Date: Feb. 4, 2008
AAdvantage status: Gold
Fare: N

What happened: Travelling MCO-DFW-SNA. On the way to the airport, an alert came in that the flight was delayed 30 minutes. Then 30 more minutes. On arrival to the airport, it had been delayed 10 more minutes, which was a moot point anyway, as our connection time was about 50 minutes. The reason given was "lack of parts," and was verified by the gate agent as not being weather. I asked to stay overnight in Orlando, but was told that there were no spaces on any flights out the next day (?) and I would have to take my chances in Dallas.

Once boarded, we began pulling away when a passenger in the next row began having a seizure. After taxiing back to the terminal and waiting for him to be properly treated (thankfully ok,) we finally left an additional 40 minutes later.

On arrival to DFW, all flights out to LAX/SNA were gone, and we were handed hotel vouchers and told that everyone on the typewritten list had been rebooked on flights the next day--we were not on the list. They said we would have to call and rebook but that we had to leave now, or the bus to the hotel would leave and we would have no way to get there. They said our luggage was there, but there was no one to take the luggage off the plane, so...no luggage.

The hotel was the Ramada South which was, frankly, creepy. After waiting in line for an hour to check in, many people left on their own dime because they didn't feel safe. You could hear pounding all night as some rooms had their doors painted shut and couldn't open them. I called and rescheduled the flight for the next day.

The next day, another alert came in that the rescheduled flight had been canceled. At the airport, we were rebooked on another flight. When asked about upgrades, none were available until later that day, and no one wanted to wait, for fear that we would never see home again. We asked for and received food vouchers.

After arriving home (roughly 24 hours later than planned,) note requesting compensation was submitted using the AA website. Positive response was received ~1 week later.

Compensation: $200 vouchers pp for future travel.