ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando International Airport is offering passengers who missed flights because of ongoing tram outages up to $600 in compensation, according to a news release.
Construction on a $90 million project to replace the automatic people mover systems that service Gates 1-59 has caused the tram that operates between the main terminal and Gates 30–59 to experience six outages in the past month.
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Outages on April 19, April 20, April 21, April 23 and April 24, 2017 caused travelers to miss their flights. In the final incident on May 1, no travelers had to be rebooked.
"While the airport was prepared for the possibility of service interruptions, the plan to transport passengers using specialized buses wasn’t completely effective," the news release read. "As a result, a number of passengers traveling on American Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines missed their flights or were rebooked."
The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority did not have details on how many travelers missed their flights or how long the outages lasted in each of the six incidents, but they are working to gather that information based on how many travelers apply for compensation.
Officials have identified 109 flights that might have had passengers who were affected by the outages. There were 36 flights on April 19, 30 flights on April 20, 17 flights on April 21, 11 flights on April 23 and 15 flights on April 24, according to OIA's website, which also lists all 108 flight numbers.
[PICTURES: Tram outage causes lines, delays at Orlando International Airport]
“This is our effort to mitigate travelers’ costs due to the tram outages,” Phil Brown, executive director of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, said in the news release. “We have patterned the program after one in the European Union because we found nothing comparable in the U.S.”
Officials said that a second tram that will operate between the main terminal and Gates 30–59 will be added by mid-June, which should eliminate the outages.
Travelers who have documentation proving that they missed flights or were more than two hours late to their destination after being rebooked can fill out an online form at OrlandoAirports.net to be compensated between $250 and $600, depending on the length of the flight.