by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 6, 2011 | Airlines, Industry News |
In a press release today, United and Expedia announced the extension of their relationship that will continue to allow Expedia and Hotwire users to have full access to United/Continental’s entire timetable for booking flights. Obviously this is good news for other Star Alliance Partners like Lufthansa, US Airways, etc. due to codesharing agreements among alliance members.
As part of the agreement, United will connect its customers to Expedia’s affiliate network of approximately 145,000 hotels world wide. I suspect this will continue to allow United customers to directly book hotel rooms at the same time they book their airline tickets.
Nothing really earth shattering with this news, more of an extension of an existing relationship thats been in place for 15 years.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 29, 2011 | Airlines, Industry News |
Saw this tonight while browsing.
Apparently US Airways is standing by a decision to not refund fares to a family after cancer diagnosis of one of the passengers.
In a story posted on www.FoxNews.com a family had spent $4200 for tickets for a dream trip to Belize after one of the family members was cleared of breast cancer. However before the trip was to take place, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer and was ordered by her doctor not to fly.
US Airways is not refunding the fare, standing by the fact that the airfare was non refundable.
I don’t understand why US Airway would simply not refund the fares as a goodwill gesture. Apparently the passenger provided all the medical documentation supporting her situation but it did not change US Air’s position.
To US Air: The $4200 in refunds is a small drop in the bucket compared to the potential loss in future revenue by this event. Sometimes its just better to the right thing vs. just following policies.
Please let me know your thoughts. Is US Air right in their strict interpretation of their policies, or was this one of those situations where a little bit could have gone a long way?
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 23, 2011 | Industry News |
Last week, a charter flight operated by Comtel Air enroute from Amritsar, India to Birmingham, England landed in Vienna on a scheduled refueling stop at which point passengers were asked to raise $31,000.00 to buy fuel to continue their journey. Rumors had apparently spread about Comtel being insolvent so Vienna’s Airport operating authority did not extend credit to the airline for the fuel. Passengers were literally asked to combine their cash and were also permitted to go to ATM’s to withdraw funds in order to pool enough “gas money” together. Passengers were allowed off the airplane 1 at a time to visit an ATM (Do ATM’s even hold $31,000?). On board, passengers were able to scrape together approximately $200.00 among their loose change.
One of the crew members was quoted as saying “We need some money to pay the fuel, to pay the airport, to pay everything we need. If you want to go to Birmingham, you have to pay.”
How’s that for a for a cabin announcement!
It took passengers 6 hours to pony up the gas money so they can continue onward.
Comtel issued a statement saying everything is fine, however airport operating authorities in England are saying that Comtel flights through this weekend have been canceled.
Meanwhile back in Amritsar later on Tueday, it was reported that yet ANOTHER Comtel Air Flight was asking passengers for an additional $200 each just prior to boarding to cover additional expenses to get the plane airborne.
Lets take a moment and reflect on our own airline industry. As much as there is to criticize of our favorite airlines, having to pay for things that were once complimentary such as checked luggage and the wonderful inflight cuisine, never, ever have we been asked to pitch in for fuel while sitting on the tarmac in order for our journey to continue. Considering its Thanksgiving, that is something to be thankful for!
UPDATE: It appears that several people associated with Comtel have met with legal difficulty according this Article. Thanks to mht_Flyer from Milepoint.com for the link to the article.
