FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - 7/9/17 Flt 280 ICN-DFW - CX'd - Advice and How to Handle in the Future?
Old Jul 25, 2017, 5:22 am
  #20  
wco
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: WAS, SFO, LAX
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 30
I was also on this flight, and I had a similar experience. I was in business on an SWU while my husband was in economy (had his upgrade taken away at the last minute by a broken seat and AA putting a non-rev in his place, but that's a completely different story). When we finally arrived in DC two days late (after our flight to DC was also cancelled because of smoke at the FAA facility), we both received 20K miles. I reached out on twitter, and we also each received $150 evouchers.

Unlike the OP, I couldn't get reception until after we had deplaned and were in the gate holding area where the airport staff were collecting duty free items. I also was one the EXP line immediately, and probably because I was ticketed in economy, the first options made available for me to get back to DC was to route me onto AA metal through Tokyo. Thus, we were rerouted to ICN-NRT-ORD-BWI, with ICN-NRT on Japan Airlines. The agent I was working with also said that she couldn't ticket anything until the flight was cancelled, and fortunately for us, AA finally cancelled the flight formally just as we were boarding the bus to the hotel.

Had I not been EXP and having an SWU clear, I have a feeling that the entire experience would have been much more awful. It looked like they took all of the business and premium economy passengers to the Oakwood Hotel in Incheon before the rest of the economy, and since my husband was in economy, I had to insist that they let him off the plane to come with me. AA had zero presence on the ground, and the phone number they provided was busy the entire time. We weren't told how to get back to the airport, but fortunately, the hotel gave us bus tickets on the Korean Air bus (didn't want to spend $30 for a taxi). When we returned to the airport to collect our duty free, the AA (i think) staff couldn't find our items. Eventually, they were able to bring our purchases to the gate of our Japan Airlines flight. Overall, two big thumbs down to the AA staff at ICN.

As for being ticketed on other carriers, the people I met received a very mixed bag. The couple behind me also in business on SWUs were rebooked on Korean Air in economy to LAX and then onto AA to DFW. One family was split up with the dad rebooked onto my flight to NRT and then AA to DFW with the mom and kids bused to GMP for a GMP-HND-LAX-DFW routing. For anyone relying on ground staff at ICN and without access to the EXP line, it was a very long night. Even the PLTs were being given the runaround and told that they would have to wait three days to be rebooked onto a flight with availability. So all in all, a complete disaster.
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