Rapid response from initially obstinate airline
The first leg of my flight is from New York to Paris on American Airlines.
From Paris, I’m flying to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Johannesburg on Etihad Airlines.
While on the subway, I encountered some delays, and the trains stopped for some time.
[...] when I got to the airport, there were no agents to help me change my ticket.
Like most major airlines, it has what’s known as a “flat tire” rule that allows its agents to put you on the next available flight without charging you a penalty.
[...] that wouldn’t have fixed the second portion of your flight, the leg from Paris to Abu Dhabi that you would have missed.
[...] before we get to the resolution, let’s talk about how this situation could have been avoided.
Three hours may be enough time to make it for a domestic flight, but international flights cut off their check-ins earlier, so you really were only giving yourself about an hour to get to the airport on time.
If you were doing this alone, you could have sent a polite, written appeal to one of Priceline’s executives: http://elliott.org/company-contacts/priceline.
