Do you want to spend your Christmas in a new destination worldwide? Well, you definitely need to have a look at the recent discussion topics that can be found on the MSN news database...
1. Mind your Ps and QsNo one likes a rude and demanding customer. But a short, tactful e-mail is often all it takes to shake something loose. Consider Ryan Einfeldt’s problem with AirTran Airways. He had booked a ticket to New Orleans to attend a wedding when Hurricane Gustav hit. The wedding was postponed, but when he phoned the airline to cancel his flight, he was told he’d have to pay a $75 change fee. I suggested that he ask again — this time in writing — and to remember to be nice about it. He did, noting in his e-mail that he had “enjoyed my past experiences with AirTran, and hope to be able to continue to do so.” It worked. “Due to your extenuating circumstances, I have waived the $75 cancellation fee that you incurred,” an AirTran representative replied.
2. Use reasonSometimes, logic really works. It did for Teresa Castleberry, who was flying from Albany, N.Y., to St. Thomas on US Airways recently. Her flight was canceled because of “crew availability” problems. The airline offered her a later flight, but she would have missed two days of her vacation. So she rented a car and drove to Philadelphia, where she caught a flight to the Virgin Islands. She wrote to the airline, asking for compensation. Denied. I recommended she send a concise, well-reasoned e-mail to US Airways, asking it to reconsider. Bingo! A customer service representative phoned Castleberry, offering a refund of the unused portion of her ticket, for a total of $266. “I do believe that is reasonable compensation,” she told me. I do, too.
3. Cite their own policiesThis is effective not only when the rules favor you, but also when they don’t. What do I mean? Well, referring to an online agency’s service “guarantee” when you aren’t getting any service, for example, is a no-brainer. But citing a travel company’s policy when you’re obviously wrong — that’s brilliant. Which is exactly what Heidi Houseman did when Northwest Airlines refused to refund her parents’ airline tickets and frequent flier miles after her father developed the intestinal flu and had to cancel his trip. “They were packed and ready to go, and they got up at 3 a.m. and — boom!” she remembers. Northwest Airlines was well within its rights to keep the spent miles and her parents’ money. I told Houseman that she needed to make sure she told Northwest that she was aware of the airline’s no-refunds policy. So she did. Eventually, she appealed to a manager at Northwest, who decided to make an exception for the elderly couple. It refunded the tickets and miles.
