Porter bumps cancer patient going to treatment, compensates

[Redneck_pilot86]

So, would they have offered the compensation ($1000 + 5 tickets) if this story had not made the press?

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/archives/s ... 70539.html

An Ontario teen travelling to receive cancer treatment was bumped from her overbooked flight earlier this month.

Xenia Ulok, 16, of Thunder Bay, and her dad, Greg, were on their way to Toronto Dec. 17 for her chemotherapy but were bumped off the Porter Airlines flight just before they were due to board.

"When we got to the gate, a lady told us something about our luggage and told us to step aside," Greg said Tuesday.

"When I realized what was happening, I said my daughter had to get on the plane because we were going to the hospital."

Xenia is undergoing treatment for lymphoblastic lymphoma.

Greg said they were told by staff they were being bumped from the overbooked flight because they had paid the lowest price for tickets.

THE LATEST: Porter Airlines compensates teenage girl with cancer who was bumped from flight
Porter's policy for overbooked flights, according to the company's website, says: "No one is denied a seat until airline personnel first ask for volunteers willing to give up their reservation." Passengers who are involuntarily denied boarding are also often provided compensation for the inconvenience.

Greg said this was not the policy he saw implemented in his case.

"It said that on the website, but when I talked to employees (at the airport), they said differently. They dealt with us when everybody else was already on the plane," he said.

The Uloks managed to get a flight to Toronto with WestJet that night - at $770 per ticket, Greg said.

Now he wants a clarification on Porter's policies and the $500 compensation fee. "I emailed them twice. The only response has been a thank-you, and they said they would look into our case," he said.

Still, the Uloks haven't ruled out Porter for future travel plans.

"I'm flying with them again in January," Xenia said.

"We love Porter, we love their service. We were just surprised with their policy this time."

Porter Airlines declined to comment when contacted by QMI Agency Tuesday.

And the response: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/ca ... 44427.html

Porter Airlines has offered five round-trip tickets to a teenage girl with cancer after she nearly missed a chemotherapy appointment in Toronto because the airline bumped her from an overbooked flight.

Xenia Ulok, 16, and her father, Greg, were booked on a flight from Thunder Bay, Ont., to Toronto on Dec. 17, but before boarding, Porter staff told them they were being bumped because they had paid the lowest price for their tickets.

They then had to buy two WestJet tickets for $770 apiece to make it to Xenia's appointment on time.

Two weeks later - and after the story made national headlines - the airline's vice-president and the president's assistant contacted Greg Ulok on a conference call.

"They wanted to hear exactly what happened from me. I was very happy," Ulok said.

"They said they're going to take care of it. It's not how you fall, it's how you get up."

Despite not getting a response to the two e-mails Ulok sent to Porter detailing his experience, he did get an apology in an e-mail from president Robert Deluce "acknowledging the mistakes made."

Ulok and his daughter were each compensated $500 for the inconvenience and Porter also offered Xenia five round-trip tickets to Toronto.

"It was beyond my expectation - I didn't do anything for any award, I just wanted people to be aware of this problem," Ulok said.

"It's not just a Porter problem - it's a problem with airlines. The whole industry is overbooking flights."

In this case, the flight was overweight due to baggage allowances. Ulok says people should get priority over baggage.

The Porter website says the airline's policy for overbooking flights is "no one is denied a seat until airline personnel first ask for volunteers willing to give up their reservation in exchange for a payment of the airline's choosing. If there are not enough volunteers, boarding will be denied to other persons based on boarding priority."

Porter Airlines has not yet responded to QMI Agency's requests for comment.

[cdnpilot77]

So, would they have offered the compensation ($1000 + 5 tickets) if this story had not made the press?

Probably not...but who cares. If the story hadn't run, the uppers would probably have never known about a guy and his daughter being bumped. I am impressed at the lengths they went to right the wrong. If they truly wanted nothing for making it public, then they should be extremely thankful for what they got.

[bmc]

Impressive recovery. I challenge any airline, anywhere, to top that.

[TrailerParkBoy]

Impressive recovery. I challenge any airline, anywhere, to top that.

An impressive recovery would be to offer unlimited passes for travel during cancer treatment! They bought a ticket on the flight and deserve the same travel of the other passengers!

[sstaurus]

Does WJ still not overbook? I remember they used to have ads saying it was against their policy.

[bmc]

Impressive recovery. I challenge any airline, anywhere, to top that.

An impressive recovery would be to offer unlimited passes for travel during cancer treatment! They bought a ticket on the flight and deserve the same travel of the other passengers!

