Airline ticket rules you need to know
When it comes to airline ticket rules, the devil isn't in the details. The devil is the details. You'll find Satan in something called the ticket tariff, which is a massive, rambling and often incomprehensible document that passengers rarely see in its entirety. Why? Partly because they tell you what you already know -- for example, that you have to pay a fee if you want to change your ticket -- and partly because it just doesn't concern you. For instance, some tariff rules talk about special fares for police officers or firefighters, which a vast majority of passengers wouldn't care about. But there's another reason why you won't see these rules: Airlines would rather you not know about them. That's because they like to bury all kinds of restrictions in the fine print, hoping their passenger won't read them until it's too late. "These rules are put there for one reason, and one reason alone," says Rick Seaney, the chief executive of the Web site Farecompare.com. "To maximize revenue." Of the 25 rule categories in the tariff, Seaney says there's one every passenger should pay attention to before buying a ticket: category 16, which covers cancellations and changes. To be fair, airlines and online travel agents do reveal some of the rules at the time of booking. But not always the way they ought to. Sometimes there's a summary that glosses over key details, or you have to click on a link for more information, or the rules are written in UPPERCASE, which is a big turnoff because people think YOU'RE YELLING! Here are six of the worst ticket rules that could affect your next trip: Not! Ticket tariffs are often contradictory. For example, here's one called the "CANCELLATIONS ANY TIME TICKET." You would think such a ticket would be cancelable any time at no additional cost, right? But you'd be wrong. The fine print says you'll be charged a change fee. And if you happen to miss the flight because of unforeseen circumstances, you're out of luck. The ticket's no good, and you have to buy a new one: "NO CHANGES OR REFUNDS PERMITTED FOR A PASSENGER WHO NO-SHOWS," the rule says. The fare also doesn't allow for any upgrades on the day of departure. "I guess anytime doesn't include the day of departure," complained one airline insider who recently got snagged by this rule. "It's terribly misleading." IN THE EVENT OF DEATH OF PASSENGER AN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE CHARGE OF USD 50.00 WILL BE ASSESSED IN ORDER TO PROCESS A REFUND." The airline doesn't want passengers to abuse this "perk" so it adds, "PROOF OF DEATH MAY BE REQUIRED." and isn't. The death in question must be of an immediate family member, which it says is a "SPOUSE/COMMON LAW-SAME SEX, CHILD/ADOPTED, STEP- GRAND- GREAT GRAND- LEGAL INLAW, COMMON IN LAW, DAUGHTER/SON/MOTHER/FATHER/LEGAL, INLAW, COMMON INLAW." Did they leave anyone out? Well, yes. I wouldn't be able to attend the funeral of my brother, sister, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle or godfather under this relatively narrow definition. Thanks for nothing. Surprisingly, these are not extreme examples. For instance, look beyond the ticket tariff and at the commonly viewed and heavily trafficked Web site farecompare.com. "The word 'charge' is mentioned 60,000 times (on the site)," says Seaney. "'Collect' is mentioned 25,000 times and 'fee' is mentioned 32,000 times." "And the more times they encounter a 'charge' and 'collect' in the rules, the angrier passengers become. That's the real cost of the fine print to airlines, says Garth Corey, a consultant in Albuquerque, New Mexico It's customers like him who got burned by the rules and took their business somewhere else. "The airlines that do this will pay for their arrogance," he says. |
