yosandr

My wife and I had a flight on 1/3/18. It was originally scheduled to depart at 5:59pm. I got a notification from American Airlines that our flight was delayed until 6:20pm. I immediately checked the status on the AA app and saw that we were in fact delayed. Soon after, I got text message that our flight was delayed until 6:55 pm. As we got these confirmations, we pushed off heading to the airport. On our way to the airport, I checked the app again, and it kept switching departure times between 5:59 and 6:55. We decided to call the airline to double check and were told there was a 2+ hour wait to speak to a representative. The automated service did say the flight was on time, but the app was still reading as delayed. We arrived at the airport to find that our flight was never delayed and had already departed. The lady at the counter tried to find a later flight for us, but nothing was available until at least Friday. My wife is 7 months pregnant, and had a doctors appointment on 1/4/18 at our destination, so we could not wait. We asked about getting on the next Delta flight, and the agent told us AA has no agreement with Delta. We were forced to pay over $750 one way that night with Delta. Usually, we have TSA Precheck, but did not qualify because we booked so close to departure. Additionally, I have an AAdvantage card and had counted on getting two free bags, but was forced to pay the fee for both of them with Delta. All of this on top of my pregnant wife and I having to traipse across the airport after being massively disappointed by American.

I do not understand how American Airlines can mess up so badly. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What do you think we should do? The rep did say we would probably be refunded for our original tickets (we booked them with British Avios miles so who knows if this is even possible), but we are now left with a $800 bill from Delta.