izzik

claiming the "check-in agent lied"? That's just lame - fishing for excuses to blame someone unnecessarily.

JohnG

I believe the general airline standard for a delay is at least 4 hours, for any compensation to be considered.

As you were only delayed 2.5 hours, you would not be entitled to any compensation.

TMOliver

Compensation? We'll give him compensation, all right. Muster the crew amidships, trice him up to the gratings and lay into his back with the cat until bloody gobbets dirty the holystoned deck.

Surly? Any staff that got you in a complex reroute where you were heading only 2:30 late deserve that you should kneel and kiss the hem of his/her garment. As for mechanicals, you could have been aboard that WN bird crossing the street at MDW. Now, izzat weather or mechanical? Or as that puir wee lad in the car said before his departure from this vale of tears, "Mom. that's sure a big orange snowball heading this way...."

Those of us discombobulated in many cases for 24+ hours (or sleeping on folding cots at DFW) by the recent surge of icy weather don't have a lot of synmpathy for yee, laddie. TS cards are normally punched in the Chaplain's Office, second deck, aft, on the second Tuesday of each week. Stop on by.....

My delay, really not even a day, required me to pay for a second night - discounted thank goodness, the clerk must have known about the bed - at the Hyatt/MCO, so full that I had a "Parlor" (the size of a 2 BR apartment but decorated by some hospital designer) from a suite, with a sofa bed which a Katrina refugee would had refused to accept from FEMA. Then it was up before 5AM to put back on yesterday's socks and skivvies, a real confidence builder to start the day.

I'd trade your two anda half hours any day....

TMO

ACN Consultant

Thanks JohnG for the non-judgemental and concise answer.

Fly AA J all the way

The only basis for complaint would be if another carrier could have gotten you there sooner. I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that in the case of a mechanical delay, the law states that the passenger must be reaccomodated on the next available flight, in any seat available. Therefore, if someone else's metal could have gotten you there on schedule, I believe that it was AA's obligation to put you on there. If not, however, just be glad you got to spend your trip on S80s instead of RJs.

drtdk

I love a post that is fact-free.

JonNYC

Where do you get this stuff from?

brp

You want all the posts to be factual? Where's the fun in that?

Cheers.

Fly AA J all the way

I guess I am confusing something. I recall a few years ago a special on one of the news shows about delays, and your rights in mechanical vs. weather or atc. Now, maybe what I heard was in relation to cancelled flights. I've had it happen where I've shown up, been told of a mech, and then been re-routed on other carriers, where my tickets were booked as full F (my AA tix were discount Y). I'm pretty sure that there is some protection like this for mechanical delays, but maybe someone who knows the rules can clarify.

kboo

I am posting this from the Admiral's Club in Mexico City: flew out of LGA this morning in a snowstorm, flight delayed almost 3 hours. There was only 1 runway open, the airport had stopped accepting incoming flights by 7:45 am or so. I don't know when it was reopened but any air traffic going into or out of NYC was a nightmare.

I was supposed to go LGA-DFW-ACA. Not surprisingly, we missed connection out of DFW. AC personnel, gate agents and customer service in NY and DFW were most understanding and helpful - managed to get us from LGA-DFW-Mexico city with a connecting flight to ACA on Mexicana later tonight. Yes, I paid for a 1st/biz ticket all the way and flew the last leg in coach and will also be flying cattle class on Mexicana - but at least I'm getting there tonight (albeit 9 hrs late) rather than tomorrow afternoon. As it was, they were having a helluva time keeping the runway clear enough for full flights to take off (having taken on passengers who were stranded in NY from the night before) - we were well onto the part of the runway that juts into the water before our wheels left the ground (hella scary if you've ever done that in a snowstorm when the pilot's warned you the plane may be too heavy) and originally thought we were going to have to offload fuel and then stop in Nashville to take on more fuel in order to get to DFW. (Had we done that, we wouldn't even have made it to Mexico City tonight).

So frankly, I would have loved to have had only a 2.5 hour delay in getting to Acapulco, and would even have taken a middle coach seat to do it.

tom911

Your best source of information on this topic is AA's Conditions of Carriage clearly posted on its web site. Here's just a small part of what is there:


DELAYS, CANCELLATIONS AND DIVERSIONS

American Airlines and American Eagle will provide customers at the airport and onboard an affected aircraft with timely and frequent updates regarding known delays, cancellations and diversions and will strive to provide the best available information concerning the duration of delays and to the extent available, the flight's anticipated departure time. We are not responsible for any special, incidental or consequential damages if we do not meet this commitment.

When cancellations and major delays are experienced, you will be rerouted on our next flight with available seats. If the delay or cancellation was caused by events within our control and we do not get you to your final destination on the expected arrival day, we will provide reasonable overnight accommodations, subject to availability.

In extreme circumstances, it is possible that a flight will cancel while on the ground in the city to which it was diverted. When this happens you will be rerouted on the next American Airlines or American Eagle flight with available seats, or in some circumstances on another airline or some other alternative means of transportation. If we are unable to reroute you, reasonable overnight accommodations will be provided by American Airlines or American Eagle, subject to availability.

American Airlines and American Eagle will provide amenities for delayed passengers, necessary to maintain the safety and/or welfare of certain passengers such as customers with disabilities, unaccompanied children, the elderly or others to whom such amenities will be furnished consistent with special needs and/or circumstances.