[mars6423]

over here today there were delays due to FAA technical probs which i am sure many people complained and demanded compensation (i heard this dropping my mother off at the airport)

so when it is a FAA problem such as this what should the airlines do?

[PHXFlyer]

What can they do? Compensate everybody? Who would then compensate the airline, the government? If that happened it would then be the taxpayers burden.

[mars6423]

yeah i know that, the thread posted before i finished and i dont have that much time right now, this one customer was complaining and was accusing the airline of all these things, saying it is their fault and that they wont accept anything less than a free roundtrip flight in business (this was in the economy coach checkin desk-so i believe he was traveling that class)

i know the airlines wont give out compensation as none of it was caused by them

[Gromit801]

I don't know of any airlines that compensates for ATC holds, which is the FAA. So I don't see anyone being compensated for this mess. Unless someone files a class action against the FAA. Good luck with that one.

[justme]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

What can they do? Compensate everybody? Who would then compensate the airline, the government? If that happened it would then be the taxpayers burden.

You're opening a can of worms that will never be closed here PHX. That's not to say I don't agree with you, I do. I don't think the airlines should be responsible for an FAA computer malfunction. (Side note - that little snaffu made life at the airport a living hell today for most!) But some will interpret you saying "Who would compensate the airline, the government?" as a suggestion that they do not already. We all know they do, and some agree with this practice and others do not. Hopefully with the installation of the new systems, these problems will be a thing of the past.

Originally Posted by Gromit801

I don't know of any airlines that compensates for ATC holds, which is the FAA. So I don't see anyone being compensated for this mess.

I have touched on this in another post, and cannot reveal details yet, but keep an eye on changes coming to Delta's medallion/skymiles program related to this idea.

[Jetliner]

Originally Posted by mars6423

so when it is a FAA problem such as this what should the airlines do?

I would say nothing. This is something that is squarely out of the hands of any of the airlines, and every airline was affected to some degree. If ATC tells the plane to stay put, it stays put.