Aircraft downgraded and alternatives needed; suggestions?
I am scheduled to fly next month with my girlfriend to LHR from ORD and we were scheduled to fly F on one of AA's 777s. One ticket was an award, the other a purchased I class ticket upgraded with SWU. As of today the aircraft has been downgraded to a 763. We don't particularly want to fly J (hence why we booked F) and I want to figure out our options. My first choice would be to be placed on BA's flight. There are no award seats showing, but plenty of inventory. I'm also not about to pay the outrageous BA fuel surcharges. My position is that this is AA's problem which needs to be corrected at its expense.
If I'm unable to get this by calling reservations, is this an issue which I should just keep hanging up and calling back about, or should it be escalated to customer relations? Do we have any other options other than routing via JFK or DFW (neither of which are very appealing)?
are the 777's gone for dates next to yours?....if not maybe go early....definetly ask for mi & $s refund...
but try the options you state 1st...
Unfortunately there are no 777s on any day to either side. Going to keep trying on Monday via customer relations. The supervisor tonight could not do anything since BA had no award inventory and one ticket was upgraded with an AA SWU. My position on this is that it doesn't matter how the tickets were purchased, it's AA's obligation to make good on what it sold us, particularly since we'd have made other arrangements if this had been the situation from the beginning. I said to leave everything in place and that so far I wasn't agreeing to any voluntary changes to the tickets.
Will email customer relations this evening, then follow it up with a phone call on Monday, unless anyone has other suggestions for a different department to try...
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Your only rights are to accept whatever AA offers you or get your money back. You're welcomed to ask for anything, and given their JBA they've reprotected people on BA before even if using SWUs or awards, but it's not your right if they deny it; you're not listing elite, so that's another variable. Whatever they offer, however, they have no rights to ask you for more money, so if a rep offers you to move you to a BA flight but then asks for more money, refuse and if needed involve a supervisor; this is an involuntary, not voluntary, change in schedule.
Look for AA metal re-route options via MIA, DFW, or JFK.
Or LAX if you want the miles for your paid ticket! Also more time for you to "enjoy" First.
Personally, I would fly on the 763 with a refund of your SWU and if AA agrees to refund the 12.5K miles difference between the F and J award.
I would be very surprised if AA agrees to put you in F on the BA flight. Even with the equipment change, yours is unlikely with the SWU, and your GF's will likely require the BA Fuel Charges.
That's probably the "easiest" thing to do from AA's perspective. And think of the extra miles you could earn on your paid ticket!
This thread prompted me to check my upcoming ORD-LHR, three people on paid C, SWU upgraded to J. And, yup, we had been downgauged too.
Took about 10 minutes to get us rerouted through DFW. Agent had no trouble booking us into F on the domestic portion and J on the international portion. With AATHX, we will each be earning an additional ~3200 miles (plus status bonus of 25% for two of us and 100% for one of us). Adds about half a day to our trip (I want to give us plenty of time to connect in DFW because it's winter travel), but I like the later arrival time at LHR (0840 vs 0745) and the longer TATL flight to enjoy the flagship suites.
Not the best solution in the world, but definitely a silver lining!
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Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately, GF is adamant about not adding connections and hers is the paid ticket (I'm LT GLD, she's GLD now but wasn't going to requalify otherwise). Since we've already got one connection (continuing to CDG) it's understandable how she feels.
If I cannot get onto the BA flight to LHR (my first choice by a long shot), I did have two other thoughts, but someone can perhaps chime in whether AA would go for it:
The day we're traveling there is no direct ORD-CDG, but there is ORD-CDG the previous day. Would AA be in the position to put us up an extra night in Europe and then on the direct flight the day before?
Another thought was that my ticket required an AAnytime award for the return to ORD; is it worth asking them to force open a U seat and return half the miles as compensation?
What really bothers me, the more I think about it, is that had we waited until day-of, gone to the airport early and then acted surprised we were in J, it probably would have been easier to get onto the BA flight. Instead, we're being proactive and essentially suffering for it .
Hopefully customer relations will be able to resolve this on Monday...
Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately, GF is adamant about not adding connections and hers is the paid ticket (I'm LT GLD, she's GLD now but wasn't going to requalify otherwise). Since we've already got one connection (continuing to CDG) it's understandable how she feels.
If I cannot get onto the BA flight to LHR (my first choice by a long shot), I did have two other thoughts, but someone can perhaps chime in whether AA would go for it:
The day we're traveling there is no direct ORD-CDG, but there is ORD-CDG the previous day. Would AA be in the position to put us up an extra night in Europe and then on the direct flight the day before?
Another thought was that my ticket required an AAnytime award for the return to ORD; is it worth asking them to force open a U seat and return half the miles as compensation?
What really bothers me, the more I think about it, is that had we waited until day-of, gone to the airport early and then acted surprised we were in J, it probably would have been easier to get onto the BA flight. Instead, we're being proactive and essentially suffering for it .
Hopefully customer relations will be able to resolve this on Monday...
AA would likely re-route you on the ORD-CDG non-stop flight the prior day - IF your original ticket was ORD-LHR-CDG. But they are very unlikely to cover the cost of a hotel room to make that happen.
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You can gamble, and you can ask, of course.
For example, I do think AA might transfer you to the direct ORD-CDG flight the previous day, but I think they will NOT host you an extra night in Paris.
Arriving at the airport the day of scheduled flight acting surprised will get you - a 763 trip to LHR and onward to CDG in Business class.
The best way to get AA First when your scheduled flight has been downgauged is to be flexible - if there's no flexibility, there's a chance, albeit IMO a very small one, of getting on BA in F, and even less likely with AA eating the extra fees. It's possible, but...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Upgraded!
Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately, GF is adamant about not adding connections and hers is the paid ticket (I'm LT GLD, she's GLD now but wasn't going to requalify otherwise). Since we've already got one connection (continuing to CDG) it's understandable how she feels.
If I cannot get onto the BA flight to LHR (my first choice by a long shot), I did have two other thoughts, but someone can perhaps chime in whether AA would go for it:
The day we're traveling there is no direct ORD-CDG, but there is ORD-CDG the previous day. Would AA be in the position to put us up an extra night in Europe and then on the direct flight the day before?
Another thought was that my ticket required an AAnytime award for the return to ORD; is it worth asking them to force open a U seat and return half the miles as compensation?
What really bothers me, the more I think about it, is that had we waited until day-of, gone to the airport early and then acted surprised we were in J, it probably would have been easier to get onto the BA flight. Instead, we're being proactive and essentially suffering for it .
Hopefully customer relations will be able to resolve this on Monday...
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