Taking the article at face value, you believe that the airline canceling flights and NOT informing the passenger is doing the right thing? I don't think that it should take 3 hours on the phone to try and sort out travel plans.
This isn't about the cost of the ticket - as the article says - it is more about customer service (or lack thereof). What if the customer had not checked on her return times until the day before traveling? Why should she? She has entered into a contract with said airline for transportation at a price that the airline has set. How would the airlines handle the exact same scenario if it were the consumer (see examples in the article)

Let's not kid ourselves about the quality of airline customer service though and some of the rules that the traveling public deal with. I mean come one....these rules are put into place by the same management teams that are suggested to be feathered and tarred on this forum all the time, but now they are to be defended because the big, bad, and stupid traveling public expect service? I'm sure many of us expect service whether we are eating at Wendy's or the fanciest restaurant in town too.

USMCFLYR