{"id":18484,"date":"2010-12-30T18:29:34","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T22:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=18484"},"modified":"2010-12-30T18:29:34","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T22:29:34","slug":"what-to-do-when-your-travel-provider-doesnt-know-or-follow-its-own-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/what-to-do-when-your-travel-provider-doesnt-know-or-follow-its-own-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do When Your Travel Provider Doesn't Know Or Follow It's Own Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you travel long enough you are bound to run into some staff at a travel company that doesn’t seem to play by the rules.\u00a0 It could be the Federal Government’s rules or even just the rules of the company itself, but the obstinate individual seems to be on a crusade to assert their authority to make up whatever rule they feel like that day.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, in this situation, a flight attendant threatened to remove a mother and her baby for attempting to use an FAA recommended and approved car seat.<\/a> More details here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Why It Occurs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Customer <\/strong>service staff in the travel industry have to put up with a lot of difficult people all day long.\u00a0 They work long hours under difficult conditions.\u00a0 Most of the time, when they quote the rules, they are correct.\u00a0 That said, there is no excuse for anyone to make up rules and let their ego run amok when they are having a bad day.\u00a0 You will find that the more authority a person believes they have, the more likely they are to create rules out of thin air and make threats when challenged.\u00a0 Flight attendants and security staff compete for the honor of being the most likely to abuse their power.\u00a0 Security feels entitled for obvious reasons, but flight attendants usually have an axe of their own to grind.\u00a0 While your most common interaction with them may be during food and beverage service, most of them feel that they are primarily their for your safety, and the service is just an unfortunate duty they are forced to do when they have a spare moment.\u00a0\u00a0 The rest of the time, they can prop up their egos knowing that Federal law requires that all passengers comply with crew member instructions.\u00a0\u00a0 Legally speaking, if a flight attendant asks you to pat your head and rub your tummy, you are required to comply.<\/p>\n

How To Respond<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the situation with the car seat, the mother probably did her best.\u00a0\u00a0 She had to weigh the option of leaving the flight against complying with the flight attendant’s mistaken interpretation of the rules.\u00a0\u00a0 She chose to comply and exacted some measure of justice after the fact when the airline was forced to apologize to her and compensate her.\u00a0\u00a0 When dealing with crew members aboard an aircraft you have few choices.\u00a0\u00a0 If the aircraft is on the ground and the door is open, you can choose to get off the plane.\u00a0\u00a0 Otherwise, you really do not have any choice but to comply with crew member instructions.\u00a0\u00a0 Upon landing, you are then free to ask for the name of the person you spoke with, an employee number, and the name of a supervisor.\u00a0\u00a0 Above all, keep your cool at all times on board an aircraft so your departure can be of your own accord, not by the escort of a Federal Marshall.<\/p>\n

When not on board an aircraft, you have a lot more latitude to quote the rules to someone, or ask to speak with a supervisor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This happened to my wife and I when a gate agent decided that she did not have the proper Visa for our travel itinerary.\u00a0\u00a0 We had done the research and knew that she did not have to have a Visa to visit this particular country with her particular passport, but the gate agent was ready to deny us boarding.\u00a0\u00a0 He even threatened to call his supervisor.\u00a0 We agreed, and challenged him to do so.\u00a0\u00a0 Lo and behold, when he actually entered the information correctly, his computer agreed with us, and his supervisor was not called.\u00a0\u00a0 Occasionally, when time is of the essence, you may even have to loose your cool to get your point across.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ultimately, it comes down to how much time you have on your hands, and how much your are willing to fight.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One day, when I arrived at security with my three year old, I went to the line clearly labeled for travelers with small children.\u00a0\u00a0 That day, the TSA line guard would have none of it, and told me I couldn’t use the line.\u00a0 I pointed to the sign that said “small children” and he just kept repeating his inane instructions.\u00a0\u00a0 Paradoxically, if I did not have my three year old with me, I would have been more interested in asking for his supervisor to explain why my kid was not a small child.<\/p>\n

Some times you just can’t win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you travel long enough you are bound to run into some staff at a travel company that doesn’t seem to play by the rules.\u00a0 It could be the Federal Government’s rules or even just the rules of the company itself, but the obstinate individual seems to be on a crusade to assert their authority […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat To Do When Your Travel Provider Doesn't Know Or Follow It's Own Rules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/what-to-do-when-your-travel-provider-doesnt-know-or-follow-its-own-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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