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ht numbers or flight times.
Send copies, never the originals, of tickets and
receipts or other documents that can back up your
claim.
Include the names of any employees who were rude
or made things worse, as well as anyone who might
have been especially helpful.
Don't clutter up your complaint with petty gripes
that can obscure what you're really angry about.
Let the airline know if you've suffered any special
inconvenience or monetary losses.
Say just what you expect the carrier to do to make
amends. An airline may offer to settle your claim
with a check or some other kind of compensation,
possibly free transportation. You might want a
written apology from a rude employee or
reimbursement for some loss you incurred—but the
airline needs to know what you want before it can
decide what action to take.
Be reasonable. If your demands are way out of line,
your letter might earn you a polite apology and a
place in the airline's crank files.
If you follow these guidelines, the airlines
will probably treat your complaint seriously. Your
letter will help them to determine what caused your
problem, as well as to suggest actions the company
can take to keep the same thing from happening to
other people.
Contacting the Department of
Transportation
If you need assistance or want to put your complaint
about an airline on record with DOT, call the Office
of Consumer Affairs at (202) 366-2220 or write:
Office of Consumer Affairs, I-25
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 Seventh Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590
If you write, please be sure to include your address
and a daytime telephone number, with area code.
We can provide information about what
rights you may or may not have under Federal laws.
If your complaint was not properly handled by the
airline, we will contact them and get back to you.
Letters from consumers help us spot
problem areas and trends in the airline industry. We
use our complaint files to document the need for
changes in DOT's consumer protection regulations
and, where warranted, as the basis for enforcement
action. In addition, every month we publish a report
with information about the number of complaints we
receive about each airline and what problems people
are having. You can write or call us for a free single
copy of this Air Travel Consumer Report, which
also has statistics that the airlines file with us on
flight delays, oversales and mishandled baggage.
If your complaint is about something you
feel is a safety or security hazard, write to the
Federal Aviation Administration:
Community and Consumer Liaison
Division, APA-200
Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20591
or call: (800) FAA-SURE. After office hours, if you
want to report something that you believe is a
serious safety hazard, call the Aviation Safety
Hotline at 1-800-255-1111.
Local consumer help programs
In most communities there are consumer help
groups that try to mediate complaints about
businesses, including airlines and travel agencies.
Most state governments have a special office that
investigates consumer problems and complaints.
Sometimes it is a separate division in the governor's
or state attorney general's office. Check your
telephone book under the state government's listing.
Many cities and counties have consumer affairs
departments that handle complaints. Often you can
register your complaint and get information over the
phone or in person.
A number of newspapers and radio or TV stations
operate Hot Lines or Action Lines where
individual consumers can get help. Consumer
reporters, with the help of volunteers, try to mediate
complaints and may report the results as a news
item. The possible publicity encourages companies
to take fast action on consumer problems when they
are referred by the media. Some Action Lines,
however, may not be able to handle every complaint
they receive. They often select the most severe
problems or those that are most representative of the
kinds of complaints they receive.
Your last resort
If nothing else works, small claims court might be
the best way for you to help yourself. Many cities
have these courts to settle disputes involving
relatively small amounts of money and to reduce the
red tape and expense that people generally fear
when they sue someone. An airline can generally be
sued in small claims court in any jurisdiction where
it operates flights or does business.
You can usually get the details of how to
use the small claims court in your community by
contacting your city or county office of consumer
affairs, or the clerk of the court. As a rule, small
claims court costs are low, you don't need a lawyer,
and the procedures are much less formal and
intimidating than they are in most other types of
courts.
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