emcampbe

Actually, I think the OP made off quite well. As for writing to the DOT, they won't care. AFAIK, no airline is required to pay out anything if the aircraft has less than 60 seats and the bump is due to safety/weight restrictions - it sounds like this was the case. So a $250 voucher, minus a $25 bag fee, still puts you up $225 more than you were required to be given for being bumped. I wouldn't be complaining about that.

As for a baggage charge not being mentioned, it seems to me that if it was not specifically agreed to, than AA has no obligation on it anyway. Especially considering they could have just IDB'd and paid out nothing. This is why you need to discuss all terms before you sign the paper and agree to be bumped.

SocietyFlyGirl

IMHO you are wrong about DOT not caring although it would admittedly take many more than one instance for DOT to fine. Spirit was fined, among other things, for having deceptive practices by not publishing the full cost including fees of their flights. It's not a matter of $225 being a good deal; it's more an issue that the Gate Agent didn't provide all the information for the customer to make a fully informed choice.

brp

And, while it's definitely good advice to discuss all terms before agreeing to anything, who would even think to inquire about fees on already-checked bags?

Cheers.

oklAAhoma

That's an excellent point. I am sure that would have never occurred to me.

777lover

I guess the first question I would ask is what class of service am I being booked into? Usually (and I say usually/many times), Y or B is used on tickets endorsed to another airline. If it us Y or B, ususaly there is no fee as the fare is considered full-fare. YMMV.

dstan

To be fair to the OP, I edited the original thread title a bit to match the parlance in this forum, but did note the oxymoron at the time. Perhaps it should be Voluntarily Declined Boarding

JDiver

Though, IMO, most AA employees are fine folks, there are at least one or two who, in the immortal words of Click and Clack, have their headlight plugged into their tail socket.

emcampbe

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. From my perspective, AA hasn't done anything that could warrant a fine from the DOT. The issue was one of a weight restriction. Since all AA flies on this route are ERJ's, there are less than 60 seats. The regulations are very clearly stated that on aircraft with less than 60 seats, bumps for safety or weight reasons require no compensation. None at all.

So to me, a $250 voucher, even less a $25 baggage fee, is still a pretty good deal. AA instead, could have IDB'd the OP, or any 7 pax, and proceeded to give them nothing except putting them on the next available flight out.

I do agree the baggage fee was weird, since the bag was passed on by AA behind the scenes. But am still not convinced that AA would legally have any responsibility to pay the fee.

mvoight

The fee sounds odd, especially if the passenger was not involved in the baggage transfer to the other carrier. What happens if you have a connection and baggage interlined from AA to UA. I haven't done this, but suspect an AA elite wouldn't have to pay the fee, but a UA elite would, and vice-versa on the return. That's only a guess though. Has anyone here experienced this?

oklAAhoma

My experience has been on AA-AS itineraries. On the outbound portion, checking in with AA, my bags have been checked to the final destination at no fee. On the return portion, checking in with AS (or QX), I have been charged the applicable checked bag fees.

emcampbe

Usually when interlining, you pay the fee based on the policy of the operating carrier of your first flight. However, I can tell you from the experience of my girlfirend that they sometimes consider your onward itinerary.

Her situation was flying DL YYZ-JFK, where she caught a flight JFK(-BRU)-MAA on Jet Airways. The first segment was even done on a different ticket. Theoretically, she should have been charged a bag fee for the YYZ-JFK segment, but when she gave them both tickets and asked them to check her bags all the way through, they were able to do so, and did not charge the fee based on the fact that she was traveling internationally, even though the international segment was not with DL. I'm not sure if this is standard practice or not, but I was there to see it happen in this instance.

ORDinaryPax

While I agree in principle with this advice, GAs are usually not willing to have a lengthy discussion about the terms of the VDB transaction while trying to board an oversold flight. In my experience (and I have taken VDB multiple times), I have never been presented with anything to be signed until the flight has already left the gate. This is because the GAs ask volunteers to step aside until the flight is fully boarded so they can put the volunteer back on the flight if there are no shows. (This happens frequently.)

daeus

Does anyone know how budgets work within AA? Why would the GA even think to pass on this cost to the PAX who volunteered to get off the plane? Just from a pure customer service and satisfaction level...

Efrem

I agree that AA should pick up this charge for customer satisfaction, but this can quickly become an open-ended "we'll give you $250 and reimburse any additional costs you happen to incur because you're on that other airline." It starts with baggage fees. How far does it go?

It's up to the passenger to evaluate the VDB compensation offered against the reroute with its downsides. One of those downsides, especially for AA elites, is the possibility of fees when AA would waive them. They're part of the travel picture in 2009. Frequent travelers, especially, should be aware of that - even if our status generally exempts us from them. If we want to use fees as a bargaining chip to get higher VDB compensation, that's a legitimate negotiating tactic, but I don't think we have any "right" to fee reimbursement over and above the compensation we agreed to accept.

Noddy English

To add a different component into the mix. I was on a flight that went technical from CLE to ORD. The TA rebooked me 4 hours later on a United flight.

I was checking two bags, which as a PLT was no cost on AA. However on UA this cost me $50. I sent the receipt to AA Cust relations, asking for reimbursement.. and they refused... Twice.

I guess that AA just don't cAAre about having loyal pax these days