We are being duped into accepting their absurd policies
PHXFlyer - thanks for your reply! I'm glad someone heard my cries. I don't expect much in the way of replies from the no doubt overworked Aviation Consumer Protection Division and especially not the online US Air Complaint form I filled out. But I WILL pursue this!
It's interesting that banks can screw your life up royal if you're late for payment once or twice but if they grossly and negligently mismanage their funds so that they can put more money into the pockets of their fat cat executives they cry to the government to have the same people they screwed subsidize their recovery in the name of saving our economy.
Airlines are no different! Twenty five people were *identified* as overbooked! There must be a limit to this callous practice. And what justifies such greed (i.e. taking more money than services you can provide). When they reach 100% booking they get their money for the non-refundable cancellations and they cover the losses of the refundable ones with the premiums they charge for such tickets, so who is kidding who? And if they have the right to make their profit why don't I have the right to demand that they get me to my destination in a reasonable time - NOT 24 HOURS Later. This was a critical business trip and we were willing to travel to and from airports different from those on our paid itinerary but they weren't willing to do the legwork. WHY NOT?
Then, there's the compensation bartering! As if the people who are enticed by such practices that cost the airlines little more than a vacant seat on one of their upcoming flights justify this subterfuge. There are times when the only compensation I want and I need is that you do everything in your power (and mine) to get me to my destination as quick as possible. If that means paying the freight for a non-partnered airline or the taxi fare to get me to neighboring airports then so be it. Letting airlines continue to perpetrate these atrocities because there are those willing to accept them is a crime to the rest of us who are inconvenienced well beyond this compensatory charade.
If the officials litigated and enforced *fair* practices rather than the greedy ones they supported in exchange for untold perks then far less people would be getting screwed day in and day out at airports around the country.
The airlines and most other huge corporations have learned how to make large profits on the ignorance of the consumer. And they've come to depend so much on these nefarious profits that they can't compete if they don't continue to think new ones up.
Thanks,
Larry Esposito
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