When they’re ignoring you
One of the easiest ways to get a travel company’s attention is to sue it, of course. Which wouldn’t be necessary if it was paying attention to you in the first place. So when one of my readers, who asked to remain nameless because he works for the government, recently wrote to me about an airline service problem, the answer seemed clear: sue. He’d been on a flight on which his business-class seat didn’t work, and wanted a partial refund. His airline paid no attention to his arguments — until it received a summons to appear in a California Superior Court. Shortly thereafter, he received a letter from the air carrier with a more generous settlement offer, which he accepted.

When they aren’t listening to reason
Mohit Singla says he’s headed to court because American Airlines is being unreasonable. He tried to board a flight from Chicago to Dallas recently, and although he had a valid boarding pass, the airline stopped him from getting on the flight. “My seat was given to people on a waiting list,” he says. He paid $800 to fly to Dallas on Southwest, and wants American to cover the cost of the new ticket. It won’t. “I feel insulted,” he told me. There’s more on Singla’s story and a fascinating discussion of the relevant airline rules on my blog. When you feel as if a travel company has stopped listening to reason, it’s time to start filling out your court papers.

Let me put it to you like this: if your travel company is lying, breaking its own rules, being obstinate or just ignoring you, you ought to consider taking it to court.

You never know what could happen. Jane Waun didn’t when she took Spirit Airlines to East Lansing (Mich.) 54B District Court recently. The airline had canceled her flight at Detroit Metro Airport and failed to rebook her and her family. Waun had to buy new tickets on another airline and spend the night in a hotel, which cost her $1,350.

Spirit, like other airlines, has a contract that lets it do more or less whatever it wants. A lost cause? I asked Ellen Creager, who wrote a terrific account of the trial for the Detroit Free Press, about what happened in court, and that’s not the way it ended. In a remarkable David-and-Goliath twist, Waun won. (If my memory serves correctly, the verdict was greeted with applause in the courtroom.)

I’m not surprised. At a time when America’s judges are contending the same substandard service that we do when we’re on the road, the courts have probably never been friendlier to the interests of travelers. Case closed.

Every Monday, my column takes a close look at what makes the travel business tick. Your comments are always welcome, and if you can’t get enough of my column, drop by my blog for daily insights into the world of travel.

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