American Airlines

The forum for ranting, raving, complaining and praising
User avatar
mtcefc
Everyday Player
Posts: 175
Joined: June 8 14, 12:48 am
Location: Lancashire, England

American Airlines

Post by mtcefc »

As posted in the other forum, I am coming to the states on the 27th of this month.

This has been planned for months. When I checked my itinerary which should have been

MAN - LHR - BOS Outbound

Separate internal flight - BOS - STL

Then STL - CHC - LHR - MAN - Return

When I booked I was meant to be landing in London at approx 7am on 4th October, then connecting to Manchester at approx 9:30am.

I got an email a few weeks ago saying I had been moved to the afternoon flight, which was annoying, but at least it is on the way home and I am in the country even if it meant killling 6 hours in Heathrow.

When I checked my itinerary again the leg home between Heathrow and Manchester had been deleted totally. I called AA and was advised I had been put on the evening flight and that had been cancelled.

I called AA and was on the phone to them for an hour, occasionally ranting that they had basically taken the cost of an internal flight off me (about £140 I reckon). I suggested for the cost of a reasonable hotel in London for the night, I would take a connection the next day. They wouldn't do that.

So, long story short, they have moved my flight to the next day out of STL and I now get into London at 9:30 am (via Boston) and my flight back to Manchester is 9:30 pm so I now have 12 hours to kill in Heathrow.

I have raised a complaint with AA and I think I am not asking too much to ask that AA pay for the cost of an extra night in a hotel in St. Louis that I have had to pay for, as well as the use of their lounge in Heathrow for at least half of the 12 hours I am going to have to kill.

I have had nothing back from AA about this and I suppose I can kind of understand they don't want to pay out for something that hasn't happened yet, but even so, I am £162 out of pocket for something they have done.

If anyone has any experience of how I can quicken things up, I am all ears.

User avatar
G. Keenan
Sucking on the Rally Nipple
Posts: 23459
Joined: April 16 06, 6:03 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: American Airlines

Post by G. Keenan »

Best I can do is point you toward these two resources at the US Department of Transportation. First is a link to what airlines are legally obligated to do vis a vis refunds and vouchers resulting from delays. Second shows the individual customer service policies that American offers its customers. I'd compare what they've told you than can do against this info and if they aren't offering you what they are required to/have promised in their terms & conditions you can call back with this as ammo to force their hand.

https://www.transportation.gov/individu ... cellations

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsu ... -dashboard

User avatar
mtcefc
Everyday Player
Posts: 175
Joined: June 8 14, 12:48 am
Location: Lancashire, England

Re: American Airlines

Post by mtcefc »

Thank you very much for that. I will take a look.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
"I could totally eat a pig butt, if smoked correctly!"
Posts: 27272
Joined: August 5 08, 11:24 am
Location: Thinking of the Children

Re: American Airlines

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Not american airlines but a rant about United airlines (and others) for all the hidden fees and bull [expletive] way they squeeze money out of customers after purchasing a ticket.

A couple years ago, we booked flights to the Bahamas and called the company, actually I think it was American airlines. They cost of tickets was $320/ticket. Good deal. I told them we were a family of 4 and asked if they could sit us together and they said they would do their best. I didn't think anything of it. We go to check in and on top of the $60/checked bag, they also wanted additional money (forget how much) to let us choose our seats which we found out were not together. Crazy that the airline would seat a 4 year old next to two strangers. Stupid. Not fair to ask people that paid the additional money to switch seats but also not feasible to have a 4 year old sit by herself. Not really fair to spring this on family's at check in either. Kind of a [expletive] situaiton.

Fast forward a couple years, and we're looking at flights to Houston. The face value of tickets is $250. But, that doesn't include the $70/checked bag. And, it also doesn't allow for choosing your seats. At least United forces customers to acknowledge the potential hardships buying this ticket entails prior to actually buying it. I reckon the whole 'not letting fams sit together' wasn't received well by customers. Regardless, you have to upgrade via an additional package. These vary from $50/passenger to choose a seat to $79/passenger to choose a seat and get a free checked bag. Okay, fine. Now you end up paying $330/ticket but at least don't have to pay for a checked bag though it's less of a good deal if you're only going to have 1 checked bag. Whatever. But, it doesn't end there. Even on flights that seemingly are not full, the seats you can choose are all filled up. So, you have to pay an additional $50/passenger to have access to priority seating and unlock the rows closer to the front. So, now it's $380/passenger.

Just feels dirty. I hate United and haven't even flown with them.

User avatar
GeddyWrox
Caught you a delicious bass
Posts: 12944
Joined: April 20 06, 8:43 pm
Location: Please use blue font for the sarcasm impaired.

Re: American Airlines

Post by GeddyWrox »

I don't know if it will work but you could also complain on Facebook and Twitter on their public page. That might get the attention of someone in their customer satisfaction department (if there even IS such a thing)... I've seen other companies respond to this.

User avatar
Smith Corks One
All-Star
Posts: 1340
Joined: April 27 10, 11:08 pm

Re: American Airlines

Post by Smith Corks One »

These are all reasons I love Southwest. I will go seriously out of my way to fly Southwest. I’ve flown to a city that was a 6 hour drive from my destination because it was the nearest Southwest destination (helps that it was a beautifully scenic drive). Went to Toronto a few months ago; flew to Buffalo and drove across the border because Southwest doesn’t go to Canada for some reason.

I bet I haven’t flown domestically on an airline other than Southwest in at least 15 years.

User avatar
G. Keenan
Sucking on the Rally Nipple
Posts: 23459
Joined: April 16 06, 6:03 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: American Airlines

Post by G. Keenan »

I don't even mess around with economy basic fares. Different airlines have different branding for this category, but with the legacy carriers like American, United, Delta the cheapest ticket never includes a seat assignment or a checked bag anymore. I just cut to the chase and get the fare that includes those. They usually call it 'Main Cabin' or something like that. If you're a family and don't need 1 checked bag per person though it makes sense to get the cheaper fare and just pay for however many bags you really need.

The airlines actually lose money on economy tickets. We proletariat flyers complain about all the extra fees charged these days, but in fact the business class flyers are basically subsidizing the economy passengers.

Arthur Dent
Hall Of Famer
Posts: 12317
Joined: April 25 06, 6:43 pm
Location: Austin

Re: American Airlines

Post by Arthur Dent »

Airlines should charge for all carry-ons, but make checked bags free. I assume they don’t do this because the gate agents having to do enforcement would be painful and result in drama, but it would make way more sense.

User avatar
Jocephus
99% conan clips
Posts: 63645
Joined: April 18 06, 5:14 pm

Re: American Airlines

Post by Jocephus »

the movies very clearly told me how flying was going to be

User avatar
mtcefc
Everyday Player
Posts: 175
Joined: June 8 14, 12:48 am
Location: Lancashire, England

Re: American Airlines

Post by mtcefc »

DING DING Round 2

As American Airlines and BA are part of the same group (BA are operating the flights, AA just took my money) I tried via the back door to access a British Airways lounge for my 12 hour wait in Heathrow.

The lady was very helpful and actually informed me there was a seat on the 14:00 flight from Heathrow to Manchester which would mean I would have to wait maybe 5 hours instead of 12.

So I contacted good old American which SURELY is just a case of "We will transfer you right now.......done" but OH NO......they actually tried to charge me 1000 USD to get on that flight, after they changed then cancelled my original flight.

That is just horrific customer service, I can't even believe they let someone suggest that. It doesn't actually cost the airline anything to change a flight surely.

I REALLY hope they don't lose my luggage on this trip or there may well be an international incident.

Post Reply