Do airlines replace cancelled short-haul flights by buses? If not, why not?
When trains are cancelled (at least in Europe), and there are no alternative ways to get travellers to their destination by train a little bit later, there are often replaced by buses to get travellers to their destination.
Currently, I've been rebooked twice to get on a flight to a destination that is only 383 km by road. Originally I should have flown on Monday evening, and currently I'm booked on a flight Wednesday morning, effectively a 36 hour delay. If the airline had booked a bus, all Monday evening passengers would have arrived to the other airport by Monday night, with perhaps a 4–5 hour delay. To me, it would make sense from the perspective of customer satisfaction.
Does it happen that airlines offer to bus passengers to their destination when cancellations lead to multi-day delays, but a bus would take only several hours? If not, why not?
Many passengers, including me, travel to destinations beyond the airport that is 383 km by road, but travelling the short-haul flight segment by bus in order to wait for the first available connection would still benefit travellers.
Best Answer
I've been offered train connections (rather than bus) in two intra-German cases with Lufthansa where the flight was cancelled, but a good ICE (high speed train) connection between the two cities exist. Basically airline staff gave me the choice: be re-booked for next day, or take the train and arrive a few hours late.
(The fact that Lufthansa often cooperates with Deutsche Bahn anyway may play a role here, including that some connections marketed with regular flight numbers are actually high speed train connections - especially short hops from Frankfurt, e.g. Frankfurt-Stuttgart. But: the particular trains I was given were NOT such trains and I was simply given a normal train ticket + reservation by the airline.)
In this case I suppose cost for accommodation or train would have worked out roughly the same for the airline, so they offered the choice to the customer - but that's a guess of course.
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Do airlines have to compensate for Cancelled flights?
The airline is required to compensate you for a canceled flight if you were notified less than 14 days before your original scheduled departure date. However, compensation is not required if the airline proves that extraordinary circumstances (e.g., weather) caused the cancellation.What is the airline responsibility for a Cancelled flight?
But in a routine cancellation, you have two basic contractual rights on any airline, subject to minor variations: either (1) a seat on your original airline's next available flight, or (2) a refund for the unused portion of your ticket. Some airlines go beyond those bare-bones rights.What happens if my outgoing flight is Cancelled?
The airline legally has to give you all of the following: a full refund for the flight. a full refund for other flights from the airline that you won't use in the same booking, eg an onward or return flight. if you're part-way through a journey, a flight back to the airport you originally departed from.Is entire flight Cancelled if one leg is Cancelled?
If one leg of a flight is canceled or passengers bailout, then the whole package can be voided at the carrier's discretion. This applies to multi-leg flights across the USA, as well as international flights involving American companies.Airline Refunds - Flight Cancelled? Know Your Rights!
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Answer 2
I have been offered a bus ride between Basel and Zurich (along with 50 or so other passengers) to catch a flight to my final destination after a cancellation by SWISS so there is no taboo against that and the answer to your question is "Yes, they do!". They organized it pretty quickly as well, so they were apparently ready for that, should the need arise.
I guess each airline will make specific decisions based upon what's available/what they are used to do, how much it costs, how many passengers they need to accommodate, what passengers are entitled to in their locale, etc. If that's not part of their standard policy or procedure, organizing a bus in a timely manner might be difficult.
Note that the bus needs to be somehow paid for, whereas the next day's flight is going to fly anyway so adding one passenger costs essentially nothing. That might figure in the decision.
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