Originally Posted by
Antarius
In my experience, the majority of downgrades are due to IROPS, not a straight downgrade - flight goes MX, resulting in having to get rebooked on a different flight/routing with whatever limited inventory is left. Frequently, it is Y, especially if there are multiple passengers. In this case, the pittance AA throws is insulting.
It has happened to me 5+ times in 2025. It got to the point that I started canceling my flights on AA and booking walkup UA fares, usually F. They often cost the same or less and didn't result in a disaster delay.
I'm actually going through this today and it's very Kafka-esque in terms of trying to get a reasonable answer from AA. Transatlantic flight yesterday was delayed for MX, and I missed my domestic connection in DFW- was in J/F but the only options to get back same day were in Y.
What complicates things is that it was an AAdvantage Award ticket. AAdvantage CS said I needed to speak to Reservations. Reservations said I needed to submit a request via the online complaint form. Of course, the first bot response from the complaint form was to tell me to pound sand. Replied to it and asked for it to be escalated- will see what they come back with, but I'm not expecting much.