GNVGator

Fellow AA FTers,

Apologies for the length in advance.

After a whirlwind travel schedule for the past 3 weeks I finally have time to sit down and write this post which I've been meaning to do since July 9th. I'm writing this mostly because having an international return flight cancel on me while at a non-OW outstation was a new experience for me. I wanted to seek advice on how best to handle such situation in the future and provide a data point on how AA appears to handle such irrops.

I'm a current EP and was traveling on Flt 280 from ICN-DFW in paid J on the new 789. On the morning of departure my AA app had notified me that flight 280 had a new departure time of 18:30 from 17:30. I checked flightaware and it was indeed late getting out of DFW. No big deal and I was actually appreciative of AA notifying me of a delay in advance for once.

Events on the plane:

We boarded at the new boarding time and everything seemed to be operating smoothly. FWIW, seat 1A was very comfortable and I was looking forward to a decent nights sleep. About 10 minutes after I boarded, about 5 Korean Air mechanics came on board and headed towards the cockpit where they stayed for next 3-3.5 hours.

At about the 2 hour mark after boarding, I was notified on my AApp that I had been rebooked on a later connection to DCA and asked me if I am ok with the changes; another improvement that I appreciated seeing on the AApp.

Around the same time, I overhear the FAs and pilots doing some math in the forward galley regarding when overtime pay kicks in and more importantly at what point they became an illegal crew. FWIW, it sounded to me like overtime kicks in around 12 hours and they become illegal at something like 18 hours. I'm sure I'm misquoting them and I'm sure somebody on here can explain these rules better than I can.

At the end of the conversation they settled on 21:30 being zero hour for needing to cancel the flight. One of the mechanics appeared from the galley and gave a new ETA on completion for around 21:30 or 22:00. Thus, the decision was made to cancel the flight. The announcement was made on the PA and everyone was told to stay in their seats until an airport official gave us further instructions. The airport agent presented himself a few minutes later and explained that we would all need to re-clear immigration and anyone with duty free items would need to turn them in and collect them later.

FYI, the listed mechanical issue was an indicator light showing an issue with the flaps. For whatever reason they couldn't resolve if it was an issue with the indicator or an actual issue with the flaps. It also appears that this was the issue that held it up in DFW initially.

Events with the U.S. AA phone reps:

I immediately dial the U.S. EP number to start talking options. The reception on the plane was terrible so the call dropped at least 10 times before I could speak with an agent. Meanwhile, a cursory inspection of my ITA phone app informed me that there was a midnight QR ICN-DOH-IAD flight that would get me in the following day around 16:00, the alternative was a KE ICN-IAD direct departing at 10:00 on 7/10 and arrived in IAD at 11:00. Those seemed like the best options with the least connections. Returning via NRT and the 7/11 ICN-DFW were distant thirds as NRT required 2 connections and both got me into DCA around 00:30 7/11.

The first phone agent I speak with tells me that she can't do anything to my reservation as the flight does not show CX'd on her end and instead shows me as boarded on an active ticket. She was very friendly but told me that they needed at least 6 hours of lead time in order to put me on another carrier, thus, according to her the QR flight was not a viable option as it was departing in 3 hours. In addition, she also said that I was not allowed to return via the Atlantic Ocean so it had to be a eastbound flight. But she says the KE direct to IAD was a viable option and placed a "hold" on a seat for me. There was also 1 seat left in J on the 7/10 ICN-DFW which she held as well. The call dropped mid-conversation.

The next agent was also extremely friendly but also more helpful. He confirmed the previous agent held the two aforementioned flights but reiterated that he couldn't do anything as the flight was not showing it was cancelled. However, this time I was put on hold while he called "Ops" to see if they could release my ticket. This call drops as well before he could come back on the line but a minute later my AApp informs me that my flight was cancelled (which was about 30 minutes after we were informed on the plane). So either coincidental timing or the agent was successful in getting help from Ops.

I get a third agent on the phone who sees that the flight is cancelled and sees the two hold tickets on my reservation and asks me which flight I want. I mention to her the QR flight as it wasn't clear what the hotel situation would be (more on that in a moment) and she saw availability and asked if I wanted that flight instead. I mull it over for a second (QR has the better J seats vs. KE had angled J seats but was direct/got me into DC sooner/and I could probably upgrade to first) and decide that the KE direct was the best option and kept my fingers crossed on the hotel situation. She tickets it while on the phone and I'm good to go for the following morning. It goes without saying that all options presented to me were for J as that was the class of service I was booked in originally.

