after reading already several other posts in this forum, I have decided to finally also write a post... forgive me if it might be the wrong forum, but I just need to tell you what I recently have experienced...
Being a platinum member at Aeroflot (Skyteam elite + ) and a FQT at Star Alliance, I dare to believe that I am qualified to judge one airlines way of how to deal with certain issues and how much delaycan be tolerable or not.
I am writing this post to seek for advice. Please tell me how to deal with that kind of situation and what my rights are in that case. Even if you cant help, this experience might warn you and in this case I have reached at least something good,
My complaint concerns a code shared flight between AA/BA (booked through Expedia). Flight route (1) Berlin-London- San Diego (2) San Diego-Dallas-London-Berlin
(I know two stop overs are always critical, but it was the only available connection that time with still reasonable prices- well, EUR 1500/ person per roundtrip).
Fair to say, the first trip from Berlin-San Diego was without bigger issues. The horror started on the way back...
We have arrived at our final destination (Berlin) with more than 48h of delay...none of the delays were caused by force majeure but a concatenation of various causes.
(1) San Diego-Dallas: 6. Jan carrier: AA
although departure was on time, we arrived Dallas with a delay of 15min. We had been seated at the end of the plane, so it took us additional minutes to actually leave. (Btw, I was travelling with my 70+yo mother, who was in need of a wheelchair). When we finally left the plane, it took us some more minutes until that service guy with the wheelchair arrived. As the scheduled stopover time was only one hour, we RAN to the gate of our connecting flight. Again, we RAN...
(as a frequent traveller I know, one hour might be very short... but the flight was advertised with that schedule on expedia... so I didnt really think much about it, never been to Dallas before).
We have arrived our gate about 17 min before scheduled departure - and I can tell because I was looking at my watch. (gate closes 15min before - at least so written on boarding card). But It came as it had to come.... that guy- not even looking into our eyes- told us that our seats were already given away and we would have no chance to enter the plane. (Frankly, I believe they knew that our luggage could not arrive the plane and that why they gave our seats away. US law says, that on international flights the luggage has to travel together with the passengers..)
A flight arriving with a delay of 15min is very common...But whoever created that travel schedule- shouldnt they have considered such a possibility? Actually, for this case I am blaming expedia as well, as they have advertised/sold that flight with those non realistic times.. we ran, we have tried our best to reach the gate on time... we acutally were on time, yet they refused us to enter. I dont see any fold here from our side... am I wrong? (btw, we had to take the skytain is dallas to reach the departing gate. I wasnt aware of Dallas Airport being that huge...and obviously whoever created that schedule wasnt either...).
It was already night (around 10pm) and the guy at the AA counter gave us new tickets for the next day and redirected our flight (new route: Dallas-Houston-London-Berlin). No hotel/meal voucher... we had to find a hotel on our own costs... yes we complaint, we argued, i was upset, my mother desperate... but we werent agressive... however that AA guy called the police on us and we were suddenly surrounded by 4 officers. They didnt do much but advised us to accept the facts and after they have left again... the attitude of that AA guy was really really bad... not only because he has called the police on us but the way he dealt with the whole case. I hope he finds himself one day in my positition- with his mother in a wheelchair... wonder, what he would have done.. I asked that guy three times "is there really no other flight connection?" and his answer was always "no"... but actually there was, but with Lufthansa (not a member of Oneworld). I know that changing to a flight with another alliance comes with additional costs for AA... but they cant do, even for a person in a wheelchair?
(2) Dallas - Houston: carrier AA
(2-1) 7. Jan
new day, new luck? not at all...
we arrived the gate on time (actually 3h before departure), however the departure to Houston was delayed with more than 4h (reason: maintainance). I knew, that wouldnt end well, so I approached again the AA counter. They confirmed my worries and told me that I gonna miss my connection flight in Houston to London and adviced me to spend the night again in Dallas as they couldnt guarantee a hotel in Houston. 2.night in Dallas... trying to be smart, I tried that they at least redirect to the original flight route, so we could fly directly from Dallas-London...unfortunatelly we had to learn that our luggage was already sent with an earlier flight to Houston... thanks AA guy from the day before! And we remember...US law says... any fold from our side here?
(2-2) 8. Jan
with a delay of more than 90 min we finally arrived in Houston (again: maintenance, whats going on there?)
(3) Houston-London 8. Jan carrier:BAArriving in Houston we once again had to learn, that the flight to London would have a delay (4h). Reason: IT system failure at the airport. As our transfer time in London was 3h... yes, we missed again our connection flight (to Berlin). However, as London has many flights to Berlin a day, that wasnt much of a problem... But our fault? No, also here I dont see any mistake at our side.(4) London-Berlin 9. Jan carrier: BA
from all our flights, this one was the only one with any delay or issues...Hallelujah!
I am in my 30s, fit and a frequent traveller. But even for me that trip was just horrible and exhausting...imagine, what a 70+yo women in a wheelchair must have gone through... having bad luck is one thing... but the attitute of those AA employees was just undescribable. it is one thing how they treat me, but how could they treat an old lady like that? We had a fantastic trip to the US and met so many nice ppl... but the attitude of those ones working for AA was just insane. In all my flight years I have never experienced such behaviour. Are these people so underpaid or whats the reason for all that? Are they treating their own mothers also that way? No blame to BA, their employees were a total different world...
What have I learned from that trip`?
(1) never ever AA
(2) never ever AA
(3)<avoid> code sharing flights
(4) one hour stop over at Dallas airport? Forget it!
(5) I acutally also blame Expedia. They may have just overtaken the flight route from the airlines. However, they advertised it on their website and the money went through Expedia
(6) I am sorry for China Eastern, sorry to Aeroflot whenever I thought you were rude to me... compared to AA you have always treated me like a god.
(7) calling hotlines from expedia/AA/BA does only cost you money -they wont be able to help (in my case it did cost me more than 400 USD due to the roaming fee and waiting time)
can anyone advice how to deal with such experiences?