Programs: AA EXP, Hertz GLD, Hyatt PLT, Hilton SLVR
Posts: 660
Was def. glad I was in front. Although it had been a long day. I landed at JFK from TLV at 6am and AA wouldn't put me on the 7:30 to MIA when I arrived at the ticket counter at 7:10 b/c i had bags and they said it was too close to departure time. So, after sitting in the AC until noon (mind you after a 12 hour flight) I wasn't too pleased to have to sit on the plane for 3 more hours. That plus the hour and 25 min it took to get bags in MIA made for a very long travel day. I think all in all it took me longer to get from JFK to out the door at MIA then it did to get from TLV-JFK.
Sec. situation cleared around 2:15, but by then there was no point in de-planing they said.
Date 7/2006 AAdvantage Status PLT Fare class Discount Y What happened ORD-CDG Mechanical problems. Boarded, sat for over 2 hours, then had to get off the plane and wait for a new one. Flight left ORD ~4 hours late. Compensation 9,000 miles each. Comments We didn't complain: received an apology email and the miles in our accounts. Very nice!
Date 1/2/2007 AAdvantage Status two EXPs traveling together Fare class Discount Y upgraded to Biz/First with eVIPs What happened After a normal flight from overseas to home airport, 2 suitcases arrived, 2 suitcases did not arrive but were delivered the next day. I wrote to AA asking what we could have done differently to make sure all suitcases will always arrive with us in the future. Compensation 3,000 miles each, even though one pax got both his suitcases on arrival while the other pax got both of her suitcases the next day.
Location: MSP (and will only fly NWA in re-routes if I HAVE to)
Programs: AA EXP (4.5MM), hotel programs as needed
Posts: 5,802
AA takes care of is International Pxx!
Date 1/14/2007 AAdvantage Status EXP Fare class Discount Y upgraded to Biz/First with eVIP What happened LGW-DFW ran 1+ hours late due to head winds. DFW was messed up with pending ice storm. Landed fine, immigration/customs line HORRIBLE. Got to luggage-recheck . flight not even listed and next one not listed either.
Went thru D security and directly to D Admirals Club. My connection WAS cancelled due to weather, next (and last flight) overbooked and even as EXP informed I would be #7 on standby list (very negative feeling).
AC AAngel looked at my 're-booking' for next day and got me on an earlier flight. Then AAngel (D AC) said 'I will get you a hotel voucher - do you have a preference of hotels...' [shades of the olden days].
AAngel said that normally for weather, I would have to pay the hotel (discount rate) but since I was an International Pax that AA would pay! Also noticed some late arriving NRT pax had vouchers at same hotel.
Moral of Compensation. IF International Pax, AA still makes good for weather delays/cancels. In future .. ASK for it (think Mexico/Caribbean and other non-AA-defined-International would be exempt). Admirals Club comes thru again!!!
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Platinum, IHG Priority Club Platinum
Posts: 481
Broken Seat in J = 10,000 miles
My partner and I flew to LHR on January 12th on AA #46 in J (upgraded cheap fare with evip certs). Upon boarding the aircraft, we dicovered that his seat was broken (it stayed in the recline position). We notified the FA working our side of the cabin of the issue and he called for a mechanic. After about 10 minutes, a mechanic boarded with, I kid you not, a roll of blue duct tape. After realizing that the entire recline mechanism located in the armrest was broken, he managed to duct tape it into an upright position. I asked the FA about reseating and received the standard "cabin is full, nothing we can do" routine. We were still at the gate (delayed two hours due to weather and late connecting pax since ORD was a mess) and I saw empty seats in both J and F. Of course, the longer we were on the ground, the more folks showed up to claim these seats. I have to say that, the FA working the AB side of the cabin was actually helpful and understanding, but I was deeply disappointed in that neither the purser nor the gate agent attempted to speak with us about the issue. I hate the old DYKWIA routine, but I think as an EXP and flying in a premium cabin, I kind of deserved that as a minimum. I have to say my partner was really cool about the whole issue and managed to get the seat into a somewhat comfortable position during the flight (okay, the duct tape slipped after takeoff and he was able to recline the seat to nap after dinner).
Upon our return to the US, I emailed AA Customer Service and requested my EVIP back (I know, wishful thinking). They came back yesterday with an appology and 10,000 miles into my AAdvantage account. I am not as pi**ed off as I was during the flight and think this is a pretty fair response from AA. Am I being to easy on them?
On the flipside, We had another seat issue on #91 flying back home and the difference was night and day. Our overhead reading lights would not work (the only ones that didn't in the whole J cabin). We told the FA working our side of the aisle and she went to speak to the purser (Kevin). She came back and said that it might be burned out bulbs and that Kevin had some spares and would replace them. A few minutes later, Kevin appeared and introduced himself. He said he was wrapping up his departure duties and once airborne he would be back to fix the lights. While we were taxiing to the runway, our reading lights flickered on by themselves and seemed to "reset" and worked fine. After take-off, Kevin came back as promised, saw that the lights were working and asked a few questions about when they came on. He said that there may have been a connection problem or it might have been linked to the start up of the 2nd engine. In either event, he appoligized and said that he would write this up. This wasn't a big deal, but it was really, IMHO, the right way to handle the situation and made me feel good about AA.
