deputter

This has happened to me several times in Miami. One time I waited in line but also called. By the time I reached the counter I was already rebooked so the agent gave me my hotel and meal vouchers and my boarding passes for the next day. I remember hearing two people ahead of me in line being told that the first several flights out to their final destination were sold out the next day. I was very glad that I called and grabbed my flight before that happened to me. Now a days, I avoid MIA at all costs.

librarygal

After waiting in line for over two hours at Customer Service I was told I had already been rebooked and put on the first flight out the next day. I asked about a hotel and meal voucher and she said no because it was not the airlines fault. (It was the fault of the nice friendly folks running the Immigration, customs and TSA lines which kept us in line for the longest time.)

I asked at AA Customer Service if we could go on anther flight later in the day because my husband needed to be on a conference call for work that would occur during the flight time American Airlines assigned us. She would not respond and aacted like she did not hear me. I finally gave up and my husband almost got fired for not pushing it and missing the phone conference call.

armus

Another vote for calling while standing in line. In my case I got my CFC done over the phone before getting to the counter in MIA. There was a complication because MIA stationed someone at the end of the line saying you shouldn't get in the line unless it was for one of the reasons she read aloud. I wasn't one of the listed reasons (it was a very short list), and she had to conceed that her "complete" list really wasn't.

jerry a. laska

Rather than place blame on AA for this, maybe you should have built more time into your connection (not to mention booking a single ticket and not separate tickets) if attendance at this conference call was so important and failure to attend could have had such drastic consequences as loss of employment.

Doc Savage

Give it a rest, jerry....

AA rebooked them at an impossible time without clearing that change with them and wouldn't budge. AA is the entity that listed the MCT that turned out to be wrong.

I really get tired of the "blame the passenger" ethos on FT.

bernardd

I disagree, Part of the blame rests squarely with AA for offering connections they ought to know their passengers have a good chance of missing - a 1:40 connection late Saturday afternoon is a "maybe" in my experience.

They probably ought to tune the MCT in their reservations system to the time of day so they don't sucker passengers into booking trips with such a high risk.

On top of that their frequently surly and unhelpful staff in MIA don't help the situation - I'm sure they're fed up with being faced with a wall of unhappy passengers but the passengers are MIGHTY frustrated at being dumped on by an airline and in most cases forced to pay their own Hotel bills because "it's outside AA's control".

It's high time AA proactively took steps to reduce this mess.

goldengate

This thread just convinced me to get my partner to apply for Global Entry today since we are transiting Miami in January... I want to have time to have Ropa Vieja at La Carreta!!!!

carlosdca

You can say the same about ANY airport and thus defend it.

The thing is that, compared to other AA's hubs, MIA is probably the WORST, IMO. If I can avoid MIA, I WILL!!!!! But sometimes, I can't.

Among the features that make MIA the worst: long immigration and custom exit lines (hours), long unpleasant walks despite the train, claustrophobic feeling, long waits at bag carrousel, probably the worst HUB Admirals Club, etc.


ANYWAY, I vote for going to the Admirals Club (even the MIA one )
The aagents there can handle anything. And, if anything, you could have had a drink and sit a comfy chair while making the call to AA (that would not have been necessary).

I would also suggest checking the computer or phone for your itinerary, and sometimes the rebooked itinerary shows already there. If so, you could have just checked in online and get new boarding passes.

DataPlumber

The same shortcomings are key features of LAX, IAD, and even ORD. Having re-entered the USA dozens of times via MIA, I would agree with Blumie's observations.

jerry a. laska

Why? My point is that if the meeting the next morning was so important that the OP's husband could lose their job, I would select flights that would provide me with more than one opportunity to get home the day before. I would not book separate tickets with one possibility of connecting home that night. Things happen when you are flying, flights are delayed, immigration is backed up, there are limited flights to be rebooked to, etc.; if something was that important I would build in some time. I don't see why AA has done anything wrong with booking the OP on the next available flight.

That said the earlier advice about calling while waiting in line was correct, maybe the OP could have been rebooked on a later flight.

SCEflyer

That is a truly gratuitous remark.

JDiver

Meanwhile, we can return to the topic and refrain from tossing cow chips at each other...

Thank you.

/Moderator

BLG

This may be the most important point -- If a flight or a connection is incredibly critical, then allow for the worst to happen, and if at all possible, build in an extra day, or at least many extra hours. I've learned this lesson the hard way.

Recently I was talking to a good friend about this, and making the point that I was overnighting at an airport hotel rather than depending on being able to drive a couple of hours in the morning to make an international flight. I said, "Hey, what happens if it just happens to be the morning that a big rig turns over on the freeway." And he looked at me in something like amazement and said, "That happened to me and my wife and we missed a flight to China."

I think the more you travel the more you realize that stuff happens and you build in the biggest buffers you can when it really matters.

And yes, call.

Often1

The MCT is fine. It is, however, the Minimum Connect Time. That is not necessarily the Sensible Connect Time (SCT). Booking connections at or near the MCT is useful when you have schedule commitments on both sides of the trip. But, when it's not mission critical, allowing more time makes sense.

Where there are two of you, I would have had each person get pn the phone and in different lines. Between four channels, one might have been quicker.

As to the agent ignoring OP, it takes some self-assurance, but I have no problem standing there and blocking the line. The agent needs their terminal, so working around you is hard.

Another approach is to ignore the lines at the airport and get yourself settled at a hotel and dial up once settled in your room.

Shareholder

Though not directly related to the rebooking issue, did OP pay for the tickets with a credit card that offers travel delay protection? This would cover hotel and incidentals. But MIA is my second most hated US airport, IAD being the first. Both have incredibly poor facilitation of connections, and walking is interminable in many occasions.