777 global mile hound

Hey all,

I would like to know what the FT court of public opinion is regarding the following
Recently I put on hold a reward ticket for the redeye from San to JFK in May
Planning to ticket before the exp date this weekend.

My date of travel was May the 16th
I was planning to work the day of the 16th and arrive into JFK the morning of the 17th Saturday with an arrival at 6:00 AM and be able to see a Broadway show that afternoon which is now fully paid for.
American has cancelled all San-JFK redeye’s apparently.

And while I am fine with that I am disappointed with what the folks at American decided what would be my fate with my existing reservation on hold

Which is you can go out a day later at 7:45AM the next morning which is your only option.....
In my case killing my next day in NY.
Missing the show and paying for a 350 dollar hotel room that I had an 8:00 AM conformed check in for that I would now first be getting to around dinner time.

Reason being all Eagle fights are not available to the connecting redeyes through LA
the day on the day I wanted to travel on Friday

I am a mighty happy camper at American typically however the principal of this bothers me a bit.
Am I really in the gutter here because I haven’t ticketed yet?
Am I really that unworthy of an accommodation based on the circumstances when there are seats available but they don’t want to let go of them?

I am willing to pay for another nights accommodation and miss a days work and take the Friday AM departure but so far they are treating it as if I don’t have a reservation!

And not even letting me fly on the day my ticket was on hold for
So far I have been friendly and warm to everybody at AA however I am thinking of getting more agressive in my approach
Comments/suggestions?

brp

If you had ticketed, I would fully expect that they would try and work with you and get you on the RJ to LAX. I'd truly be disappointed if they did not help out in that case.

With the reservation on hold, I'd say that your case is more tenuous. Of course, one thinks that a ticket oh hold has some form of guarantee, and one makes plans based on that. I've certainly done it.

I'd suggest calling back a few more times and trying to get a sympathetic ear. I'm sure that they can do what you're asking. You just need to find someone who will. Good luck.

Cheers.

joshuaw2

They changed my reservation twice for a holiday flight after I ticketed. Changed it twice in one week in fact. I had to change my plans around a lot, twice.

I wrote a letter, but obviously it was for operational reasons and they had no intension of reverting to the original flights and flight times.

Even if you had ticketed and not just Held your reservation and then paid a lot for a hotel (because you knew how to get there and felt safe with that in mind), who is to say that your red-eye flight would/wouldn't disappear maybe next month and you get a schedule change email.

With my experiences, make sure hotels, car etc that you reserve you can get full refund. Most hotels you must cancel 48-24 hrs before the reserved date. A Broadway is a little different, so I hope you can get another flight or find someone who want to buy your tickets.

brp

However, in the OP's case, it is not a question of getting the original flights back. There are alternative, existing, flights that would also work...but AA will not provide them since there is no award availability. Had this been ticketed, they may well have been more willing to provide award access to the alternatives since they really will go to reasonable lengths to help out for changes...after ticketing, at least.

Cheers.

HNL

At this point I'd consider booking this as an Open Jaw going LAX-JFK/JFK-SAN and get yourself to LAX (train, bus, airplane, ride)

Or find ANY award availability SAN-LAX on that Friday to connect with the LAX-JFK redeye, with the gambel that award space will open on a later flight, or you can CFC for $25 to get onto a later flight.

Outside of that you are out the hotel and show tickets. AA owes you nothing, unfortunately.

slabeaume

There may be some other alternate routes that will work---you may just have to go through 2 or 3 other airports.

777 global mile hound

Appreciate the feedback all.
I do like to hear what the consensus is good or bad
Because I am doing another stop over on the return it is not allowed
The reservation agent already tried to sell me a one way to LAX for three hundred dollars and then said she couldn't as they would not be able to ticket the outbound out of LAX anyway. It must leave SAN
Otherwise I considered the possibility.

I do realize AA owes me nothing so I may do an elite status match elsewhere. My Admirals Club membership expires next month. And I don't have any revenue tickets for the New Year presently booked

So as I see it I am free to go...............The funny thing is I earn more miles in all programs from anything but flying. American has been my revenue carrier of choice.
I just don’t feel like being held hostage to their schedule as they are the ones responsible. Even if do in the end being held accountable/responsible for finding alternative transportation options.

One I buy a revnue ticket to solve the problem that is whom I stick with for my calendar year.No hard feelings here just principal

777 global mile hound

Thanks perhaps in the right situation
I admit too being stubborn and spoiled for that.
I will be waving at AA planes from another carrier before it comes to that.
Now maybe to Australia in First I might consider

777 global mile hound

Thanks again for getting the facts right.
I was afraid I would confuse all here with this post
I was offered another option with a 4 plus hour layover in LAX unfortuntately it gets complicated here as there are two of us traveling
while I am ok with it my family member isn't and I respect their lack of patience as I have mine to deal with too on a given day

swag

Another place where I would expect some flexibility. Normally, you can't fly LAX-JFK-XXX-SAN on an award, but given the circumstances, asking for an exception to allow it does not seem unreasonable.

777 global mile hound

Thank You for the kind words your hired for the AA Platinum reservations line ^

brp

The problem with this approach is that, given time, every carrier will disappoint you in one way or another. You may quickly run out of options

Cheers.

777 global mile hound

Arrgggghh Damn good points

777 global mile hound

Off topic and I am the king of off topic

AA went from three non stops to JFK from San this past year to one
In all fairness I chose AA even if I had to sweat it out in/through DFW or ORD
It may be small silly stuff but I expect a little slack every now and then.

I am seriously thinking of Jet Blue now and just flying AA where it makes great sense. And being a lifetime Plat it’s not like I am hungry for revenue flight miles anymore. I have many millions of miles I am sitting on in a wide variety of programs.

And for short haul stuff you can't beat the new Virgin America
san-sfo/san las with their spectacular new aircraft onboard amenities and up to 70lbs of luggage with no added 100 dollar fees for a round trip

And did I say very fair pricing so far 39 dollars each way?
And to be rid of eagle would be a blessing
They currently hold the industry record of the most lost luggage statistically in AAmerica and sky high prices to travel

I am selling myself as I post!
vent vent sniff sniff.
I am feeling better letting off some FT steam.......

7Continents

Seeing as how the OP has his status intact, am I wrong in directing my thoughts to the original post...the award ticket was on HOLD. AA was giving the OP the chance to ticket it or not at the OP's leisure, while keeping the seat out of inventory for the rest of us until the OP made his decision. The fact that AA did a sched change has little bearing on the OP's timeline for ticketing. All in all, I don't see any reason for bitter grapes. There is some great stuff in the thread though! @:-)

Just my 2¢