By Christopher Elliot | Travel Troubleshooter
Q: I was flying home from Madrid to Seattle on Aer Lingus, booked through Alaska Airlines using miles. But the airline denied me boarding even though I had a ticket. I had to buy a new ticket on another airline, which cost me $3,244.
Alaska Airlines wants me to get a statement from Aer Lingus explaining why I was denied boarding. I’ve spoken to Aer Lingus many times and the airline has assured me that my case was being investigated and escalated. But it’s been three months and there’s still no resolution. What are my rights? – Sherry Fadely, Seattle
A: This is a complicated case because it involves three airlines and an award ticket, but the bottom line is this: Alaska Airlines should have given you a usable ticket. And Alaska Airlines needs to make this right.
The three airlines are Aer Lingus (the operating airline), Iberia Airlines (the airline that handled the check-in for Aer Lingus), and Alaska Airlines (the airline that issued the ticket using miles from your frequent flier program).
Let’s start with the basics: When an airline denies you boarding, it’s called an “involuntary denied boarding.” This happens when an airline overbooks a flight. The airline is required to compensate you, and the rules vary depending on where you’re coming from and where you’re going.
In the U.S., airlines must follow the Department of Transportation’s rules for denied boarding compensation. These rules are complex. Most passengers receive compensation equal to double the one-way price of the flight they were bumped from and a seat on the next available flight.
In the European Union, airlines must follow the EU’s denied boarding compensation rules, known as EC 261. These rules are more generous than the U.S. regulations, and they require the airline to pay you cash compensation in addition to finding you a new flight. The amount of compensation depends on the length of your flight and the length of the delay.
You were denied boarding in Madrid, Spain, which is in the European Union. That means that Aer Lingus is subject to EC 261. But you booked your ticket through Alaska Airlines using miles. Alaska Airlines is a U.S. airline, so do U.S. rules apply? Actually, no. The operating carrier would be subject to EU regulations.
Allowing you to book award tickets through Aer Lingus, which then outsources the check-in to Iberia, may benefit these airlines (or in marketing parlance, allow them to “extend their network”). But for consumers, it’s confusing. I don’t see how this kind of code-sharing really helps consumers, particularly when no one wants to accept responsibility for a flight that goes wrong.
You could have appealed this to a manager at Alaska Airlines. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the Alaska Airlines executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. And while you might have also applied some heat to Aer Lingus and Iberia, the buck stopped with Alaska Airlines.
My advocacy team and I really struggled with this one because there were so many airlines involved. We reached out to Aer Lingus, which agreed that this case had been mishandled, but urged you to file a complaint with Spanish aviation regulators. (In other words, they wanted the Spanish government to decide who was responsible.)
So we checked in with Alaska Airlines. The airline reviewed your case and agreed to refund the miles for the unused portion of your ticket and pay you an additional $3,244 to cover the cost of your flight home.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him on his site.