American Airlines Insists Passenger Was “No-Show”
Jackie Reddy February 28, 2019
An American Airlines (AA) passenger who had his return ticket from San Jose to Los Angeles canceled was informed that this was done because he had failed to take his outbound journey. This incident involved passenger Steve Homen, who had to pay an additional $200 for a ticket back to LA.
An American Airlines (AA) passenger who had his return ticket from San Jose to Los Angeles canceled was told by the carrier that it had invalidated this leg of his trip because he had failed to take his outbound journey, ABC7 Eyewitness News reports.
The incident, which involved passenger Steve Homen, occurred this past weekend. Upon being informed by AA of the cancellation of his return flight, Homen told the news outlet that his journey was, “…canceled because you never flew on the original flight,'” he said. “I said ‘I sure did. I have it on camera and everything,” he added.
@AmericanAir cancelled my flight back to LAX from SJC because they have no record of me getting on the plane at LAX. I had to repurchase an entire new ticket home! I have video of me on the plane and even talked to my pilot while we took the bus to gate 52A. What a joke! pic.twitter.com/95oy9UgXQL
— Steven Homen (@svhomen) February 17, 2019
Homen says he then shared his video footage with the carrier and even confirmed that he had used AA’s app to board. A spokesperson for the airline confirmed that there was no trace of Homen on the flight but said that this kind of incident is rare.
When Homen turned to the airline for further assistance, he was again informed that he had not been on his outbound flight from LA. As a consequence, his return journey was canceled and Homen would need to purchase another ticket.
Aside from the annoyance of having to buy an additional ticket, Homen said that the incident raises concerns regarding airline security.
“Anyone could have been on that flight…They clearly said they had no record of me on that flight whatsoever,” he stated.
AA has refunded Homen for his flight back to Los Angeles but has clarified that, as all passengers were security screened prior to boarding, security was never compromised.
[Source: American Airlines]
I was once placed on an earlier Flight..however Agent failed to update Reservations Record...Result return flight cancelled and no seat available...Good News managed a last minute no Show.
I barely made a Delta flight once (got on an earlier flight that was just about to leave). I was Diamond so they essentially let me on keeping my old (other flight) boarding pass. It was the last leg of my ticket - so nothing cancelled - but I complained about not getting skypesos and they had no record. They sent me a form “affidavit of flight” to sign - the fact that they had a form made me think it’s not that rare
He was truly a ghost in the machine (plane) :)
He has a valid point - could AA think someone else was onboard?
How do the get the weight calculations correct if they didn't know he was there?