Originally Posted by
mwinnick
On a May trip to Portugal I was routed DFW-ORD-LHR-LIS. I set the trip up in January. I just happened to be looking at my account and upcoming flights when I noticed a change in the ETD. Not only that, but a change in my seats. The ETD change left me with less connect time at ORD than desirable. The change also resulted in Angle Lie-Flat instead of Pull Flat beds. We were in Business on outbound. I never received and email or calls about the changes.
Then returning via LIS-LHR-DFW it happened again. We had originally booked 15C&D because it was a 3-5-3 configuration and decided to sit across the aisle from each other. When we checked in at LIS we got our boarding passes and went to the gate. It was there we saw that our seats were changed to row 43C&D, which were center section port side two on the aisle. That row is two from the back of the plane. There was an equipment change. When the food cart got to me there was only a cheese dish, which I cannot eat. Once again no email and no call. And my Platinum status apparently didn't alert American to not put me in the back of the bus.
Our next trip is to Australia in September. I looked at it yesterday. We're flying Business round trip. Again an equipment change apparently because on both outbound and inbound there were changes from what we booked. Again, on one leg my wife was by herself on the Port side while I was moved to sit in the center pair. I was able to get in and change our seats. But on the flight from LAX-DFW for some unknown reason, we were in different seats than originally booked in First. Worse by the way, the equipment on one flight ended up with Angle Lie-Flats instead of Full Flat beds. Again, no notifications.
So I am now paranoid about making reservations and having to check on them every week to see if American has decided to change my flights, times or seats, without calling me.
I assume everyone else has had this happen, but it seems to be happening more. How do you deal with it. And is it in fact now a requirement to check reservations every week on far out reservations?
I care about connection time, type of aircraft and seat so I do check my reservations quite often, regardless if its tomorrow or in 11 months. I have never been informed by AA about an equipment change that resulted in the same class of service as I booked. If the plane changed to less seats and now in a different cabin, I would expect a call. However, you paid for a business class ticket on AA, not a full flat seat. Maybe some routes exist that guarantee the type of seating, but it isn't happening on routes I fly. I do understand that the choice you made may have depended on the type of aircraft and seating, but again, its not guaranteed. I understand the disappointment of these changes on longhaul overnights as my last EZE J flight was changed from 772 (1-2-1 seating) to the 777 (2-3-2 seating), and was expecting the lie flat, but ~12 hours before departure the plane type was changed. I booked business, flew business, so had no official complaints to make. Checking the My Trips section of AA.com daily only takes a couple minutes max and can provide the peace of mind that your travel will take place as expected, or better give you the opportunity to make adjustments when the changes were made outside of your control (by AA, etc.)