Compensation for United Airlines 5-hour flight delay

Question

Due to errors with the navigational and autopilot system, my flight from Shanghai to Chicago was delayed by over 5 hours. Nearly all passengers missed flights and received new boarding passes for connecting flights upon arrival.

In Chicago, United distributed vouchers for a night at a nearby hotel and two $10 vouchers for dinner and breakfast.

The next day I received an apologetic email from United Care offering a $100 discount for my next flight that I book with them. I have not yet accepted the offer. Am I entitled to higher compensation?

Answer 1

Not really. There's limits to how much liability US airlines accept for mechanical failure (and they generally accept none for weather delays). A free hotel and meal is standard for anything like this. Most people people expect EU-style protections but the US doesn't have any

In the United States, airlines are not required to compensate passengers when flights are delayed or cancelled. Compensation is required by U.S. law only when certain passengers are “bumped” from a flight that is oversold.

What you can try is calling their customer support line and explain the situation. Be sure to emphasize how much inconvenience they put you through. At this point, it's mostly a poker game. They're all but certain to offer you something right off the bat (i.e. $200 flight credit) but how much you can wring out of them after that depends a lot on how you play your cards. They want you to be a loyal and happy customer (especially one who flies international), but they don't want to lose more money on a flight that's already cost them more to operate than it should have.