Maybe the child is doing another five rounds of chemo, hence the number of comp tickets. Cancer treatment can go on for years. Are you suggesting they get multi year comp passes? I'm into year two of cancer treatments with no end in sight. Maybe I should be looking for handouts.

[FICU]

$770 from YQT to YYZ!!

Where is the low cost in "Canada's Low Cost Airline"?

[AuxBatOn]

Are you suggesting they get multi year comp passes? I'm into year two of cancer treatments with no end in sight. Maybe I should be looking for handouts.

My toughts are with you. If I had money or power I would help you out...

[bmc]

Are you suggesting they get multi year comp passes? I'm into year two of cancer treatments with no end in sight. Maybe I should be looking for handouts.

My toughts are with you. If I had money or power I would help you out...

Thanks. That's really touching.

[Realitychex]

$770 from YQT to YYZ!!

Where is the low cost in "Canada's Low Cost Airline"?

$700 one way YQT-YYZ on WJ?

Unmitigated nonsense. Maybe for 2 one way tickets, but not for one.

Sunday Jan 4th will be the busiest travel day of 2015 until sometime in March as everyone heads home / back to school after the Xmas break.

The highest WJ fare available for travel on that busy travel day, a far busier travel day than the date in question and therefore would likely have higher fares to boot, is $241 + taxes or $300.69. That fare is available if you need to go today as well. I have the screen shot to prove it and would post it if I could figure out how.

It never bad to throw in the "greedy corporation profiting off the back of the sick" card in a news story to rile up the masses and perpetuate the myth of the "great airline ripoff" in Canada. But that assumes everything written in the media is reported accurately, which is hardly the case.

For the record, Porter is trying to extract over $600 one way for YQT-YTZ ( ) on a couple of flights this Sunday Jan 4th. Perhaps that is where the confusion lies. I have a screen shot of that too.....

[photofly]

For the record, Porter is trying to extract over $600 one way for YTZ - YYZ on a couple of flights this Sunday Jan 4th. Perhaps that is where the confusion lies.

That is indeed expensive, for an 11nm flight.

[cdnpilot77]

Last I checked these were for profit companies. A product is only worth what someone will pay. If they COULD charge $5k for YYZ-YUL one way and people would pay it, then so be it. Why complain about "greedy" corporations? They are in it to make money....as much as possible for their investors. Don't like the price? Don't buy the product!

[rudder]

I know the family. If you have never had a seriously ill child then you cannot possibly understand the amount of stress that the parents are under. Travelling for treatments is just another layer of complication and stress. Being delayed for weather or maintenance is one thing - getting bumped for corporate economic expediency is quite another.

Porter made a mistake. They acknowledged the error and acted to make up for it. One would not expect anything less.

[Realitychex]

Last I checked these were for profit companies. A product is only worth what someone will pay. If they COULD charge $5k for YYZ-YUL one way and people would pay it, then so be it. Why complain about "greedy" corporations? They are in it to make money....as much as possible for their investors. Don't like the price? Don't buy the product!

If that were the case, WJ or Air Canada could easily charge the same $568 fare as Porter for a YQT-YTZ ticket for the flights on Sunday Jan 4th 2014 at 8:30am, 11am, 1:45pm or 5:35pm.

Instead, and as a direct result of normal competitive forces at play, all Air Canada's flights from YQT-YYZ are priced between $346 and $359 and WJ's are priced at a flat $300.69.

Fares captured at 11:15pm MST Friday Jan 2nd.

Once again, Porter is abusing its monopoly at YTZ.

The sooner Torontonian figure this out, the sooner fares will drop in the GTA.

In any event, our intrepid reporter probably asked the family how they ultimately got to Toronto. The family probably responded "on WJ, and it cost $700".

One can understand the annoyance of the family having to shell out a further $700 under these circumstances, and that makes for great copy, but the reporter couldn't resist adding the "righteous indignation" factor of yet another airline "rip off" and erroneously reported, without checking, the $700 was the price for one ticket on WJ , when in fact, if anything, it was for two one way tickets to YYZ.

The last time I checked, $300.69 x 2 was $601.38 so even the $700 thrown out there looks a little suspicious to me. The original travel date was Dec 17th, a Wednesday eight days before Xmas and before the hyper demand and premium pricing for the Xmas season kicked in, starting the evening of Dec 18th.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

And publishers wonder why newspaper readership is cratering.

Edit as of Saturday 11am mst:

Porter has dropped it's prices for Sunday Jan 4th's YQT-YTZ to $362 for the 8:30am, 11am and 5:35pm flights. The 1:45pm is sold out and the 8:15pm departure is at $274. I wonder how the folks who paid $568 yesterday feel about the $200 discount today?

