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Topic: Theater companies STILL screwing their paying patrons

Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 05-22-2015 09:20 AM

quote: Ken Lackner
According to who?

The US DOT. See http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publications/flyrights.htm#overbooking

quote:
Involuntary bumping

DOT requires each airline to give all passengers who are bumped involuntarily a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn't. Those travelers who don't get to fly are frequently entitled to denied boarding compensation in the form of a check or cash. The amount depends on the price of their ticket and the length of the delay:

* If you are bumped involuntarily and the airline arranges substitute transportation that is scheduled to get you to your final destination (including later connections) within one hour of your original scheduled arrival time, there is no compensation.

* If the airline arranges substitute transportation that is scheduled to arrive at your destination between one and two hours after your original arrival time (between one and four hours on international flights), the airline must pay you an amount equal to 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination that day, with a $650 maximum.

* If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your destination more than two hours later (four hours internationally), or if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you, the compensation doubles (400% of your one-way fare, $1300 maximum).

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-22-2015 09:30 AM

quote:
* If the airline arranges substitute transportation that is scheduled to arrive at your destination between one and two hours after your original arrival time (between one and four hours on international flights), the airline must pay you an amount equal to 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination that day, with a $650 maximum.

Is the $650 the maximum compensation or ticket price? One way tickets are often more than round trip. Is compensation based on your ticket price, the lowest price the airline charged, or the price of a ticket that day? One way from your initial departure or from wherever they stranded you? Good things to know when trying to enforce your rights. Because we all need more headaches when traveling. [Confused]

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 05-22-2015 10:08 AM

Martin the $650 is the maximum compensation. If you paid more than $325 for the one way ticket, you will not get the full 2x compensation.

It isn't perfectly clear but I'm pretty sure the compensation is based on what you paid for your one way trip from origin to destination. Even when you buy round trip, the actual fare is broken down into an amount for each direction.

If you book LAX-DFW-JFK and get involuntarily bumped in DFW, I'm 90% sure that the compensation is based on what you paid for LAX-JFK. They don't break down the fare for the legs of connecting flights.

I'm guessing involuntary bumps are pretty rare. I've heard them offer some pretty high voucher values for volunteers. One flight I was on got up to an $800 voucher and then they got volunteers.

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 05-22-2015 10:50 AM

My brother was a a flight last week where they offered $1000 in travel vouchers for volunteer bumps. He said there was practically a stampede trying to get to the ticket counter.

I once was flying from LAX to IAD via ORD. Noticing an earlier direct to IAD, they wanted to charge me $75 to change. So I went to the gate anticipating flying via ORD. When that flight was overbooked they called me up to the counter and offered me an upgrade to business class if I would take the very same flight they were earlier going to charge me $75 for.

Back to the theater side...I was working a job where the management abruptly changed the schedule to insert an extra show. That significantly shifted the start time well ahead of what was advertised in the newspaper. Needless to say there were hundreds of very pissed off customers.

If they would have had a brain they could of probably added an early show and delayed the start of subsequent ones maybe 30 minutes. I think most customers would have been okay with that. But who said they had any brains. They eventually went under.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 05-22-2015 05:51 PM

What? That crappy theater didn't have time machines installed?

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Steve Matz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 672
From: Billings, Montana, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 06-01-2015 09:43 PM

What Carmike Theaters do here really pisses me off. They advertise that on Saturday and Sunday between 4pm and 5:30pm you can watch a feature for $5.75 per person(excluding 3D) So I ask for 2 Tickets to a non-hit Film and he charges me $7.75 per ticket. I said whats the deal it's supposed to be $5.75 per person in that time Frame. He says Oh that Feature is being shown
in the Big D Theater(this is a 14 theater multiplex) and there is a 2 dollar sur charge for the Bigger Screen and supposedly better sound. I promptly said, you mean a Screen that is actually close to the size of a Single Screen Theater in the Old Days.He didn't know what to say and I further said you should be paying me 2 dollars to have to sit through 1/2 hr of Commercials and almost again that long of prevues. This is the same theater that charges $13.55 for a medium popcorn and coke. If this is how they are Nationwide These Guys should be Billionaires. Finally had enough of this outfit,they have 2 Multiplexes here and I'm done going to either one...POS outfit [fu]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-01-2015 10:13 PM

I'm no Carmike fan, but in this case I don't see the problem. Obviously they had 13 other screens you could have picked from, one of which was probably showing that same movie. Remember they are paying around 60% film rent and all the costs associated with that huge building to run that "non hit" film. And, I'm sure the prices are clearly posted at the boxoffice window.

