Dear Tripped Up,
When my adult daughter and I traveled to China last October, I treated us to business class seats — something I’d only experienced on occasional business trips — and spent $7,388 per ticket on United’s Polaris class from San Francisco to Beijing. When the cabin lights dimmed after dinner, about 90 minutes into the flight, I tried to lie down, but the seat buttons didn’t work. A flight attendant told me this happens all the time. Another driver turned the seat into the reclining position, but the seat remained stuck there and the seat belt was inaccessible. There were no free seats in business class and probably also in economy class (otherwise they would have moved me there). I had to lie completely flat and without a seatbelt for almost the entire remainder of the 14-hour flight. The pilot advised us several times to be prepared for turbulence and to make sure our seatbelts were fastened. I alerted the crew that mine wasn’t accessible, but no one seemed to care. Just before landing, two flight attendants worked together to turn my seat back up, unbuckling my seatbelt in the process. When I complained to United, I was offered a $150 travel voucher. I countered by asking for 250,000 miles, which is about $3,000, less than half my fare. They offered a $350 travel voucher. It was all a big disappointment. Have you noticed such complaints from others? Can you help? Cathy, Philadelphia
Dear Cathy,
When we hear about the indignities of commercial aviation these days, the scene is usually the economy cabin, with its limited legroom, expensive snacks and exhausted passengers. So it’s terribly unfortunate that in your attempt to escape this fate you fell victim to one of the few complaints I usually get from business class passengers.
Complaints like this – both in my inbox and on countless online forums – always end in the same direction: the business class seat doesn’t work. Passenger demands refund. The airline gives a pittance.
You actually got a slightly higher amount than most, as I found out when you sent in documentation of your (firm but polite) efforts to plead your case with United customer service. They talked them into up to $650 in vouchers, since this $350 voucher was in addition to the original $150, and your daughter also received a $150 voucher (although I’m not sure she should be rewarded for watching her mother suffer rather than offering to trade places with her).
Charlie Hobart, a United spokesman, told me on the phone that they received more than usual for such complaints and called the end result “fair.”
“It was unfortunate that we didn’t give this customer the experience they expected,” he said, adding that he hoped they would fly United again. (Me too, otherwise you’ll lose the $650 since these one-year coupons expire in a few months.)
He added that he will flag your United account so that the airline “works to ensure you have a pleasant experience with us” the next time you travel.
Whether that means a free bag of salt-vinegar-nut mix (retail value $6) on board or a free upgrade to business class (good luck) remains unclear. Please contact me.
You and I agree that $650 in vouchers isn’t enough. A free upgrade to a future flight sounds right to me, so I thought your request for 250,000 United miles was quite reasonable. That’s about the same price difference between United economy award flights and Polaris flights for the one-way route you chose, at least in the coming months. And an unused business class seat – especially in an uncomfortable and dangerous position – is certainly worse than a downgrade. (A United representative who responded to you via email seemed to acknowledge this: “This situation is unacceptable and does not meet the safety and service standards we strive for.”)
Oddly enough, United would have owed you a cash refund of the fare difference if you had been downgraded to an economy seat with a working seatbelt, which Hobart says would have happened if such a seat had been available. This is a federal regulation, but how airlines determine this number is a mystery.
But what happened to you isn’t technically a downgrade, and airline reps are always happy to point out to me that the passenger boarded earlier, ate well, had access to free drinks, and had more overhead storage space.
I asked Gary Leff, who runs the aviation news site View From the Wing, if he could explain why the compensation is so much less than seems reasonable.
“Airlines market a ‘premium product’ and describe the features of what passengers will experience when they purchase a ticket,” he wrote, “and then when they fail to provide that experience, they resort to a contract of carriage that states that the passenger is entitled only to transportation between two airports and nothing more.”
In these cases, he believes airlines should offer a full refund or at least a refund of the class difference.
This is an opinion, not a solution. So I turned to Anton Radchenko, a lawyer and CEO of AirAdvisor, a U.S.-based company that helps travelers get compensation from airlines.
But his company doesn’t help in situations like yours, he said, because the fine print and lack of effective regulation gives airlines a lot of protection in such cases.
In fact, most airlines’ contracts of carriage clearly state that “any additional service or amenity” is “not guaranteed,” to use United’s language. Of course, a seat belt isn’t exactly a convenience.
Mr. Radchenko had two suggestions, neither of which he admitted were ideal. The easiest way, he said, is to file a credit card chargeback, where you complain to your card issuer that you didn’t receive the service you were promised. “It basically shifts the balance of power to the consumer, and then you don’t have to prove anything other than that this incident happened,” he said in a video call.
However, if the airline decides to fight back, it can argue that it has fulfilled the contract and resorted to the fine print. (In your case, the seat belt issue could be helpful, although you had no photos, videos, or independent witnesses, making the case more difficult.)
Mr. Leff pointed out that if airlines lose, they could potentially ban you from flying with them in the future.
Mr. Radchenko also floated the idea of filing a small claims lawsuit. He cited cases where passengers won money for a non-reclining seat in India and for a business class cabin that was shabbier than advertised in New Zealand.
Aside from taking an airline to court, there are a few things business class passengers should do to improve their chances of getting compensation.
First, check your seat as soon as you board. You won’t find yourself in a situation like this if you can switch to a work seat.
If it’s too late, make sure the flight crew members log the incident and document any promises they made.
Then: document, document, document. Take photos and videos, obtain contact information from witnesses, and politely ask for the names of flight attendants. Not only will this help with any credit card disputes and lawsuits, but it will also help gently nudge airlines into offering at least a little more reasonable compensation.
This advice also applies to broken seats in economy class. For example, if seat 47E doesn’t recline, consider yourself lucky if you score a free bag of salt, vinegar and nut mix from the airline.
If you need advice on an optimal travel plan that went wrong, Email TrippedUp@nytimes.com.
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