I'm not a big fan of government intervention in issues like this, but I think the whole practice of changing flights is an area where some regulation has become necessary. Airlines are taking advantage of loose regulation to cheat their customers.
Consumers get hurt in many ways by changes in contracted-for flights, and I'll list a few:
- The obvious problem OP has where they booked and paid for a flight in good faith, and the carrier then reneged. They took OP's money, and then stopped flying to MCO.
- The carrier offered a credit, but they don't fly anywhere OP wants to go. So the credit is totally worthless, and the carrier keeps their money without providing anything at all in return.
- The non-stop flight bait and switch I mentioned above. We've had numerous complaints here where people were switched from a non-stop that was to arrive in the early morning at MCO to a connecting flight arriving in the evening. That customer missed a whole day of their vacation in order for the airline to make more money.
- In both cases above, the customer could get other flights on other airlines that would meet their needs, but which might cost more.
My solution -- if an airline cancels a flight, changes flights without the customer's approval, etc, here's what they must do to make the customer whole:
- Offer the customer a CHOICE between
- A similar flight on a competitive airline that would provide similar convenience to what the customer booked in good faith, OR
- A full cash refund, OR
- A re-arranged flight schedule that would be satisfactory for the customer, OR
- A full dollar-value credit for a future flight on the original airline.
- Customer's choice -- no games.
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