Originally Posted by
lohiadk
If what OP says is correct, than the facts for me are that AA mistakenly cancelled their reservation which resulted in their loss of vacation and out of pocket expenses. Since this was a mistake on the part of AA they should be given all out of pocket expenses and some extra miles etc for the trouble. If a PAX makes a mistake (books wrong flight etc) he or she is stuck with it or paying the change fee etc. So why should AA be able to just say it was an unintentional mistake.
The ticket reissue was done on the phone with a supervisor at AA approx. 10 weeks ago. She had to get involved as the agent I was working with quoted me a $200 per ticket reissue fee and I questioned that, as this was the 2nd reissue on this ticket, the first being $150 per ticket. So I have actually paid two change fees, one of which was refunded, as it was in the cost of the ticket.
At that time, the supervisor also recommended I book the extra charge seats, as the flight was nearly full and she could not assign seats. Therefore, I also paid seat fees for 4 flights in preferred seating, also refunded. My Amex was charged and when I looked in my online account, the reservation number and flights showed up. I did not check again after that.
My original email to AA stated the facts and requested two tickets anywhere AA flies so that we can take this trip next year. With my second email, sent last night after receiving their canned email response, I then decided to take the denied boarding approach since they were not going to do the right thing - IMO - and provide me with two round trip tickets to take this trip at a later date.
AA acknowledged their error, one keystroke, but took the stance that since it was not intentional they had no responsibility. If I had booked the wrong flights or wrong dates, that would not have been intentional but I would have most definitely been assessed a fee.
When I was speaking to the supervisor the day before our vacation, she stated that she had exhausted all possibilities, as flights were packed due to the Friday before Labor Day being a peak travel day. She said she looked at all routes, all classes of service.
I advised that JetBlue showed seats available and was advised they could not protect me on those flights. My option was to leave out 3 days later, which was not an option for our schedule. After one hour and 47 minutes on the phone with them, and being told that they had no other possible option to get me to Jamaica for my vacation, she refunded the tickets, which took about 48 hours. I waited until the refund had been posted to my Amex and then sent my email to customer service.
The supervisor then stated that what she found most upsetting was that the reissue had been done by a supervisor and was fully documented, including seats being assigned. She stated that the merger has resulted in lots of new agents and supervisors and hence sometimes mistakes are made.
There is no hidden agenda here, nor am I leaving out anything. I was charged, there was a confirmation number and seats were assigned.
AA acknowledged their mistake but has taken the stance that it was not intentional and therefore I am not entitled to any compensation.
I do not have the time, energy and money to even attempt to take a large organization to court.
I am not a novice traveler and travel internationally 6-8 times a year for business and pleasure, as well as domestically. I hit my million miler status with Delta 20 years ago. These days I fly JetBlue whenever possible and DL the rest of the time.
The only reason I was booked on AA is that I had planned to go to Barbados for Christmas and they were the airline with that service from my area. When our plans changed and we decided to go to Europe instead, I had my tickets reissued for Barbados to travel in June. Then the resort we were booked into had a very bad opening and we decided to pay an additional change fee and head to JA and one of our favorite resorts and I called AA and paid those fees to make that change and travel over Labor Day.
There is nothing more to the story and I appreciate those that have offered helpful suggestions. I do not agree that AA should have no accountability because the mistake was not intentional. Most mistakes are not. Intentional or not, they could not get me to my destination and I had two paid tickets to travel on 30 Aug. They have not denied any of that, so obviously could not find any loopholes there to hide behind. They have simply decided they can get away with their mistake and I am sure are hoping I will just go away.