IROPS reaccommodation that rebooks and tells every disrupted passenger before they reach the counter
Every disrupted passenger rebooked and told before reaching the counter.
See one case, screen by screen ↓IROPS Passenger Reaccommodation is IROPS reaccommodation software for airline disruption teams: it rebooks and notifies every disrupted passenger by the airline's own re-protection policy, with customer value only as a tie-break. Eight agents handle disrupted passenger rebooking from the cancellation on: they build the manifest, draw up to three plans as passenger flows, hold partner seats, re-check every rebooking independently and brief the special cases for people. The supervisor asks why and approves the plan with a reason code, and only then are passengers rebooked and told, with their refund right.
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IROPS reaccommodation, the irregular operations rebooking of every passenger on a disrupted flight, starts the minute a flight cancels: every passenger on it needs a new way to their destination, a message that says so and, depending on the cause, a hotel, meals or a refund. Today the disruption desk builds the flight interruption manifest from the reservation system, where special service requests and separate onward tickets are buried in booking remarks, then runs an automatic rebooking tool with a fixed priority table. A share of bookings fail and drop into reservation queues with no reason a person can use.
The rejects are worked by hand while partner seats are requested by message or phone under each bilateral agreement, and the seats are often gone by the time the answer comes. Unaccompanied minors, wheelchair users, groups and passengers on separate onward tickets wait longest, and many learn about their new flight at the counter. Notices go out from generic templates with the refund right missing or vague, even though since October 28, 2024 the DOT automatic refund rule (14 CFR Part 260) requires a cash refund to anyone who declines the new flight, within 7 business days for card payments.
Estimated split for one canceled widebody flight of about 290 passengers, by hand and with the solution; the working solution showed a checked plan 8 minutes after the cancellation and every passenger told at 22 minutes.
Eight agents plan, hold seats, check every rebooking on their own and brief the special cases; a supervisor approves, then every passenger is told.
Wednesday, October 14, at Chicago O'Hare. The captain of Corvane Airways CV 118, the 787-9 from ORD to Frankfurt at 17:45, has called in sick, and no other captain at ORD can legally fly it. Crew control cancels the flight at 13:41 — a crew cause, within the airline's control, so its customer service plan applies. Here is the passenger reaccommodation that follows, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Marisol runs the Customer Recovery Center at the ORD hub. Her Today screen leads with CV 118: 286 passengers, a plan ready, partner seats held until 14:30. Below it, the agents' own log since 13:40 — Partner Seats held 106 Halvard Airlines seats, the Reaccommodation agent built plans A, B and C, the Policy Check agent checked 261 rebookings, the Special Case agent wrote 12 briefs, and the Notice and Care agents drafted 286 notices and prepared hotels — each line ending in “not sent” or “not booked”. Two low-risk misconnect reaccommodation plans, for 43 passengers on the delayed CV 1460 and CV 731, wait below it.
“Nothing is booked or sent until you approve.”
The plan shows CV 118 as one bar of 286 passengers flowing to the new flights, each band as wide as its passenger count: 112 on CV 120 tonight, 38 on Halvard 431 nonstop, 26 via Amsterdam, 24 to Munich, 41 tomorrow with a hotel, 18 in Business via London, and 27 for a person. Above it: $45,259 for plan B, $158 a passenger, 218 of 259 within 3 h 30 of the original arrival. Beside it, the conversation with the agents, where the Disruption Watch agent has already listed 286 passengers in 171 bookings, 44 of them in Business, 128 connecting on Halvard and 31 special requests.
Plan A, Corvane only: $61,200. Plan C, a recovery flight tomorrow: $78,900.
Marisol types “Why do 18 go via London?”. The Reaccommodation agent answers with four citations: 28 Business passengers need Frankfurt by midday, CV 120 has 11 Business seats open with one held for a wheelchair user, Halvard 431 has no Business seats under the agreement, and the re-protection policy keeps their cabin and allows a partner. It also says who it kept out of the London routing, and why.
“I kept Walter Hughes and the Calloways out of it: 50 minutes at LHR is too short with a wheelchair.”
Clicking the Business via London band opens its passengers: CV 96 ORD–LHR 18:15 and Halvard 917 LHR–FRA 08:40, landing at 11:15 Thursday. The agent cites RP-4 §3 — Business kept all the way, a partner allowed — at $212 a seat under the agreement, and notes that 12 of the 18 keep onward connections beyond Frankfurt. Each row shows the booking, the passenger, the cabin and the Gold or Summit status.
The Policy Check agent never reads the planner's reasoning. It re-applied minimum connection times, whether Corvane can reissue each ticket, the partner agreement, cabin protection, booking integrity, the minor policy, accessibility and travel documents for London and Amsterdam transits. Of 261 rebookings, 257 passed; 2 connections at AMS of 45 minutes against a 50-minute minimum were re-planned to CV 120, and 2 Halvard award tickets only Halvard can reissue went to a person.
