Dear Tripped Up,
I was one of three adults who led a backpacking trip in the Colorado Rockies this past June with six teenage Boy Scouts from Troop 876 of Savannah, Ga. After seven nights of camping, our eighth night — June 26 — caught a redeye at Kennedy Airport, followed by a morning flight to Savannah, both on JetBlue Airways. But our departure from Denver was delayed for two hours and we missed the connection. We waited in line for three hours, and were politely told that the next available flight was five days later, even after we offered to fly to Atlanta, Charleston, SC, or Jacksonville, Fla., instead. JetBlue will not provide a hotel. So we opted for a refund (plus $12 in food vouchers), rented two cars and drove the 14 hours home, racking up about $1,200 in travel expenses. But when our refunds came from JetBlue, they totaled $261 for the nine of us, just 18 percent of the original amount. Later, a customer service representative explained to me over the phone that we were billed only for the New York to Savannah leg. We believe JetBlue should have put us on an earlier flight on another airline or at least reimbursed us for the nine fares and fees totaling $1,458, and perhaps paid for travel expenses. home Can you help? Spencer, Savannah, Ga.
Dear Spencer,
Phew! I thought you were going to ask me how to feed six growing Boy Scouts on $12 meal vouchers at the airport food court.
You are entitled to receive a full flight refund from JetBlue Airways. The Department of Transportation in need airlines to offer refunds if flights are “substantially delayed,” regardless of the reason, and federal policy contains an invisible clause that allows JetBlue to reimburse a ridiculously small percentage of original value. Derek Dombrowski, a spokesman for the airline, admitted that JetBlue made a mistake here, and told me someone will get to you. You report back that a representative called and apologetically agreed to credit you the full $1,458, throwing in nine $100 vouchers for future travel.
As Mr. Dombrowski explained to me later in an email: “Our policy in this situation — where a customer is not rebooked after a canceled flight or because of a missed connection out of control of the customer — is a full refund issued on the original form of payment for the entire one-way trip.”
“We apologize for this error,” he wrote.
But it seems like two mistakes to me. When you first saw the small reimbursement, you called JetBlue and they doubled down with a sketchy single-leg explanation. (And even then, how did one leg cost only $29?) I hope that JetBlue will follow its policy more closely in the future.
The airline seems correct to others. You probably don’t deserve those hotel rooms or even an earlier flight on another airline.
That’s because on June 26, it caused thunderstorms thousands of delays and cancellations in the Northeast. Earlier today, according to data from Flightaware.com, the aircraft that will eventually take you from Denver spent more than eight hours on the JFK tarmac, likely weathered by storms. The flight to Denver was two hours late that night, and your flight was delayed. That means your flight delay was “uncontrollable,” Mr. Dombrowski confirmed, meaning it wasn’t the airline’s fault — a category that also includes security backup lines, air traffic control problems and other issues.
If the delay is the result of, for example, an airline staff shortage or mechanical issue, that counts as a “controllable delay,” and you are offered a hotel stay.
Big storms are one thing. But sometimes just how “uncontrollable” a delay can be can be ambiguous. Many frequent fliers can recount a time when an airline informed passengers of a “weather-related delay” on a perfect picnic day at both the origin and destination airports. That’s because some planes fly a half-dozen or more legs each day with self-imposed tight turnaround times, weather anywhere can cause delays anywhere else. And guess who decides if the delay is controllable? The airlines themselves.
I crunched some numbers from the Transportation Department’s monthly Consumer Reports on Air Travel and found that of all delays in the first four months of 2023, the most recent data available, only one-third — 157,485 of 471,608 — were considered “air carrier delays,” defined as “due to circumstances within the control of the airline.”
“It is not always easy for the consumer to know whether an airline is to blame for a flight delay or cancellation,” wrote Ethan Alpern, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, in a detailed email answering my questions about on how airlines determine delays. Severe weather, issues with the national aviation system and security delays are just some of the official categories.
The tables of statistics that the government publishes in those reports are quite confusing. For example, airlines often claim that a delay is the result of a “late arrival aircraft,” which means it’s not officially an “air carrier delay,” although, according to Mr. Alpern, half of those delays are the airline’s fault.
There’s potentially good news on the horizon: A month before your trip, the Transportation Department announced a rulemaking process that will further clarify what is considered a controllable delay. There’s no specific timeline for when that will be released, but in the meantime, anyone who suspects an airline can call a delay out of control when it’s actually the airline’s fault is encouraged to register a complaint, said Mr. Alpern. (The department looks into each complaint and contacts the airline as needed, he said.)
Information on what airlines will provide in case of controllable delays can now be easily found via “Cancellation and Delay Dashboard,” in which 10 of the largest carriers in the United States made clear their commitments for rebooking, lodging, ground transportation and more for stranded passengers. The dashboard also links to details for each airline.
For controllable delays, JetBlue is one of five of those 10 airlines that have pledged to book passengers on a partner airline if necessary. According to your story, JetBlue officials tried to book your group on American Airlines, even though they didn’t have to in these circumstances, so kudos to them. Unfortunately, JetBlue’s code-share agreement with American ended on July 21, so future Boy Scout troops (and other passengers) may not be given the same size.
This raises another murky issue: There is no official or public list of airline partnerships, according to Mr. Alpern. Mr. refused. Dombrowski of JetBlue to answer my question about whether the carrier has any other agreements with airlines that would allow rebooking for controllable (and sometimes uncontrollable) delays.
Finally, the $100 vouchers are nice too, but I thought you’d prefer reimbursements for your car rental and related expenses. So, let’s put it this way: NBA players are more likely to find ample leg room in coach than delayed passengers who are reimbursed for expenses not pre-approved in writing. Most airlines make that clear in the contract of carriage you agree to when you book a flight.
The only thing that can save you here is (tepid drum roll please) — travel insurance.
That’s why I’m asking you to check which credit card you used to book the trip, hopefully it’s one of the more preferred ones, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or American Express Platinum cards, which come with a trip delay benefit. Nope. For future trips, you may want to consider purchasing trip delay coverage. Just read my recent column on travel insurance for more bad news before you do.
If you need advice on a best-laid travel plan gone astray, send an email to TrippedUp@nytimes.com.
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