Southwest: Breakdown is now an act of God

Merely puts it in line with many charter operators.

The place I used to work.... you may pay $3000/hour for the plane, but if it gets stuck somewhere for maintenance, they're not obligated to get a new airplane out there to keep you going to your destination.
 
Okay American, Delta, US Airways, United/Continental, listen up.

If you are looking to steal some passengers back, don't do this.

I can't imagine standing in the gate area as a paying passenger after a starter valve broke or FLT CTRL NO DISPATCH etc. appeared on the EICAS, and everyone deplanes, and then the airline says "this plane is down for maintenance for the rest of the day and we have no spares" and then they give us a list of hotels to call on our cell phones and buy our own rooms.

I guess this afternoon I'm going to see several acts of god in the Embraer, as usual. I just didn't realize that god was bringing all these screwed up messages this whole time!
 
Screaming_Emu said:
As much as it sucks, if its in the contract of carriage and the person buying the ticket doesn't read that but still clicks *I agree* I don't know how illegal it is.

Stupid...but not illegal.
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Only if the contract is legal. For an extreme, obvious, example you can't have a contract selling another person into slavery or indentured servitude. I am no lawyer but I think, regardless of what the contract of carriage states, that the courts might find that forseeable mechanical problems is in fact something an airline is liable for, despite them saying they aren't.
 
Passengers already pay very little for their tickets these days. I say make them pay for their hotels after an aircraft is maintenanced.
 
JaceTheAce said:
Passengers already pay very little for their tickets these days. I say make them pay for their hotels after an aircraft is maintenanced.
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Orbitz provided kiosks at ATL coming soon.

I need to go talk to Priceline, get some tagged kiosks for hotel arrangements at the gate and William Shatner hanging out just inside security for the first 3 weeks as a promo. I'll make millions.
 
Some MX issues could be acts of God...bird strikes for example. Lighting strikes. Etc.

Inspecting a tire 2 days before and noting it's "good to go" instead of replacing it, then blowing a tire and canceling a flight because of it, isn't an AOG.

Plus, God fixes things sometimes too. "AOG Maintenance" is what my mom used to say!

Airlines can put what they want in their contract of carriage (I suppose?) what will happen however is the Government will step in again and "regulate" what can and can't be included in their contract of carriage to protect the consumer.
 
Last time I was DH on a delta flight and it got lightning strike they just delayed the flight due to WX. That's a pretty fair way of dealing with the delay/xcel IMO.

Bird strikes I could see as act of God, if it was a dove. :) Canadian geese however? Nah uh, everyone knows God wants nothing to do with Canadians.
 
In a related story, apparently European airlines - as well as US airlines if your flight originated in the EU - are required by law to pay for accommodation no matter the cancellation's cause, including wx:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18prac.html

Wouldn't the "we're not liable" clause be much harder to enforce if it seems abnormal vis-a-vis industry standards? Lawyers??

I guess you could always bank on getting a disgruntled flier as judge and assume this could "shock the conscious of the court"
 
Screaming_Emu said:
As much as it sucks, if its in the contract of carriage and the person buying the ticket doesn't read that but still clicks *I agree* I don't know how illegal it is.

Stupid...but not illegal.
Click to expand...

Classical contact theory, which is what you're suggesting, went out of style with most courts a long time ago, as in turn of the last century.

It could be invalidated based on a handful of ideas.
 
I'm just surprised the airline to be doing this is SW. They've always been known for their customer service... I'm mean Spirit? sure... but SW? damn...:(
 
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