$10,000 lesson in airline policies draws comments

A Travel story by Los Angeles Times staff writer Jane Engle about two retirees -- Anthony and Carol Lopilato of Redondo Beach, who bought $753 round-trip tickets to Europe and wound up paying nearly $10,000 -- drew much reaction from print and online readers.

Following are some letters we received; they have been edited and condensed. You can also hear KFI-AM (640)’s Bryan Suits, who called the Lopilatos’ experience an “absolute horror story,” interview the couple on his tallk show and weigh in on our Travel message boards with your opinion. The Consumerist also posted comments on this story.

I just wanted to write and thank you for the article about the couple who ended up spending a fortune on airfare after American Airlines and Alitalia destroyed their vacation.

The same thing happened to six members of my family on the same flight from Los Angeles on American to JFK, connecting to Alitalia.

American booked our flights too close and we missed the connection, then had to take a myriad of flights to get to Rome, just to find out all of our luggage had been lost for three days.

Upon arriving at the Rome airport to return home, we learned that Alitalia and American had canceled our return flights since we missed the original connection -- yet they failed to inform us of this matter. After hours of telephone calls and heated arguments with unhelpful airline employees, we arrived back in Los Angeles to find our luggage missing once again.

And what did we each get out of the whole thing? A $150 flight voucher, which cannot even fly me to San Francisco.

This happened to my family in March 2006, and it saddens me to see that they have failed to fix the system and continue to profit from their own mistakes.

--Dana Siemsen, Diamond Bar

If the story is exactly as described, then I think the unfortunate (albeit also rather naive) Lopilatos may get part of their money from Alitalia.

How? There have recently been a couple of court rulings in Europe forbidding airlines to cancel the return half of the round-trip ticket when the outbound leg has not been used, no matter which fare basis was employed.

Now, truth be told, I am not sure if this law prevails a) in Italy and b) if the passenger in question is a U.S. citizen, but in theory it should.

--Chris Sattlberger, London

I was all set for my blood to boil, but I got a low simmer instead.

American should have made good on the offer of the seats. Once they went down that road, they should have honored the commitment.

Other than that, this couple was rightfully on their own. I don’t think there is any reasonable regulation to compel two unrelated parties to be obligated in a situation like this.

If you take a taxi to JFK and you get there too late for your flight, should the taxi company put you up in a hotel? Should they guarantee you a seat on the next plane?

To make this more apples to apples, how about if the taxi takes you to the Greyhound bus terminal and you miss your bus? Any obligation? Of course not!

Just because one plane takes you to an airport where there are other planes, that doesn’t create a business obligation between the two UNLESS you book a through ticket. They didn’t.

What does surprise me is that they willingly paid $2,000 each to make the tour. How much was the tour worth?

--Bob Covington

If Alitalia was closed in New York, wouldn’t they have been open in Italy? Did American really make best efforts to contact Alitalia? And since it was American’s fault that the couple missed the connection -- equipment failure -- it wasn’t due to forces out of their control like bad weather, I don’t know how they got away with this. Offering 3,000 bonus miles is an insult. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Is it common practice for an airline to cancel a return flight when the passenger has not contacted the airline to cancel it? Didn’t they pay for it?

Thanks for sharing this story. I’m an American flier and have been for many years, mainly because of miles on my credit card. But I’d like you to let them know that treating passengers in this fashion certainly makes me want to take my business elsewhere.

--Rip Crystal

I feel bad for the Lopilatos, but their experience was more a matter of poor planning and panic than an indictment of the airline industry.

It was an unfair and unreasonable attack on American and Alitalia. As one expert quoted in the article stated, “Buying a la carte is fraught with potential risk.” They tried to save a buck, cut it too close and panicked.

First, allowing only three hours to connect at JFK to a separately booked international flight was asking for trouble. Second, when American’s flight to JFK was delayed by “equipment issues,” common sense says they should have called Alitalia.

Third, how can you expect American to cover the Lopilatos’ mistake? Yet the airline offered to put the couple up in a hotel in New York for free and try to get them to Italy the next day. Instead, the Lopilatos panicked and paid $4,130 for two one-way tickets so that they wouldn’t miss the start of a tour that I doubt cost any more than that anyway. Didn’t they call the tour company for advice?

Fourth, when they arrived in Italy and learned the return flight on Alitalia had been canceled, they panicked again. Couldn’t they work out something with Alitalia? Instead, even though this time they had two weeks before the return, they spent over $4,000 for two one-way tickets.

--David MacKay, Irvine