Travel Tips

Travel Tip: A Traveler’s Right to Compensation

What happens when your flight is delayed or cancelled, or your baggage is lost, or your cruise ship has a serious problem? What are your rights? And how are you compensated?

More and more travel providers do not want to part with cash and their initial offers to the passengers after a big problem is often in the form of a voucher or a minimal number of frequent flier miles.

Recently, Delta delayed my bags on a flight to Florida by an hour. Its offer was 2,500 miles, which, in the scheme of things, was essentially worthless.

Then there was the recent incident on the Norwegian Sun, on a 15 day cruise, when the cruise line decided to do major renovations on the ship during the cruise with construction workers and all of their accompanying disruption, noise and chemicals. The cruise line’s offer to passengers: a 25% discount off their next cruise, unacceptable for most of those passengers. Translation: never accept the first offer in situations like these. 

In the case of the delayed bags, Delta should have offered a considerable number of miles. And on the Norwegian Sun, it was an issue of failure to disclose by the cruise line. Passengers should have received a full refund for that cruise or at the very least, the offer of a free future cruise.

By Peter Greenberg for PeterGreenberg.com

For more on your rights as a passenger, check out: 

Carnival Triumph: Passenger Rights and Cruise Industry Changes

Know Your Legal Rights for Cruise Travel

Delayed Flight? You Might Be Entitled to a Refund