Back in the day, WJ called this the "pi$$ off factor" and steadfastly avoided last minute discounting. Airlines who dick around with fares like this usually get into trouble as it drives consumer behavior into not booking in advance and waiting for last minute seat sales. Although it is short term gain, (ie $362 is better than nothing...), in the long term it causes nothing but grief. Given that cash flow airlines, of which Porter is most definitely one, rely on advance bookings to pay todays bills, it is very dangerous to mess with consumer behavior that incentivizes people to wait to book last minute, and then discover that if you don't discount at the end, they won't fly at all.

All WJ YQT-YYZ flights for Sunday Jan 4th are priced at $241 + taxes or $300.69.

All Air Canada's flights are prices between $346 and $359, with the exception of the 3:10 departure at $895, indicating that they really don't want to sell any more seats on that flight.

[photofly]

Once again, Porter is abusing its monopoly at YTZ.

The sooner Torontonian figure this out, the sooner fares will drop in the GTA.

As the Competition Bureau decided, Porter doesn't and can't have a monopoly, because there is no market for "flights from YTZ". The market is for flights out of Toronto, and in that there's plenty of competition.

[Realitychex]

If there is no market as you say, then why do flights exist?

Is DCA, located 24 miles from IAD the same market as IAD?
Is BUR, located 18 miles from LAX, the same market as LAX?
Is JFK, located 11 miles from LGA, the same market as LGA?
Is FLL, located 21 miles from MIA, the same market as MIA?
Is SDU, located 11 miles from GIG, the same market as GIG?
Is LTN, located 28 miles from LHR, the same market as LHR?

The difference is, of course, that all the above examples have normal competitive forces in play with multiple airlines offering flights to common destinations. The effect of competition on pricing is more than evident everyday to anyone with a heartbeat and an internet connection.

YTZ is one of the handful of airports on the planet that outside one destination, (Montreal), has single, solitary provider of non stop air commercial air service. I suspect North Korea's capital city is probably one of the only other airports in the world that can make the same claim.

Even Ko Samui Airport, which is owned outright by Bangkok Air, has more competition than YTZ. Koh Samui's population is maybe 50,000. What's the population base of the GTA?

Toronto must be very proud to have one of it's key pieces of transportation infrastructure monopolized to the same degree, and perhaps worse, as North Korea's main airport.

And if there is real competition and not monopoly-type pricing at YTZ, why are average yields, which translate into average fares, when adjusted for equal stage lengths, far higher out of YTZ than from any airport in Canada within 75 miles, let alone anywhere else?

Porter has been around long enough to know there are few business travelers moving around in the first few days after schools are back in session after the holiday season.
Why is the lowest fare available from YTZ-Chicago MDW, just 444 miles, set at $853 one way the moment business travelers start moving again, ie Thurs Jan 8th?

Where head to head, wingtip to wingtip competition exists, on the same day, Jan 8th, one can fly 4,757 miles from Toronto to Vancouver to Maui for less than Porter's one way fare to Chicago, 1/11th the distance.

On the same day, January 8th, one can fly from Vancouver International to Los Angeles, a distance of 1,081 miles on 5 different carriers, all of them profitable, for $110 + taxes, yet because of the lack of competition at YTZ, Porter is able to charge $480 + taxes to Washington, a distance of just 345 miles.

The eggheads in the Ivory Towers at Place du Portage can pontificate all they like.

Anyone with a brain knows that if YTZ were opened up to normal competition, there is no way consumers would be paying $607 to $742 to fly one way to Boston, just 434 miles, this coming Thursday morning.

Porter goes into defensive "Nathan Thurm" mode anytime the embarrassing discussion of the YTZ monopoly comes up. It's hilarious.

https://screen.yahoo.com/nathan-thurm-c ... 00488.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLBQxk72NY

I can't blame them. Without the monopoly, they'd have to sink or swim on the relative merits of their business model. It's pretty obvious where they'd be without the ability to hide behind what amounts to government regulation limiting a normal competitive environment.

[Diadem]

If the customers don't like the prices, they're free to charter a plane. Or they could get a pilot's licence and buy their own plane. Or they could take the bus. Convenience and speed are more important than price to them, and as long as they're willing to pay the asking price Porter will continue to ask for those prices.

[Realitychex]

If the customers don't like the prices, they're free to charter a plane. Or they could get a pilot's licence and buy their own plane. Or they could take the bus. Convenience and speed are more important than price to them, and as long as they're willing to pay the asking price Porter will continue to ask for those prices.

In a normal market, a competitor could enter the market and charge what ever was required to earn a return at least equivalent to the cost of capital.

That does not occur at YTZ, which is why Porter is able to get away charging $853 one way to Chicago on Thursday, whereas folks in Vancouver can nip down to Los Angeles the same day for about 1/4 that price.

