Originally Posted by
Sahcurity
It might not be very "Flyertalk" of me but I'm pretty casual with most of my flying experience.
In the grand scheme of things, I paid $139 to AA for a ORD-ATL R/T. They screwed up and the GA was a bit rude, but in the end they bought me a ticket on another airline which was probably more then my total R/T to get me to where I needed to be. Plus the $50 voucher which I didn't even want. And upgraded me for free to F on the way back.
Sure, I could make a stink and demand more but its not worth it. Even with all the hassle, I got more then my $139's worth.
I was mostly suggesting it as a tactic to get them to pay attention to your request, as opposed to because you wanted the money.
The main reason to complain about these situations is not because you want IDB compensation but to encourage the airline to recognize that there was a problem and try to fix it so it doesn't happen next time. The prospect of paying IDB compensation (which would actually be much lower than $800 in this case) and having to report the problem to the DOT is more likely to cause AA to try and fix what's wrong than your polite e-mail, unfortunately.