In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
Date 4/7
AAdvantage Status Platinum
Fare class G
What happened
Booked RDU-CLT-BWI. RDU-CLT was delayed due to a late arriving aircraft for maintenance issues. Gate agents at RDU were awful. Unhelpful and rude, slow and incompetent. There were no announcements at all and they couldn't figure out how to board and turn the plane quickly. The inbound plane arrived at 5:30, we started boading at 6:07 and didn't depart until 7:15. They also left people behind despite empty seats. The passenger next to me was flying to CAK and said she'd already missed the CLT-CAK flight and wanted to stay in RDU where her daughter lived. The agents told her to get on the flight to CLT as there was another flight to CAK and she'd be taken care of at CLT. She wasn't, there was no other flight, they just lied to get rid of her. Total delay: 3 hours, 1 Minute. I only made my next flight because it was also delayed due to similar issues.
Compensation 7,500 Miles
Comments Happy with the compensation but very disappointed at AA's handling of the ground issues. I've never seen gate agents worse at rebooking or turning a plane around.