U.S. Airways Boots 274 Stranded Passengers From PUJ Airport

exek · #1 08-16-2008, 05:04 PM

It was on the Philly news station and Consumerist picked it up U.S. Airways: U.S. Airways Boots 274 Stranded Passengers From Caribbean Airport, Refuses To Pay For Hotels

I understand its weather related and all but show a lil compassion. US Airways and Punta Cana just lost 274 customers or 1644 potential customers if you do the customer service rule that one p!$sed off customer tells 6 people rule.

edm7583 · #2 08-16-2008, 11:50 PM

*yawn*

Cancelled flights happen every day all over the world, and the airline's only obligation is to rebook you on the next flight and get you to your destination eventually. They are under no obligation to provide hotel vouchers, free meals, etc. The comments allegedly made by some of these passengers were good for a laugh, though. "umm, we're like, you know, like in a foreign country, and umm, it's just not safe out there."

The same thing happened to me in Punta Cana Airport in February 2007,(on a different airline, though). The flight was cancelled until tomorrow becuase of a snowstorm in the US and the other passengers were acting like it was the end of the world. You just go back to your hotel and come back in the morning. This is what travel insurance is for.
Oh, and 274 passengers?! That must have been a big plane.

Beads · #3 08-17-2008, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edm7583

*yawn*

Cancelled flights happen every day all over the world, and the airline's only obligation is to rebook you on the next flight and get you to your destination eventually. They are under no obligation to provide hotel vouchers, free meals, etc. The comments allegedly made by some of these passengers were good for a laugh, though. "umm, we're like, you know, like in a foreign country, and umm, it's just not safe out there."

The same thing happened to me in Punta Cana Airport in February 2007,(on a different airline, though). The flight was cancelled until tomorrow becuase of a snowstorm in the US and the other passengers were acting like it was the end of the world. You just go back to your hotel and come back in the morning. This is what travel insurance is for.
Oh, and 274 passengers?! That must have been a big plane.

Even if they couldn't provide free rooms and meals the least they could have done is help people make hotel arrangements and not order them from the airport.

The airline most definitely could have done more in this case even for a minimal cost.

Probably be more expensive in the long run with all the bad press and lawsuits to follow.

edm7583 · #4 08-17-2008, 11:39 PM

Punta Cana Aiport is not a public airport like the others in the Dominican Republic. It it owned by the Punta Cana Resort. When all the flights are done for the day,the doors are locked, the lights go out and everyone goes home. They can't just hang around overnight. They are on private propery and the airport owners have every right to show them the door and tell them to come back for the time their flight is rescheduled.

-Bad Press? I just did a Google news search of "US Airways" and no mainstream news outlet has reported on this nonstory. In fact, the only thing that came up was the bizarre left-wing website linked above. Again, things like this happen all over the world every day, what makes this one newsworthy?
-As for lawsuits, when you buy a ticket on any airline, you agree to their contract of carriage. It clearly states that there is no compensation if a flight is cancelled for weather other than rebooking you on the next available flight at no charge, or if you chose not to fly, a refund for that portion of the ticket. Your choice. There's certainly no guarantee in there that they get you to your destination on time. They just agree to get you there eventually. What damages would they sue for? They would be laughed out of any court in the United States.

Beads · #5 08-18-2008, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edm7583

Punta Cana Aiport is not a public airport like the others in the Dominican Republic. It it owned by the Punta Cana Resort. When all the flights are done for the day,the doors are locked, the lights go out and everyone goes home. They can't just hang around overnight. They are on private propery and the airport owners have every right to show them the door and tell them to come back for the time their flight is rescheduled.