Right now I'm sitting here with 8 people in the crowd, 3 of which are senior citizens who didn't buy any concessions. No profits being made here tonight. The next 3 nights will probably be the same. But this weekend when we are crowded, some people are sure to say "Look at all the money they're raking in."

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Steve Matz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 672
From: Billings, Montana, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 06-02-2015 12:39 AM

Yeah; the price was posted as $5.75 between 4pm and 5:30pm. Didn't say anything about Big D or Sur Charges. They like to spring that on you when you ask for the Tickets. Not my Problem they pay 60% for a Film Rental; You honor what your advertising says as you enter the theater...

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 06-02-2015 06:11 AM

Presuming what Steve is claiming is accurate...that is, the only exclusion to the $5.75 price is 3D, then he is correct, they are false advertising. Now, if they also have an exclusion in their advertising on the PLS (Premium Large Screen because it isn't a larger "format."), then that is Carmike's mistake. It is a bait and switch and probably illegal.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-02-2015 03:37 PM

I have a hard time believing there is no signage anywhere on the boxoffice about a surcharge for the Big D screen. If they have everything else priced why wouldn't they have that? Unless there was a sign and it got torn down or covered up or something. But with them being a big company you can bet they've got standards for stuff like that. If there really is no sign then it's probably the local college-student manager's fault.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 06-02-2015 03:38 PM

"If you have to ask how much, you shouldn't be here."

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-02-2015 04:25 PM

I highly doubt that the Carmike 14 in Billings (which is not in a competitive zone) had anything but a hit movie in the Big D house. It's not like they were playing Woman In Gold there. In May, they likely played Avengers, Avengers, Mad Max, Tomorrowland, San Andreas in the Big D. It's pretty much common knowledge that their is an upcharge for PLF and it's probably noted on their pricing signage.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 06-02-2015 07:23 PM

quote: Paul H. Rayton
As an former employee of commercial cinemas, I know PRECISELY what happened to "our" 3:05PM show. They yanked it, so they could sell more tickets to "Mad Max", or "Pitch Perfect", or maybe the "Avengers" show, all of which were in the same complex.

With a lot of circuits using FANDANGO where their information comes from a third party network that is tied to the location's box office POS system that supplies the information to the HDTV monitors in the box office area.

When the POS unit shows a sellout of that particular time, that third party network system automatically takes out that showtime out of the HDTV when it reaches the sellout plateau number so no more tix can be offered to the public even though the POS terminal itself will still show seats that are available, but usually front row only.

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Paul H. Rayton
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 210
From: Los Angeles, CA , USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 06-02-2015 08:48 PM

In the instance to which I was referring when I started this thread, it was not an issue of the theater being "sold out." The cashier quite freely volunteered to me, "We are not having that show today. Would you like to see something else?"

The only "problem" that day was that the theater (repeating the blame here: Pacific's Americana, in Glendale, CA) arbitrarily dropped the show in favor of something else which **might** sell a few more tickets. And then they made zero effort to apologize to me (us), such as by offering return ticket(s) for another date and time. I hope to never darken their doorway again, if that's how they're going to run their operations.

BTW, the commercial cinema company I worked for, previously in my career? The ones who were notorious (with me, anyway) for yanking smaller movies on weekend evenings, and doing a switcheroo with the backup print of some new show -- which **might** sell a few more tickets? It was GCC (General Cinema Co., for those not familiar with the term) And guess what .. they bankrupted out of business!

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Sam D. Chavez
Film God

Posts: 2153
From: Martinez, CA USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 06-05-2015 01:10 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
But with them being a big company you can bet they've got standards for stuff like that. If there really is no sign then it's probably the local college-student manager's fault.

I don't care much for this buck passing. The basic problem more and more is there is not one real adult in the building. It's easy to blame some wet behind the ears manager, but he represents the circuit and ultimately they are to blame for an unprofessional operation.

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