Truk and an aborted Trip - Thanks United

[Peter69_56]

Tried to fly to Truk on 10/06/2015 but the flight did not land due to bad local weather and shortage of fule to do a second approach (why no spare fuel given a long ocean voyage).

On to Pohnpei and that's where we are stuck along with 70 odd other travellers. First thing United rep says is WE WILL NOT PAY FOR ACCOMODATION. What an approach to dealing with people dislocated in air travel. Locals all rush to the counter as they know the form, so us Caucasians expect united to look after us, but no.

Mainly locals rebook and we are screwed. We ask for a recue flight since 70 people and a small island and no accommodation past 2 days. Tuff, not our problem.

Await Thursday flight but little chance of getting on. maybe Saturday, maybe not, maybe Sunday but a smaller planer so maybe not. Can we get a bigger plane and do this right, NO.

Many have missed out on Truk due to only having a small window to get there and dive. This sucks big time. We accept missing the landing and moving on. But accountants come in and dictate what happens next. Never mind the passengers and moral obligations.

Perhaps a bigger plane sunday, oh no not really.

Pohnpei has a conference now no motel rooms, tuff. Sleep at airport.

So if you consider going to Truk, this is what might happen. Apparently this happened regularly, so take care.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Is there any help there in Pohnpei for you at the Australian Embassy?

Services for Australians - Australian Embassy

 

[chillyinCanada]

No trip interruption insurance? There's 70 of you, how much to hire a charter flight? No ferry to next island for acco? Nothing to be done, no way to make lemonade?

I truly am sorry, it's a bitter disappointment. Something similar once happened to me and others. We were a bit better off in that it was a mechanical problem so United did have to take care of us. I wasn't bothered on the whole but many of the passengers were beside themselves needing to be home or the connection destination and whst have you. When we were all bussed back to the city, a handful of people that were clever enough went to a travel sgency or some such and managed to fit themselves onto a flight out within a few hours. As i understood it at the time United was on the hook for that. In our case it wasn't that United wasn't taking responsibility, the problem was thst there were 300 or so passengers connecting to different places. They eventually got us all home. I was the very last one and had to cross forward and back in a Z pattern, two Continents before I finally got home. Not near so painful as your situation in many ways.

In any event, I'm blithering on here because I'm wondering if there isn't some travel agency or a Z pattern that could help in some small way?

 

[Maverick17]

Weather related incidents are typically not covered by airlines in the US. While the reasoning of this rule whenever it started might have been understood, it has now become quite the excuse in airline ops to blame any problems on weather and unfortunately many passengers suffer from it. I've had a few times where weather was great at departure and destination, but "delays to the inbound aircraft" were stated as cause. (rolls eyes) And many do not realize the issue, like you mentioned, until after landing and seeing the other good options taken. I do think they would have the obligation to try and get you there faster if it was, for example, in the US, but as is I think UA have the only flights to Truk that make sense. Just stuck waiting I guess.

Although no help for you immediately in getting to Truk, you might look at any travel insurance you have or your credit card provides on purchases. Some credit cards are better about this than others. Also there are "trip in vain" rules, where you can just insist on being flown back to your origin and refunded your flights. I am not sure of the impact on weather in that case, though, as I have not come upon it myself although I travel a lot. You can also write to United, which you might choose to avoid after this, and they might give you a voucher for a future flight. Although due to weather they are not obligated, sometimes if you are kind and explain it rationally they will throw you a bone. I can't think of any liability they have for non-refundable reservations in this case, but I'll take a look.

Sorry for your trouble.

Edit to add: I do see that the visibility was low and clouds down to 900 ft with heavy rain at Truk. So while the aftermath is unfortunate, I do think UA was proper in getting the plane safely on the ground. These small island hopper routes would be nice on a 777, but honestly UA already has to get subsidies to make these routes economical in a 737, and they simply don't have the fuel to wait out big storms while circling.

 

[Damselfish]

I was recently considering doing the island hopper to Kosrae. Probably that's insane.

 

[Peter69_56]

Weather related incidents are typically not covered by airlines in the US. While the reasoning of this rule whenever it started might have been understood, it has now become quite the excuse in airline ops to blame any problems on weather and unfortunately many passengers suffer from it. I've had a few times where weather was great at departure and destination, but "delays to the inbound aircraft" were stated as cause. (rolls eyes) And many do not realize the issue, like you mentioned, until after landing and seeing the other good options taken. I do think they would have the obligation to try and get you there faster if it was, for example, in the US, but as is I think UA have the only flights to Truk that make sense. Just stuck waiting I guess.

Although no help for you immediately in getting to Truk, you might look at any travel insurance you have or your credit card provides on purchases. Some credit cards are better about this than others. Also there are "trip in vain" rules, where you can just insist on being flown back to your origin and refunded your flights. I am not sure of the impact on weather in that case, though, as I have not come upon it myself although I travel a lot. You can also write to United, which you might choose to avoid after this, and they might give you a voucher for a future flight. Although due to weather they are not obligated, sometimes if you are kind and explain it rationally they will throw you a bone. I can't think of any liability they have for non-refundable reservations in this case, but I'll take a look.

Sorry for your trouble.