-Bad Press? I just did a Google news search of "US Airways" and no mainstream news outlet has reported on this nonstory. In fact, the only thing that came up was the bizarre left-wing website linked above. Again, things like this happen all over the world every day, what makes this one newsworthy?
-As for lawsuits, when you buy a ticket on any airline, you agree to their contract of carriage. It clearly states that there is no compensation if a flight is cancelled for weather other than rebooking you on the next available flight at no charge, or if you chose not to fly, a refund for that portion of the ticket. Your choice. There's certainly no guarantee in there that they get you to your destination on time. They just agree to get you there eventually. What damages would they sue for? They would be laughed out of any court in the United States.

Since the airport is owned by the resort shouldn't they be responsible for their customers? Maybe bus them back or if their rooms are now occupied try to help them find accomodations?

Theres such a thing as providing a service for your customers and keeping them happy so they keep coming back. You apparently don't understand this concept.

I can understand if the company isn't responsible for paying meals and hotels for all those people but how about a little consideration for them as human beings? or even as people who just spent money coming to your resort when they could have easily gone someplace else?

GRS · #6 08-18-2008, 10:48 PM

The airport did offer transportation and hotel accomodations to the stranded passengers, they refuse because the airline wasn't going to pay for it. People should check their facts before complaining.

edm7583 · #7 08-19-2008, 07:23 AM

Ah, the truth comes out. I knew there was more to this nonstory than meets the eye. Since it's August, I'm sure they must have had the empty rooms. Neither US Airways, nor The Punta Cana Group, who owns the airport, was legally obligated do do a thing. The fact that they offered rooms at the resort and transportation was a nice gesture, and they probably would have gotten the rooms at a good rate since it's low season, but they refused since it wasn't going to be given to them for free. Airlines are not charities, yet the cheap, spoiled US public (and others) continue to scream and whine for constant free handouts. These are probably low yield passengers getting a rock bottom package deal in the slow season, and the cost for the airline to fork over the hotel for free would probably cost them most (if not all!) the revenue for that flight.

I've said it before. The biggest reason airlines are cutting back on Caribbean flights including the DR, is that these routes are notorious for having low RASM (revenue per available seat mile). American is planning capacity cuts with reduced flights and smaller aircraft, Delta and Continental and US Airways are cutting back big time. The only airline increasing service to the DR is JetBlue! The reason for this is the few high revenue passengers (business class passengers and passengers paying full Y fares.) The traffic is mostly leisure passenger, or immigrants visiting relatives and friends in their home country. Both shop around, buy in advance, and only fly when they get the rock bottom fare. The airlines are already losing money on you even when they transport you without any glitches, and when someting goes wrong, they want free handouts! With passengers like that, and with the price of oil, the airlines can no longer afford to have your business!

cdngirl08 · #8 08-19-2008, 07:51 AM

I know that weather is an act of God, but these travellers are in a foreign country! Perhaps a good contingency plan would be for the resorts in the Punta Cana area to provide daily info about room availability to the airport so that if a flight is cancelled, tourists can easily leave the airport and have a place to go. They could easily set up a customer service desk to deal with these sorts of situations. Even if we all had to pay a few bucks more on our AI packages/airline tickets..wouldn't it be worth it??? I think the airlines who fly to the DR should get together and set this up. I think it would create less headaches and stress for all involved. All airlines/airports around the world should have better contingency plans in place instead of hiding behind the
" not our policy excuses". I like what the US is trying to do by setting up a Passengers Bill of Rights. Airlines need to remember who butters their bread. Even if its weather..try to help the passengers...its good public relations. Airlines who treat their passengers no better than cattle are only shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. Like someone already mentioned with the rising costs of fuel, they are already losing money. Can any airline really afford to **** off the travelling public now? The answer is no.

Celt202 · #9 08-19-2008, 09:04 AM

What's not to love about airlines?

US Airways is a direct descendant of Allegheny Airlines which was affectionately known as "Agony" for many years.

Read the back of the ticket travellers and bugger off.

Then there's TAP Portugal's national airline. TAP: take another plane.

American Airlines....where do you begin?

A.Hidalgo · #10 08-19-2008, 09:33 AM