Lawyers automate this, so why don't airlines?

I have been on a Viber travel group supporting people trying to get into Croatia. It consists of many American citizens. Anyways, over the past couple of days, Delta/United/Iberia have been using artificial intelligence (AI) to /automatically update/ where people can or cannot go, based off of government websites. Instead of having proper staff to look over these requirements, they use AI to screw over their customers, as the AI has errors in its interpretations for documentation required by travelers.

There have been a few people on this Viber group who have been wrongly denied boarding, right before their Christmas holiday, due to inconsistencies in the interpretations of the AI (multiple errors, type 1 and type 2), from the company Smartvel. Sadly, people of color have been the ones getting stopped more and denied boarding in the US.

This is the technology that I am talking about: https://www.smartvel.com/covid19-entry-restrictions/

This is the API plugin on Delta.com for Smartvel (fill out the to: Croatia from: USA): https://www.delta.com/us/en/plan-your-next-trip/where-we-fly

This is the API plugin on United.com for Smartvel (fill out the to: Croatia from: USA): https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/restrictions-map...

Ironically, if you booked online using KLM.com (affiliated with Delta but a European airline) or Lufthansa.com (affiliated with United but a European airline) you were not subjected to this problem, even though it was the same flight through a codeshare arrangement via the airlines.

It really is inhumane. While people may not want people flying due to the coronavirus (honestly, I don't but Croatia does need the business and I want them to see my country too), these people had their plans made and their holidays were ruined over AI. It is cruel.

By the way, I am a dual US|Croatian citizen, and if Croatia allows third country nationals, such as Americans in, then I think they should be allowed in. Also, if you spend 14 days in Croatia as an American, you can basically enter the EU without issue, but you may want to check https://reopen.europa.eu/ for entry restrictions, country-to-country. It is a loophole.

The thing is when do you ever just spend €10 on a flight? Once you add in checked luggage, the priority carry on so you can take more than a packet of crisps onboard, assigned seats so you can sit next to whoever else you are flying with, and extra legroom so you don't end up with leg injuries, you are paying closer to €100. These companies are making serious bank.

This also means if you are flying there and back the same day, if there is a delay on the outbound flight and you miss the return flight it's considered a no show, so they don't need to compensate you.

I also totally agree with your bucket of passengers.

I used to be in the first camp, naively assuming a gate agent could help me. That quickly changed after I flew more than a handful of times. Then for many years, I was in the third camp (where you are), and I had to resign myself to being one of the people that has to turn to Twitter to get anything done (I sort of hate myself for it but for non LCCs, it works) in a real crisis. For the last two years or so (pre-COVID), I was in the second camp, and it was a true revelation to see how the other side lives, so to speak.

The reality is that there are two very distinct classes of airline passengers (foregoing LCC's for a moment because with few exceptions, none of them give a rats ass about loyalty. They are a volume business). As an example, within a relatively short period of time, I went from an airline giving my seat away even though I made my connecting flight (and had contacted the airline from the plane to warn about my delayed connection/assure them I wasn’t going to no show and to only put me on a later flight as a backup), forcing me to wait an additional 5 hours in the airport for a new flight (and I stress here that I made my connection and was denied boarding) without so much as an apology or a voucher for free food to that exact same airline, when a similar tight connection actually DID cause me to miss my flight, met me at the gate, took me in a chauffeured car to another gate, had someone expedite the transfer of my luggage, got me on a different flight to another US city (meaning I had to take one more flight, but at least I got home), actually held that flight until I boarded, and kept my seat class intact (I was flying business). I didn’t even have to reach out the second time (which was good because that flight didn’t have internet access), it was just taken care of. A colleague who had the same itinerary as me, and was booked in the same seat class, had to fly back the next day. The difference? My colleague (and me in the first instance), was just a regular passenger (albeit someone with a $4000 round-trip ticket in this case — still didn’t matter). Whereas by that second flight, I was on track to fly 150,000 miles that calendar year and had already spent over $30,000 with that airline.

I'll be honest when I say that I’m not looking forward to being treated like a regular airline passenger once I’m allowed to travel again. My status's are all intact but I don’t envision many 150k mile years made up largely of international travel until at least 2022.

Side note, as someone who has always heard friends brag about how much better European consumer protection laws are, it’s both relieving and infuriating to see that the situation in the EU is basically identical to the situation non high-value US customers deal with with airlines.