Originally Posted by
james1
Quick question for the group here. I recently purchased and took a business class red eye flight from LAX to JFK. AA has always advertised heavily that their transcon flights from LA to NY would be using their latest Airbus with lie flat bed. When I finally boarded, I noticed it was just a regular Airbus with the standard business class eating.
I'm a bit disappointed since there are multiple options (United, American, Delta) that all had lie flat bed, and picked American as I wanted to pick back up my status with them (EXP that haven't traveled on American for a while due to the pandemic). What got me more was because this was a red eye flight, had I known the equipment was going to be changed, I would have picked another airline.
Anyone with a similar experience in the past? What type of compensation should I ask for? Any tips on where to start (call or e-mail) would be greatly appreciated.
Some years ago, I flew AA on a Business Class award from LHR to JFK. At the time, I did not even realize that I was on a plane with an angled, lie-flat bed, rather than a fully-flat bed. Within an hour or two of landing, I got an unsolicited email from AA apologizing for not providing a fully-flat bed on my flight, and informing me that compensation in the form of 25,000 AAdvantage miles was being deposited into my account!
At the time, I believe that AA/BA had a guarantee of a fully-flat bed for all Business Class seats between JFK and LHR. I'm not aware of a similar guarantee on AA's LAX-JFK flights. That said, if you make a request for compensation (email or complaint form on aa.com), you might get something as a customer-service gesture. I would emphasize that this was an overnight flight, and that AA's competitors on the route offered lie-flats. Be sure to include your AAdvantage number, so that AA can see your elite status.
Good luck!