Your Rights During Long Airline Delays

Dec. 27, 2010— -- "They kept saying 'one more hour; one more hour'." That was the lead to a story in my local paper about a flight that finally left Los Angeles after an extended delay and arrived at Medford, Ore., its final destination, a bit over 24 hours late. And it's the kind of story that has travelers and reporters asking:

"What are my rights in a really long delay?"

The short answer, as usual is, "Essentially none, beyond what the airline wants to give you."

A Tale of Woe

The flight that touched off this report was on Allegiant, scheduled to depart Los Angeles at 8:55 a.m. nonstop to Medford for arrival at 10:55 a.m. Passengers reported that the airline told them the flight would be delayed, first because the plane's windshield had to be replaced, then that a replacement plane would be flown in from Las Vegas, the airline's headquarters. Apparently, the replacement plane never arrived. Instead, mechanics repaired the original plane, which finally departed at 4:55 pm.

Sadly, the passengers' sighs of relief were premature, because after 45 minutes, the pilot announced some cabin pressure loss and that the plane would return to Los Angeles. Once back on the ground, and apparently after some badgering by passengers, Allegiant agreed to provide hotel rooms for the night. The flight finally left Los Angeles at about 10 a.m. and arrived at Medford 25 hours late. Before the ordeal was over, Allegiant offered the travelers one free round-trip ticket plus a future $50 credit.

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Travelers waiting in Medford for the plane's turnaround flight out also faced that 25-hour delay. Allegiant apparently offered them the same package of discounts and freebies -- but no replacement plane.

No Government Rules

People almost always respond to a report such as this by asking what their rights might be in such a case. For some reason, many seem to think that some federal regulations or requirements govern problems of this sort, but they don't. For all practical purposes, the only actual federally mandated rights you have are (1) the well publicized right to compensation in the event of bumping off an oversold flight and (2) the new right to get off a plane stuck on the tarmac more than three hours (with a few exemptions). Beyond that, if you're caught in a long delay such as this, your only rights are whatever the airline's official "contract of carriage" provides.