For customers who are at their ORIGINATING airport, and arrive at the gate late, my sympathy is limited. For those originating at JFK, and who live in Manhattan or Queens, I have even LESS sympathy. For those New Yorkers--if making your flight is that important there is US Helicopter (if you live in Manhattan) or the subway, to the Howard Beach Station, (if you live in Queens OR Manhattan). Also, there is through train service to NewarkAirport (EWR) from Penn Station in Manhattan. Regardless of where one lives, if you think there's a chance you might be running late, and getting to your destination--that day--is important to you, book an early morning flight with a REFUNDABLE ticket.
For those customers who are at a CONNECTING airport, and arrive at the gate late by reason of a delayed in-bound flight--on the same airline--THEN the airline needs to exercise some flexibility; use a little brain power; take responsibility for the fact that the in-bound flight was late--or a combination of the three. As an example, a couple of years ago, my Midwest Air flight, Hartford to Milwaukee, was late arriving in Milwaukee. The gate staff at my connecting flight exercised the responsibility to check for late arriving flights, and so held their "close-out" time right-up to departure time.
The DOT should not allow a situation where airline customers must spend the night, on the floor of a connecting airport, because their airline's in-bound flight was late--regardless of the reason for being late (weather, air traffic, mechanical). Under these situations, customers should be denied boarding their originating flight assuming the airline had reason to believe the connecting flight would be missed. The airline would then be responsible for re-booking, without additional charge, on the next available flight to the destination--even if the next available flight was on another airline. Further, every airline would need to have a capability to book customers onto airlines with which an interline ticketing agreement does not exist.Such a procedure would force the airlines to end those 30 to 50 minute connecting times between gates 1/2 to 1 mile apart. Also if, despite the best good faith efforts of the airline, an in-bound flight is late, and the connecting flight is missed, then the airline should be responsible for overnight accommodations and meals regardless of the amount paid for the ticket and the reason for the flight being late.
On a, slightly, unrelated note: Any airline that decides to divert, and “dump” its passengers at a secondary, or rural, airport—as United Air did at Cheyenne (“CYS”) two winters ago—should be subject to the following procedures: The arriving aircraft is impounded until such time as the “dumped” customers are physically on their way to the originally scheduled destination, with transportation to said destination being provided, or paid for, by the airline.
|