Aviation enthusiast Mike Borsetti last month alerted the US Department of Transportation to Qatar Airways adding bogus fees contrary to prior representations: Their online check-in allowed him to select a seat free of charge, but at the airport, both check-in staff and a manager said he’d have to pay to keep that seat. In response, Qatar tried to trivialize Borsetti’s problem — as if this overcharge doesn’t matter or isn’t important enough for DOT to investigate. In a public comment filed today, I explained why Borsetti is absolutely right:
First, having already complained to both line staff and a manager at the airport, Borsetti had put Qatar amply on notice of the dispute. Qatar says he should have complained again, after travel, so they could refund him then. But two unsuccessful discussions with airline staff is more than enough to justify Borsetti’s decision to bring this matter to a regulator.
Second, by all indications the problem stretches well beyond Borsetti alone, and is bigger than Qatar admits. Online comments already revealed four other customers with substantially the same problem — online check-in seating dishonored unless customers pay more at the airport. Of customers affected, only a tiny fraction would both realize they were overcharged and then happen to see the one blog discussing Borsetti’s complaint. So the problem must be substantial. And that’s as you’d expect: If there’s a defect in Qatar’s software or process, such as airport systems mistakenly saying a fee is due even though online check-in already authorized a seat without charge, that problem would occur for a broad swath of passengers since software ordinarily operates predictably and consistently.
On some level Borsetti’s complaint is unusually simple. He was overcharged, he wants a refund, and he wants Qatar Airways to stop charging passengers for seats it had said would be free. Will DOT act to make sure all the other affected passengers — who didn’t realize they were overcharged, or didn’t take the time to complain — are also fully refunded? And will DOT act to make sure that Qatar Airways finally fixed its systems so this problem doesn’t recur?