Expert: Roberto Gomes - 12/8/2007

Question
We had a flight on Continental to Houston and then on to San Jose, all from Tulsa. Our flight from Tulsa to Houston was supposed to be at 6:25 p.m. It was a little late. Upon closing the doors and pulling back the walkway, the pilot found there was a mechanical problem with the flaps and the flight was cancelled. Continental booked us the next morning on a 6:30 a.m. flight through American now through Dallas and on to San Jose. This was a short weekend trip, Friday to Sunday and now it is a Saturday to Sunday trip. Continental refused to compensate us in any way. Is this normal? Do have any recourse? Thanks.

Answer
Dear Joe,

Continental made all the arrangements contained in the Contract of Carriage, specially on the rule 24 which terms and conditions are reproduced below...

E) Schedule Irregularity
1) Liability
Except to the extent provided in this Rule and the Warsaw Convention, CO shall not be liable for any
Schedule Irregularity.
2) Delay, Misconnection or Cancellation
a) When a Passenger’s ticket is affected because of a Schedule Irregularity caused by CO,
CO will take the following measures:
(i) Transport the Passenger on its own flights, subject to availability, to the Destination, next Stopover point, or transfer point shown on its portion of the Ticket, without Stopover in the same class of service, at no additional cost to the Passenger, provided that a Passenger who paid a Coach fare may only be transported on a flight in First Class or Business First Class Service subject to seat availability and if such flight will provide an earlier arrival than CO’s next flight on which coach space is available; or
(ii) At the Passenger’s request, provided that the tariff covering the original transportation permits routing via the carrier which will transport the Passenger, CO will reaccommodate the Passenger in the same class of service
on the next available flight on another carrier, or combination of carriers, if the length of the delay to the Passenger’s destination exceeds two hours.
b) In the event a Passenger misses an onward connecting flight on which space is reserved because the Delivering Carrier did not operate its flight due to a Schedule Irregularity or Change in Schedule, the Delivering Carrier is responsible to arrange for carriage of Passenger or to make a refund.
3) CO will provide a refund in accordance with Rule 27 A), if the Passenger is not transported as provided in C) 2) above.
F) Amenities for Delayed Passengers
1) Lodging
The Passenger will be provided one night’s lodging, or a maximum allowance for one night’s lodging as established by each location, when a CO flight on which the Passenger is being transported incurs a Schedule Irregularity and the Passenger incurs a delay that is expected to exceed four hours during the period 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
EXCEPTION: Lodging will not be furnished:
a) To a Passenger whose trip is interrupted at a city which is his/her permanent domicile, or
b) When the destination city airport that is designated on the Passenger’s Ticket and the city airport that the Passenger is diverted to are both within the following city groups:
(i) Baltimore, MD (BWI)/Washington D.C. Dulles IAD)/Washington D.C. National (DCA)
(ii) Brownsville, TX (BRO/Harlingen, TX (HRL)/McAllen, TX (MFE)
(iii) Burbank, CA (BUR)/Los Angeles, CA (LAX)/Ontario, CA (ONT)/Orange County, CA
(SNA)/Long Beach, CA (LGB)
(iv) Chicago, IL O’Hare (ORD)/Chicago, IL Midway (MDW)
(v) Colorado Springs, CO (COS)/Denver, CO (DEN)
(vi) Dallas, TX Dallas-Ft. Worth International (DFW)/Dallas, TX Love Field (DAL)
(vii) Ft. Lauderdale, FL (FLL)/Miami, FL (MIA)/West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
(viii) Houston, TX Bush Intercontinental (IAH)/Houston, TX Ellington AFB (EFD)/Houston, TX
Hobby(HOU)
(ix) Oakland, CA (OAK)/San Francisco, CA (SFO)/San Jose, CA (SJO)
(x) Newark, NJ Newark International (EWR)/New York, NY La Guardia (LGA)/New York,
NY Kennedy (JFK)/White Plains, NY (HPN)
(xi) London, UK Gatwick (LGW)/London, UK Heathrow (LHR)
c) When such interruption is due to circumstances outside CO’s control such as weather condition and air traffic control delays.
2) Meals
Passengers will be provided with one meal, per Passenger, if the delay caused by CO to the Passenger under this Rule will extend beyond normal meal hours. When lodging is furnished in accordance with 1)above, the Passenger may be provided up to two meals.
36
3) Ground Transportation
When lodging is furnished in accordance with 1) above and ground transportation is not furnished by the hotel, CO will provide ground transportation to the place of lodging via public conveyance.
4) Communication
CO will provide one three-minute long distance telephone call when the delay caused by CO under this Rule is expected to exceed two hours.
5) Passengers with Special Needs
During a Schedule Irregularity, CO will provide such amenities as are necessary to maintain the safety
and/or welfare of certain Passengers such as Qualified Individuals with Disabilities, unaccompanied minors, or the elderly.

You can check the whole text at the following link:

https://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/co_contract_of_carriage.2007120701.pdf

Best Regards,
R. Gomes