Expert: Roberto Gomes - 2/15/2008

Question
Good Afternoon,

Me, my wife and two small children were supposed to fly from Williams Lake, BC to Oklahoma City today.  The three flights were Williams Lake to Vancouver BC with a small carrier called CMA, Vancouver to Dallas and Dallas to OKC with American.  These trips were all booked on Airmiles and as such I have been informed that they are restricted.

Due to a severe storm, we were unable to fly from Williams Lake today and an attempt to rebook the flights from Vancouver to OKC via Dallas with AA resulted in a charge for the difference between the discount price originally booked and the current no advance price, this would have been $4000 plus $600 in change fees, this would put us out of house and as such I couldn't do it.

I contacted AIRMILES and they also tried to talk to AA but got no where with them. We have had to cancel our trip, kids first one on a plane, and rebook until April.  Will miss the family get together from across CAN and USA but will still get to see my sister.

Now finally two questions;

1 - Would flight insurance have covered the $4600 change fee in this case, (I know there are different policies but generally).

2 - Does either carrier, the small one CMA or AA have a responisbilty to me to get me to my paid for destination, AA says not their fault their planes were on schedule, CMA says not their fault flight I didn't make wasn't there's.

This has left a lot of hurt feelings around here and I'm looking for where to start and who should be responsible here.  

And listen if it is me, tell me that as well.

Thanks for listening.

Answer
Dear Mike,

If I understood correctly you issued your tickets using miles from a credit card.

Since the majority of the airlines make available a few number of seats assigned for redemption their "fare" fall into a special tariff category and due to this they have a lot a restrictions.

In your case, AA is not responsible for passengers who did not make their flights due to misconnection from other carrier. Also CMA is not responsible for the weather condition and the onward connection with another carrier. In case of rebooking, I am assuming that AA checked if your "redemption fare" was still available and since it was not, they calculated the difference to be paid, based on the fare facts of your fare (fees applied to change of date, flight among other things) and the available fare.

Finally, as far as the insurance is concern, you'll need to check if the policy applies to cancellations due weather. I believe it doesn't.

Hope that I can clarify your question.
Best Regards,
R. Gomes