It fails any rebooking it cannot cite.
Noah Feld, 10, and Clara Feld, 8, are flying to their father in Frankfurt; their mother is with them at gate C18. The Special Case agent's brief recommends CV 120 tonight with a Corvane escort — 2 Economy seats left, escort capacity 4, none used — offers tomorrow's CV 118 as the alternative, and shows Halvard 431 blocked because Halvard does not carry unaccompanied minors on interline tickets. Devon has the call script ready and records the outcome with a reason code.
Agents never decide a special case; they prepare it.
From the hotel contracts and the customer service plan, the Care agent prepared 27 hotel rooms, 194 meal vouchers and 9 ride credits, $7,903 in all. The 112 on CV 120 get a $20 dinner voucher for a wait of 3 hours or more; 32 flying tomorrow from outside Chicago get a hotel, dinner, breakfast and the shuttle; 9 who live within 50 miles get a $45 ride home; the 106 on Halvard owe nothing extra because they wait under 3 hours. Luis Navarro, the ORD station manager, confirms the hand-off before anything is booked.
Marisol presses Approve plan B. The dialog says exactly what will happen: book 241 passengers on CV 120, Halvard and tomorrow's CV 118 and 18 in Business via London; send 286 plain notices, 259 new itineraries and 27 “a person is calling you”, with the refund right; and prepare hotels and meals for the station manager to confirm. She picks A1 · Approved as proposed and signs.
A plan over $75,000, or $10,000 above the recommended one, also needs the Customer Recovery Director.
The Notice agent sends the notices in English, German, Spanish and French. As replies come in, the flows fill with them. By 14:40, 212 have accepted, 11 chose another option and were re-planned without taking anyone's seat — 6 to tomorrow, 3 to CV 120 on seats freed by refunds, 2 to Halvard 431 — and 9 asked for a refund. A reminder goes at 15:00 to anyone who has not replied.
“259 have their new itinerary, two alternatives and their refund right; 27 know a person will call them within 20 minutes.”
The Refund agent turned the 9 refund replies, in 6 bookings, into refunds of $13,486 to the original payment, due by October 23 — 7 business days to a card. One booking paid partly with a Corvane gift card returns that part as a gift card balance and the rest to the Visa card, due by November 3, the 20-day limit for payments other than a card. Credit offered instead: 0, unless a passenger asks for it. Hannah approves the batch with a reason code.
Cash by default: a travel credit only if the passenger chooses it.
The same canceled flight, seen by five of the people at Corvane Airways who carry it — what a disruption looked like, and what working with the agents looks like now.
Eight agents plan, hold seats, check every rebooking on their own and brief the special cases; a supervisor approves, then every passenger is told.
Reads cancellations, delays and diversions from the operations feed, decides whether the cause is controllable, and builds the affected-passenger manifest with cabins, onward and inbound connections and special service requests.
Builds up to three plans for disrupted passenger rebooking by the re-protection policy in its priority order, using customer value only as a tie-break; prices every line from its contract; re-plans on the supervisor's instruction.
Re-checks every proposed rebooking on its own: minimum connection times, ticket reissue for involuntary rerouting under IATA Resolution 735d, the partner agreement, cabin, ACAA accessibility, the minor policy and transit documents.
Requests and holds partner seats by the method each bilateral IROPS agreement sets, and prices them from the prorate table.
For each booking sent to a person, writes the brief with the facts and the rule, works two or three options, marks the ones a rule forbids and drafts a short call script.
Drafts one plain notice per passenger in their language from the approved template — the new flight first, two alternatives, the refund right in its own sentence, the care owed — then reads the replies and sends declines back for re-planning.
Works out who is owed a hotel, a meal voucher or a ride under the customer service plan, and why, and prepares rooms and vouchers from the hotel contracts.
Turns every refund reply into a refund of the unused value with taxes and fees, to the original payment, with its due date under 14 CFR Part 260.
Approves every plan; people decide every special case. The agents propose; a named person decides.
The supervisor works the plan in a conversation beside the flows. Every answer cites the policy, agreement or record it rests on, and an instruction in plain words re-plans and re-checks before anything changes.
Why do 18 go via London?
Because 28 Business passengers need Frankfurt by midday and CV 120 has 11 Business seats open, one held for Walter Hughes's wheelchair, so 10 for the plan; Halvard 431 has no Business seats under the agreement. The policy keeps their cabin and allows a partner. Via London they land at 11:15, an hour before CV 120, in Business all the way, for $212 a seat on the London leg.
Is EU261 owed on this flight?
