Friday, October 30, 2009

There is Something Wrong with the Airline Industry

For anyone who has dealt with an airline before, this will come as no surprise.

My brother just dealt with an airline, and afterwards he sent me this email:


I recently booked a flight for a med school interview in New York, but I needed to cancel it.

Airline Operator: The ticket you wish to cancel is a non-refundable ticket, but you will receive an airline credit for the full ticket price of $89.60

Me: Oh...that sucks...but does the credit ever expire?
Operator: No, but when you choose to redeem the credit, you will be charged a re-booking fee of $150

Me: Wait, wait, wait...you're telling me that I can either forfeit the $89.60 completely, OR I can pay $239.60 and get ONLY $89.60 worth of value from it - is that correct?

Operator: umm... yes that sounds about right

Me: So I get to choose between the two STELLAR choices of letting the airline steal $90 from me, OR let the airline steal $150 from me? This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!

Operator: Sir, I apologize, but this is airline policy

Me: You know where you can shove that policy, don't you?

Operator: Yes sir, I do.

Me: Just so we're clear on that.

Luckily we have companies like Southwest putting pressure on the more expensive carriers, but this is just awful.

1 comment:

  1. Not to side with the Airline becasue this a crappy policy, but you have to realize that when an Airline sends a plane, it needs a certain amount of money to cover teh operating costs of sending that plane. This is at least in part why these polices are so riddiciulous. Airlines can't commit to its customers that it will provide a flight unless it certain that enough customers will pay for the cost of sending the plane.

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