Aren't we all saying the same thing?
Judge: If a person is not at the airport and cheked in at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure, he/she risks losing his seats for that flight with no compensation coming.
Jetliner: Passengers need to show up for the regular scheduled time
PHXFlyer: If they don's show up within 2-3 minutes of making the page then I'd say go ahead with boarding the standby passengers
Jimworcs: Should the passenger be penalised if he does not know the departure time is brought forward
Judge: Its the airline's responsibility to keep the passenger informed but it falls on the passengers to listen to the announcement
I think we are all agreeing that if the time is brought forward the passenger should be so told, either by being told to stay around the gate to listen for announcements or by terminal wide announcements, but if he did not know he cannot be held responsible for not being at the gate. At least no one has expressed disagreement with any of this.
The real question which a responsible airline employee would want answered when he asks "Is it okay if I do this or that ? " is, "Will the airline be opening itself to liability if I do this or that ?" That has to be the underlying concern. I sought to address this in my first post by addressing the question of the possiblity of a claim for breach and having to compensate, but one member saw this as not answering the question and as an attempt to gripe against airlines.
But Airlines need to consider the question of compensation when passengers are delayed or left behind. I threw out an arbitrary figure of $500. Maybe that's too much especially if it's a short flight. For instance if it's a flight from New York to Washington, and the passenger must get to Washington the same day, the airline may offer to refund his money and give him a $100 voucher and perhaps the passenger may get a flight on another airline or even take the greyhound bus.
But it is my suggestion that for those in the airline business, it's no point labelling complainers as gripers. People even when they are in the wrong will sometimes complain. Much more when they think the airline is in the wrong.
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