325CiC

I'm 1MM and was flying home with my daughter today from PIT to AUS via ORD.

We had seats on a 6pm flight, and wanted to standby for earlier flight. Sounds easy enough. We got to the airport at 8:45am hoping to get on 10am PIT-ORD-AUS or noon PIT-DFW-AUS.

The lady at PIT first told me that I couldn't go standby on PIT-DFW-AUS since it was a different routing. I had called the GOLD desk who told me that me routing doesn't matter, as long as origin and destination are the same.

The lady at PIT also told me that my daughter (who is 17) couldn't sit in exit row since she's not 18. The lady at GOLD desk told me the age for exit row is 15 (which agrees with aa.com). PIT finally gave in and said that the flight attendant would make the "final call". Jeepers...

While they were working on getting us onto the 10am PIT-ORD-AUS flight they somehow lost my daughter when they split the reservation (not sure why they did that). By the time they got her back (took over a half hour) it was too late to make PIT-ORD-AUS so our only choice was to cough up $75 each for PIT-DFW-AUS (since she wouldn't allow us to standby) or wait until 6pm. Ugh!

Its frustrating to get different answers from the same company, and both were adamant that they were right and the other lady was wrong. Plus it cost me $150 that I wouldn't have had to pay if they didn't screw up.

I sent one of those customer service complains, wondering if I have a chance in h-e-double-hockeysticks of getting my $150 back.

Sigh...

JDiver

There is no Gold desk to begin with, merely a prioritized line to the same phone center that services no status flyers and Platinum flyers. You're not getting a bank of especially knowledgeable people, you're getting the usual random draw. At least this one seemed much sharper than the ground agent (exit row minimum age is 15, etc.)

Your random draw with the ticket agent as well.

AA IMO doesn't place much value on training and standardization, and it shows in these instances. Sorry you paid that price; press AA for some compensatory relief.

consultant22

I had a gate agent one time refuse to put me on the stand by list because "the flight had been oversold for months". I was able to get someone from the admirals club to add me to the list and it turned out there were 20+ seats open. Gate agents are really hit or miss.

On a separate note - with respect to your routing question, I am in the same predicament. I booked a transcon with multiple connections due to limited saaver availability and I'm looking to cut one of the connections each way by standing by for a flight to the second destination - i.e., LAX-DFW-RSW, instead of LAX-TUS-DFW-RSW... I'm thinking I might be in luck due to all of the flights from LAX-DFW, but your story worries me.

swag

Gold "desk" or not, the phone agent was correct on all counts, and the airport agent wrong.

Was this at the ticket counter, or at the gate?

JDiver

Good question.

I've run into more GAs than TAs that misquote or make up their own rules (some are essentially little tin horn dictators).

sombrachinesca

My experience has always been that most legacy US TA's and GA's at PIT would go out of their way to accommodate passengers -- including coming onto the plane before boarding to upgrade elites when space became available.

Since AA ops @PIT went to Eagle several years ago, the same cannot be said....

Not sure who is handling the legacy AA flights currently....

325CiC

Ticket counter.

cmd320

Sadly stories like these of the right hand being clueless as to what the left is doing are all too normal these days. It's quite clear AA values its time more than the customers' and situations like these which could easily be remedied with even a little training have been popping up frequently requiring significant service recovery by CS AAgents late. Unfortunately, getting a live person in CS has become much more of a challenge as well.

JDiver

I want a warning, so I can tell. Maybe a distinctive badge...

reeg2

I'm curious - are things really worse? Or do they just seem worse? Obviously FT has existed quite a long time with many "service sucks" threads. I can remember numerous threads from before the merger about AA agents giving out conflicting information.

JDiver

I feel I'm one of those in a position to judge; I've been flying AA since the 1940s, Status since 1985 or 6. IMO it's getting worse.

cmd320

I definitely feel as though it's getting worse, or at least more common. AAgents not knowing that the minimum age for exit row seating is 15, and not knowing same-day standby can be routed through different hubs is basic stuff. Things most semi-frequent fliers would likely know off the top of their heads.

golfingboy

Not quite. The PIT agent was correct on the routing restriction and the phone agent was dead wrong.

golfingboy

Per AA rules, you will not be allowed to standby on LAX-DFW. Fingers crossed for a good agent who will bend the rules.

swag

Are you sure? My own experiences with routing changes aren't recent, but AA says this:

The part I bolded certainly implies that the restrictions don't apply to AA elites, so a GLD like OP should be able to standby on a different routing.