suzy1K

My friend S left from DCA for SLC yesterday (Feb 2) morning via ORD with group of 10 int'l visitors that she's escorting around the country for the State Dept. Twenty four hours later her group still has not made it to SLC! They have been in LAX since 10:30 am. Its now past 5 pm in LA on Feb 3. The original flight was scheduled to arrive in SLC at 11:36 am YESTERDAY.

First, there was a four hour delayed departure at ORD due to a mechanical on AA 3756. The nose wheel would not engage. They sat on the runway for a couple of hours and finally had to disembark and board a new plane.

Then during the descent into SLC last night, the plane was diverted to GJT because of fog in SLC.

At GJT, cust svc did not want to provide lodging for pax, but the pilot intervened. No food vouchers were provided. This morning at GJT, pax were told flight was going to LAX instead of SLC, but not to worry because their tix would be rebooked while they were en route. When the plane finally landed at LAX after a late departure, S went to the agent to ask about the rebooking to SLC. The agent was clueless and directed them to call cust svc using the phone bank. Rebooking agent on the phone said "According to our records you already made it to SLC" so she wouldn't help them further. Um, no we're all in LAX.

S asked to speak with a CS supervisor at LAX, but was not allowed to. XYZ called rebooking number and was told "oh you're dealing with a group of 11 so you need to call the group desk." He was transferred to group desk, which is closed on Sundays. [It is Sunday 2/3]. XYZ told S later "I knew then that I needed to help you." since the LAX agent could not find seats for the group on any other AA flight to SLC today and essentially gave up on helping the pax. AA's LAX CS efforts (or rather lack thereof) remain an epic failure.

For the record, the only one who ever apologized for the delays and customer disservice by AA was the pilot.

I called AA this afternoon to ascertain their official reason for the late delay ex-ORD [this being a separate issue from the diversion & eventual cancellation of AA 3756] and was told it was because of weather. "Really?" I asked "What about the mechanical problem with the nose wheel and the change of aircraft?" The agent said there is no record of that and she repeated 'it was a weather delayed departure - no compensation is allowed'.

Thus, I ask my fellow FTers, can AA erase and/or modify the reasons for a delayed departure to suit their needs (to avoid paying pax compensation)? If it is a combination of mechanical and weather, does weather override mechanical?

PS I told my friend that if this ever happened again she should buy day passes to the Admiral's Club and let those professionals sort it out. UA's RCC has never let me down so hopefully the Admiral's Club has a similar level of excellence.