Dear Tripped Up,
I was planning to fly Air India from San Francisco to Delhi, and then on to Kolkata, India, on May 31, 2024, to be in town for my mother’s surgery three days later. But after five hours of waiting to take off, passengers were asked to deplane and given a notice announcing that the flight was “canceled due to operational reasons.” According to the printout, which I took a picture of, passengers could choose to be reimbursed or rebooked on the next available Air India flight. But it went on to give a third choice: “In the event that you choose to book with another airline, we will reimburse the fare difference.” There was an Air India flight on June 1 that would still get me into town in time for the operation, so I took that rebooking option. But the next day, Air India notified me that my new flight was delayed enough that I would miss my connection, and the surgery. As a last resort, I bought a round-trip Emirates economy class ticket for $3,855 — $2,038 more the cost of my original $1,817 ticket, which Air India refunded. In the time since, the airline has consistently refused to pay the difference, even when I sent it the photograph of the notice and complained to U.S. Department of Transportation. Can you help? Amartya, Foster City, Calif.
Dear Amartya,
The Air India representatives in San Francisco who printed and distributed that notice thoughtfully prioritized you and your fellow travelers’ needs over the bottom line of their employer.
In other words, they screwed up.
Airlines rarely offer to cover the difference if passengers facing long delays or cancellations book a replacement flight on a competing airline, and no U.S. regulation says they have to. Travelers typically must choose between a refund and the next open seat on the same airline or, in some cases, a partner. It typically doesn’t matter if that means missing your mother’s surgery, your granddaughter’s graduation or even your first oral argument before the Supreme Court.
Those who can afford a last-minute fare pay a sky-high price for it, and those who don’t miss out.
So the Air India offer was unusual. I was not surprised to see in the photo you sent me that the notice distributed in San Francisco did not have the official look of a document approved by someone at headquarters. Instead, it had the Times New Roman, typo-ridden vibes of something you might see on an office bulletin board announcing that there would be birthday cake for Catherine in the conference room at 4 p.m.
