On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 16:13:02 GMT, the renowned Thomas F. Unke
wrote:
>"Peter L" writes:
>
>>
>> Then maybe you should read your ticket to see where they've broken the
>> contract. Seems like a fertile place for a lawsuit.
>
>You don't understand: An airline ticket _is_ a contract. A contract for
>transport at a specified date/time.
Have you never even bothered to read the terms and conditions that are
on tickets? Here is one typical clause:
OVERBOOKING NOTICE
Airline flights may be overbooked, and there is a slight chance that a
seat will not be available on a flight for which a person has a
confirmed reservation. If the flight is overbooked, no one will be
denied a seat until airline personnel first ask for volunteers willing
to give up their reservation in exchange for a payment of the
airline's choosing. If there are not enough volunteers, the airline
will deny boarding to other persons in accordance with its particular
boarding priority. With few exceptions, persons denied boarding
involuntarily are entitled to compensation. The complete rules for the
payment of compensation and boarding priorities are available at all
airport ticket counters and boarding locations.
>The airline breaks the contract if she refuses to transport you
>because she gave your seat to someone else. It is that easy. For
>breaking the contract, the airline has to pay a fine by EU laws. No
>lawsuit necessary.
They are NOT breaking the contract, see above.
>The new laws protect the customer from improper business practices
>which are getting more and more common by airlines.
>Nothing to whine about and I haven't heard anybody announcing higher
>prices because of that.
Sure, whatever.
It has become a necessity to overbook certain flights as a result of
the significant number of booked customers who fail to show up for
their flights. It allows airlines to accommodate the greatest number
of customers who want to fly and, while solving the costly problem of
operating flights with lost seats, also allows airlines to maintain
affordable fares.
XXXXXXXXXX, like most airlines, oversells certain flights. The
overbooking is carefully calculated based on historical booking data
of a given flight, time of the year, market, etc. On those rare
occasions when there are too many customers for a flight, we will
attempt to solve the problem by soliciting volunteers willing to
relinquish their seat and fly later in exchange for compensation.
Rarely is a customer obligated to give up a seat on an involuntary
basis. However, in either case, compensation is offered in the form of
travel voucher or cash and customers are accommodated on the next
flight with available seats.
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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