Re-route compensation?
 

Scheduled to fly DCA-LGA-YYZ today. first flight had mechanical problems, and they re-routed me DCA-ORD-YYZ. The new flight gets in 2.5 hours later than the original booking. Am I entitled to any compensation due to the re-routing? Surly check-in staff actually lied and said it was weather-related, but the gate staff said it clearly showed in their system as a mechanical problem.

No. They agree to get you from your origin to your destination, and they did. If you do a search here about compensation, delays, etc. (hint), you will find this question answered a number of times, and pretty much this way 90% of the time.

Cheers.

Schedules, like life, are not guaranteed.

2 1/2 hours (later than the plan) is pretty routine with LGA connections so going via ORD means you experienced the same thing.

I believe that the delay needs to be much longer to get compensation. The reroute itself doesn't get you anything

Cheers

Contacting Customer Relations can never hurt.

The only compensation required by government rules is for Involuntary Denied Boarding. In case of a delay of any length (or cancellation), you are at the mercy of the airline. Here is a page from the DOT site that goes into a bit more detail.

Personally, I think it can -- assuming one is going to be flying AA on a regular basis.

It's quite possible that the check-in staff did not know it was a mechanical problem and that the gate staff simply had more info at their disposal. But whether they were truthful or not, as others have stated, you are not entitled to compensation for the reroute. Neither the route nor the schedule are guaranteed. (Nor is the seat assignment, but that's another thread.)

But it sure can be overdone.

Getting laughed at by Customer Service doesn't hurt either. Go for it.

Izzik no one would ever laugh at you. Oh yah another compensation thread. Now that makes the season bright.

I have to agree with Jon here. I'm very careful when I complain, as I assume AA tracks these and keeps book on us. I've also written a number of complimentary letters when I've received excellent service. I wouldn't bother, myself, with a 2.5 hour delay, and instead hold out for the day you really do need to complain about something that impacts your flying more seriously.

thank goodness. you know i'm a delicate person.

If you are going to write in and complain and I am not sure compensation is the right angle here, but the only real argument I see you having is that the check-in agent "lied" or did not know at the time the real issue with the plane. However, I think AA tried its best to get you where you were going by rerouting you. I guess consider it luck it was mechanical rather than weather as you might have not even been rerouted so quickly.

Yes you got in 2.5 hours lates, but there have been times when people have had to spend a night at the airport or nearby hotel because of mechanical issues (given the airline usually comps a meal and hotel). At least you got to where you were going on the same day. Maybe if you did write in you would get some mielage credit or something minor like that. But I do not think this is worth writing into unless you are really upset the check-in agent lied and it has destroyed all the trust you had in AA.

A two prong approach to your letter could also work. Compliment the GA who rerouted you. But also say you were frustrated at first learning it was weather. But like I said you are dealing with an issue of maybe the first person was just misinformed. But however you go about it, it is your choice you are the customer.

And if there is a file on you with your letters of complaint, so be it. The airline won't stop taking your money. But like some others have alluded to, it might hurt you later on when something happens that infuriates you... and before you all can respond with quotes around my comment... (mean like when you get your seat moved to the back and then you write an angry rant - YES like that :D )

Good luck

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

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.

Are You Serious?
 

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

Thanks JohnG for the non-judgemental and concise answer.

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.

I love a post that is fact-free.

Where do you get this stuff from?

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

Cheers.

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.

By the way, it *was* the weather
 

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.

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.