Late flights are just a fact of life when traveling by air. Sometimes the airline just screws up and your flight departs late. Other times, there are factors beyond the airline’s control such as weather or air traffic control delays. When a lengthy delay is caused by the airline, the airline’s Contract of Carriage (COC) spells out the remedies for compensation. I was delayed on a flight last Saturday and Alaska Airlines took a proactive stance in compensating me for the delay.
Alaska 41, JFK to PDX
I was booked on AS 41 to depart JFK at 8:00 pm last Saturday. The aircraft we were to fly on was coming in from San Francisco (SFO). SFO was in the middle of a major storm and AS 28 from SFO to JFK departed 2.5 hours late. To make matters worse, the new aircrew that was to fly us to Portland found some issues with the aircraft. We waited for a mechanic to show up to see if the aircraft could be quickly fixed as the bags and catering were already on board. Time kept ticking away and things were not looking good.
As Saturday night was heading towards Sunday morning, Alaska made the decision to put us on another aircraft that had recently arrived. We were instructed to go from gate 7 to gate 2 for boarding. The replacement aircraft was going to park at the gate overnight and it was scheduled for cabin cleaning in the morning prior to departure. By the time the gate agents realized that the aircraft was not clean, the aircraft cleaners went home for the night. Alaska found a way to do some cabin cleaning and transferred the bags and catering to the replacement aircraft. We finally pushed back 4.5 hours late.
The Unexpected Email On Sunday
This is where the story takes a positive turn. Airlines usually find every excuse under the sun not to compensate passengers for late flights. We were entitled to a free meal voucher when the flight became three hours late if the delay was the fault of Alaska Airlines. In this case, the first 2.5 hours of delay was due to bad weather at SFO so the first 2.5 hours of delay didn’t count. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway because there were no food venues still open at midnight in Terminal 7.
Late Sunday morning, I received the email below. It was sent by Wayne Newton (not the singer), Senior VP of Airport Operations and Customer Service. It was an apology from Alaska Airlines and a $100.00 credit for a future booking. I was thinking about calling Alaska Airlines Customer Care on Monday to ask them about showing a little love for this delay. Alaska Airlines beat me to it. Does $100.00 made a difference to me? I paid $238.70 for my round trip airfare for this trip so half of that would be $128.35 and I was upgraded to first class. Their gesture of $100.00 just about paid for my entire return airfare. I feel that the compensation to me was fair and I didn’t have to do anything to receive it and the email was received within hours of landing.
I was flying first class and now my dinner was going to be served after 1:00 am. This is where our outstanding flight attendants really performed expeditiously. The first class flight attendant plated the meals and one of the economy flight attendants served the meals to get our meals out quickly. They were nothing short of amazing to make up for a lengthy delay.
Final Thoughts
Flying under the best circumstances can be challenging. When things go wrong, how the airline responds can make or break the situation. Alaska Airlines knew our situation was not good. They didn’t try to find ways not to compensate. They didn’t wait to get compensation out to all of the passengers. Alaska Airlines showed true leadership to help compensate for a bad situation and did it without the passengers having to ask for it. Kudos to Alaska Airlines for taking a proactive stance to issue an apology and compensation. The next time you experience a significant delay on your Alaska Airlines flight, check your email for free money.
