The Travel Troubleshooter

Using miles to escape from New York

Christopher Elliott

Travel Troubleshooter

3:30 PM EDT, October 8, 2013


Felix Chan's parents are stranded in New York after a storm. They can't get back to Hong Kong because he used miles to pay for their ticket. Are they stuck?

Q: My parents, who are visiting me from Hong Kong, are scheduled to travel on Cathay Pacific later this week from New York to Hong Kong. But their flights were canceled because of a hurricane. Here's the problem: Both of their tickets were redeemed using my British Airways points. And those tickets follow a different set of rules.

A Cathay Pacific representative told me that since this is an award ticket issued by British Airways, there is nothing Cathay Pacific can do and that I should work with British Airways, who issued these two tickets.

I then proceed to contact British Airways over the phone, where the representative told me that all they can do is search through the Cathay Pacific "award inventory" and they do not see anything for another month. I did ask if they can try to rebook my parents on British Airways or another airline, but they were turned down.

I definitely feel I am now stuck in the middle, as I feel I am getting caught in between both carriers. Using rational common sense, I feel one of these airlines should offer assistance to my parents, and not just leave us out in the cold. I feel they should offer the same treatment to all passengers who travel with them, and not make my parents second-class citizens. — Felix Chan, New York

A: You're right; one of the airlines should have promptly rebooked your parents on the next available flight — not the next flight with available seat inventory.

It helps to know a little about how award tickets work. A sophisticated computer algorithm determines how many seats per flight become award seats, which is to say, seats for which the airline is willing to accept frequent flier miles as payment. But what the system is actually calculating is the number of seats that would go unsold. (Maybe they ought to call them leftover seats instead of award seats?)

Anyway, when your parents' flight was canceled, the system gave you two choices: either refund the miles for the unused tickets or book your parents on the next flight with leftover seats.

This seems perfectly rational to the airline; after all, it's giving you something for nothing. But from your perspective, it's an insult. You worked hard and spent lots of money to accrue those miles, and to ask you to wait a month is unacceptable.

I notice that you spent a fair amount of time on the phone with British Airways and Cathay Pacific after the storm (this incident happened several months ago, but I am just now writing about it). That's fine, but you also want to put your grievance in writing so that you have a record of it. At some point down the line, British Airways will realize that it ticked off one of its best customers, and a written record tends to help everyone reach that point sooner.

I contacted British Airways on your behalf, and it worked with Cathay Pacific to find your parents two seats on an acceptable flight.