Events with ground staff:

During the time I was on the phone, J pax were being escorted off the plane first and walked back through immigration, then to baggage claim, then to arrivals. It appeared that the agents escorting us were a mix of Korean Air agents and ICN airport staff. Upon de-planeing they handed us a sheet that had the number to the local local Korean AA reservation number, which, to me, ruled out the possibility that I would find an agent to speak to in person. I overheard several J pax on the phone with these agents who seemed to be running into a brick wall. Apparently, the first option available was to return 3 days later. With that said, I don't know if the local Korean phone agents either:

1) didn't have the authority to force inventory open,
2) the pax were using upgrade instruments and that was the first flight with C space,
3) I truly grabbed the last available seat for the next 3 days, or
4) didn't have authority to rebook on other carriers.

Either way, it was clear that I was having more success getting rebooked than they were.

When we reached the arrivals hall, the same J pax who were on the phone began yelling at the ground staff asking how they were going to get rebooked, so it was clear that nothing was resolved with the local AA phone agents or at least to their liking.

From the arrivals hall we were escorted onto a bus and driven 30 minutes to a hotel. Our bus was the first to depart and was only about 3/4 full so I'm not sure what they did with the rest of the pax. Perhaps my expectations were low, but the hotel turned out to be quite nice and felt more like an executive apartment than a hotel. I can't remember the name of the hotel but it was not affiliated with any U.S. groups (e.g. Marriott, Hilton, SPG etc.) We were given dinner and breakfast vouchers upon check in and a stack of room keys were already prepared for our arrival. Dinner was buffet-style and pretty tasty. Room was quite nice.

Woke up the next morning without having received any further communication from AA. Upon checking out of the hotel I was given a bus voucher to use for the 30 minute trip back to ICN. Apparently the bus would depart in 30 minutes, taxi price was a flat $30 in local Won. Not wanting to wait I taxied back to the airport.

Check in with KE was smooth. I asked about upgrading to F using miles (Chase transfer partner) or cash since the flight showed space on EF. In addition, this flight used the old angled 2-3-2 business seats. I was told that I couldn't upgrade using cash as there was no fare difference to calculate and couldn't use miles as it was a "restricted" ticket. I tried again with the another KE agent airside but was given the same answer.

The KE flight was uneventful other than I was hoping to get some sleep but the angled seats were terrible. On the bright side, their soft product was great.

Two days later I receive an unsolicited email from AA apologizing for the cancellation and issued me 20k miles as compensation. I hadn't submitted a complaint so that was a nice proactive gesture.

Overall, I think the U.S. phone agents did a great job getting me home and the overnight accommodations exceeded expectations However, given that this was an outstation with contract Korean Air agents it was clear that nothing was going to get resolved in person. The ground staff's primary concern was to get us through immigration/custom, to retrieve our bags, and to the buses. Thus their sole focus was to herd everyone through those checkpoints. However, there should have been someone at arrivals to speak to in person to help get rebooked, it was clear that most people did not know how they were going to get home. When asked by pax who to speak to regarding rebooking they all shrugged their shoulders.

Takeaways:

1) When abroad, always have the ability to make calls back to the U.S., don't rely on wifi. I was fortunate that my employer pays my cell plan so I didn't have to incur the roaming charges. Explore international data/voice plan options before you leave the country.

2) When it appears that things are going south, get on the phone with AA immediately, there are now ~250 displaced pax that need seats to get home and a finite amount of seats open to rebook into.

3) To the extent possible, know what flight options are available before calling.

Questions:

1) I spoke to several passengers on the bus ride that said AA was unwilling to rebook them on another flight. I don't know the details of their reservations/status etc, but why was I extended that courtesy while others weren't? Because I was paid J, an EP, combination of the two, some other reason?

2)Are there clear parameters as to when an AAgent can rebook a pax on another carrier? I assumed that because AA was using contract KE agents that they had an agreement in place to put passengers on their equipment in the event of irrops even though they aren't members of OW.

3) Regarding the general comments by the first AAgent about rebooking on different carriers, has anyone heard of this 6 hour rule? And is it true that you can't be rebooked to cross the other ocean in the situation of irrops? I know that's a rule for award tickets, perhaps that's what she had in mind? It seemed to me that all bets were off in this situation and all I needed to do was pick a flight to get home and they would book me on it.

4) Regarding compensation, is 20k miles normal for this sort of situation? I've never submitted a complaint to AA before (not because everything goes right, I just never get around to submitting it) so I don't know what the usual pay scale is for complaints.

Apologies again for the length, please respond if you have any thoughts. Always appreciative of the collective wisdom FT has to offer.

Go Gators