TUESDAY TRAVEL TIP
There’s nothing quite as heartbreaking to an excited traveler as showing up to the airport full of gleeful wanderlust, only to discover that their flight has been delayed indefinitely or canceled. And then comes the daunting task of getting on a new flight and, if that flight isn’t on the same day, finding a place to stay overnight. But don’t fret, my devastated globetrotters. Thanks to a policy colloquially referred to as Rule 240, you could have all of this taken care of by the airline.
I’ll let Mark Orwoll, the Senior Consulting Editor at Travel + Leisure, explain the basics:
It should be stated that Rule 240 isn’t a real policy — not anymore, anyway. Prior to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Rule 240 stated that an airline with a delayed or canceled flight had to transfer passengers to a flight on another carrier if that airline could get them to their destination quicker. After 1978 this rule became part of individual contract of carriage policies, which vary from airline to airline. The name stuck around, though, so when you want to check your airline’s contract of carriage policy in the event of a lengthy delay, you can still ask an agent for your Rule 240 options and they’ll know what you mean.
Airlines don’t necessarily have to put you on a competitor’s flight anymore, but if a delay is deemed to be the fault of the carrier, many airlines have clauses in their contracts of carriage that benefit passengers. For instance, both Delta and American Airlines will provide hotel vouchers for passengers stranded overnight (depending on availability), and Delta will even pay for a meal as well as your ground transportation if the hotel doesn’t provide a shuttle.
While each airline defines their commitment to the customer differently, they all agree that they can’t be held responsible for delays or cancellations due to “acts of God” — namely floods, storms, and I assume plagues of locusts and the death of the firstborn. In that case, airlines might give you a refund but they aren’t contractually obligated to do so.
Airlines in the United States aren’t doing so hot, as evidenced by the $54.5 billion they’ve hemorrhaged over the past 10 years. However, if you’re like me and jump at the opportunity to save time and money, you’ll momentarily forget the monetary woes of these companies and milk them for every penny they’re obligated to dole out. Trust me, you won’t feel bad invoking your Rule 240 rights and taking that hotel voucher when your only other option is curling up next to a swarthy German fellow on the airport’s linoleum floor.
Photo courtesy of #96 via Flickr (CC BY 3.0)
