5 Surprising, Little-Known Airline Guarantees
A few were buried in airline website legalese, but they do exist.
— -- As anyone who has flown in the past few weeks knows oh-so-well, bad things can happen to air travelers. If you're not getting stung by a scorpion, you're stuck in a storm. You can complain but how much good does that do?
Mostly, we suck it up. After all, there are no money-back guarantees. Or are there?
We found a few, including some buried in airline website legalese. Take a look, and next time you check a bag, consider pulling out a stopwatch.
1. Delta's Bag Guarantee
This policy is brand new but may not be around forever, because it is only being offered on an experimental basis through March 31. Here's how it works: If you're flying domestic and your checked-bag doesn't arrive at the carousel within 20 minutes or less, you get 2,500 bonus SkyMiles (but you must be a member of the Delta miles program at the time of your flight).
Should Delta be nervous about an onslaught of miles payouts? I don't think so. The carrier did very well in the most recent government statistics for "mishandled" baggage, bested only by smaller Virgin America and JetBlue, and way ahead of American and United.
2. Alaska's Bag Guarantee With Options
This airline's baggage guarantee has been around for years now but not everyone knows about it. Too bad, because it's a good one. Alaska also offers compensation for bags that aren't at the carousel in 20 minutes, but you get a choice of 2,500 in bonus miles or a $25 discount code good for future travel.
3. Frontier's Freebie Guarantee
A bag guarantee with a twist: Not only will Frontier refund baggage bag fees to economy passengers when checked-bags go missing, the airline also compensates those who didn't pay at all. In other words, passengers who get bags as a complimentary perk - elite miles members or those who buy pricy Classic Plus tickets - also get a lost-bag consolation prize in the form of a travel voucher, good for the amount they would have paid in bag fees if they'd flown in coach.
4. JetBlue's Delay Guarantee
This policy involves compensation for delays so a clear understanding of the difference between an “uncontrollable irregularity” and a controllable one is vital. The shorthand for uncontrollable is bad weather, while controllable means matters the airline is responsible for such as aircraft maintenance.
So let's suppose your flight is delayed two hours by a controllable irregularity - say, a wing falls off while the plane is at the gate - JetBlue's guarantee to you is a $25 credit toward a future flight. If the delay lasts six hours or more, the credit rises to $200.
The airline has other guarantees, too, for lengthy stuck-on-the-tarmac scenarios for arriving planes that can't find an open gate or planes that have to wait a while for takeoff. While this is great, it doesn't help storm-delayed travelers. Still, better than nothing.
5. Southwest's Change-Your-Mind Guarantee
OK, this is not exactly a guarantee but this policy is too good not to mention: You bought a ticket to fly on Southwest but a month later change your mind and skip the flight or fly another time. Such an itinerary alteration would cost you a $200 change fee on many airlines, but what does Southwest charge? Nothing; this is the only airline without a change fee. Brag all you want about your free bags, Southwest, but nothing beats a $0 change fee.
The opinions expressed by Rick Seaney in this column are his alone and do not reflect the views of ABC News.
