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Is it a Crime to Ask for a Contract?
ChrisCrossings · April 2, 2002

Q: After reading your informative column on Rule 240, I thought you might be interested in an experience I had last October.

My wife's flight from Spokane, Wash., to Seattle was delayed two hours. Her requests for a copy of the contract of carriage were met with, "Sorry, we no longer have that at the airport." Regardless of whom she talked to, she was unable to get straight information from the Alaska Airline employees in Spokane.

So I walked to the ticket counter in Seattle and asked an agent for a copy of the contract of carriage. She said she did not know what that was. I explained that it was the contract between the airline and the passenger and the rights and responsibilities of each. She offered me a copy of the "We Care" flyer, a vaguely-worded brochure the airlines came up with two years ago when congress was threatening regulation. I said this is not what I was looking for and asked if I might be able to speak with a supervisor. The ticket agent called her supervisor and handed me the phone.

"Give me your address and I will mail you a copy" was the response I got from the woman on the phone. I was not satisfied with this and asked to speak to a supervisor in person. After waiting 10 minutes, a gentleman came to the counter asking if he could help. I politely requested a copy of the contract of carriage and he refused to give it to me. He said since I was not a customer, he did not need to show it to me. I explained that my wife was in fact a customer but he still refused.

I then called my wife and explained my lack of progress. Her flight was still delayed, with no takeoff time planned. At this point, the final flights on Southwest and United had departed, so it looked like she would be stuck in Spokane overnight. Not wanting her to spend the night alone, I decided to buy a ticket to Spokane.

Now that I was a customer, I asked for a copy of the contract. The ticket agent said she did not have a copy, but would ask a supervisor to come out. The same gentleman that denied me a copy came to the counter and again, insisted that I was not allowed to see the contract. Asking why, he said "This is entirely too weird, no ever asks to see it." My demeanor was calm and entirely non-threatening, as I showed him the ticket jacket that says, "You may inspect the full text of these terms as any of our airport or city ticket offices."

I pressed him for a copy, noting that even the airline says I may review this document. I even offered to let him hold my driver's license while doing so.

Within two minutes, no less than nine police officers were within 20 feet of me. I kept my hands on the counter as one officer approached me. The officer asked for ID, and I slowly turned around, pulling my wallet from my back pocket, showing that I was of no threat. I explained to the officer my simple desire to obtain a copy of the contract, pointing out the text on Alaska's ticket jacket, and explaining my wife's predicament in Spokane.

The officer said that since the airline felt I was a threat, it did not have to fly me anywhere. He said that if I did not have a valid reason to be at the airport, I would be arrested for trespassing.

The Alaska manager then refunded my ticket and said I was not welcome to fly Alaska tonight. The officers then followed me to the parking garage. Two hours later, my wife's flight finally arrived into Seattle, four-and-a-half hours late, with zero compensation from the airline.

Since when is it a crime to ask for an airline's contract of carriage?

-- Michael O'Donnell

A: It isn't. The airline must show you a copy of its contract, whether you're a customer or not, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

I asked Jack Walsh, a spokesman for Alaska Airlines to explain why you were denied access to the contract. He said the carrier perceived you as a threat (remember, this happened only a few weeks after Sept. 11, and everyone was still feeling a little jumpy) so the supervisor, Larry Connor, told you what can best be described as a little white lie.

"The supervisor told Mr. O'Donnell that he couldn't see the contract because he wanted to get rid of him," Walsh told me. Alaska Airlines, Walsh is quick to add, doesn't condone lying to its customers, or anyone. But in a situation like yours, where Connor thought you might present a threat to the safety of the airline, the carrier believes bending the truth is acceptable.

I'm not sure if that makes sense to me. Then again, I'm a little troubled by your story, too.

According to Walsh, there were no Alaska Airlines flights from Spokane to Seattle with more than a 30 minute delay on the day your wife was traveling. What's more, the carrier couldn't find a record of your wife on any of the flights on that day. This doesn't mean that your wife wasn't a customer, but it suggests to me that your account, like Alaska Airlines', is incomplete.

What really happened? I believe there was a series of misunderstandings that escalated into a confrontation. Alaska Airlines doesn't refer to its contract as a contract of carriage, but as its tariff, according to Walsh. Chances are the gate agent had no idea what you were talking about when you requested a contract of carriage. When you were passed off to Connor, you were already upset, and he interpreted your disenchantment as a threat - probably a mistake, given that you haven't blown up an airport or hijacked an airplane in the meantime.

"Mr. O'Donnell was behaving oddly. It was very threatening," says Walsh. "However, what may have been considered threatening behavior in October may not be threatening behavior now."

Alaska Airlines apologizes for any misunderstanding but it stands by Connor, whom Walsh described as a "very seasoned, well-respected and professional supervisor." I agree with Alaska to a certain point: it's important to support employees, and in the weeks following 9/11, erring on the side of caution was no mistake.

Still, lying to a customer is a mistake. Ignorance of your own airline's contract is a mistake. (I looked up the Alaska contract online and it is, in fact, referred to as the contract of carriage - not the tariff.)

There's no excuse for that.

Christopher Elliott's column appears on weekly on Ticked.com. All e-mailed questions to ChrisCrossings become property of Ticked.com and may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. You may reach Elliott at chris@ticked.com. Or visit his home page at http://www.elliott.org.