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, UA 1K, Hyatt Diamond, enjoying the retired life
Posts: 18,066
Nice to see AA come through. I just continue to have respect for how they treat their customers, versus some other carriers.
I had some friends deal with AA customer service this past summer on a problem where a paper award ticket was not reissued to cover an additional segment, requiring the passenger to buy a ticket on Alaska SFO-YVR for the last segment (although the passenger provided the credit card info for billing when the change was made, AA missed several opportunities to tell them to come in and reticket, or exchange by mail). AA issued a credit for the cost of that ticket of almost $300 (I was amazed...was expecting something like a $100 customer service voucher). I wrote the letter for my friends and AA did come through
Tom in the train station at Linz, Austria this afternoon, where it has been snowing ferociously
__________________ link to my travel photos new: Haleiwa, USS New York, Blue Angels in San Francisco
Also glad to see that AA came through. Whenver there are complaints about food, IFE, etc. their claim is that the advantage of the premium cabin is the seat. Now, when it's the seat that is the problem, it seems they put their miles where their mouths are.
In August 2006 I used 30,000 miles to upgrade to and from HNL. On the way over, my seat would not recline. On the way back, my IFE was inoperative. I wrote to AA. They gave me 10,000 miles.
Therefore 10,000 miles in OP's case seems about right: problem just one way instead of round trip, but it's a longer flight. If I understand correctly, the OP's seat did recline: it just wouldn't stay upright. Now if the seat did not recline, that would have been worth more!
Programs: BA Gold, Amex Plat, Priority Pass, SPG Gold, IC Royal Ambassador, Harrods Gold, Blue Peter Badge
Posts: 5,734
Quote:
Originally Posted by brp
Also glad to see that AA came through. Whenver there are complaints about food, IFE, etc. their claim is that the advantage of the premium cabin is the seat. Now, when it's the seat that is the problem, it seems they put their miles where their mouths are.
Miles are fine, and good to see compensation in this instance.
But I think if one was relying on a level of comfort to allow either work to get done, or an attempt to sleep in a seat and get into the office fresh and ready to do business, then the compensation is irrelevant. Much better if the seat works right the first time.
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Platinum, IHG Priority Club Platinum
Posts: 481
krug -
I agree. I guess that this was especially bothersome because the aircraft for our flight was brought in from the hanger! I mean, c'mon guys, wouldn't that have been to spot to find the problem and correct it?
Miles are fine, and good to see compensation in this instance.
But I think if one was relying on a level of comfort to allow either work to get done, or an attempt to sleep in a seat and get into the office fresh and ready to do business, then the compensation is irrelevant. Much better if the seat works right the first time.
Oh, I fully agree. I'd much rather that the seat simply worked as expected, and I received no compensation. We all know, even without the BA cheerleading, that AA is not at the top of the list in seating. As an after-the-fact, since it didn't work, this is reasonable.
Date: 1/2007 Flight- DFW-DCA Class: Discounted Y Situation: Land At DCA with less than one inch of snow on the ground, sit on plane on tarmac for over 3 hours, waiting for a gate to 'open' up.
Request: 25k in miles (I know, ambitious)
Response:
Thank you for contacting us. Probably few things are more annoying than having to wait for an available gate after your aircraft has landed. While normally every incoming flight has a gate designated, operational difficulties can sometimes cause us to change these arrangements. For example, if a flight arrives earlier than expected, its assigned gate may still be occupied by a departing aircraft that is boarding customers. Unfortunately, since airport space is limited we frequently do not have the luxury of "spare" gates to accommodate such situations. At the worst extreme, a severe off-schedule operation caused by bad weather may result in lengthy delays as too many aircraft on the ground wait in line for the next available gate. As we only
have five gates at Washington Reagan, space is limited. Still, we're sorry for your disappointing experience.
No mention of my request for miles.... I'll try again. And then I'll let my Congresspeople know that something needs to be done to deal with these semi-hostage situations.
Programs: AA EXP, MR PLAT PREMIER, NWA SLVR, US PLAT
Posts: 1,290
Quote:
Originally Posted by leftistblue
Date: 1/2007 Flight- DFW-DCA Class: Discounted Y Situation: Land At DCA with less than one inch of snow on the ground, sit on plane on tarmac for over 3 hours, waiting for a gate to 'open' up.
Request: 25k in miles (I know, ambitious)
<super snipped>
No mention of my request for miles.... I'll try again. And then I'll let my Congresspeople know that something needs to be done to deal with these semi-hostage situations.
Your flight was 3 hours late, because of WX, in the northeast, in winter, and your asking for a free flight?
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, Silver CO, BA Blue, Silver MR, Gold SPG
Posts: 2,874
Quote:
Originally Posted by DillMan
Your flight was 3 hours late, because of WX, in the northeast, in winter, and your asking for a free flight?
In his defense.. his issue is not a delay in the air or from DFW, but that he was there and could not get to his gate which was probably 50 ft away from him. Similar to the AUS thread.
Having said that, 25K is wayyyy to much, which is probably why AA did not offer any.
__________________
What did AA say when you called them BEFORE you posted?
AA takes care of is International Pxx!
So Far No Good