No. CV 118 departs ORD on a US carrier, so the EU regulation does not apply. US rules do: anyone who declines the new flight gets a cash refund within 7 business days, and because the cause is crew, our customer service plan owes meals, hotels and transport. Every notice says so.
Keep the Felds on Corvane
Re-planned and re-checked: Noah and Clara can take the last two Economy seats on CV 120 with a Corvane escort; escort capacity is 4 and none is used. Halvard is not allowed for them. The flows now show 114 on CV 120 and 25 for a person. Devon Achebe still calls their mother before anything is booked.
What does plan B cost, line by line?
Partner seats $37,356 — Halvard 431, 38 × $468; Halvard 433, 24 × $455; Halvard 1213 from Amsterdam, 26 × $186; Halvard 917 from London in Business, 18 × $212. Hotels $3,823, meals $3,675 and ground transport $405. Total $45,259, $158 a passenger. Plan A costs $61,200 and plan C $78,900.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The policy the agents follow, their limits and who decides. Any change is proposed, approved by a second person and replayed on a past disruption before it applies.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Re-protection priority order | RP-4: special care to a person; keep the trip; keep the cabin; never split a booking; earliest arrival within 4 hours; then customer value; cost caps | Reorder; proposed, then approved by the Customer Care Manager |
| Partner seat hold | 45 min | Minutes the Partner Seats agent holds seats before release |
| Partner seat cap | $600 | Above this a seat needs the supervisor |
| Plan needing the Director | $75,000 | And any plan $10,000 above the recommended one |
| Next-day threshold | 4 hours | A later arrival goes to the next day with a hotel |
| Special case target | 20 min | Untouched cases go to the supervisor |
| Reminder when no reply | 60 min | The Notice agent reminds the passenger |
| Text message for every notice | Off | On · Off (otherwise text only when there is no app) |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (T2RL disruption cost study, 2016 — up to $60 billion a year, about 8% of industry revenue; US DOT enforcement figures — more than $155 million in refund penalties against 14 airlines; DOT civil penalty cap — up to $75,000 per violation; 14 CFR Part 260, in effect October 28, 2024). Corvane Airways, Halvard Airlines, their flights, hotels and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
IROPS Passenger Reaccommodation is IROPS reaccommodation software for airline disruption teams: it rebooks and notifies every disrupted passenger by the airline's own re-protection policy, with customer value only as a tie-break. Eight agents handle disrupted passenger rebooking from the cancellation on: they build the manifest, draw up to three plans as passenger flows, hold partner seats, re-check every rebooking independently and brief the special cases for people. The supervisor asks why and approves the plan with a reason code, and only then are passengers rebooked and told, with their refund right.
For flight cancellation rebooking, the Reaccommodation agent follows your passenger re-protection policy in its priority order. In the working solution that is: special care goes to a person, keep the trip, keep the cabin, never split a booking, earliest arrival within 4 hours, then customer value, then cost caps. Every passenger shows the rule that placed them, and the supervisor can ask why about any choice.
Yes. The Partner Seats agent requests and holds seats by the method each bilateral IROPS agreement sets, only within the agreed seat count, and prices them from the prorate table. In the working solution it held 106 Halvard Airlines seats until 14:30 and returns unused seats when a plan is approved.
They go to a person. The Special Case agent writes a brief, works two or three options, marks the ones a rule forbids — such as a partner that does not carry unaccompanied minors on interline tickets, or a connection too short with a wheelchair — and drafts the call script. A reaccommodation agent decides and records the outcome with a reason code.
Yes. Each notice gives the new flight, two alternatives, the care owed and the refund right in its own sentence: a cash refund to the original payment under 14 CFR Part 260, within 7 business days for card payments and 20 days otherwise. When a passenger asks for one, the Refund agent prepares it with its due date, cash by default.
Not for a US carrier departing a US airport: EU261 applies to flights departing an EU airport, or arriving in the EU on an EU carrier. In the working solution the Policy Check agent answers this with the citation, and notes the US rules that do apply — the Part 260 refund and the airline's customer service plan.
People stay in control. Agents never book, send, issue a voucher or pay a refund before a named person approves: the supervisor approves the plan with a reason code and e-signature, the station manager confirms hotels, and the Customer Care Manager approves refunds. Every action is on a chained audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your re-protection policy, customer service plan, partner agreements, hotel contracts and the systems the agents read — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. Before go-live it replays one of your past disruptions so you can compare its plan with what your desk did.
Every refund decided inside the DOT clock, each with its rule and its proof.
1-min demoEU261 Claims ManagementEach claim paid or refused on the flight’s own record, with evidence a court accepts.
1-min demoAirline Complaint ManagementEvery complaint answered inside its DOT clock, with the trip facts cited.
1-min demoWe'll run IROPS Passenger Reaccommodation on one of your own past cancellations, with your re-protection policy and partner agreements.