[sbernett]

On July 2, 2008, I showed up an hour and a half before take-off on flight OK51 from JFK to Prague. I was a ticketed, confirmed passenger for a Czech Airlines flight.

</p> The Czech Airlines supervisor on duty was speaking on the phone in order to issue boarding passes to the ten stand-by passengers, almost all of whom were attempting to make connecting flights in Prague. I explained my situation to the supervisor, that I was a ticketed and confirmed passenger with a seat assignment. The Czech Airlines supervisor told me that arriving at 2:50p.m. was “too late” for a flight leaving at 4:10p.m. and that the “flight had closed.” However, she told the two other passengers who arrived after me, two different “closing” times: the student was told the flight closed at 3:00p.m. while the trial attorney was told that the flight “closed” an hour before take off, that is, at 3:10p.m. She directed me to wait next to the stand-by line and that she would speak with me only after she had boarded the ten passengers on the stand-by line. Apparently for these passengers, the flight was “open,” but for me, a ticketed and confirmed passenger with a seat assignment who showed up over one hour prior to the scheduled departure time, the flight was “closed.”

When the Czech Airlines supervisor had completed assigning my seat to the stand-by passengers at 3:35p.m., she turned her attention to me. I explained that my luggage could be sent on tomorrow’s flight but that it is of utmost importance that I fly today, as family was waiting for me in Prague. The Czech Airlines supervisor said this could not be done because it was too late. This was untrue, however, because I had overheard a conversation between the supervisor and a young mother passenger a minute prior about re-checking-in her luggage. When I asked for further clarification as to why I could not board the flight when I had arrived at the airport 80 minutes prior to take-off, the Czech Airlines supervisor informed me that the Czech Republic issues a $5,000 fine to the airline for any passenger passport information transmitted less than an hour prior to take-off. This explanation is not only false (the United States government enforces this requirement for incoming flights from overseas, not the contrary, and the Czech Republic has no such requirement), but even if it were true, I was at the line ready to be checked in over one hour prior to take-off!! Furthermore, I reminded the Czech Airlines supervisor that international-bound flights at JFK never take off early or on time. As it turned out, this flight subsequently took off at 4:28p.m.


Upon realizing, perhaps, that the Czech Airlines supervisor was speaking with a passenger well-informed of her rights under United States federal aviation consumer laws, she admitted that there were no more seats available on the flight. My seat number was 22A and the airline gave it to a stand-by passenger who was standing next to me at the check-in line. I asked the Czech Airlines supervisor if she could book me on the next flight to Prague and she said to me that the “server is off” and to phone Czech Airlines, which I promptly did, at 3:43p.m. Prior to making the phone call, I asked the supervisor if there were any way she could get me on the July 2 flight and she said no. I asked the Czech Airlines supervisor to sign a piece of paper I offered her, stating that I had indeed appeared for my flight today, but she refused. The only explanation I can surmise for her refusal was so that Czech Airlines could then deem me a “no show” as indeed Czech Airlines representative Daniel subsequently did later that evening. Unbeknownst to this airline at the time, I had proof of my appearance at JFK 80 minutes prior to the flight. A copy of the proof was attached to the complaint letter mailed to Czech Airlines; a long-term parking garage receipt indicating an arrival time of 2:44p.m.

When I phoned Czech Airlines at 3:43p.m., I spoke with representative Pavla. I explained to Pavla briefly the above circumstances and she booked me on the next available flight, for July 4. She informed me of a $589.47 “penalty” for the re-issuing of my ticket. I requested that the fee be waived because of Czech Airlines’s reprehensible conduct. Pavla refused. Without much choice (I attached competitor airline fares for a one-way ticket from JFK to Prague on July 3 and July 4, indicating higher fares than that charged by Czech Airlines), I accepted this charge. When I received my confirmation e-ticket, I observed the charge had increased without explanation to $627.64. I phoned Czech Airlines representative Daniel on July 2 at 9:15p.m. and requested an explanation for the unauthorized price change. Daniel could not provide me with an explanation and said that Pavla would phone me on July 3. I never received a phone call from Pavla or any other Czech Airlines representative.

I have flown on hundreds of international and domestic flights and I have never missed a flight or been denied boarding to my flight. What apparently sets Czech Airlines’s conduct apart from its competitors is: (1) its lopsided and illegal application of the federal requirements of 49 United States Code §§401, 411, 413, 417 to passengers involuntarily denied boarding; instead of compensating me at the rate of 200% of the fare for denying me boarding and providing me with a written explanation of denied boarding compensation and boarding priorities, as required by Title XIV, Chapter II, §§250.5, 250.9 of the Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings Aviation Consumer Protection Division’s Rules; and (2) its policy of boarding stand-by passengers a full hour and a half before departure time and its arbitrary and illogical refusal to board ticketed and confirmed passengers waiting at the check-in line next to the stand-by passengers. In an illegal action, Czech Airlines's ticket counter employees and supervisor directed me to either (1) forfeit my fare at a value of $503.54; (2) book a one-way flight with a competitor airline with fare ranges of $669 to $1,695; or (3) pay what it terms a “penalty re-issue ticket” which masquerades as the purchase of a new ticket at $627.64 in addition to the $1007.08 already paid for my round-trip ticket.

I wrote a complaint letter to Czech Airlines on July 3, 2008 about its unscrupulous, unethical, and illegal conduct in refusing to board a ticketed, confirmed, seat-assigned passenger on her flight on July 2, and in boarding in her place ten stand-by passengers and requested that Czech Airlines fully refund the $627.64 “penalty” fee to my credit card. Czech Airlines never bothered refunding me the extra charge for the second "penalty" ticket. I disputed the credit card for the (one-way portion of the) July 2 ticket with Discover Card (cost, $504), which ruled in my favor. I am in the process of disputing the overbilling portion of the second ticket with my Washington Mutual credit card. I have also filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation. Czech Airlines must learn that it cannot violate U.S. federal law if it wishes to continue operating in this country, and that United States citizens can vindicate injustices Czech Airlines commits via U.S. consumer laws. Perhaps in the Czech Republic it is legal to engage in illegal boarding and to deceive airline customers, but such conduct is not permitted here. I publicize Czech Airlines's conduct and illegal act so that other consumers may be aware of what type of the unsavory attitude the company of Czech Airlines as well as several of its employees and supervisors hold towards their customers.