The people that go "Nathan Thurm" when ever a discussion of real competition occurs regarding Porter and YTZ are the same people that would scream bloody murder if Molsons was given 85% of all beer sales in the GTA, and 100% of every style of beer except Wheat Ale.

You don't like Molson's beer? You are free to brew your own. Or just drink cider. Or don't drink at all. WTF????

Since when was that the way the consumer society worked in the western world? I can choose countless brands of just about anything I want, except an airline at a publicly owned facility in the largest city in the country?

Toronto is the only city in the Americas, and maybe even the world where this is how business is done.

It's a monopoly and it has resulted in artificially high prices for consumers in both Toronto and outlying markets.

The Bureau get hopelessly caught up in its anti Air Canada agenda when the decision came down on this matter, and if you've figured out who I am, that says a lot.
Porter has been able to ride that bandwagon ever since, though not to the benefit of it's long suffering shareholders.

I'd laugh my arse off if an existing, verifiably profitable airline publicly announced it wanted to operate into YTZ and was prepared to permanently cut the existing fare of $853 to Chicago down to $399 for at least the first year of operation, and then raise it only in accordance with easily rationalized inflationary metrics, and the brain trust at YTZ and various levels of governments said "nope, high fares are good for Toronto. the monopoly must continue".

That would make Toronto the only city on the planet to bias its air transportation sector to ensure consumers paid more, not less. That's what's happening now, even though hardly a week goes by in Canada when there isn't a national media story lamenting the high airfares Canadians pay. How do ya think fares will ever come down if we allow high unit cost airlines to monopolize an airport at the center of Canada's largest city?

It'd be even funnier to watch Porter defend its monopoly under those circumstances.

[photofly]

YTZ is one of the handful of airports on the planet that outside one destination, (Montreal), has single, solitary provider of non stop air commercial air service. I suspect North Korea's capital city is probably one of the only other airports in the world that can make the same claim.

mmmtl; dr.

Unfortunately, the Competition Bureau, decided that YTZ and YYZ both serve the same market. If someone doesn't like the price from YTZ they can fly from YYZ without impediment. "Flights from YTZ" don't form a complete market and in the market for travel out of the GTA, Porter doesn't have a monopoly.

[Johnny#5]

If I don't like Porter's prices I just fly out of Pearson There's no monopoly if I simply travel a few miles to a different airport within the city with other options to the same destination.

[Valhalla]

It'd be even funnier to watch Porter defend its monopoly under those circumstances.

You can laugh or you can cry all you want about it, Realitychex. The monopoly issue has been court tested, and YTZ is legally considered a common market with YYZ.

Is it a competitive advantage for Porter to operate out of YTZ - absolutely. But don't forget that nobody else wanted to commit to the airport in 2006. And Porter was the company that spent millions of dollars building the infrastructure and proving the product. Now that it's a success, you're whining that it's not fair? Didn't you boldly predict it would all fail??

[photofly]

I am dismayed that AC has a complete monopoly on Terminal 1 at YYZ. It's entirely unfair that everyone else has has to fly out of the crappy T3.

[Takeoff OK]

The solution to this is so simple: Make overselling flights illegal. Somebody can correct me on this (I'm sure), but in what other industry can you sell a product that doesn't actually exist? What would happen if promotion companies could oversell concerts or hockey games. It would be the lead news story right away. So why do airlines get away with it? The practice is unacceptable. Period.

[photofly]

The solution to this is so simple: Make overselling flights illegal. Somebody can correct me on this (I'm sure), but in what other industry can you sell a product that doesn't actually exist? What would happen if promotion companies could oversell concerts or hockey games. It would be the lead news story right away. So why do airlines get away with it? The practice is unacceptable. Period.

That's fine, if you're happy to have passengers turned away from making bookings on aircraft that end up departing with empty seats. Every time that happens it represents an opportunity cost to the airline, and extra costs mean higher ticket prices for everyone else. That might be your preference but it's certainly not mine.

I don't go to hockey games (too expensive) or concerts (I'm too old) but if those two examples have a significant number of no-shows, and if it meant lower prices, maybe we should give it a try.

[whodareswins]

The solution to this is so simple: Make overselling flights illegal. Somebody can correct me on this (I'm sure), but in what other industry can you sell a product that doesn't actually exist? What would happen if promotion companies could oversell concerts or hockey games. It would be the lead news story right away. So why do airlines get away with it? The practice is unacceptable. Period.

It's common practice in the hotel industry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j- ... 55524.html


Don't even get me started about concerts and sporting events which suffer from price gouging through rampant online scalping.