New York – When Continental Airlines bumped Thatcher A. Stone and his daughter off a flight last Christmas Day, he bumped back.
This wasn’t a minor inconvenience. Their ski trip was ruined because Continental couldn’t get them on another flight to Colorado for six days, Stone says, and the airline refused to compensate him for lost deposits on a ski lodge and other expenses.
So he sued in small claims court. Last month, a judge awarded Stone $3,110 for his expenses and inconvenience.
“Continental was just trying to be jerks,” said Stone, an aviation lawyer from New York. “They thought they could get away with it, but they got the wrong guy.”
As any frequent flier knows, it’s common for airlines to bump ticketed passengers shortly before a plane departs. Carriers routinely sell more tickets than seats on flights because so many customers don’t make it to the gate on time, if at all.
Usually, they can persuade enough passengers to give up their seats by offering a reward such as a free round-trip domestic ticket and a later flight.
When that doesn’t work, airlines can involuntarily deny customers a seat. That means the carrier must find the passenger another flight within two hours or pay $400 and, of course, refund the original ticket.
Passengers don’t have to accept that offer. And Stone says he wasn’t about to after weeks of battling with Continental.
It all started when he and his 13-year-old daughter checked their bags at Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport on Christmas Day to start their annual week-long ski vacation in Telluride.
At the gate, a Continental agent told Stone they’d been bumped from the oversold flight. He asked to get their luggage – containing all their winter clothes – off the plane, but the airline refused, he says. It took four days to get the bags back.
A Continental agent testified in court that Stone was offered an alternate flight “two or more days later,” according to the judge’s order. Stone insists the first flight available was on New Year’s Eve – the day before their scheduled return.
Continental refunded the $2,000 tickets at the airport.
But Stone wanted the airline to reimburse him $1,360 lost on prepaid costs, including ski lodge accommodations, lift tickets and his daughter’s equipment rentals.
He wrote twice and sued for breach of contract when Continental refused his demands.Continental declined comment on whether it will appeal.
