Consider the consequences for you if you miss your flight or cancel it.
You pay a penalty, and in many cases, the penalty is a higher dollar amount than the original ticket price.
Ticket change fees start at $200 and can go as high as $750 for international tickets.
Fasten your seat belts.
Airlines collected a staggering $2.9 billion in ticket change fees last year.
But what happens when an airline or cruise line doesn’t keep its promise or its schedule?
What are your rights to compensation? In most cases, you have none.
When there are clear violations that are monitored or enforced by federal agencies, how are the airlines punished? With fines.
Consider this: American Airlines was recently fined by the U.S. Department of Transportation for failing to give timely refunds to passengers.
The fine was $250,000.
But let’s add some context to this: as a percentage of the airline’s revenue, this was hardly even a slap on the wrist.
As some critics argued, it was tantamount to receiving a speeding ticket for 35 cents.
The other unreported story? Even when an airline gets fined for consumer or safety violations, the amount is usually substantially reduced after the announcement, so the real consequences for bad behavior are minimal.
In Europe, airlines are now being forced to be more responsible for maintaining their schedules, and passengers are entitled to substantial payments when the airlines fail to do so.
For more information about airlines and air travel, check out:
- FAA to Investigate Shrinking Airline Seats
- Government Tests Effectiveness of TSA Screening
- More Airlines Try to Fit Even More People on Airplanes
Keep reading for more travel tips.
