PHOENIX — Recent scenes of passengers stuck at airports have a lot of people thinking about their rights if flights are delayed or canceled.
What do airlines have to do for you?
David Kendall had a different issue, but the same concern.
He and his wife were supposed to visit family on the East Coast.
"We checked to make sure we could cancel it because my wife had a knee replacement," Kendall says.
Because of its cancellation options, David booked flights through the online site myflightsearch.com.
He spent $1,223 for flights.
"We mostly live on our Social Security and stuff so it's a lot of money," he says.
David's wife ended up having issues so he tried to cancel the trip. He says the travel website agreed to send a full refund.
In fact, he has that in writing.
But he says after repeated calls and emails, he couldn't get that money, so he tried the airline.
"I called American Airlines to see if they could help me. They said because I bought it through them (myflightsearch.com), there was nothing they could do," he says.
There's no way to guarantee you'll be on your flight, on time, as planned. You won't know if you'll face cancellations, delays, or that you'll have refund issues. But there are ways to improve your chances those things won't happen.
Advocates say one way is to book directly through the airline.
If there's a refund issue like David's problem, you won't have a third party and airline blaming each other.
Also, book your flight early in the morning if you can.
"There's less chance of it getting canceled," says Teresa Murray.
Murray is with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
While statistics show cancellations are highest around 6 p.m., the fewest delays happen with flights between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.
"If it is canceled or delayed, there is more chance of you getting rebooked during the day," she says.
Choose an airline with multiple flights per day to your location so you have more later options.
Try not to check a bag.
Murray says checked luggage can add to potential problems. If you must, she advises putting a tracking device inside to avoid luggage location issues.
Avoid connecting flights if you can do that at a reasonable cost.
"There's twice as much chance of something happening," Teresa says.
Months after canceling, David was still fighting to get his promised refund.
"I ended up calling them at least 20 times and then I thought, you know what, I'm going to check with Let Joe Know," he says.
And the Let Joe Know Better Business Bureau team took on the challenge.
Volunteer George got action — we thought.
"They're sending the check. I would have it in 7-8 days," David says he was told.
But that didn't happen.
Then, we received an email from myflightsearch.com that says in part: "Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused to Mr. Kendall. We are issuing a check of $1223.82 for the refund of the booking....We apologize once again for any inconvenience caused on this occasion to Mr. Kendall and hope that he will provide us another chance to serve him better."
And David got a check for the full $1,223.
He writes: "Wow Wow Wow. I can't believe it. I know this would not of happened had it not been for the efforts of you and your staff! We cannot thank you enough."
It's great to see myflightsearch.com live up to their agreement.
And a big thanks to our volunteer George for staying with this.
So what do think about your flight experiences and rights?
The Department of Transportation (DOT) is looking at possible new protections right now.
You can weigh in on changes, file a complaint and learn more about your rights through the DOT site.
