US Airways, United Airlines Express Jet, Go Jet, Skywest Airlines, Colgan Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Mesa Airlines, Shuttle America, Chautauqua Airlines, Trans States Airlines Issue meals vouchers, customers redeem them, restaurants are not compensated!!!! Elk Grove Village, Illinois

As the Accounts Receivable person for a restaurant chain, I can say with the utmost confidence, that United Air & US Airways are really bad for small businesses.  They issue meal vouchers for inconvenienced passengers and the passenger then redeems their meal voucher at an airport restaurant.  The restaurant then bills the airline for these vouchers.  Each airline has their own billing procedure you have to follow in order for them to send payment, this wouldn't be a big deal IF these airlines didn't change their billing procedures every few months without notification (despite how many times you ask them to keep you in the loop).  So, you send out the invoice & vouchers then wait, and wait, and wait, until, you finally get something in the mail that says they're rejecting your invoice and you now have to bill yet another company!!!  No matter how small the bill, they fight & fight their way out of not paying for the vouchers they issue!  Thus, the restaurant has just given hundreds of dollars worth of food for FREE!!!!  In this economy, none of us can afford to lose money, but shouldn't there be some sort of protection from these scam artists????  I read a lot about passengers getting screwed over, but what about the small businesses that get screwed????