the confusion and complaining and linked the two so it was clear that the airline would give reaccommodation options as well as a refund option. Now, apparently some think that’s bad. What on Earth…
Image of the Week
Two for the Road
Weeks before planned take-off, ITA could delay its start, extending Alitalia’s life until March – Aviacionline
If there’s any airline that could screw this up, it’s Alitalia/ITA. If this happens… I just can’t even fathom how this would work. We are just over two weeks away from ITA’s launch. But ITA did say that it has a fleet plan now, so maybe this will all just be rumor.
Bringing Aloha to Afghans: ‘They have nothing and they have been through so much.’ – Mana‘o
Hawaiian published an interview on its blog with two of the crewmembers that flew refugees from Dulles and Philly to military bases around the US.
11 comments on “3 Links I Love: Contract of Carriages, Alitalia 4 Ever, Afghan Aloha”
That livery… Wow, just wow. Those colors will draw some double takes.
When the plane is approaching its next round of heavy maintenance, perhaps Emirates will receive an offer or two from a high-end, all-inclusive island resort who would like to buy the plane (perhaps sans wings), and have it transported to their property so that the resort can convert the colorful fuselage it into a special $50,000/night bungalow.
/I mean, I’m sure that won’t happen, but with a paint job like that, that’s the first thought that comes to mind for me… That, and, “Did a cruise line buy an A380?” ;-)
Cranky bends a knee for AA. Today must be a day that ends in a Y.
Sorry Brett, but even if American is telling you that they are just trying to clean up language and be responsive to criticisms,
1. That’s not what the latest language change does. Maybe they meant it to and they just have bad lawyers. They updated the section on not giving refunds and the new language adds another (meaningless) caveat to refunds it doesn’t say they will offer them.
2. Saying AA will reaccommodate passengers doesn’t change that the latest update is to the refunds section, not the reaccommodation section and the changes to THAT section haven’t been changed.
3. You misconstrue me consistently in this – as I acknowledged from the start, before your initial post on the AA CoC – American was just ‘cleaning up language’ to make sure their Contract of Carriage matched their actual practice (which by the way suggests actual practice on reaccommodations was not in line with their CoC – oops). However they’ve got lawyers spending time how to figure out ways to reduce customer rights that they hadn’t thought of before during the past century. That’s what troubles me.
American Airlines has become worse than Delta and United on refunds by the way requiring a 4 hour schedule change before a customer is entitled to one, and though I’m not sure it would withstand DOT scrutiny the CoC has theoretical hurdles even on top of *that*.
So no – this isn’t defensible as much as you seem to want it to be…
Cranky,
I’m confused (not just the “easy-to-read” language in a airline’s Contract of Carriage. If the USDOT manages these Contracts for the airlines, don’t any changes have to be approved by the USDOT before they can be put in force? And why aren’t they doing something to have the same Contract of Carriage for every US-based carrier?
Angry Bob – DOT doesn’t manage the contracts. Internationally, the contracts are more uniform because airlines must abide by the Montreal Convention. But domestically, the airlines can do whatever they want within the bounds of the law. That’s why American can have a really crappy 4 hour refund policy while others are much more friendly.
In reading both Cranky Flier and View From the Wing, I get the definite impression that Mr. Leff has an axe to grind with American Airlines. It’s almost as if he’s out to get the airline. I know Mr. Snyder worked for a couple of airlines (including America West where he worked with Doug Parker – a fact he openly discloses). Mr. Leff doesn’t include any real-world airline industry background in his bio, and merely offers a bunch of meaningless blather.
I remember a marketing seminar I went to years ago. The presenter mentioned that there are two ways to become an “expert.” One is to study diligently and gain experience over the years. And the other is to merely brand oneself as an “expert.”
To that point, I tend to give more weight to commentators who’ve actually worked in the industries they cover. To me, first-hand experience matters.
We all have our biases. But someone who holds himself out as an “expert” or a “thought leader” (whatever that is) really should be a bit more objective in his coverage of the industry. That’s especially true if he alleges that he’s serving the reader.
So in the dispute over the “truth” about articles regarding American’s contract of carriage, I trust Cranky Flier over View From the Wing. Mr. Snyder seems to be far more objective and balanced.
I was trying to put into words why I dislike View From the Wing and you nailed it.
On a totally unrelated note, I read on Airliners.net that Ed Beauvais, who founded America West, has passed away. I haven’t seen anything else to confirm the story, however. I have a number of friends who have fond memories of Mr. Beauvais, and loved working with him.
Brett, not sure if you saw it, but Ed Beauvais died on Monday. He was a good man and well respected. (can’t say much good about his children and extended family members working at HP…)
Yo – Word travels fast indeed. I had no overlap with him at America West since I was post-bankruptcy, but I’m sure my job wouldn’t have existed had he not started it!
It was a different place before Franke…