jordyn

Or, you know, she has better things to do than post on FlyerTalk all day and respond to your questions fast enough so you don't start using it to undercut her credibility.

Dave Noble

I can say that her credibility to me will not get any worse if no information is provided ; in 3.5 days , not been prepared to indicate how exactly she is out of pocket

ijgordon

Just a thought, which I don't think has been brought up -- isn't this similar to the mistake fares of the past, where the airlines got "approval" to cancel the reservations, but were forced by the regulatory bodies to reimburse travelers for any non-refundable hotel or other travel reservations?

tinkerbell

this story is on Tripadviser as well
the family lost their Jamaica vacation (booked and paid for )

caviargal1956

The reason I did not respond immediately to the inquiry about out of pocket expense - in addition to the fact that my work in demanding and I can only spend so much time on this - is that I was waiting to determine exactly what the impact was. We are repeat guests of the resort and they have a customer service team that is client friendly and have allowed us the opportunity to use the nights at a later date.

We do have an annual business traveler insurance policy. Whether or not they would cover such a claim is something I do not know as I did not take that step yet.

We are now OOP for $120 Club MoBay passes, $180 private transfer paid in advance via Paypal. The rest is time and aggravation and there was plenty of both.

"she requested the actual tickets with apparently open ended cost, fare class, and dates of travel, etc. " I would expect to have flexible travel dates and I would expect the tickets to be in the same class of service I booked and paid for. If I am contacted by AA and they make an offer of miles, that would be acceptable as long as it was enough to actually take that same trip - and not on their Economy Saver mile scale which is pretty much never available on holidays and when we are able to travel.

I brought up IDB at the suggestion of someone on another forum.

We do not have the option to take this trip this year (apparently some on this forum have unlimited vacation time but we budget ours to the day and use it all) and we do not go to the Caribbean in the winter as it is too cold. It would be May before we would/could go back.

This experience makes me appreciate our airline of choice for this route, JetBlue, even more than I did before this happened.

To those of you who think AA owes me nothing, my only comment is that I expect you would feel differently if this happened to you or someone you cared about. To those that have offered helpful suggestions, thank you for taking the time to do so.

caviargal1956

I spent one hour and 47 minutes on the phone with AA asking them to reinstate my flights, reroute us or protect us on JetBlue, which showed seats available. They did none of those, advising there were no seats on any flights for a 3 day period.

Often1

Out $400 and asked for $2,600 ($1,300 x 2).

Peter T.

If JetBlue showed that three seats were available even after AA refused to rebook on you on JetBlue, why didn't you just purchase the available JetBlue tickets yourself and then afterwards, as compensation, ask AA to reimburse you for the difference between the AA fare and JetBlue (B6) fare?

You probably would still had to wrangle with AA for the proper compensation, but at least the compensation due to you would be clear cut (and be easier to pursue in small claims court, if needed) and you would still have had been able to enjoy most of your vacation.

That's all hindsight of course, but for any air traveler who might run into the same type of situation in the future, I think this would be the best course of action in the long run.

MSPeconomist

Link?

caviargal1956

I did not ask for 2600. The overpriced cost of our AA tickets was 1260 total. We normally pay ~300r/t for this itinerary on JetBlue or AirTran for their non stops.

It seems that you give no value whatsoever to our lost vacation, something you and AA have in common.

caviargal1956

I did not trust AA to refund my tickets after this fiasco and was not forking out another 1600 with the expectation they would follow through.

QueenOfCoach

Years ago I was impaneled on a jury for a civil suit. The plaintiff was clearly the victim in an accident. I started out feeling very sorry for her and hoping that, if selected for the jury, I could see that she got a good settlement.

As the voir dire progressed, and as I heard the plaintiff's lawyers lay out their case, in a series of "hypotheticals", and as I heard the defense lawyer similarly respond with "hypotheticals", I began to lose sympathy for the plaintiff.

I still felt very sorry for the plaintiff and still hoped that she would be able to put her life together and go forward in the future, but during the voir dire I came to believe she was not lifting a finger to help herself. The original accident, for example, could have been prevented by the plaintiff being a bit more attentive to her surroundings.

She was, however, 100% a victim and the person who caused the accident was 100% at fault. Yes, she deserved a fair settlement.

She was going for more than fair. Much more.

By the time the judge was finished with her part of the voir dire, and jury candidates were seated in the jury box being questioned by the plaintiff's lawyers, I had personally developed a prejudice against awarding her anything beyond what she had already been awarded. A few other jury candidates actually laughed at the plaintiff's lawyers' "hypotheticals". I kept a straight face, but was laughing in the privacy of my own mind. When we came back from lunch, we were told they had settled and we jury candidates were dismissed.

I am approaching that point in this message thread. The OP planned a vacation and went to a great deal of trouble and expense. She bought tickets, had them re-issued, then went on her way believing all was in place. A keystroke on the part of an AA rep deleted the tickets. The mistake was not discovered until the OP went to check in, and by that time, on a holiday weekend, it was too late to get alternatives.

The simple act of checking her itinerary on AA.com would have alerted her to the problem way earlier, when the problem could have been rectified. Does that mean AA does not bear 100% responsibility for the error? No. It does mean that the passenger has an easy means to double-check and save a pre-paid vacation. She could have been a bit more attentive to her surroundings, just like the plaintiff in the civil suit.

The OP is asking for two tickets "anywhere AA flies" as compensation. I think that's an over-reach.

The management of AA sees this kind of thing every day. They pretty much know exactly what compensation might be awarded should they be taken to court. They know how much a civil suit would cost. They've counted the beans and know, almost to the penny, what is the maximum amount of compensation to offer a disgruntled passenger. If the passenger holds out for more, great, let them go to court and learn the hard way what the court will award, minus legal fees and court costs.

I truly hope the OP gets some compensation that makes her whole. It's too bad her vacation was ruined. I very much look forward to my vacations and would be bitterly disappointed to have to stay home due to an airline snafu. I would be hopping mad if it were to happen to me, and I don't blame her a bit for being mad.

My own take-home lesson? Check the trip on line. Check it not only to see if I can get a better seat, but check to make sure it's still there.

Happy

If the resort is not accommodating, the OP would be out a lot more. OP could not assume the resort would agree to let them use the forfeit days in future visit until the resort came back to make this assurance to her.

I honestly dont understand some of the posters here - I can't help but think your attitudes would be quite a bit different should similar things happen to you, your families or some people you care a lot for.

Often1

+ - AA offered and presumably has made a full refund.

While historical prices might have been slightly different, looking at JFK-KIN tomorrow (basically walk-up), RT fully refundable is approx. $1200. If OP had simply taken the refund and booked B6, she would have had $400 in her pocket and not missed her vacation.

Dave Noble

I think that you are likely due $400 to cover the amount that you are out of pocket by , You could still have taken the vacation and perhaps been out by less than this amount if you had booked on the other flight that did have seats

If you write to AA substantiating your loss due to their error, then I would be surprised if it refused to pay it

You did not have to lose the vacation since there was a flight that could be taken instead