On Terms and Conditions

We just got back from a trip where we had some bad experiences with the Airline and our travel company. For every screwup they just kept pointing to their terms and conditions. Seat assignments not honored.... there is a term&condition (t&c) which says there is no guarantee that your seat requests will be honored. Meal requests not met there is a t&c for that.

Have you ever read any of these t&cs before signing up for a trip or a purchase in detail. You are told it is just legal stuff... cya for the companies till you are affected by it. These t&cs only get longer and longer.

So it got me wondering why can't I as a consumer have my own term and conditions under which I accept their service. For example: if I make a seat request and the airline cannot honor it I am notified about this right away & not at the airport. Else they bump me up to business class (free of charge of course!) or give me a partial refund.

I wonder why lawyers out there are not promoting consumer terms and conditions. We can also have boiler plate t&cs for the consumers which if not honored by these companies will not have the privilage of serving me :-)