Originally Posted by sts603
(Post 20520430)
Here's what I'm guessing happened:
I can't imagine that there wasn't a second adult who could have accompanied the second group of students. |
I can certainly understand why the chaparones refused to split up the group.
Someone from AA really dropped the ball. I agree with the another poster that 6 other passengers should have been IDB, regardless of protocol to avoid this PR mess. |
Originally Posted by harrison1186
(Post 20521937)
I can certainly understand why the chaparones refused to split up the group.
Someone from AA really dropped the ball. I agree with the another poster that 6 other passengers should have been IDB, regardless of protocol to avoid this PR mess. |
Originally Posted by harrison1186
(Post 20521937)
I can certainly understand why the chaparones refused to split up the group.
Someone from AA really dropped the ball. I agree with the another poster that 6 other passengers should have been IDB, regardless of protocol to avoid this PR mess. |
Originally Posted by norf9
(Post 20522115)
I would say that the principal really dropped the ball by flying without seat assignments and not having a contingency plan if the flight was cancelled or they got bumped. Why should those 6 other pax have to pay for his irresponsibility?
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Originally Posted by norf9
(Post 20522115)
I would say that the principal really dropped the ball by flying without seat assignments and not having a contingency plan if the flight was cancelled or they got bumped. Why should those 6 other pax have to pay for his irresponsibility?
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Originally Posted by dmbtr3
(Post 20522137)
Schools have tight budgets. When they purchased tickets, maybe there weren't enough free seats available to meet their demand? I doubt the school wanted to spend for preferred seating. The principal or school employee who handled the bookings probably felt purchasing a ticket was enough to get them a seat on the plane. Who can blame them?
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My opinion (and my opinion only) is that the gate agent is the one at fault here. I doesn't sound like they tried very hard to find VDB's. How much did they offer? Did they look at alternative flights on other airlines (UA has a hub at both the origin and destination!)? Did they even escalate this to a supervisor?
Granted, this is all based on the very brief news article, so who knows what really went down. |
Originally Posted by coolbeans202
(Post 20522242)
My opinion (and my opinion only) is that the gate agent is the one at fault here. I doesn't sound like they tried very hard to find VDB's. How much did they offer? Did they look at alternative flights on other airlines (UA has a hub at both the origin and destination!)? Did they even escalate this to a supervisor?
Granted, this is all based on the very brief news article, so who knows what really went down. |
Originally Posted by coolbeans202
(Post 20522242)
My opinion (and my opinion only) is that the gate agent is the one at fault here. I doesn't sound like they tried very hard to find VDB's. How much did they offer? Did they look at alternative flights on other airlines (UA has a hub at both the origin and destination!)? Did they even escalate this to a supervisor?
Granted, this is all based on the very brief news article, so who knows what really went down. |
Originally Posted by norf9
(Post 20522235)
I can, and I imagine the parents can as well. Yes, the premium seats are an extra fee, but that's not an excuse for not paying. They decided to cheap out on the tickets, and this is the end result. It's not fair to bump the responsible passengers who paid for their seats and checked in early to make room for this guy's group. Think of it this way how often do flights get cancelled, and how likely do you think it would be to find 27 seats free on an alternate flight? It was the principal's responsibility to think of this and plan appropriately. He failed to do so, and now wants the airline to pay for his mistake.
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UPDATE: The students landed in Dallas on Monday night. American is putting them up at the Marriott, and they will take an 11 a.m. flight to D.C. on Tuesday. |
I think everyone needs to remember something important here - these are not 27 frequent flyers going to a business meeting. These are CHILDREN who are so excited to be traveling to Washington for a trip. You can say all you want about what the adults "should" have done, but in the end AA (thru whatever decision maker) disappointed kids and made the airline look foolish.
Stop for a moment before you post and think about how you would feel if you son or daughter was in this situation. For days, they have been talking non-stop about the big adventure and counting down the minutes until the trip. Just to be told that they are not going any longer and have to go home. Have we become so cold-hearted here on FT that disappointed children become acceptable because AA followed "procedure"? If so, then how sad. |
Originally Posted by jeremysmith
(Post 20522284)
I think this is incredibly unfair. Why did they "cheap out" on the tickets because they didn't purchase premium seating for these students? You have to remember that not everyone travels so frequently, and purchasing a ticket should be sufficient to secure a seat on the flight.
What is unfair is booting other people off the flight because the principle was irresponsible. |
Originally Posted by norf9
(Post 20522276)
I think the issue was that the principle wanted to have all 27 on the same flight (which is pretty much impossible).
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