I hope you're not implying AA's immune to flight irregularities. I’ve experienced lengthy flight delays & have been stranded on every airline I’ve flown frequently with, and IMO, AA handles the situations the worst.

Milemission:
Here’s an older thread in which an NW employee explains why a passenger was told (repeatedly) his flight would be delayed only 15 minutes. A basic summary is that an airline will usually assume a problem will be fixed within a specific time frame, but numerous other problems arise (politics, parts, etc.) that expand the delay.

While I don’t know the specifics of your flight, you must remember that every airline experiences these problems… I know first-hand that NK would’ve booked you on another carrier had space been available, but due to the weather problems at ORD, there was likely no space available on OAL networks systemwide.

As for compensation, consider the cost of your one-way ticket (NK prices tickets out each way) … what I think would be fair is a refund, in the form of a voucher, of the one-way portion of your ticket. And outline your experiences + put your request in writing, not in an e-mail, and send it via registered/certified mail. It’ll get some attention. NK is an excellent, consumer-friendly airline – I know many people who fly them, and nearly everyone of them reports positive experiences.

[This message has been edited by IndustrialPatent (edited 08-13-2003).]