Originally Posted by
NDFan
Sorry Plato, but I still believe the agent was wrong.
Yes, I understand your position is that the agent should interpret the "may" in the passenger's favor and not
require evidence of onward ticket.
AA's perspective is different. The downsides of such a favorable reading far outweigh the "customer service" benefit. Even if it's 1-in-a-million, why would AA want to take the chance at all given the potential negative impact on AA?
Originally Posted by
NDFan
But the other point is that AA and its agents need to be consistent. If AA feels they need to provide for the possibility that an immigration officer may require proof of funds for repatriation or a return ticket, even if it is not required by that country, then they definitely need to alert their customers ahead of time, that they are enforcing an unusually strict interpretation of the rules, that would not be expected by a passenger even if they had researched the Government requirements as quoted above.
The bolded part has already been covered. AA did alert the customer ahead of time. The passengers learned about the requirements before they were able to board the plane.
The dissatisfaction is apparently tied to the
amount of time. Some, like you, seem to think AA should review every international ticket to make sure the customer can meet the exact requirements that the airport staff will ask upon check-in. AA apparently "need" to do this in order to meet a particular level of customer service.
But that's about as practical as having AA assign an agent to meet every passenger on every flight in order to escort them to baggage claim or their connecting flight.
It's not AA's responsibility to alert their customers in some arbitrary time frame you deem appropriate.
On a tangent, let's say hypothetically a passenger arrives in Italy and the Italian immigration officer demands to see evidence of an onward ticket or else he won't let the traveler in.
Would you take the same position that the Italian government has an obligation to let all visitors know how stringently an immigration officer would enforce the rules?
Keep in mind that AA has no obligation to be a passenger's travel advisor.