Edit to add: I do see that the visibility was low and clouds down to 900 ft with heavy rain at Truk. So while the aftermath is unfortunate, I do think UA was proper in getting the plane safely on the ground. These small island hopper routes would be nice on a 777, but honestly UA already has to get subsidies to make these routes economical in a 737, and they simply don't have the fuel to wait out big storms while circling.

Whilst I understand, one would expect that they would have enough fuel to do a go around, and not go to 31,000 feet in an emergency as they have low fuel. Its not like they have not done this before. Carry extra fuel in case they have problems. Obviously not.

I have written to CEO of United. I put in a damaged baggage report and after three months nothing. Then this. The reality is that they should have fuel reserves given the unpredictability of the weather and the remote location. Should it cost another $200 so be it. I don't like that my life is hanging on one approach and then its desperation. A rush to 31,000 feet to glide to the next island. I appreciate the captain did the correct thing.

The first thing out of the mouth of the representative at the next stop was "WE WILL NOT PAY FOR HOTELS" never mind helping people in crisis. This attitude sucks. Its not the locals fault. Its the bean counters accountants driving it. Stuff people.

I work for Energy Australia and our new CEO has the philosophy, customers are our life blood, would they want us to do this, if not we will not do it!. Loyalty matters. As a customer I will go elsewhere if that's their attitude and I hope they fail if they maintain this attitude.

 

[Kharon]

That well and truely SUX!!!!! I can't believe any company woud do this. I also can't believe, with that attitude that they could stay in business. I've had good luck with United. I won't chance it again. It doesn't mean anything to them but they lost a couple of customers (my wife & I) because of how they treated you.

Also, weather (at least in the US) seems to be predictable enough that they can cancel or delay flights. You very seldom hear about a forced destination change due to weather. In this day and age that is a bushwah excuse to weasel out of taking care of your customers.

 

[Damselfish]

That well and truely SUX!!!!! I can't believe any company woud do this. I also can't believe, with that attitude that they could stay in business. I've had good luck with United. I won't chance it again. It doesn't mean anything to them but they lost a couple of customers (my wife & I) because of how they treated you.

Amuses me every time someone says something like this. Sure it sucks. Most airlines do, some more than others, and I can sometimes see good reasons to avoid specific airlines. But if you decide not to fly any airline where someone has had a problem like this, if not crazier, you won't have any airlines left to fly. Eliminating certain airlines will also eliminate certain destinations. In the case of United, if you had ever planned on diving in Micronesia, you'll severely restrict your options. (For the record we just did an 11 hop trip to the Pacific, 8 legs on United, and it went pretty much flawlessly.)

As far as staying in business, airlines mostly don't. Look at the history of airline bankruptcies, closures, and mergers over the years.

 

[KathyV]

What a terrible disappointment, and a lot of work, expense, wasted time, and inconvenience for nothing!

We started booking Travel Guard trip insurance several years ago and we also have the DAN insurance.

We traveled for years without any insurance and we just absorbed the cost of some disappointments (illness, theft, lost camera, weather) but nothing as major as the OP's situation.

We felt the need for insurance when we both had frail, elderly parents with chronic illnesses. It wasn't hard for us to leave town because we both have siblings who would be looking after our parents, but we were worried that we might get bad news and have to return early.

That never happened and now sadly our parents are gone, but we continue to take the trip insurance. Now it is us that are getting older and have some chronic illnesses - and we only take one major, 2 week trip per year so we really want it to be a success. Happily we haven't had to use the insurance yet, but it should help compensate us in an awful situation like the OP experienced.

I think that United should at least give you a partial credit or a free flight or something. Maybe you should go to your local airport and ask to speak to the customer service manager face to face. Don't get aggressive or confrontational. Just tell the honest truth, that you understand the weather caused the situation and that's nobody's fault; but that you were very disappointed with United's service and the actions of the representatives and that you feel that United should offer some compensation for the inconvenience and disappointment. Also, say that you are planning to avoid taking United in the future when other options are available, which I am sure is the truth. Good luck!

 

[LiquidDivingAdventure]

Many of us with tight vacation times book our flights tight with resorts and liveaboards leaving little or no room for problems. I personally do this on trips that are close in the Caribbean, but even going to the Bay Islands (Roatan & Utila) I will overnight in Houston. It's always the big "what if," what if my gear bag is lost or delayed, or what if the first leg of my flight goes bad. We see this every day. When I book divers to Indonesia, Philippines or Asia in general, I always recommend arriving a day or two early just in case. After all, even a budget trip from the US to Indo can be a bucket of money.

I have also started offering travel insurance from my travel agent insurer, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection. I am in the process of comparing coverage to both DAN and DiveAssure (DiveAssure more expensive than DAN). Berkshire Hathaway is a very solid company and is offering good policies which I hope will be of benefit to my dive clients.

The original post is an unfortunate commentary on the level of customer service from many airlines that we regularly use and pay big money for our international dive adventures. They tend to have us "over the proverbial barrel." The unfortunate thing in this market is that for many destinations like Chuuk, Palau, and Yap, there are NOT many options. The limited amount of travelers has limited the number of carriers and flights able to keep routes profitable.